advice on external hard drive purchase

[memphismac]

I'm looking to replace my current external drive with a newer, larger drive. My current drive is connected via Firewire and houses my iTunes library, plus movie files, documents, etc.

I'm trying to decide between a portable drive (the Western Digital Passport, for example), and another desktop drive (like say, this one:http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western...7952&skuId=9467178&st=WDBAAF0010HBK&cp=1&lp=1)

Questions I have:
- Is there any reason to be concerned about longevity when using a portable drive?
- Does a desktop drive typically perform better than a desktop drive?
- Is there a noticeable speed difference between USB 2.0 and Firewire?
And should that be a deciding factor in what I buy?

Thanks for any help here...

Brian

 

[Hellhammer]

- Is there any reason to be concerned about longevity when using a portable drive?

Not really, it can fail after 2 hours or 20 years, no matter is it 2.5" or 3.5"

- Does a desktop drive typically perform better than a desktop drive?

Yes, but because you are using externally, USB or FW800 will be limiting it

- Is there a noticeable speed difference between USB 2.0 and Firewire?

Yes. With USB you can get roughly ~60MB/s while with FW800 ~85MB/s. FW800 drives are more expensive so unless you need speed, USB is fine and you already have FireWire one so use it as well

 

[Velin]

Questions I have:
- Does a desktop drive typically perform better than a desktop drive?

Um.

- Is there a noticeable speed difference between USB 2.0 and Firewire?

Yes. Firewire is def. better.

 

[memphismac]

Yes. Firewire is def. better.

That's what I thought. And unfortunately, drives with Firewire are a lot more expensive and outside my price range.

I went out today and got good deals on a Seagate FreeAgent (http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FreeA...1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1270665533&sr=1-1-fkmr0) and a Western Digital My Book Essential (http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1270665468&sr=1-1).

Both 1.5TB. Both $129
Seagate has 5 year parts warranty.
WD has 2-year parts & labor warranty.

Seagate says it's up to 7200 RPM.
Western Digital doesn't make any kind of claim on speed.

Seagate says it has a 32MB cache.
Western Digital doesn't make any kind of claim on cache size.

I'm going to take them home, stare at them, and decide which one to open.

 

[memphismac]

Um.

Oh, and I meant to say "Does a desktop drive typically perform better than a portable drive?"

My bad.

Since this thread probably belongs in buying tips, I've opened it there instead. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/891954/

Feel free to move or delete this thread. Thanks.