Good external hard drive?

[wdlove]

I really appreciate everyone that is posting in this thread. A very interesting read. Comments are important. It looks as though I should really be looking at Lacie.

 

[powpow]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, this input is definitely helping with my decision process, keep it coming. Will buy something soon!

 

[Pine-Tree]

Hi all, been reading macrumors for quite some time and because of all you guys have bought a new ibook! Mac OSX is so cool!!

ok, well I have this exact same question as I too would like to back up all my things, so I was looking around and decided that i would go with the portability and small factor so I'm stuck between the western digital and lacie

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10558
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=110&Language=en

Any suggestions??

I can go with either one, but I'm hoping I can get some feedback, and are these were I can push a button and everything backs up automatically or do I have to manually back up everything everytime?

Thanks in advance

 

[Wingsunn]

Firewire 9 pin vs internal HD data transfer speed

Hey,

I have a 15" powerbook (1.67 MHz G$) and I am looking into purchasing an external hard drive for video editing purposes. I want to see if it is possible to use my editing software and do my work straight from my external hard drive rather than my stock internal one without the data transfer rate being slower. So basically I want to know if the data transfer rate of a 9 pin firewire connection is either equal or maybe even faster than the data transfer rate of my internal HD. Thanks guys!

 

[micvog]

I would go with a Seagate Barracuda. Very high quality, long warranty and, most important, has been the most quiet HDs for a long time, now, you can barely hear them "whisper".

Seagate has some very nice Firewire/USB2 combo drives in sizes from 80-500 GB, like the affordable 200 GB or the much larger 400 GB.

I bought the 200GB Seagate from Circuity City a few weeks ago ($149 after a $50 in mail-in rebates). It is a nice unit - comes with both FW and USB2 cables, has a power switch, and runs very cool - but it isn't quite. The fan is silent (if there is one), but the drive makes normal noises that seem to be slightly amplified by the case.

I use it for backup primarily and am very happy. Besides the noise, I would strongly recommend it.

 

[micvog]

Looks very nice, have some questions. At least I wasn't able to find the answers. What is the case constructed of and is it durable? Does if have a fan? How long is the warranty?

Case is plastic but very well made/solid.

According to my manual, it has a 1-yr. parts and labor warranty with lifetime technical support. Before I bought it I e-mailed Seagate and they responded the same day to confirm it has the Oxford chipset so tech support seems good. If it has a fan, it is either silent or mine doesn't come on.

The only noise is the usual hard disk noise - not silent but OK for my purposes. If the hard drive isn't being accessed it is silent. And my drive is on my desk about 3-feet from me.

 

[Greg_C]

G-Tech

Thought I'd give my 2 cents worth...I'm (unfortunately) not on a Mac, but I have a very nice external HDD made my G-Technology. They use Hitachi drives (good stuff), have every interface, and are have a fan-less design which is effective, nice to have, and obviously extremely quiet, as the only noise is from the drive itself. They are also very good looking (would compliment a PowerMac G5 or PowerBook especially well). My drive is the 80 gig usb 2.0 model, and I couldn't be happier with it. Very quick, and so far no relibility issues...I back up my main system drive to it several times a week, and it's spinning at least a few hours a day. Here's a link to the G-Drives: http://g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm
Obviously LaCie makes nice drives, as well as many other companies, but just thought I'd offer another option. Good luck with your purchase.

--Greg

 

[PieMac]

Thought I'd give my 2 cents worth...I'm (unfortunately) not on a Mac, but I have a very nice external HDD made my G-Technology. They use Hitachi drives (good stuff), have every interface, and are have a fan-less design which is effective, nice to have, and obviously extremely quiet, as the only noise is from the drive itself. They are also very good looking (would compliment a PowerMac G5 or PowerBook especially well). My drive is the 80 gig usb 2.0 model, and I couldn't be happier with it. Very quick, and so far no relibility issues...I back up my main system drive to it several times a week, and it's spinning at least a few hours a day. Here's a link to the G-Drives: http://g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm
Obviously LaCie makes nice drives, as well as many other companies, but just thought I'd offer another option. Good luck with your purchase.

--Greg

I have a G-Tech G-Drive on order to be delivered Tuesday. I almost went with the LaCie D2 Extreme, but there are so many mixed reviews about it (at least outside of this forum). I'll be using mine mainly for general backup and to store my iphoto library.
I'm starting to second guess the size I ordered (80 GB)-might refuse delivery, bite the bullet, pay more, and go for the 160 GB with 400/800 firewire (I also like the idea of "future proofing"with the 800 firewire option-not to mention faster transfer speeds).

I noticed that the G-Drives have an on/off switch-do you leave yours on all the time and does it sleep when your computer sleeps (and for that matter, are there any sleep issues?).

