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Best External Harddrive?
- Thread starter bdugan
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I've got a 400gb Freecom drive. I like it a lot. It's a fanless design so almost silent (just the noise of the drive seeking and even that's pretty quiet). Well built and looks pretty nice. Its an aluminum case which does a decent job of dissipating the heat, and even after using it constantly all day it's only warm to the touch. Also a bargain at £94 for 400gb.
Another bonus is that it will power down the drive when you unmount it on the Mac.
Link.
Another bonus is that it will power down the drive when you unmount it on the Mac.
Link.
the western digital hard drives are really good, i own three of them...they dont necessarily go with the whole mac theme...but they still look really cool
I like the drives from OWC - http://www.macsales.com
they are high quality drives and I've never had a problem with any of them.
they are high quality drives and I've never had a problem with any of them.
I have had my eyes on a WiebeTech ToughTech Mini. I have yet to get one, but most likely will soon, unless I am otherwise persuaded.
I'm also considering to buy a WD MyBook. Over here in Europe, they offer 3 years warranty for it, that's way more that any of the LaCie drives. Furthermore, it seems to be one of the cheaper options. I don't like that whole 'book look' idea, though.
One of my friend owns one and is pretty pleased with it. It's very silent, even though you hear the vibration a little bit if its standing on the table (not if you put a book in between). But I guess that's the case for any hard drive.. I even hear the one in my Powerbook vibrating now and then..
imho i have an iomega thats 200 g i got at FRY'S for like 60 bucks i think it was on special ive had it 2 years and no problem
I have had a LaCie d2 triple interface 250Gb for just over two years. It gets a lot of use.
Pros: Looks nice, very sturdy casing, already Mac formatted, good performance, comes with a good selection of cabes right-out-of-the-box. The triple interface (USB/FW400/FW800) is handy.
Cons: The damn thing has corrupted twice - each time was after the unit had been switched off for a couple of weeks. On each occasion, I was able to recover all the data and get the unit working perfectly again pretty quickly, but not before I'd purchased Disk Warrior (US$91.90 grrrr!). Oh, and it hangs when my iBook G4 wakes from sleep (solution: I don't let my iBook sleep). LaCie support didn't want to know.
Oddly, I still like my LaCie.
SL
Pros: Looks nice, very sturdy casing, already Mac formatted, good performance, comes with a good selection of cabes right-out-of-the-box. The triple interface (USB/FW400/FW800) is handy.
Cons: The damn thing has corrupted twice - each time was after the unit had been switched off for a couple of weeks. On each occasion, I was able to recover all the data and get the unit working perfectly again pretty quickly, but not before I'd purchased Disk Warrior (US$91.90 grrrr!). Oh, and it hangs when my iBook G4 wakes from sleep (solution: I don't let my iBook sleep). LaCie support didn't want to know.
Oddly, I still like my LaCie.
SL
I got one of these and the construction is very good.
Apparently it even has a label saying it is assembled in America
Probably somewhere in the prison system
I have a 250GB Lacie d2, and I'll be buying the 400GB version soon, as this one is about full. I've not had any problems at all with mine, but I of course have my most valued photos backed up on DVDs as well. Just being safe.
Well, I bought a WD Passport 120gb drive last week at Costco for $109cdn. Popped out the drive, put it in my white macbook and put the 80gb Seagate that was in there in the Passport enclosure. Both are working well (the WD drive is actually a bit faster and quieter). Its not silver, but a very mac-like black.
hold on, you can get them in silver too:
Another benefit is they're USB powered and as you can see, very portable.
hold on, you can get them in silver too:
Another benefit is they're USB powered and as you can see, very portable.
Personally, I'm a big fan of the Maxtor drives.
I've got a 300GB Maxtor OneTouch III Firewire400+USB drive and I love it (plus it looks great next to my Mac Pro!)
Also, depending on your needs you can get these drives with differenent combinations of USB, Firewire-400 and Firewire-800 interfaces.
I've got a 300GB Maxtor OneTouch III Firewire400+USB drive and I love it (plus it looks great next to my Mac Pro!)
Also, depending on your needs you can get these drives with differenent combinations of USB, Firewire-400 and Firewire-800 interfaces.
Lacie 2d drives have been good here. I have two of them. A nice thing about them is the ability to chain them. They offer them with multiple FW800, USB, & FW400 inputs. They do run hot though. Been using mine for 2.5 years.
I have 2 Lacie Mobile Hrd Drive, designed by porsche. I have a 500 GB and a 250 GB. I've never had any problems with it. I use it primarily on my macs, but when I need to transfer files to a friends computer everything works great.
The only thing that sucks about it is that it takes a minute or so for my computer to recognize it.
The only thing that sucks about it is that it takes a minute or so for my computer to recognize it.
I use a Lacie d2 320Gb with my MBP. I have never had any issues with it, and i use the silverkeeper backup software daily also.