Best External Backup Drive Solution

[BreadMaster]

So I'm planning on getting some sort of hard drive to use for time machine backups and movie storage. I've got a sling for it under my desk, and I need to get some sort of SATA to Firewire 800 cable or enclosure that's as cheap as possible - for this.

Any ideas?

Maybe even an external hard drive that's the same capacity with built in Firewire 800 for cheaper than this DIY solution.

 

[Macfr3d]

FW800 Encolsures never come cheap, expect to pay a price similar to your disk for it.

I recommend getting a Western Digital MyBook Studio Drive
(1TB, 1.5TB, 2TB or Studio II with 2x1TB or 2x2TB) those are fast
very quiet (virtually no vibration no fan) and turn on/off automatically
with your mac.

If you want expandability:

The least expensive 4-bay FW800 enclosure (without disk) that I found
is RaidSonic ICY-BOX IB-RD3264-USE2. They also make smaller ones,
maybe those are something for you?

 

[Spike88]

I agree with Macfr3d. Visit different computer stores in your area (like Future Shop / Best Buy, etc.) and inquire about their "on the shelf" FW800 drives. Something that's already built / bundled.

I also heard My Book Studio (for single drives) and My Book Studio IIs (for RAID) is a good FW product. Simply "plug in" and start backing up. Or, "plug in" and tell Time Machine NOT to use it. Thus, it becomes a normal 2nd HDD. There's other brands of FW800 drives as well. But MyBook was the favorite in 3 (out of 4) of my local computer stores.

Happy shopping...

 

[bolen]

I have a WD Studio II (2x500GB FW800) and it works great. I use it mainly for media/file storage. Then I have a WD Passport II (500GB FW800) that is daisy-chained after the studio. The passport is used for TimeMachine, also works just great!

 

[ChristianVirtual]

I use a QNAP NAS with four disks in a RAID5, attached via GigabitEthernet.
Store my whole iTunes content there and linked into my local Mac. Works well for music and video

Just enjoy it now during the setup of my new iMac that I don't need to copy the files; just change the references in the local file system and point to the NAS: done.

 

[Penn Jennings]

FW800 Encolsures never come cheap, expect to pay a price similar to your disk for it.

I recommend getting a Western Digital MyBook Studio Drive
(1TB, 1.5TB, 2TB or Studio II with 2x1TB or 2x2TB) those are fast
very quiet (virtually no vibration no fan) and turn on/off automatically
with your mac.

If you want expandability:

The least expensive 4-bay FW800 enclosure (without disk) that I found
is RaidSonic ICY-BOX IB-RD3264-USE2. They also make smaller ones,
maybe those are something for you?

http://www.macsales.com has nice enclosures are well. A bare dual-bay FW800/FW400/USB 2.0 enclosure is about $100. I've been using one on my desk for months with 2 x 2TB drives. It's quiet and twice as fast as my USB 2.0 HD.

It is a great way to go if you think that you might need to connect a 2nd drive in the future.

 

[BreadMaster]

Looks don't matter - I've got it such that the firewire cable would lead into a tiny little sling for the drive off the underside of my desk - I'm never going to see it. In fact- if we could just find a sata to firewire cable I'd be good to go. The thing is, most of these solutions come in their own enclosures - which I really don't need.

So I'm trying to find the cheapest alternative (I'm thinking less than $25).

I'm thinking something like this. I'm actually kind of leaning towards this one in particular since I could throw some apple stickers on it and I'd have a mini mac pro

But one question I have is whether that's firewire 400 or 800.

Any help?

 

[Vylen]

But one question I have is whether that's firewire 400 or 800.

Any help?

Based on two posted reviews, its 400.

 

[BreadMaster]

Based on two posted reviews, its 400.

Well, darn. Time to keep looking.

 

[xraydoc]

To the OP - there aren't really any straight SATA-to-FW cables. All are going to require a chipset in between to handle the conversion. Plus you'll need a power supply for the HD if you're going to use a desktop 3.5" drive. Not enough power over FireWire to run a 3.5" HD off of. 2.5" laptop-sized drive, yes.

OWC sells some nice external drive enclosures. I've been using them for years and I've never had a problem with any of their products.

 

[zhenya]

I'd suggest, especially if you have more than one computer in the house, a NAS rather than a directly connected drive. This way every computer can get backed up automatically, plus you can put it out of the way somewhere that you don't have to listen to the drive noise. The fact that you can connect to it at faster-than firewire speeds (if you have a gigabit network) doesn't hurt either.

 

[BreadMaster]

I'd suggest, especially if you have more than one computer in the house, a NAS rather than a directly connected drive. This way every computer can get backed up automatically, plus you can put it out of the way somewhere that you don't have to listen to the drive noise. The fact that you can connect to it at faster-than firewire speeds (if you have a gigabit network) doesn't hurt either.

That sort of setup sounds amazing - but if I'm going to invest in a NAS array - I'm going to splurge - I want it to be a huge 8-bay sort of connection - preferably when I have a bit more space, too.

