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CLUELESS on what External HDD to buy ..

PuckDaddy said:
DAYYUM! 😱
would it not been easier (and probably cheaper) to get a Drobo ?
I can't imagine needing all those drives
don't tell me that's a TimeCapsule too
Click to expand...

I know! I would get a Drobo but their FW800 interface has received such poor reviews. Also, they use a proprietary RAID system so if the unit dies (which others have reported many times) you have to wait until another Drobo unit ships to you.

My TimeCapsule is the Maxtor OneTouchII 300GB drive. All my critical video, photos and documents are mirrored manually and rotated offsite for storage. Now that I've got the Voyager Q, I'll sell off some of my external drives.
 
Khryz said:
So now I'm leaning towards the single enclosure and the Hitachi "B" 1 TB drive and putting it together myself.

But like I PM'ed Maestrokev .. I'm curious on how this will differ from the "Enterprise" OWC configuration posted above? I know in the Enterprise version the HDD is not the "B" version of the Hitachi 1 TB drive but there has to be some advantage to this configuration that gives it such a higher MTBF (sp?) than the other drives.
Click to expand...

i read to look for the B drive ... what does that mean ? is it just a lower power consuming drive ?
 
maestrokev said:
My TimeCapsule is the Maxtor OneTouchII 300GB drive. All my critical video, photos and documents are mirrored manually and rotated offsite for storage. Now that I've got the Voyager Q, I'll sell off some of my external drives.
Click to expand...

of all those drives, you pick the Maxtor as your TimeCapsule ?
I wanted to ask you which of those you felt was the most reliable drive, although my guess would not have been the Maxtor
 
PuckDaddy said:
of all those drives, you pick the Maxtor as your TimeCapsule ?
I wanted to ask you which of those you felt was the most reliable drive, although my guess would not have been the Maxtor
Click to expand...

I've had warranty repairs with Maxtor, LaCie and WD! Maxtor sucks the most and now Seagate bought them out. WD support is only slightly better, takes forever to get a drive replaced and they give you crappy refurbished models even if your unit was a couple of months old. I don't think there's an all encompassing most reliable manufacturer, they rotate - currently Hitachi seems to be on top.

I gave up on buying assembled external hard drive so that's why my latest is the Voyager Q. 1TB drives are under $100 now so any problems I replace. Costs me $20 insured shipping for warranty repairs so I don't bother if a drive fails over 2yrs old - cheaper to rebuy.

TimeCapsule isn't all that useful for me as I also clone my drive with SuperDuper and have multiple hard drive backups of all that data stored offsite as well. I also use Mozy.

There's nothing worse than a false sense of security with backups so I use various methods.
 
maestrokev said:
The Mercury is aluminum and fanless and you can buy the new enclosure model with the Oxford 934 chipset that supports up to 2TB drives.
Click to expand...

While there are differences/improvements in RAID and eSATA support between the chipsets, the 924 will support larger than 1TB drives as well as the 934.

I already mentioned this above but you feel free to go ahead and keep repeating that.
 
I went through the same questions when searching for an external HD. As others have mentioned, people stick with brands they have had luck with.

I went with Seagate 1TB internal Drive with an external enclosure, eSata/FW400/USB2

I chose Seagte because it has a 5 year warranty, where as others may have only 3 years.
 
PuckDaddy said:
what is this :http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/0A38028/
in the description it says it's a Saturn, but the ad says it's the Deskstar
wtf is going on ?
anyway, this looks to be THE drive that we're talking about ,the E7k1000, which is what you get when you order the MErcury's or Ministacks 'enterprise' option

is this the drive OWC should be installing in there enclosures ? I mean, why not caviars or barracudas or the smasung's ? and why not the newer B rev ?
Click to expand...

It's the enterprise version of the 7K1000.B with better parts and higher MTBF. Check carefully what drive you get as OWC has many configurations. The enterprise version comes with 5yr warranty vs 3yrs for the standard desktop model.
 
SaSaSushi said:
While there are differences/improvements in RAID and eSATA support between the chipsets, the 924 will support larger than 1TB drives as well as the 934.

I already mentioned this above but you feel free to go ahead and keep repeating that.
Click to expand...

I'm referring to the OWC models. I could be wrong as I haven't tried anything larger than a 1TB drive in the 924 chipset. I received my info directly from OWC when I asked about upgrading the drives in my OWC Mercury Elite-Al Pro DUAL drive Oxford 924 unit:

our units did have a 2tb size limit so i would advise to use the 1 TB Hitachi drives. The current drives we are now selling can handle the new larger 1.5 or 2tb drives for a 3-4TB unit but older drives the chip set used for FW did have a limit

Ben Priest
Customer Service Manager
Other World Computing, Inc.
2650 Bridge Lane
Woodstock, Illinois 60098
Sales & Customer Service (800) 275-4576
International (815) 338-8685
Fax (815) 338-4332
 
maestrokev said:
I'm referring to the OWC models. I could be wrong as I haven't tried anything larger than a 1TB drive in the 924 chipset. I received my info directly from OWC when I asked about upgrading the drives in my OWC Mercury Elite-Al Pro DUAL drive Oxford 924 unit:
Click to expand...

