07-12-2011, 09:46 PM
Caroline,
Absolutely nothing wrong with keeping the data on the drive and storing said drive somewhere. It's a 60 gig drive and that would be a good use for it. I did something similar with an old 3.5" IDE drive. The drive is a clone of my primary office machine imac. But, it's a clone from when the machine had OS 10.5.x. Occasionally, I boot off the drive to run some apps that aren't supported under OS 10.6 (and will never work under OS 10.7.). Some time ago, the original enclosure for the drive went kablooey. I still needed access to the data on the drive. So, I bought a Sabrent 3.5" IDE/SATA enclosure. I installed the drive and still use it today. Eventually, the drive will go kablooey and I'll swap it out for a SATA drive.
This is the model enclosure I bought for the 3.5" IDE drive:
If I remember correctly, lampshade imacs had 3.5" IDE drives. So, the enclosure would work for you. I've had good luck with the it. Other's have had good luck, mediocre luck and crappy luck. Your mileage will vary. But, it goes back to the other question. Is it cost effective as compared to saving up and buying a high capacity external.
Robert
Absolutely nothing wrong with keeping the data on the drive and storing said drive somewhere. It's a 60 gig drive and that would be a good use for it. I did something similar with an old 3.5" IDE drive. The drive is a clone of my primary office machine imac. But, it's a clone from when the machine had OS 10.5.x. Occasionally, I boot off the drive to run some apps that aren't supported under OS 10.6 (and will never work under OS 10.7.). Some time ago, the original enclosure for the drive went kablooey. I still needed access to the data on the drive. So, I bought a Sabrent 3.5" IDE/SATA enclosure. I installed the drive and still use it today. Eventually, the drive will go kablooey and I'll swap it out for a SATA drive.
This is the model enclosure I bought for the 3.5" IDE drive:
If I remember correctly, lampshade imacs had 3.5" IDE drives. So, the enclosure would work for you. I've had good luck with the it. Other's have had good luck, mediocre luck and crappy luck. Your mileage will vary. But, it goes back to the other question. Is it cost effective as compared to saving up and buying a high capacity external.
Robert