1TB WD Studio II or Enclosure + HDD

[dalvin200]

Hi,

Having a bit of a dilemma..

I want to get a 1TB external drive for media storage and also as my scratch disk for video editing.. so it must have at least FW800

i can either get the Western Digital MyBook Studio II for £158

OR

Get a 3.5" sata drive plus a firewire enclosure.. and i have seen these:

IBM (Hitachi) Deskstar 7K1000 SATAII 1TB (1000GB) 32MB - £123.80

plus

Macally TB-M120 External FireWire 800/USB2/eSATA Enclosure for 3.5in SATA HDD - £74.69

giving a total of £198.49

So, there is about £40ish difference between the MyBook and the home made version..

my question is, which is better? the hitachi has 32mb cache and the Mybook has 16MB cache according to this site (couldn't find anything on the WD site regarding cache!)

They are both 7200rpm and sataII..

Is cache so important? I don't know... you tell me


So price aside, which would be the better solution?

OR, if you can recommend any other solutions (in the UK) then that would also be great.

Thanks

 

[ascender]

I've got that WD and a number of others made by them and can't recommend them highly enough tbh. Great devices.

 

[Mechcozmo]

I wouldn't worry so much about the 16MB vs 32MB cache. A 1GB file will trounce your cache no matter what; they're better for smaller files.

I've got two WD drives and they're great. Highly recommended.

 

[sickmacdoc]

There have been many reports that the difference in cache sizes is simply insignificant in most normal uses of drives- and that it is simply a tool for the marketing department to use to make a drive's specifications sound "better".

One thing to consider about buying any premade drive- from a warranty point alone it is probably a better idea to buy it than making one yourself. When you have components from two different sources and have a problem they have a nasty habit of pointing to each other in order to place blame. The drive manufacturer says a problem is caused by the interface board in the enclosure, and the enclosure manufacturer says it is the electronics on the drive itself. And on and on! With a premade drive there is only one source of warranty for both parts, so logic makes it a better choice- in addition to the better price of course.

 

[yoak]

WD´s are great, we use them in all forms and sizes

 

[dalvin200]

thanks for the advice guys..

looks like you made my mind up!!

WD here i come