1TB+ Firewire 800 external storage

[ScottC2105]

I have been looking on the net for an external harddrive 1TB or bigger with Firewire 800. I have found one in particular I like the look of and I wondered what the mac community thought of it and if they have any suggestions.

Side note: I am going to be a switcher and this will be my first mac (I have been using PCs for 7 years now). I was going to wait for leopard but my PC just died on me and I need a new one asap. I have wanted a mac for about a year now and I now have the chance .

The harddrive I have found I like the look of is the 2TB Western Digital My Book Pro which states it has Firewire 800. The harddrive will be mainly used for video storage/backup and time machine (when I upgrade to Leopard next month ).

Let me know what you think of it and if you can recommend something better please, go ahead!

 

[Architect4122]

**Caution**

I've been in the market for a nice external HDD for a while, but I have been reading and researching for the past 6 months on the right set up (format type, size, speed, connection (APEBS [usb2.0]) or FW800, or a combo).

However, one thing that keeps popping up as I'm reading is Time Machine. No one officially knows how it will allocate its back up files. As in, will it write to a partition, will it need its own HDD, can it back up through APEBS, etc. etc.

I would hate for you (and for me at that) to search search search, find what we want, and realize (once people can actually start playing with Time Machine) that we can't actually use the HDD the way we wanted.

Just a heads up. These forums can be amazing, just search a little!

Hope this helps!

 

[ScottC2105]

I have looked into the 2TB drive and I believe it's supposed to be very quiet. I think I may purchase this drive . As for time machine, in the keynote Steve Jobs just selects an external harddrive and that's it.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I have been looking on the net for an external harddrive 1TB or bigger with Firewire 800. I have found one in particular I like the look of and I wondered what the mac community thought of it and if they have any suggestions.

Side note: I am going to be a switcher and this will be my first mac (I have been using PCs for 7 years now). I was going to wait for leopard but my PC just died on me and I need a new one asap. I have wanted a mac for about a year now and I now have the chance .

The harddrive I have found I like the look of is the 2TB Western Digital My Book Pro which states it has Firewire 800. The harddrive will be mainly used for video storage/backup and time machine (when I upgrade to Leopard next month ).

Let me know what you think of it and if you can recommend something better please, go ahead!

I have the 1 TB version of that drive, and it is LOUD when it gets warm. Make sure to set it on its side, *NOT* how they show it on their site. As shown on their site (standing 'upright',) the air inputs are on the top and bottom, and the exhaust is on the back. If you lay it on its side, with plenty of space on the sides, it can get better airflow, so it won't overheat as often. When 'idle', it is very quiet. When in use, it is acceptable. But when it gets hot, it becomes unbearably loud. And I have had it overheat enough that it shut itself off! (I have since moved it to a better location.)

I use it for backup with .Mac Backup, and as a storage drive for video I haven't edited yet, the same basic uses it sound like you will use it for. It works great for that.

The big question for Time Machine is that it's uncertain if it will insist on completely taking over a hard drive, or if you can use the drive for other storage as well. (I saw some early reports based on the early developer versions that said that the drive you pick for Time Machine can *ONLY* be used for Time Machine, you can't use it for general storage, too.)

 

[mkrishnan]

Have you considered just getting a single or dual drive enclosure with FW800 and putting either a single 1TB 3.5" drive into it or of course two drives (500GB-1TB each)? You can control more about the setup this way -- for instance, a lot of those pre-fab enclosures use PATA drives... if your hard drive breaks in 3 years, are you going to be able to still find a suitable PATA replacement? I don't know for sure if this one uses PATA, but I'm just saying....

Also, I'll defer to someone who knows this device well, but a 2x3.5" enclosure that is bus powered just seems like a really bad idea. Does it at least ship with an external power supply?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Have you considered just getting a single or dual drive enclosure with FW800 and putting either a single 1TB 3.5" drive into it or of course two drives (500GB-1TB each)? You can control more about the setup this way -- for instance, a lot of those pre-fab enclosures use PATA drives... if your hard drive breaks in 3 years, are you going to be able to still find a suitable PATA replacement? I don't know for sure if this one uses PATA, but I'm just saying....

Also, I'll defer to someone who knows this device well, but a 2x3.5" enclosure that is bus powered just seems like a really bad idea. Does it at least ship with an external power supply?

Yeah, it HAS to have an external power supply. FireWire can't even reliably power a SINGLE 3.5" drive.

The reason I bought the Western Digital was because it was on sale CHEAPER than two 500 GB drives purchased separately, not even counting in the price of enclosures.

 

[ScottC2105]

ehurtley, apparently a firmware upgrade sorts out the noisy fan issue on the 1TBs . Buying 2 1TB hard drives and a caddy would cost a lot more then the WD 2TB drive.