 

[Greg_C]

I have a G-Tech G-Drive on order to be delivered Tuesday. I almost went with the LaCie D2 Extreme, but there are so many mixed reviews about it (at least outside of this forum). I'll be using mine mainly for general backup and to store my iphoto library.
I'm starting to second guess the size I ordered (80 GB)-might refuse delivery, bite the bullet, pay more, and go for the 160 GB with 400/800 firewire (I also like the idea of "future proofing"with the 800 firewire option-not to mention faster transfer speeds).

I noticed that the G-Drives have an on/off switch-do you leave yours on all the time and does it sleep when your computer sleeps (and for that matter, are there any sleep issues?).

Hope you love your G-Drive as much as I love mine! To answer your question, I turn off my drive after shutting down my system. This is for several reasons...Firstly I turn off my PeeCee every night (Windows becomes more painful to use after every additional hour since a reboot ) Also, the drive is not used by any other computer than mine, so I have no reason to have it on when my computer is off. As for the size, it really depends on your personal needs. My system drive is only 40gigs, with about 98% of that used, so it's nice to be able to move some files to reside solely on the G-Drive (although I no longer have a complete backup of every file) However I anticipate I'll fill the G-Drive sooner than I originally thought. I'd recommend getting the largest drive you can (that is practical) My model is only USB 2, since I don't have any FireWire ports. However FW800 certainly seems to be a nice spec as far as speed goes (G-Tech quotes transfer speeds at up to 61 MB/sec using the FW800 bus) Well hope that helps some, and enjoy your new drive (PS - Did you get the silver or "stealth" finish? Just curious because the latter wasn't available when I bought mine, but it looks pretty nice.)

--Greg

 

[cruxed]

Not meaning to hi-jack this thread, but I have a slight query to all you external hard drive owners.

I have a Seagate 80gb external harddisk, connected to my mac mini via USB 2. The only problem is that it makes a copy of the file that I want to move into it, instead of acting like an internal drive and moving the original file. This irritates me as I have to go back and delete the original file.
Any solutions to this vexing problem?

Thanks guys.
Boris

 

[weezer160]

i like lacie, too, but the one i have is a usb 2.0 driven hard drive. instead for other more intense apps like games or the occasional video editing, i prefer my g-tech 160 GB FW 800 HD w/8 MB cache. it's actually mid-range in the line up... and is a little pricey. it doesn't get hot or loud, and it's fast and reliable. it goes well with my PB and also has the flexibility to go between FW 800 and 400.

 

[PieMac]

i like lacie, too, but the one i have is a usb 2.0 driven hard drive. instead for other more intense apps like games or the occasional video editing, i prefer my g-tech 160 GB FW 800 HD w/8 MB cache. it's actually mid-range in the line up... and is a little pricey. it doesn't get hot or loud, and it's fast and reliable. it goes well with my PB and also has the flexibility to go between FW 800 and 400.

Do you leave it on all of the time? I'm just wondering if left on if it will sleep when your Mac sleeps. This is one feature that I like that I know that the LaCie does, but have yet to be able to find out if the G-Tech does the same. For my own purposes, I'd prefer to just leave it on so that back ups can be done in the background at set times.

 

[PieMac]

Hope you love your G-Drive as much as I love mine! To answer your question, I turn off my drive after shutting down my system. This is for several reasons...Firstly I turn off my PeeCee every night (Windows becomes more painful to use after every additional hour since a reboot ) Also, the drive is not used by any other computer than mine, so I have no reason to have it on when my computer is off. As for the size, it really depends on your personal needs. My system drive is only 40gigs, with about 98% of that used, so it's nice to be able to move some files to reside solely on the G-Drive (although I no longer have a complete backup of every file) However I anticipate I'll fill the G-Drive sooner than I originally thought. I'd recommend getting the largest drive you can (that is practical) My model is only USB 2, since I don't have any FireWire ports. However FW800 certainly seems to be a nice spec as far as speed goes (G-Tech quotes transfer speeds at up to 61 MB/sec using the FW800 bus) Well hope that helps some, and enjoy your new drive (PS - Did you get the silver or "stealth" finish? Just curious because the latter wasn't available when I bought mine, but it looks pretty nice.)

--Greg

I ordered the titanium to match my Powerbook...and now I'm thinking that I will probably order the 250GB 800 firewire and refuse the original order. I am still waning back and forth between this and the LaCie D2 Extreme to some degree. Deep down I feel a greater peace of mind with the G-Tech (two year warranty doesn't hurt either...not to mention I love the design of it).... but ...I also can get the LaCie D2 at a really good price and I like it's power management abilities and they also just came out with an upgrade to it a couple of months back...perhaps more reliable since?

Hmmmmm....

 

[danny_w]

I looked at all the external drives out there and decided to build my own using a Rosewill RX30 case (FW+USB2) and a WD 160GB HD. I love it! I bought my son one of the new OWC Mercury aluminum drives, and I like mine much more, and it was cheaper to boot. Absolutely silent, very well built case, and fast transfers. I would do it again in a heartbeat.