Best External Hard Drive for the Time Machine

[sash]

Hi,

Kind of hot topic nowadays: which external HDD to buy for the Time Machine...

I've been using for a few years LaCie d2 Triple Interface (200 GB), and the experience has always been just great. But now it's way too small (I've got on my Mac 2 HHD x 500 GB each), so I'm thinking to get the 1 TB LaCie Big Disk Extreme+.

Questions are:

1) Is 1 TB enough for the Time Machine (digital photography, quite big catalogues, photo archives, DBs etc.), or should I go for the bigger options?
2) Is LaCie Big Disk Extreme+ as good and reliable as LaCie d2 Triple Interface used to be?
3) Which hard drive brand are they actually using in LaCie Big Disk Extreme+? I believe, in the past it was Seagate, but I'm not entirely sure.

Thanks a lot,
sash

 

[rotlex]

I know there are many that are Lacie crazy as it seems Mac centric. However, I have never had good luck with them. I recently picked up a WD My Book Pro at my local Apple store, 1TB model just for time machine. It's got USB 2, FW400 and 800, as well as mirroring capabilities if needed. It's been working great since day one, and I think it was a pretty decent buy.

Just my 2 nickels

 

[sash]

I know there are many that are Lacie crazy as it seems Mac centric.

Hi rotlex,

BTW, I've bought my first LaCie HDD based on the good reviews here, in this forum... At least, I believe so.

However, I have never had good luck with them.

Yes, I've read a few bad reviews on these new products at the Apple Store, thus my doubts. But I have two of the old ones, and they're just good. Never had any problem at all.

Maybe they've changed the HDD, hence the issues (if any)?

Thank you,
sash

 

[rotlex]

Hi rotlex,

BTW, I've bought my first LaCie HDD based on the good reviews here, in this forum... At least, I believe so.



Yes, I've read a few bad reviews on these new products at the Apple Store, thus my doubts. But I have two of the old ones, and they're just good. Never had any problem at all.

Maybe they've changed the HDD, hence the issues (if any)?

Thank you,
sash

Didn't mean to put the brand down at all, sorry if it seemed that way, but was just relaying my experience. On the other hand, I've read horror stories about WD and the My Book's, and I now have two of them running flawlessly. Go figure eh?

 

[sash]

Didn't mean to put the brand down at all, sorry if it seemed that way

It's 100% OK, no problem. All I want to know is the right size for using with the Time Machine (which is new for me), and the actual HDD manufacturer... It could be Seagate as in the past, -- but for the same money it also could be WD...

Cheers,
sash

 

[rotlex]

Eh, sorry again, rough morning and I'm not reading enough.....

No idea on the internal brands, but as far as size, I have a similar setup on my Powermac. Dual internal 500GB drives, and I'm using a 1TB external for Time Machine. Seems to be working just fine, but then again, I've got maybe 500GB total stuff on the internal drives.

I feel a more optimal setup is how my iMac is configured. Internal drive is 500GB, external is 1TB. Having double the storage for TM allows more storage to go further back. Just my opninion, but I would double the space the time machine drive has over the working drives.

 

[crazycat]

I have 2 750GB hard drives in my MacPro, i have over 50 tv shows, 20 movies and lots of large files on it. My first hard drive is 150GB used and second hard drive has around 200GB used. I have a 1TB MyBook connected to it and i am using around 600GB on it, i might have copies some files twice or so but you should look at at least a 1 to 1 ratio.

 

[aquajet]

Maybe they've changed the HDD, hence the issues (if any)?

Lacie, like other companies which sell external hard drives which don't actually manufacture the mechanisms, use several different brands. It's a form of diversification. If you see three boxes of external Lacie hard drives sitting on a store shelf, it's possible that there are three different brands of mechanisms as well.

I find it amusing to hear about people who condemn Lacie due to a failure, turn around and purchase an external Seagate and swear by it, not knowing their Lacie is actually Seagate as well.

 

[sash]

I find it amusing to hear about people who condemn Lacie due to a failure, turn around and purchase an external Seagate and swear by it, not knowing their Lacie is actually Seagate as well.

Hi,

Yes, that's exactly my point, but I didn't know they are using several brands... I thought they've got kind of 'preferred partner'. So it's actually impossible to find out which HDD they are using? No 'preferred', 'main' etc. brand at all?

Thanks,
sash

 

[DroboGuy]

How much space is enough?

Sounds like one of the problems is if you buy for today, what happens when you go well beyond that capacity?

Take a look at Drobo (www.drobo.com) or check out the MacWorld Review (http://www.macworld.com/2007/08/reviews/drobo/index.php).

It's very easy, expands as you need more storage just by inserting a bare SATA drive (any size, any manufacturer).

Worth a look.

 

[sash]

Worth a look.

Hi,

Thank you a lot! It definitely is worth a look. The only problem I see is the slower connection (USB 2.0). Drobo's connection speed is about twice as slow as this of the LaCie Triple Interface with FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b).

cheers!
sash