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I Need an External HD

A

applekid

macrumors 68020
Original poster
I'm looking for a decently priced external HD that has FireWire and USB 2.0 is optional. I've been looking around, and I'm seeing bad reviews for almost every single HD! 😱 Especially from big names like Lacie. I'm open to the option of external cases, but I'd like some reliable models and names for external HDs including cases (and internal HDs for those cases). At the moment 80 GB seems to be enough for me.

Thanks.
 
I second your question, I would really like to know of a dependable External Hard Drive but I'm looking for a bigger drive -- 200-300 GB
 
Ext Hard Drive

I bought an ADS firewire / usb 2.0 enclosure, this way I can add whatever size drive I want, or have multiple drives going for projects. This is my second enclosure case.

I think the case was under $70.00, the harddrive is up to you, the 160 gig that I bought was on sale at Comp USA for $60.00. If the 160 fills up I can just buy another drive, and re-use the enclosure. I've never had issues with my 80 gig Seagate Barracudas ( I have 4) or my Hitachi 160 gig.

Rich
 
I have a 120GB Maxtor drive, and i have never had a problem with it. Even when power has gone out and come back (is on surge protector thou) All i have to do is plug it into the computer again and eject it. and it is back to normal.

and it looks like the powerbook casing making it look even better 😛
 
I have a PHR-100-AC from MacAlly, it's great, the enclosure doesn't have fan so it still quiet. Choose an aluminium case without fan if noise bother you, else with a fan performance is better ( not too much but noticable). The only problem I see with it, is that it lack an ON/OFF switch. Else it work perfectly. Take an enclosure with Oxford bridge, for better performance.
 
Now i'm a little sketchy on this enclosure thing... I hate to sound like a newb but what exactly does the enclosure do? Is it worth the hassle of buying it?
 
Now i'm a little sketchy on this enclosure thing... I hate to sound like a newb but what exactly does the enclosure do? Is it worth the hassle of buying it?
Click to expand...

An enclosure is just a box that you can put a normal hard drive into, then connect it via USB or Firewire to your computer. It would probably be more expensive to buy an enclosure and a hard disk than to buy a normal external drive, but you get the bonus of being able to replace the drive inside whenever you want to. I would say it's worth the hassle, but that's just me 🙂
 
roberts said:
It would probably be more expensive to buy an enclosure and a hard disk than to buy a normal external drive
Click to expand...
Do you really mean that??? I've looked at several external hard disks for months and a few months ago I finally went for an internal drive and an enclosure. It was a lot cheaper than buying a stock external drive!!! It's been doing pretty well too. Except in a few cases where "branded" external drives could be cheap, buying an internal drive and putting it in an enclosure yourself would save a lot of money!

With "branded" external drives, they charge at the higher end towards a dollar per Gig. For an internal drive + enclosure, the cost of the enclosure right now varies from $25 to $40 depending on what you buy, but the best deals for internal drives come between 30 cents to 50 cents a Gig. So the larger the hard disk you buy, the lesser your per Gig cost if you build it yourself (it's very simple to build it too). Recently CompUSA was (or maybe still is) offering a 160GB HDD with a separate enclosure together for $60 (after mail-in-rebates).
 
Here is the link to Macworld review of some external drives. G-Drive (by G-Technology) seems second best and best looking, that is what I am considering. The price has droped on G-drive.

It actualy beats the Lacie drives. 🙂 Plus it looks damn great. 😀
 
wiseguy27 said:
Do you really mean that??? I've looked at several external hard disks for months and a few months ago I finally went for an internal drive and an enclosure. It was a lot cheaper than buying a stock external drive!!! It's been doing pretty well too. Except in a few cases where "branded" external drives could be cheap, buying an internal drive and putting it in an enclosure yourself would save a lot of money!

With "branded" external drives, they charge at the higher end towards a dollar per Gig. For an internal drive + enclosure, the cost of the enclosure right now varies from $25 to $40 depending on what you buy, but the best deals for internal drives come between 30 cents to 50 cents a Gig. So the larger the hard disk you buy, the lesser your per Gig cost if you build it yourself (it's very simple to build it too). Recently CompUSA was (or maybe still is) offering a 160GB HDD with a separate enclosure together for $60 (after mail-in-rebates).
Click to expand...

I never realised they were so cheap! I stand corrected 😱
 
Newegg.com has some cheap enclosures and good prices on hard drives, but OWC has some really good ones. Just look for one that's USB and Firewire, and uses the Oxford 911 chip. The OWC ones have the updated firmware so you won't have issues with OS X. If you need a cheap hard drive, buy one with rebates from some place like Fry's (Outpost.com online), Best Buy, CompUSA, or Circuit City. Shop around for the best deal. Make sure you get one of the Seagates or Maxtors with the 5 year warranty (some only have 1 yr), or Hitachis if you want something a little cheaper (sometimes) and don't mind the "only" 3 year warranty.
 
applekid said:
I'm looking for a decently priced external HD that has FireWire and USB 2.0 is optional. I've been looking around, and I'm seeing bad reviews for almost every single HD! 😱 Especially from big names like Lacie. I'm open to the option of external cases, but I'd like some reliable models and names for external HDs including cases (and internal HDs for those cases). At the moment 80 GB seems to be enough for me.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I love my laCie....never had a problem (knock on wood!)
 
LaCie is the way to go. I've had many and have never had a problem. Of course, I know what I'm doing... 🙄
 
My suggestion is to find an enclosure you like and install your own drive in it. I did that for an external 60 GB and I love it.
 
Mac_Freak said:
Here is the link to Macworld review of some external drives. G-Drive (by G-Technology) seems second best and best looking, that is what I am considering. The price has droped on G-drive.

It actualy beats the Lacie drives. 🙂 Plus it looks damn great. 😀
Click to expand...

thanks for the link. I've been locking into getting an external drive, and decided on the owc 300gb. 😀
 
Alrighty, I guess enclosures are the way to go. I've had good experiences with internal Seagate drives, so I'll stick to that. Thanks to everyone.
 
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