Best external hard drive?

[alexf]

I need to advise someone on getting an external firewire hard drive for back-up purposes, preferably at least 120 GB. They are a non-profit company and don't have a big budget.

Can anyone advise me as to what would be a reliable and well-priced hard drive? Looks and speed are not as important as reliability.

I personally have a LaCie D2 firewire drive that I've been happy with, but I have recently heard that these have extremely poor reliability ratings, so I'd rather stay away from these.

Thanks!

[Bhennies]

Hi...there's a couple really good threads discussing this already. Personally, I would recommend the OWC firewire drives.

[Crikey]

I was going to recommend the D2 FireWire drive I have, but maybe now instead I'll ask where you heard about reliability problems with them. Have you had problems with yours?


Crikey

[thecow]

The LaCie drive that I have works very well. I have had no problems with it at all.

[raynegus]

Where do you read this rubbish? LaCie d2 drives are reliable workhorses. Built like tanks. I have 3 and they have been rock solid reliable. Go buy some and relax. :)

[titaniumducky]

I need to advise someone on getting an external firewire hard drive for back-up purposes, preferably at least 120 GB. They are a non-profit company and don't have a big budget.

Can anyone advise me as to what would be a reliable and well-priced hard drive? Looks and speed are not as important as reliability.

I personally have a LaCie D2 firewire drive that I've been happy with, but I have recently heard that these have extremely poor reliability ratings, so I'd rather stay away from these.

Thanks!

If budget is the most important thing then buy an internal hard drive plus an IDE-Firewire external enclosure.

The enclosure will run you about $40. The hard drive - well, that varies. I saw one fro $99 after rebates the other day - it was 200GB, 8MB Buffer, 7200RPM! Now that's a steal.

edit: check out newegg (http://newegg.com) for the enclosures. Bytecc's seem to be the best deal.

[alexf]

Where do you read this rubbish? LaCie d2 drives are reliable workhorses. Built like tanks. I have 3 and they have been rock solid reliable. Go buy some and relax. :)

Like I said, I myself have a LaCie and have been very happy with it. However, after reading a thread here in which someone was saying that they are reputed to be some of the most unreliable drives out there and that everyone he knows that has gotten one has had problems with it, I did a little Internet research and discovered that it's no secret that LaCie drives are not reliable.

Again, however, I can't speak from personal experience on this, but since a company has hired me to find a cheap and reliable hard drive for them, it would not be responsible of me to find them something that is reputed to be unreliable (especially since we're talking about data).

[parrothead]

I have an external drive from Synchrotech. ( http://www.synchrotech.com/ )
I really like the enclosures and the drives they use. They are very stylish and much smaller than a lot of the LaCies and other companies drives. Plus, it was very easy to upgrade from 120 to 200gb by myself, all I needed was a philips head screwdriver and a pair of needle nose pliars. Check them out, they have lots of choices.

[primalman]

I second the OtherWorld Computing [OWC] recommendation. Good products at great prices and they stand behind what they sell.

:)

[ToastCabbit]

I just bought a Fantom Drive. Haven't used it extensively, it's only for minor backup purposes, but it's 120GB, firewire, $135 I believe after a $20 mail-in rebate, and it looks very, very sleek! :D

Here's a link if you want: http://www.fantomdrives.com/products/firewire/hd.php4

Hope that helps you!

[alexf]

If budget is the most important thing then buy an internal hard drive plus an IDE-Firewire external enclosure.

The enclosure will run you about $40. The hard drive - well, that varies. I saw one fro $99 after rebates the other day - it was 200GB, 8MB Buffer, 7200RPM! Now that's a steal.

edit: check out newegg (http://newegg.com) for the enclosures. Bytecc's seem to be the best deal.

Thanks everyone for the advice. :)

[alexf]

Does anyone have any experience with the Iogear Combo Ion drives? The 3 year warranty certainly is attractive...

[virividox]

i sue a weibetech

200 gb
7200
8mb cache

had it for a year now top stuff

[krimson]

i have 2 bytecc enclosures ($55 each, USB and FW) one with a 120gb WD SE drive ($60), and the other is a Maxtor 80GB ($40).
The WD has been running about a year straight, with absolutely no problems. The enclosure is solid, doesn't get too hot. Looks plain though, nothing super fancy.

I suppose if you wanted some kind of warranty, and tech support, pay the extra for a "name brand", otherwise, build it yourself (or have a friend do it) and save some $$

[legion]

Wiebetech FW800 (fanless, triple interface; USB2, FW400, 2xFW800, solid aluminum case, small, and great build quality and Oxford922 programmed correctly) with HGST 7K250 drives (8MB Cache, 7200rpm, 3yr warranty)

Solid as a rock and I have 3 of them.

[krimson]

aren't those like $150 each?

[furrina]

Is there any reason NOT to get a FW 800 ext. drive (other than they seem to be a tiny bit more expensive) vs. a FW 400?

[alexf]

Is there any reason NOT to get a FW 800 ext. drive (other than they seem to be a tiny bit more expensive) vs. a FW 400?

Yes, I was wondering the same thing.

Anyone?