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What external USB 3.0 drives are you guys buying?

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barrett14

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 24, 2010
183
44
I need to buy a USB 3.0 external drive for my new iMac but don't know what to order. What has some good value?
 
P

photoz

macrumors member
Jun 17, 2006
73
3
There is a 3TB Seagate that is a good deal currently. Can't recall model name, was on sale over BF for $100. I got it for $130 before hand.
 
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bflowers

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2006
636
136
photoz said:
There is a 3TB Seagate that is a good deal currently. Can't recall model name, was on sale over BF for $100. I got it for $130 before hand.
Click to expand...

I now have two of these, got one each of the last two years from Best Buy for $99 on Black Friday. This will be the first time I get the USB3 speeds though. Otherwise happy with the drive. Believe it is call Seagate Backup Plus; it has a removable base that you can swap out for different connections like Firewire 800 or Thunderbolt.
 
D

deltrotter

macrumors regular
Nov 30, 2004
175
0
Guys, just recently bought a 3tb Firewire 800/USB 3 external mybook which is currently attached to my iMac (2008) as a firewire.

Have ordered a new iMac today and was going to get a thunderbolt to firewire converter from Apple.

Reading this, is USB3 just as fast - ie. should I just plug in the external to a USB3 port on my new iMac.

The external is for Time Machine backups (I will also use it to transfer all my old iMac stuff to the new iMac via the Migration Assistant).

TIA

Cheers

Del
 
B

bflowers

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2006
636
136
I would Del, hold off buying an adapter until after the initial transfer. If it seems quick and responsive, then there isn't any point to spend the extra money on something else. Backups are off peak activities anyway, so other than restoring a whole system, speed isn't going to be the main factor in backing up data.
 
Laucian Nailor

Laucian Nailor

macrumors member
Oct 24, 2012
96
0
UK
Razorhog said:
I just got one of these, works great.

http://store.apple.com/us-k12/produ...sche-design-p9233-desktop-hard-drive?fnode=5f
Click to expand...

Typical bloody UK prices....I liked the look of that so had a glance at the UK Apple store. £139-94, which equates to $224-95 at today's exchange rate compared to $149-95 +sales tax (possibly depending on state).

Even removing tax here in the UK (VAT) it's £116-62 ($186-89) :eek:

Out of Interest even the iMac configuration I want comes to £1788 (after removing taxes), which is $2864-82 (actual $ Apple charge in the US is $2588) so nearly a $300 premium for a UK customer (plus the 20% tax we have to pay) WOW :mad:
 
Last edited:
Chupa Chupa

Chupa Chupa

macrumors G5
Jul 16, 2002
14,835
7,396
Roll your own. Most ext USB 3 drives have 5400rpm drives inside which kinda negates USB3's speed. Buy a WD Black drive and put it in a quality USB 3 enclosure and you'll be good to go.
 
xgman

xgman

macrumors 603
Aug 6, 2007
5,672
1,378
Buy a powered usb 3 enclosure and the get whatever fast drive you like.
 
M

Mac2133

macrumors member
May 31, 2012
81
5
Costco has the Seagate Backup Plus 3TB external HDD on sale now for $120 + tax. These were going for $100 on Black Friday and I picked up 3 drives.
 
S

Scrapula

macrumors 6502
May 1, 2012
305
14
Seattle, WA
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