Which external HD for iMac?

I've had good luck with Western Digital but it bugs me that it's not USB 3. Though the new drive is meant for backups, you'll never have the option to use it for anything else.

designs216 said:

...it bugs me that it's not USB 3..

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Uhhh, are we looking at the same drive? It says right on it (from the OP's link) "Western Digital 3TB MY BOOK USB-3.0 DESKTOP HD FOR MAC."

@OP - you don't need a "for Mac" hard drive; all that means is that it will come pre-formatted in HFS+. Save some money and consider this one.

js81 said:

Uhhh, are we looking at the same drive? It says right on it (from the OP's link) "Western Digital 3TB MY BOOK USB-3.0 DESKTOP HD FOR MAC."

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My apologies! I followed the link but didn't see tech specs, so I distrusted the heading as a misprint. Should have dug deeper using the manufacturer's part number.

Pngwyn said:

I'm getting an external hard drive for my iMac just to backup my files and also keep extraneous files that I don't care to back up. I'm currently looking at the Lacie 3TB Minimus drive or the Western Digital MyBook 3 TB drive...

They're both roughly the same price, but the lacie definitely wins out on form factor. Just wondering if I'll get roughly the same performance out of either external HD, and whether or not they are good choices to begin with.

Any input appreciated, thanks

WD : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=903531&Q=&is=REG&A=details
LaCie : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/883462-REG/LaCie_302004_Minimus_USB_3_0_3TB.html

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Ive used WD MyBook for years with very little incident. Some WD naysayers on the board (maybe appropriately so) but its been my back up solution for a long time. My approach is exactly as you described too.

pjfla said:

Ive used WD MyBook for years with very little incident. Some WD naysayers on the board...

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I, too, have used WD (almost) solely for 15+ years. Currently running my home server with 4x 1TB Greens and 1x 1TB Blue without issue, and the drives are going on 3 years old.

designs216 said:

My apologies! I followed the link but didn't see tech specs, so I distrusted the heading as a misprint. Should have dug deeper using the manufacturer's part number.

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Lol, no problem. Been there done that plenty.

Imho.....

the 2 drives being under the USB 3.0 spec, will show only marginal gains, one over other, if any/detectable.

I would prefer the LaCie one by the form factor. But had 10 years using WD ones, sometimes in a 24/7 basis and found not so much troubles....just my 5 cents....

Pngwyn said:

I'm getting an external hard drive for my iMac just to backup my files and also keep extraneous files that I don't care to back up. I'm currently looking at the Lacie 3TB Minimus drive or the Western Digital MyBook 3 TB drive...

They're both roughly the same price, but the lacie definitely wins out on form factor. Just wondering if I'll get roughly the same performance out of either external HD, and whether or not they are good choices to begin with.

Any input appreciated, thanks

WD : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=903531&Q=&is=REG&A=details
LaCie : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/883462-REG/LaCie_302004_Minimus_USB_3_0_3TB.html

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bang for the buck + speed and reliability/noise are the 2TB portable usb3.0 drives. I'm guessing you'll have 3.0 since you're discussing the new imac in the other thread.

I have 2 of the 2tb passports from BF and they're plenty quick and I've had very good experiences with WD and they are usually quieter than their seagate brethren (I have the 1.5tb portable)

Pngwyn said:

Thanks for the response fellas! Looks like it's the WD for me

A weird question.. can I put the WD on it's side instead of having it stand upright?

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you should be fine since the vents are on the back and top. I'm guessing you want to stack them vertically? Its too bad they got rid of the aluminum models, those would match very well with the imac.

phoenixsan said:

I would prefer the LaCie one by the form factor. But had 10 years using WD ones, sometimes in a 24/7 basis and found not so much troubles

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Until recently, I would be inclined to agree with you. I've been using a very nice LaCie d2 drive over FireWire 800 for a couple years with no issues. It was so nice in fact, I decided to buy a second one.

First off, the new drive came with a faulty power supply. They shipped out a new one right away, and it worked perfectly, but still annoying.

The real problem is that the newer USB 3.0 version of the d2 triple-interface drive seems to have some serious incompatibility with Macs when run over FireWire. It periodically causes the computer to completely freeze — Finder or any app that tries to access the drive will lock up, and you can only recover with a restart, or by yanking the FireWire cable.

I found numerous threads on Apple's discussion boards, and right here on MacRumors, describing the same exact issue. LaCie has a firmware update for that drive, but it didn't resolve my issue at all — nor did it seem to for a lot people in the discussions I found. Many were lucky enough to get LaCie to exchange the drive for the older version, but in my case they said they had no more in stock.

I've fallen back to just using the drive over USB 2.0 (my 2011 Mini doesn't have 3.0). Fortunately, I'm not using it for video editing or any other use where USB 2.0 would be a dealbreaker.