hard drive enclosure

I need to buy a hard drive enclosure.

It will enclose the hard drive from my previous, broken iBook G4

I'll be transferring the files to an identical iBook G4 running OS X 10.4.6

I will probably only ever use the device once, for this single transfer

I want it to be CHEAP, but I need it to work.

I would like to hear from someone who has actually used a hard drive enclosure on an iBook, running OS X.

as long as your usb ports work, it should work.

Better still keep it and use for a Bootable back up - good protection for future failures.

Can I boot through USB or only through Firewire?

Is my drive SATA or ATA (IDE)?

Below is a pretty good selection. The iBook uses a 2.5" IDE hard drive. Any of these will work but as far as booting, an G4 Macs will not boot off USB 2.0. Some say there is a way but most will tell you no. 2 or 3 of the enclosures in this url have both USB 2.0 and Firewire. If you want to be sure you can boot from the external, get one of them. Hope this helps.

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Computer Accessories,External Enclosures,2.5",IDE

Just a note to tell you, I own an iBook G4 12" 1.33 Ghz which was the very last iBook G4 before the switch to Intel and the Macbook. I plugged in my external DVD drive and it will not even show up in the boot list holding Option down nor boot holding down C with the OSX DVD in the drive. So go with a Firewire enclosure if you want to boot from it.

Would agree with dtravis7 ... go with an external FireWire IDE ata .. not SATA..

I uses mine alot for backups and images for the G4 Series iBooks and PowerBooks
It is invaluable to me.

also just as a side note you can use an older iPod with FireWire to boot from and
use for smaller backups as well.. memory serves correctly it has to be pre-video though

Check it out here OS X running on iPod

My enclosure is made by ADS technologies it has both FireWire and USB connections. It will boot up my Mac when connected via FireWire. I also own one from "MAD DOG" it will not boot. I called the manufacturer and I was told the chipset has to be Mac compatible. They don't tell you that in the operators manual or the spec sheet.