For now, I' looking for a FireWire 800 1TB Hard Drive for less than $100, or FireWire 800 3.5" enclosure for less than $35.

 

[Spike88]

For a single FW800 1 TB drive for iMac "at reasonal price", do look at Western Digital My Book Studio sytem. I recently bought one (which is between my iMac and USB Printer) and it works great. re:

Good luck....

.

 

[max777]

i just got a Lacie d2 Quadra last weekend and its fantastic..

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11158

might be a bit above your budget. It was for me too but now very happy with purchase

 

[Nihilvor]

That sort of setup sounds amazing - but if I'm going to invest in a NAS array - I'm going to splurge - I want it to be a huge 8-bay sort of connection - preferably when I have a bit more space, too.

For now, I' looking for a FireWire 800 1TB Hard Drive for less than $100, or FireWire 800 3.5" enclosure for less than $35.

Plenty of drives under 100, like the $59 Samsung Spinpoint (one of the top 5 fastest 1tb drives). http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

I threw that into an Acomdata Quad (cost only $40).

You might not be able to find another Acomdata that cheap, but you should be able to get close to that $100 external solution if you don't mind installing the drive yourself.

 

[BreadMaster]

The samsung drive looks amazing (didn't know why I didn't check newegg ).

Now all that remains is a sub $40 FireWire 800 enclosure. Any ideas?

 

[Fishrrman]

"I'm planning on getting some sort of hard drive to use for time machine backups and movie storage. I've got a sling for it under my desk, and I need to get some sort of SATA to Firewire 800 cable or enclosure that's as cheap as possible"

There aren't any "cheap" Firewire 800 enclosures.

They're ALL going to cost more money than an equivalent FW400 enclosure. Probably 60-100% more.

If you want FW800, you just have to spend the additional $$$$.

For a long-term solution to store a LOT of large files (such as movie files), you might consider something like this:
http://oyendigital.com/hard-drives/store/RS-M2QO.html
Two bays, easily "swappable" drives, can be configured as a RAID or JBOD (just bunch of drives).
These aren't "cheap" but have something very important: ROOM TO GROW.

You won't "run out of space" with something like that. Just get another bare drive and "swap it out" when needed. They even give you handles.

 

[Nihilvor]

The samsung drive looks amazing (didn't know why I didn't check newegg ).

Now all that remains is a sub $40 FireWire 800 enclosure. Any ideas?

Well, I purchased the Acomdata Samba Quad from Ebay, so I don't think you'll easily find one of those for under $50. The only thing I found that was cheaper than the usual price for the Acomdata was the Eagleroc E9 Enclosure. There are only a few places selling these, but I checked with the manufacturer; they are legitimate products--selling for about $50.

The reason I went with the Acomdata Quad instead is that there were, as of June, no reviews for the Eagleroc, and the reviews for the Acomdata convinced me that it was worth putting money down. I haven't had any issues with the Acomdata yet, so I can recommend that one.

 

[xraydoc]

That sort of setup sounds amazing - but if I'm going to invest in a NAS array - I'm going to splurge - I want it to be a huge 8-bay sort of connection - preferably when I have a bit more space, too.

I have a 2TB Drobo FS NAS connected via gigabit ethernet. The Drobo FS has 5 drive bays and will expand the array on the fly as you insert additional drives. If you then still need more space, you can replace the smallest drive (then the next smallest, etc.) and it'll rebuild the array again on the fly.

They're very cool.

 

[BreadMaster]

Alright, I'm thinking about this now. Is there a DIY option I could make for cheaper than this? NAS Controllers are on the 'spensive side and a 2TB hard drive isn't cheap - then again, a 2-bay NAS would be great for the future.

 

[mangrove]

Well, darn. Time to keep looking.

Have you looked into LaCie external drives. Most are FW800 even including the tiny sized Rugged 500GB 7200.

I also have 2 of their large drives one of which can take up to 8TB of data if you have deep pockets. A 2TB 7200 drive that you slip into say the big 4 quadra lately costs around $225., but that drive comes with 4 drives in it.

 

[mangrove]

The samsung drive looks amazing (didn't know why I didn't check newegg ).

Now all that remains is a sub $40 FireWire 800 enclosure. Any ideas?

Earlier today, Newegg has 500GB Seagate Momentus 7200 for $69 with a free enclosure-but forgot if it had FW800. I know its not in the TB range, but hey the enclosure I remember they noted was normally $20.

 

[zhenya]

Alright, I'm thinking about this now. Is there a DIY option I could make for cheaper than this? NAS Controllers are on the 'spensive side and a 2TB hard drive isn't cheap - then again, a 2-bay NAS would be great for the future.

The typical computer someone is retiring will work fine for a NAS on the cheap running Linux, freenas, etc. Mine is a 400mhz p3! It takes some knowhow though, and these solutions don't tend to be as easy or flexible as drobo, windows home server, etc.