Can you recommend an External Hard Drive

[EYESPORTS]

I have a new MBP (purchased last week) and am looking to purchase a 500 GB external hard drive for backup/storage. I am looking to use FireWire for transfer - due to speed, as eSATA does not appear to be an option (port wise). I read thru the forums and am looking for a specific brand/model recommendation. I was going to go for the Western Digital 500GB My Book (which has FW400/800), however, I read many negatives. I would appreciate any specific input / recommendation. Thank you.

[cujoe86]

you can purchase an eSata express card for your MBP.

http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/adexc34-2e.asp

[Apple Corps]

Ditto what cujoe86 said - offerings from Sonnet, Caldigit, and Firmtek are worth a look also. The Caldigit lineup looks impressive.

[andrewdale]

I have the MyBook 500GB w/ FW800, FW400 & USB 2.0. It's a nice drive, but the plastic enclosure does make me a little scared sometimes.

The next drive I'm going to get is going to be a G-Tech Quad. They cost a little bit more, but with a hard metal enclosure, good cooling and sweet design, I think it's worth it. Try checking them out.

And, like cujoe86 said, you can get an eSata card for your Expresscard 34 slot.

[zepharus]

I have the MyBook 500GB w/ FW800, FW400 & USB 2.0. It's a nice drive, but the plastic enclosure does make me a little scared sometimes.

The next drive I'm going to get is going to be a G-Tech Quad. They cost a little bit more, but with a hard metal enclosure, good cooling and sweet design, I think it's worth it. Try checking them out.

And, like cujoe86 said, you can get an eSata card for your Expresscard 34 slot.

I have the Gtech 320MB quad drive and it is hands down, the best looking drive out there. matches the Apple line PERFECTLY. Great performace and interface options also. It uses a Hitachi HD. Great stuff

[EYESPORTS]

Is using eSata ?much? faster than using FW400 or FW800? I'm wondering if the extra component (e-Sata card) is worth the hassle.

[Apple Corps]

Is using eSata ?much? faster than using FW400 or FW800? I'm wondering if the extra component (e-Sata card) is worth the hassle.

It is much faster - depending on what you are doing :-)

[HengenJL]

I personally own a pair of the Wester Digital MyBook drives. One is the 500GB that you are look at and the other is a 1TB drive. Both work really really well. I will only using Western Digital hard drives when I building computers, I've not had any problems with an WD drive that I've used. I do know of people who have had a faulty WD drive and WD honored their warranty and gave them new drives.

I wouldnt touch a Maxtor drive with a 10 foot pole! too many Maxtor hard drive failures in the past has installed a deep mistrust of anything Maxtor.

Another option you might want to think about is buying an external hard drive enclosure then installing whatever size hard drive you want. I have an old 100GB Western Digital HD installed in an external HD enclosure that I'm using for my Time Machine backups and it works perfectly. Also if I ever need to upgrade the size of the drive I can just go out and buy an internal hard drive to place into the enclosure.

[cherry su]

Buy a 500GB SATA internal drive ($100) and an external case ($30) and voila!

However most inexpensive cases have USB only or USB + eSATA. Firewire cases start around $40 i think

[sjb]

Buy a 500GB SATA internal drive ($100) and an external case ($30) and voila!

However most inexpensive cases have USB only or USB + eSATA. Firewire cases start around $40 i think

Someone in another thread recommended Icy Dock for external enclosures. I haven't tried them out, but they look kinda nice:

http://www.icydock.com/home.htm

[EYESPORTS]

Thanks everyone. Seems like the G-Tech 913003-01 (500 GB) is the way to go. I see only positive reviews on it - when searching. A little pricey, but appears hassle free . . . . . . I hope :rolleyes:

[sjb]

Thanks everyone. Seems like the G-Tech 913003-01 (500 GB) is the way to go. I see only positive reviews on it - when searching. A little pricey, but appears hassle free . . . . . . I hope :rolleyes:

Not to throw a wrench into this, but Best Buy has a Western Digital My Book 500G on sale this week. It has FW400/USB/eSata. I'd pounce on it myself if it were FW800, but if you're looking for eSata, this may be the way to go.

[DJJONES]

I would recommend the lacie big disk I have been using June for over 3years with no issue at all! I have 500gb but they also come in USB and firewire

[EYESPORTS]

Not to throw a wrench into this, but Best Buy has a Western Digital My Book 500G on sale this week. It has FW400/USB/eSata. I'd pounce on it myself if it were FW800, but if you're looking for eSata, this may be the way to go.

I saw this. However, when I read thru the forums (posts) on this particular My Book Drive (WD), there are alot of negatives as well as positives. I'm not 100% looking for eSata - just looking for something that will give no headaches (that's why I converted from PC to MBP).

[sjb]

I saw this. However, when I read thru the forums (posts) on this particular My Book Drive (WD), there are alot of negatives as well as positives. I'm not 100% looking for eSata - just looking for something that will give no headaches (that's why I converted from PC to MBP).

