Best FireWire External HDD

[bluap84]

Hi Guys

im looking for either a 1tb or 2tb external firewire drive for my iMac.
im looking to use it for Time Capsual as well as extra storage.

i have been looking at the western digital ones. However i follow chase jarvis the amazing commercial photographer a lot and he uses G Tech. Which out the two would be the better one?

 

[alust2013]

I think the G Tech stuff is just the enclosures, it looks like they use hitachi drives. Personally I don't think it much matters, I'd probably just get the WD, as it's likely to be cheaper, and I have had good experiences with WD drives.

 

[JML42691]

Interested to hear what people have to say as well. My 3 year old WD external drive crashed last week and I'm looking for a new one. Thankfully it is just my Time Machine drive so nothing to cry over.

My experience with this drive has been less than good from the start. Anybody have any suggestions other than WD?

 

[bluap84]

Interested to hear what people have to say as well. My 3 year old WD external drive crashed last week and I'm looking for a new one. Thankfully it is just my Time Machine drive so nothing to cry over.

My experience with this drive has been less than good from the start. Anybody have any suggestions other than WD?

would you advise running two drives then? As currently i have a 1tb WD drive, partitions 50/50 one half is time machine the other is data.

Maybe it would be an idea to get a firewire 1tb drive. and a 1tb for time machine? hmmm now thats got me thinking

 

[GGJstudios]

I've had good success with OWC drives:

OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro™

OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Any idea on how often Lacie updates their drives? I would like a 2 TB LaCie Hard Disk Quadra with the sleek black design, but all resellers keep pushing the availability date here in Denmark. First it was pushed to somewhere in the beginning of february, then the middle, and now the beginning of march.

 

[McRCN]

Their drives are not the cheapest, but it is about performance.

www.oyendigital.com

 

[DeeEss]

Hitachi owns G-Tech so yes they have Hitachi drives inside.

I use G-Tech Drives I really like them alot. I've found them to be well made and I've had no problems with them at all.

Everyone I know with an OWC Mercury Elite Drive raves about them.

 

[slipper]

Any idea on how often Lacie updates their drives? I would like a 2 TB LaCie Hard Disk Quadra with the sleek black design, but all resellers keep pushing the availability date here in Denmark. First it was pushed to somewhere in the beginning of february, then the middle, and now the beginning of march.

Lacie may not be so well known compared to WD and Seagate but they make some awesome drives. I have two Lacie FA Porsche Externals from the ancient days still in commission today and they're still arguably one of the most beautiful designs. And those Quadra drives look even more amazing. I regret getting my WD USB 2.0 drives, i might return them to get the Lacie Quadra's.

But to answer your question, they don't update very often from a design perspective. They come up with ridiculously sexy designs and keep those for a long time while increasing the capacity as technology advances. And with FW 800 and eSata you should be good for a while. The only thing i can see them doing is a minor update adding a USB 3.0 interface but for your iMac (and possibly future iMacs as mentioned by SJ) it would be worthless.

 

[DeeEss]

While they look nice, I've had nothing but problems with Lacie drives. To the point where I wouldn't go near them again.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

But to answer your question, they don't update very often from a design perspective. They come up with ridiculously sexy designs and keep those for a long time while increasing the capacity as technology advances. And with FW 800 and eSata you should be good for a while. The only thing i can see them doing is a minor update adding a USB 3.0 interface but for your iMac (and possibly future iMacs as mentioned by SJ) it would be worthless.

Thanks, but I wasn't thinking about the design, which I really like.. I was more thinking about the harddrive itself, inside the enclosure.. The current model would suit me just fine, I was just wondering, since I can't seem to find a dealer who has them available, so I thought they might boost the capacity!

 

[toxic]

just buy your own enclosure and hard drive, then you can pick whatever brand you want.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

just buy your own enclosure and hard drive, then you can pick whatever brand you want.

True! But I haven't found a decent looking one, that has firewire800... Feel free to come with suggestions!

I would have preferred one that matches the 2010 Mac mini, but that doesn't exist yet. So I have to rely on an anonymous one, that can sit close by.. Such as the Lacie one, I posted above.

 

[slipper]

Thanks, but I wasn't thinking about the design, which I really like.. I was more thinking about the harddrive itself, inside the enclosure.. The current model would suit me just fine, I was just wondering, since I can't seem to find a dealer who has them available, so I thought they might boost the capacity!

Thats just the progression of technology. The question is, will a 2TB external be sufficient for you now? If not then get a multi bay enclosure.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Thats just the progression of technology. The question is, will a 2TB external be sufficient for you now? If not then get a multi bay enclosure.

For now yes. Not in the future, since I love movies.. I was planning on ripping my DVD collection, and upgrade the 2011 Mac mini when it comes to a Bluray drive, and start making a Bluray collection. When it is full, I can get a 5TB drive for the same price anyway.

 

[jwilcox09]

I have the lacie rugged 1TB and its great. I carry it everywhere, nice and light, and super rugged.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Iomega MiniMax are great. I have two and never had a problem. You can daisy chain them and they also have 3 firewire and 3 USB2 ports on them.

 

[mortfe]

I have been using G-Drives for the last 6 years. I have 4 drives G-Connect 500gb, G-Mini 750gb. 1tb and the new 2tb. All work great except the NEW 5th generation 2tb. Keep getting -50 error code, Apple software error and have to re-mount. Been fighting with G-Tech and have replaced it 3 times already. Wanted them to replace it with the 4th gen 2tb but they refused. Supposed firmware update to correct the problem after I treatened to go to court. Even with the -50 error the drive is great.