Does anyone know whether an external enclosure could reduce the life of your hard drive? Why are some $30 and some $70? What are the differences in the features or capabilities. Sometimes expensive stuff do a lot more than the cheap stuff.

I found this site for a dual enclosure. I would probably find a company i trust though. Since it was close in price to the local stores i though a dual enclosure for a few extra bucks might be worth it.

http://www.bixnet.com/usdudr2en.html

Thanks guys! i read your previous posts and quite a few guys are using them.
but these questions weren't answered. Thanks!

This site (http://www.resellerratings.com/) is a good way to find things out about online businesses. And this (http://www.resellerratings.com/seller7651.html) is what they had to say about Bix pc's.com

Seems they must be new and unfortunately the only rating thusfar is negative.

Let's see, $99 for the (nice looking BTW) enclosure alone with the reader sounds a little high. Then to add an 80 gig HDD and a burner they tack on another $200?

"I don't think so, Tim", says Al Borden of Tool Time...

The usual difference are in the material the case is made off and the quality of the fan. I look for a better fan and aluminum case as opposed to plastic.

The reason i asked is because one advertisement, i think on New Egg, claimed to extend the life of the hard drive. I didn't know if that meant that enclosures don't typically extend the life or whether this one extended the life just a little more. I have not seen any similar advertisements however.