I am in the same boat. I am looking for a reliable external drive as well. I agree the G-Tech drives are nice, but they're about $100 more expensive than everyone else. I may just get the Icy Dock external drive bays and drop in my own Seagate drive. I've had good luck with Seagate in the past.

[andrewdale]

If you have a MacBook Pro, then you need FW800. Tracking professional audio, I'm able to use my FW800 drive quite well. True, eSata would be much faster, but FW400 is much slower and it doesn't work well enough for my purposes.

Get FW800 if you got it.

[jjahshik32]

I ordered this, http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/800+USB2/

the 1 tb version

[swmr]

I have a Western Digital 500GB Mybook drive that I partitioned into two. It has an aluminum enclosure which looks very nice with my MBP, and it had ports for firewire 800, 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA.

I don't have a link but check out the apple store or online store, Mine cost me $159.

Mitch -- swmr

[compuguy1088]

I personally own a pair of the Wester Digital MyBook drives. One is the 500GB that you are look at and the other is a 1TB drive. Both work really really well. I will only using Western Digital hard drives when I building computers, I've not had any problems with an WD drive that I've used. I do know of people who have had a faulty WD drive and WD honored their warranty and gave them new drives.

I wouldn't touch a Maxtor drive with a 10 foot pole! too many Maxtor hard drive failures in the past has installed a deep mistrust of anything Maxtor.

Another option you might want to think about is buying an external hard drive enclosure then installing whatever size hard drive you want. I have an old 100GB Western Digital HD installed in an external HD enclosure that I'm using for my Time Machine backups and it works perfectly. Also if I ever need to upgrade the size of the drive I can just go out and buy an internal hard drive to place into the enclosure.

I've actually been lucky, none of the hard drives we've had have crashed, even the Maxtor ones. Only thing I have is one drive that has some bad sectors, most likely from me bumping the machine hard enough to disrupt the spin of the drive.

[EYESPORTS]

From what I understand, it's best to partition the external Hard Drive from the getgo (initial install). Any tips on the best way of partitioning it? Also, in case we need to install Windows XP (at a later date) for business program applications, would this change the partition setup (parameters)?

Also, I am going for the 7200 RPM model - is there any major difference between that and a 5400 RPM model? (on the external hard drive that is)

[killerwhack]

I wouldnt touch a Maxtor drive with a 10 foot pole! too many Maxtor hard drive failures in the past has installed a deep mistrust of anything Maxtor.


I agree with this post. I just got a 2 terabyte MyBook from WD. I like Seagate and Western Digital. Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba are ok. Hitachi bought out IBM's Drive Manufacturing business. Maxtor is part of Seagate, now, but before Seagate bought them out, their drives ran really hot. I believe this fact is what caused them to have a higher failure rate than I found acceptable.

[sjb]

I agree with this post. I just got a 2 terabyte MyBook from WD. I like Seagate and Western Digital. Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba are ok. Hitachi bought out IBM's Drive Manufacturing business. Maxtor is part of Seagate, now, but before Seagate bought them out, their drives ran really hot. I believe this fact is what caused them to have a higher failure rate than I found acceptable.

I own a Maxtor drive and would never buy another one. It is very loud and noisy. I don't care for it at all, but it'll do until it crashes.

I am a huge fan of Seagate though, and I'm glad to hear they bought Maxtor.

[jinxer5000]

What kind of drive is in the My Book Studio? I can't seem to find that info? 7200RPM?
Also all the pictures I see of this drive show it standing vertical. Can it lay down horizontal?

[alphaod]

What kind of drive is in the My Book Studio? I can't seem to find that info? 7200RPM?
Also all the pictures I see of this drive show it standing vertical. Can it lay down horizontal?

I think it would be WD drive, but who knows. Yes it's 7200RPM.

Here are it's specs:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=374

Yes you can lay it horizontally, but it doesn't have rubber feet on the sides.

Also if you're a Costco member they have the WD Studio for $250. Otherwise I'd get an external enclosure and buy an internal drive and install it that way.

[EYESPORTS]

Well, ended up purchasing a LaCie Rugged 250 GB ext storage which has Firewire 800, FW 400 and USB. Went to plug it in and MBP would not recognize it, no matter which cable was used.

Called AppleCare who had me try a different drive (older ext HD) that I had which went thru USB. Plugged it in - MBP recognizes it. Disconnect it and MBP goes completely dead. AppleCare could not understand it - had me go to Genius Bar - said the Mother Board is probably fried. However, they try to blame other things (like my installing 4 GB of RAM) 2 weeks earlier. They are looking into it. The MBP is only 3 weeks old and dead.:mad:

[a456]

This is very unlucky. I hope you get it sorted. I've had a LaCie mobile drive (FW400/USB 2.0 - 40GB) for probably five years now. It's been dropped from a great height like most of my portable stuff and survived, and has always worked a dream after some initial disagreements it had with OS X 10.2. I also use a desktop IOMEGA (FW400/USB2.0 - 250GB), which also works without a hitch plugged into my iMac.

In the long run I can safely say that you won't regret the switch, once things are running smoothly they run smoothly for a very long time.