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Best 500GB Ext HD with FireWire ? ?
- Thread starter lugesm
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I've been very happy so far with my two Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus 750GB drives that I've had for 4 and 1 months (I bought the second a month ago to supplement the first because I liked it after 3 months). But obviously it's not long enough to know the long-term reliability. They do make a 500GB model, though, and they're pretty cheap if you look around - Best Buy has had sales on them several times, for instance, and Costo/Costco.com carry them.
i would never buy a loaded external, i'd look for a good enclosure then watch the deals, a 500gb seagate drive should be able to be found for around $90. (i always go seagate for no real reason, but the 5 year warranty is a good reason to)
i'd get a firewire 800 enclosure from OWC. the single will go as fast as the drive allows, the dual will be capped somewhere around 80MB/s
either a single, or a dual, which basically gets you 2 enclosures for just a little more (or less in this case if you don't do a sata dual which is 120)
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW924AL1K/
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW912AL2/
i'd get a firewire 800 enclosure from OWC. the single will go as fast as the drive allows, the dual will be capped somewhere around 80MB/s
either a single, or a dual, which basically gets you 2 enclosures for just a little more (or less in this case if you don't do a sata dual which is 120)
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW924AL1K/
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW912AL2/
The now discontinued (Maxtor got bought out) but still super excellent drive is the Maxtor Maxline III -- enterprise level pro drive with 5 year warranty and some of the fastest times ever.
They are expensive and hard to find but are fantastic drive if you want, speed, quality, long time between failure, and relative silence.
Still about $140, shipping not included.
CASES:
I but the Raw (meaning no drive inside) Drive Quad-Interface, Firewire 800, 400 and USB and USB 2.
The drive comes in a single drive unit (about $110) or a double drive unit ($120). But the them MATCH the MacPro and MacBook Pro Case. Very cool. Buy from Other World Mac Sales.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW924AL2K/
Very cool, compact, functional, expandable, case.
I have three and six of the 500 gig Maxtors.
Let us know what you buy, back in this post.
Dante
Sorry for related post -- I didn't see yours when I posted mine.
Yep, these cases are totally pro and worth the little bit of extra money.
PLUS you support third-party Mac developers encouraging them to build righteous stuff like this for our future macs.
Many thanks for your comments.
I bought the enclosure shown by OWC at http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW912AL2/ for $92 including UPS shipping.
This is the two drive enclosure with the mesh front panel. It has a fan. Just hope it is not too noisy.
This enclosure if for a TimeMachine drive, so I didn't consider speed a major issue; therefore, I bought the enclosure for IDE/ATA drives. They are less expensive and have a long history, so I am hoping they are more reliable than the more recent designs.
If anyone thinks the IDE/ATA decision is flawed, please post now so that I can consider changing my order.
Again, thanks for your comments and help.
Regards,
L
I bought the enclosure shown by OWC at http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW912AL2/ for $92 including UPS shipping.
This is the two drive enclosure with the mesh front panel. It has a fan. Just hope it is not too noisy.
This enclosure if for a TimeMachine drive, so I didn't consider speed a major issue; therefore, I bought the enclosure for IDE/ATA drives. They are less expensive and have a long history, so I am hoping they are more reliable than the more recent designs.
If anyone thinks the IDE/ATA decision is flawed, please post now so that I can consider changing my order.
Again, thanks for your comments and help.
Regards,
L
Many thanks for your comments.
I bought the enclosure shown by OWC at http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW912AL2/ for $92 including UPS shipping.
This is the two drive enclosure with the mesh front panel. It has a fan. Just hope it is not too noisy.
This enclosure if for a TimeMachine drive, so I didn't consider speed a major issue; therefore, I bought the enclosure for IDE/ATA drives. They are less expensive and have a long history, so I am hoping they are more reliable than the more recent designs.
If anyone thinks the IDE/ATA decision is flawed, please post now so that I can consider changing my order.
Again, thanks for your comments and help.
Regards,
L
I think SATA drives are much more reliable, and I've found that you can get them for just a few dollars more (or sometimes even less) when you find deals on drives. So I wouldn't personally have gone with IDE. SATA also isn't really a new technology at this point...it's already been a couple years.
It's not shipping yet so no one has any experience with it and therefore can't speak to its reliability, which was your core criteria. It's also more useful if you also need an Airport Extreme as well, since it's overkill otherwise. Plus you asked for an external drive, not a network drive. And you specifically said you want FireWire, which it doesn't have. So I'll assume those are all good reasons no one mentioned it....
Good point. I didn't know that the product had not shipped. I had read a couple of good reviews, but had not looked to see if it was available.
Yes, I made a mistake. Anyway, thanks for the comments.
After your posting about SATA being more reliable, I attempted to contact OWC and change the order to the SATA version. TOO LATE. They shipped just a few HOURS after I placed the order. :-(
That's fast !
It's supposed to ship "in February", so I'm guessing this Tuesday is a strong possibility for it to start shipping, unless of course it gets delayed or they need until the absolute end of the week.
Well it's nice you got fast service at least I guess. You could always see what their return policy is like or sell it on eBay if you want to switch. As long as you always keep a backup of your important data, regardless of the reliability of the drive (since any drive can fail, get stolen, or get damaged in a fire/flood), you'll be fine anyway.
