Resolved Best External Hard Drive for <$500

[tevion5]

My 2TB Seagate USB 2.0 recently died and I want to replace it with a high quality 3TB or 4TB external disk. It does not need to be portable. It is for use with my 2011 MacBook Pro at a desk environment. I need it primary as a Time Machine backup as well as general media storage. It needs to be reliable as it will be used for my college work and audio production.

I am torn between spending extra for Thunderbolt or spending less and using Firewire 800.

Firewire is much cheaper and I have the available port, but I've seen Thunderbolt in action and the speeds are amazing. However, my Apple Cinema Display connects to my MBP's Thunderbolt slot, so any Thunderbolt drive will have to have two Thunderbolt ports for daisy chaining.

Anybody got some tips or advise for what to go for?

 

[tevion5]

I have been looking on the Apple store, and I like some drives from LaCie, however I can't seem to find a sensibly priced one with two thunderbolt ports.

 

[LorenK]

Woot has a ton of Western Digital MyBook refurbs on sale for cheap. The prices of some are well less than the cost of the drive alone, so you can buy a few and if the case fails, just remove the drive and put it in a new case.

Saw that you're looking for Thunderbolt. At this price, you can buy an external thunderbolt drive case and remove the drives, or just use USB.

 

[tevion5]

Woot has a ton of Western Digital MyBook refurbs on sale for cheap. The prices of some are well less than the cost of the drive alone, so you can buy a few and if the case fails, just remove the drive and put it in a new case.

Saw that you're looking for Thunderbolt. At this price, you can buy an external thunderbolt drive case and remove the drives, or just use USB.

I see a thunderbolt enclosure with two thunderbolt ports and two hard drive slots for around $250 on eBay. I could pair this with two 2TB seagate internal 3.5" drives. That would save me a lot!

What does anybody think of this? I assume as long as the drives are name-brand, any thunderbolt enclosure will suffice?

 

[tevion5]

In the end, I went to good old OWC.

I got a x2 bay 3.5" Thunderbolt enclosure with x2 TB ports for only $170. Then I matched this with x2 3TB Toshiba 3.5" drives at $99 each. I can set it up in a RAID config for a total of 6TB.

Fast reliable storage at super speeds with daisy chaining capabilities for my monitor. It will be glorious!

 

[RCAFBrat]

In the end, I went to good old OWC.

I got a x2 bay 3.5" Thunderbolt enclosure with x2 TB ports for only $170. Then I matched this with x2 3TB Toshiba 3.5" drives at $99 each. I can set it up in a RAID config for a total of 6TB.

Fast reliable storage at super speeds with daisy chaining capabilities for my monitor. It will be glorious!

Just checked their website to see which enclosure is on for $170 - is that a typo (ie should have been $270 instead), did you score a great deal or am I just inept?

cheers

 

[tevion5]

Just checked their website to see which enclosure is on for $170 - is that a typo (ie should have been $270 instead), did you score a great deal or am I just inept?

cheers

I got one for a reduced price because the box was already opened

 

[RCAFBrat]

I got one for a reduced price because the box was already opened

Sweet!