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External 1TB Hard Drive

H

hldomster

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 22, 2009
70
0
Hey,

I'm looking for a 1TB external HDD. Was thinking of going for a wireless one, but unsure about cost and reliability. Otherwise I could get a firewire one, but to be honest, USB might be best as I have an LED Cinema Display and I usually leave my external connected to that permanently, and the Cinema Display lacks firewire.

Been looking at the Western Digital MyStudio, but I guess there are other options.

This drive will be used for Time Machine.

Thanks.
 
I have the WD 1TB Firewire and I highly recommend it

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
I got one of those new seagates an it broke and gradually ate my data - good job i had back ups. I've now got a1TB freecom and think it's quiet, reliable and the quality is the best i've seen. I also have a plastic WD Mybook that's nearly 4 years old and working great despite a lot of travel.
 
Search the forums.

My vote would go probably towards the Western Digital, although I have had no problems with my Iomega UltraMax Pro, my main concern with it though is the limited cache size, however I use it solely for back up. I also have a G-Tech, while I rarely (I actually don't think ever) hear bad things about them and have never had a problem, you are paying premium.

And like always:

Everyone has their own experiences, but I imagine that most of them are positive. Sure, there are these threads about how person x's drive failed and person y wouldn't buy anything but them. I own three drives that there are plenty of horror stories about.

No one would ever post: "I love my Western Digital 1TB Drive", unless someone posts a horror story about one. Companies ship tons of drives daily, not everyone will be perfect.

The best advice is to find one that has a good warranty and excellent customer service. And then avoid reading these threads so you don't lose any sleep.

Or you could be OCD, anal and paranoid like me and have two back-up drives.
 
There are SO many threads on this topic.

I built my own by putting one of these into one of these.

Mine is a 1.5TB but the enclosure works just fine with smaller drives of course. It is sleek, matches the aluminum iMac very well, next to silent and runs very coolly. I can highly recommend it.
 
I just bought a Seagate Desk for Mac 1TB (FW800), matches perfectly, it was only $150 shipped. I got it from Fry's, (I wouldn't go into a Fry's store but buying online didn't give me any problems.) I also have a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 1TB (FW400) that works great as well. I like the 5 year Seagate warranty, but the WD Studio has also gotten good reviews, has a 5 year warranty, but is a bit pricer.
 
rick3000 said:
I just bought a Seagate Desk for Mac 1TB (FW800), matches perfectly, it was only $150 shipped. I got it from Fry's, (I wouldn't go into a Fry's store but buying online didn't give me any problems.) I also have a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 1TB (FW400) that works great as well. I like the 5 year Seagate warranty, but the WD Studio has also gotten good reviews, has a 5 year warranty, but is a bit pricer.
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It's funny you say that about Fry's - my Wife refuses to go in there anymore. I really can't say I blame her. I'm a gadget geek - but it even gives me a headache.

+1 for WD. You might want to go into Costco to checkout what they have...the Costco warranty is hard to beat. :D
 
rkdiddy said:
It's funny you say that about Fry's - my Wife refuses to go in there anymore. I really can't say I blame her. I'm a gadget geek - but it even gives me a headache.

+1 for WD. You might want to go into Costco to checkout what they have...the Costco warranty is hard to beat. :D
Click to expand...

good to know about cosco, I check them out this month, I getting close to filling my 500GB with itunes content.
 
eBay can be inexpensive for enclosures ($20USD shipped to say $57USD shipped), and the 1TB Caviar Black can be had for $100USD and free shipping. :) The latter of the enclosures linked, is USB/FW400/eSATA, and is more versatile than the first, which is USB only.

Installation is quick and easy. Just a few screws. ;) eSATA would add about $25-30USD for a basic card.

Hope this helps. :)
 
recommend what ever drive you get make sure it is firewire, if you want to share video content over the network with devices, USB sucks performance.
 
Lacie makes some great external HD including a few in 1TB configurations. They seem to be significantly faster and more durable, to me, than other drives I have used. Also, the ability to use FireWire 800 on my new model is great considering the size of my normal backups (I am a photographer).

I’m using the d2 Quadra – 1 TB is $199 from Lacie Directly.

http://www.lacie.com/us/
 
jrotunda85 said:
Lacie makes some great external HD including a few in 1TB configurations. They seem to be significantly faster and more durable, to me, than other drives I have used. Also, the ability to use FireWire 800 on my new model is great considering the size of my normal backups (I am a photographer).

I’m using the d2 Quadra – 1 TB is $199 from Lacie Directly.

http://www.lacie.com/us/
Click to expand...

LaCie doesn't make the drives, they make very pretty enclosures. Here is some fairly extensive discussion about LaCie. I considered purchasing one, but the cool looking drives that I wanted did not have Firewire 800, which was a problem...
 
I've purchased about 7 WD MyBook Studio drives for my research lab. Each has worked awesomely. Super recommended.
 
Thiol said:
I've purchased about 7 WD MyBook Studio drives for my research lab. Each has worked awesomely. Super recommended.
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I have had no problem with my 300 USB, but my 1 TB stop working, it took WD 1 month to replace it under warranty, the good news, they gave me a 2 TB in return.
 
I know 800 fire wire is great, but I never had any problem with 400. I stream all my itunes content to 3 ATV's and other clients, never had a performance hit with firewire 400, only with USB 2.

My 2 TB is 800, but my 500, is only 400 :( it replaced a WD 500 studio which used to get hot, and then the HD burned out.
 
FW800 is significantly faster than FW400. It's not a matter of being 'great' it's just faster. When I got my MBP it took 3 hours to move 100GB over FW400, it took about an hour to backup the same amount over FW800. It's way faster and much more reliable than either USB or eSata.
 
thegoldenmackid said:
LaCie doesn't make the drives, they make very pretty enclosures. Here is some fairly extensive discussion about LaCie. I considered purchasing one, but the cool looking drives that I wanted did not have Firewire 800, which was a problem...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, it was quite interesting. I still though would recommend LaCie, I've had some drives from them and never had problems. ;)
 
munkees said:
recommend what ever drive you get make sure it is firewire, if you want to share video content over the network with devices, USB sucks performance.
Click to expand...

Just to say that I've been streaming everything from music to HD movies for the past 3 years over USB and it's never dropped a frame. While firewire can be a little faster - it would be unfair to say USB sucks.
 
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