which 2.5 inch external enclosure to get?

Hi all,

I was shopping for an external enclosure for
my 2.5 inch hard drive (ata-100), and I noticed
that a lot of the low-end ones have short
warranties or are often sold as refurbs.

I am trying to avoid junk without spending
too much. I was wondering if anyone could
recommend a good unit that is less than US $30?

Failing that, are there any portable hard drive
based MP3 players that come without a hard drive
i.e. empty?

Thanks.

Here in Taiwan where most of them are made they retail for about
NT700-250 for the same thing, only Japan brand name (or dual usb/FW)
adds huge difference. Every Nova, Sunfar store has 20 models to choose
from, only the labelling is different.

Divide by about 30 to get $10 for typ model. I have one, its was a life
saver for a problem laptop to rescue files.

They all use the exact same usb2 bridge board so they are damn simple
things.

US$30 might be what the $10 turns into by the time CompUSA has its
way.

The MP3 route would be far more expensive since it must contain several
times more chips.

regards

JJ