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Looking for Good FW800 500GB to 1TB External Drive

Wicked1

Wicked1

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 13, 2009
3,283
14
New Jersey
Ok, so I am in search of a new 500GB-1TB External Drive for Time Machine, and it has to have FW800 as well as USB 2.

I was thinking of getting an external chassis and buying my own hard drive, has anyone purchased a good external chassis with both ports, or a all in one drive that is worth the money?
 
Haven't had any trouble with my WD Mybook drives. Seem to hear good things about WD, yet any and all drives can fail.

Honestly though, with prices as low as $100 for a 2TB drive, they are cheap...for a 500GB-1TB, you'll probably find one for $50-75 for FW..or even combo FW/USB/eSATA.

I am now basically treating HDDs as 'throw-away' devices. Get yourself a new one every 12-18 months and you will be fine. in 12-18 months they will be twice the size for a lower price.

I originally had a 500GB for TM, for about 10 months, upgraded last month to a 1.5TB. Probably getting a 2TB drive next year.
 
I have a Seagate FW800 drive that's been rock solid. My roommate's WD mybook died in 3 months. If you get a WD drive just ensure there isn't actually a WD Green drive inside. According to the intarwebs (IT MUST BE TRUE I SEE'D IT ON THERE!), they're statistically more prone to failure for some reason.

Seagate for life.
 
Wicked1 said:
Ok, so I am in search of a new 500GB-1TB External Drive for Time Machine, and it has to have FW800 as well as USB 2.

I was thinking of getting an external chassis and buying my own hard drive, has anyone purchased a good external chassis with both ports, or a all in one drive that is worth the money?
Click to expand...

First off, separate your items. The chassis will have the connectors FW800/USB and not the drive. Inside, theses days, your drive would probably be a SATA II drive. You like to utilize the speed of FW800? You will need at least 7200rpm drive. USB alone a 5400rpm would be enough. Secondly, you want a 2,5" drive or a 3,5"? This will determine the size of your enclosure. If you don't bother for mobility 3,5" should suffice for you as it is cheaper and more reliable as compared to 2,5" drives.

I am sorry, I can't give you any actual drives to recommend - personally, I prefer Samsung drives for my RAID - but at least you know how to phrase your question right, and, thirdly, an online search for drives might return you better results as asking here.
 
Get one of these Voyager docks which can let you use any size hard drive 2.5 or 3.5". I have one of these that I use with several drives and in the long run will be much cheaper and great for cloning backups... I just spend $99 on a 2TB WD Green Drive for my photo library. I also have a Mercury Elite Al which I use FW 800 to daisy chain to. This combo lets me do everything
 
Go to OWC (macsales.com). They have a great selection of hard drive cases, both with USB, firewire 400/800 and esata. I have a dual esata only one and it has been great.
 
mmulin said:
You like to utilize the speed of FW800? You will need at least 7200rpm drive. USB alone a 5400rpm would be enough.
Click to expand...

I can assure you that a 5400rpm drive can read and write faster than 25MB/s. it won't saturate FW800, but it can take advantage of the additional throughput.

FW800 probably isn't worth the expense just for TM. only the first backup takes awhile, after that it only takes a few minutes at most, even on USB.

anyways, to answer your question, I think you should look at G-Tech, LaCie, or Buffalo. WD mostly makes USB...also, Greens aren't more likely to fail, WD's MyBooks just have crappy enclosures (and happen to contain Green drives).
 
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