Different external hard drives explained.

Yes I have read a lot of the threads on this topic, but I still have a couple of questions (bear with me)...

During my search for external storage solutions for the Mac mini that will arrive in 15 days, I have come across 3 different types of external HDs

1. The basic ones, such as

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Essent...J428/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1352657346&sr=8-2


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-STB...rive/dp/B0084LZJ1M/ref=pd_sim_sbs_computers_2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-Minim...HRSO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354999731&sr=8-1

2. The ones that seem to be identical to the basic ones in terms of capability, but in more fancy enclosures, such as the g technology g force, or this one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-7200RPM-USB3-Hard-Disk/dp/B004CFUTAK/ref=pd_sim_sbs_computers_4

3. The ones with more storage (4TB+) and RAID capabilities, such as

http://store.westerndigital.com/sto...tegory.58729000/parid.13831800/catid.55436400

I realise some of the price difference are due to connectivity, but I am fine with USB3, no need for thunderbolt or FireWire.

My usage: i will use them for a big shared itunes library, iphoto library possibly, movies, and timemachind backups from 2 MBAs. I'll probably leave the mini on 24/7 to access the itunes library.

I will have them inside a cupboard underneath my tv, connected to a Mac mini. Does that mean I should go for type 2 rather than 1, as they have more sophisticated cooling mechanisms?

RAID: was is this, and is it of any use for my usage? My initial instinct is that I rather just clone everything once a week or something like that for backup belong time machine.

I've completely ignored NAS because its not practical for me to attach anything to my router, so attaching storage to the mini seems the way to go.

Also ignored anything self built, because I'm lazy.

Thank you for reading!

MCAsan said:

Personally I use a LaCie 2BIG 6TB running in RAID 1 for my iTunes, photos, movies, documents...etc. My backup is to a 3TB Time Capsule. The combo works well for me.

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probably a silly questions but here it goes. All the hard drives with RAID capabilities are more expensive than the ones that aren't. Why is a 6TB LaCie 2Big better than getting 2x cheaper 3TB externals and just cloning one onto the other once a day/week?

mawyatt said:

MacMall has the LaCie 2Big 4TB Thunderbolt refurb for $299, half price of the "new" one. I have two and they are very nice drives, and both have new (date code 2/2012) Seagate 7200rpm Barracuda drives, 2 in each box. These LaCie's 2Big are more than the USB drives, but the refurb helps. Seemed like good deal to me. You can configure each as a RAID 0 or 1, or combine them into a RAID 0 or 1. I have them setup up as a combined RAID 0, and Black Magic indicates 500M R/W speeds.

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Sounds good. No such offers here in the UK I am afraid. The 6TB version is almost as much as the mini itself.