HD's during black friday

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two questions if i may:

i havent been able to make it out to black fridays in the past, so i was wondering if anyone knew if hard drives are a part of those things that jump way down in prices.

this may sound like a really dumb question, if i wanted a firewire HD, could i just get a FW enclosure and stick any old 3.5 HD in there? im confused as to why external FW HDs are so expensive. (if they crap out, i need to buy another one, as opposed to swapping out the drive in an enclosured one)
 

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Yes, typically retailers will dramatically discount much of their inventory on black Friday (there are no guarantees, however).

As far as building your own external HD, absolutely - you can buy kits that come with just the enclosure and you can install your own drive. Check out NewEgg.com - search for "firewire external enclosure". Here is an example.
 
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thank you very much for your speedy response!

am issue that always confuses the beejesus out of me is the whole ATA/SATA/PATA/ultra ATA/etc. issue. the enclosure that you linked to states support for any ATA drive. is ATA a specific kind, or is is saying any type of drive that has ATA in its name (pata,sata,etc)?
 

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They are two different interface types, with SATA being the newer style.

PATA/ATA/ATA-100/ATA-133/Parallel/40-pin, etc is the older style (I like to use the term "Parallel ATA"). You can mostly use any older drive with a 40-pin connector with an enclosure that claims to support ATA.

SATA/SATA150/SATA2/Serial ATA, etc is the newer style. Anytime you see that 'S' before the ATA, it means that it's the newer style of interface.
 
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Most 3.5's require power sources too. A more convenient option, but maybe a little more expensive, would be to get a 200gb 2.5 drive. USB or firewire is all it takes, no external power connections and the size is a plus. They're generally a bit more portable.
 

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