OK, thanks for the clarification. I just wanted to say from my own personal experience here that it isn't a limitation of the chipset.

When I first bought this IcyDock enclosure I was a bit nervous about going with the 1.5TB Seagate for possible lack of support but I noted on their website FAQ:

Q. Does the ICY DOCK Removable Enclosure support drives larger than 750GB?
A. Yes, our removable hard drive enclosure does not have a capacity limitation as of now.

It is very strange that OWC is claiming that the chipset has a size limit. I guess it is more an issue of their firmware than the chipset.
 
maestrokev said:
It's the enterprise version of the 7K1000.B with better parts and higher MTBF. Check carefully what drive you get as OWC has many configurations. The enterprise version comes with 5yr warranty vs 3yrs for the standard desktop model.
Click to expand...

I just read where the E7k100 was indeed based off the 7100.b, that's excellent news as I thought it was an older unit. I have learned that the "B" rev was much better than the original. looked for a bit at Tom's Hardware ans saw where it smokes the old one, but could get no information on the "E", only that it was based on the .B

ENTERPRISE-CLASS:
This miniStack v3 utilizes a Hitachi E7K1000 Enterprise-Class hard drive mechanism. The Deskstar E7K1000 delivers value to the enterprise 7200 RPM performance and innovative technologies like Rotational Vibration Safeguard (RVS). To mitigate any adverse impact on system performance, Hitachi-patented RVS technology works to counteract this disturbance ensuring drive performance and data integrity. The drive also has a targeted 1.2 million hours MTBF rating and provides the industry’s most comprehensive 5-year warranty.
Click to expand...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/MS3S7H10TE32/ - MiniStack
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEAQ7H1TE32M/ - Mercury Elite AL Pro

so we're good right ?
 
PuckDaddy .. are you planning on getting either of those two units with the Enterprise HDD?
 
Khryz said:
PuckDaddy .. are you planning on getting either of those two units with the Enterprise HDD?
Click to expand...

thats the direction I'm heading
i wsn't aware that the E7k1000 was the enterprise version of the 7k1000.B
it's a good drive.
to buy this drive and put it in an enclosure will cost almost as much as buying it pre-config, so I'm less concerned about $200 for a 1tb unit

I think I might just go with the MiniStack. you can always use a few extra ports, and I like the enclosure. still undecided.
I'm not one to just start buying ****, and I'm not as familiar with this topic as others here. I have enough sense to put that WD Home Edition and Seagate FreeAgent Extreme back on the shelf..... not that they're unreliable drives, but that I don't have as much faith in them as the .... well, I really don't have alot of faith in any of them.
it's a fairly new topic to me, but I've absorbed quite a bit of information

both of these units get high marks, I guess it's comes down to cost / benefit
 
SaSaSushi said:
OK, thanks for the clarification. I just wanted to say from my own personal experience here that it isn't a limitation of the chipset.

When I first bought this IcyDock enclosure I was a bit nervous about going with the 1.5TB Seagate for possible lack of support but I noted on their website FAQ:

Q. Does the ICY DOCK Removable Enclosure support drives larger than 750GB?
A. Yes, our removable hard drive enclosure does not have a capacity limitation as of now.

It is very strange that OWC is claiming that the chipset has a size limit. I guess it is more an issue of their firmware than the chipset.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't know why the OWC models have stated limitations, it could be that they are just being careful as they haven't tested on a 3TB or 4TB drive - doesn't exist yet.
 
PuckDaddy said:
thats the direction I'm heading
i wsn't aware that the E7k1000 was the enterprise version of the 7k1000.B
it's a good drive.
to buy this drive and put it in an enclosure will cost almost as much as buying it pre-config, so I'm less concerned about $200 for a 1tb unit

I think I might just go with the MiniStack. you can always use a few extra ports, and I like the enclosure. still undecided.
I'm not one to just start buying ****, and I'm not as familiar with this topic as others here. I have enough sense to put that WD Home Edition and Seagate FreeAgent Extreme back on the shelf..... not that they're unreliable drives, but that I don't have as much faith in them as the .... well, I really don't have alot of faith in any of them.
it's a fairly new topic to me, but I've absorbed quite a bit of information

both of these units get high marks, I guess it's comes down to cost / benefit
Click to expand...

Yes, as I mentioned to Khryz, if I had the cash I'd get all enterprise rated drives but since I own 10 1TB HD's, the extra 50%+ cost adds up. I love my Hitachi 7K1000.B (low power, quiet, not too hot) so I assume the E7K1000 are just as good if not better.

Google around to see how quiet the MiniStacks are with the fan - don't just believe OWC on how quiet their enclosures are 😉 The Mercury Elite-Al Pro enclosures are fanless so all you hear are the drives. I don't think you can go wrong with either one.
 
Thanks for all your help Maestrokev -- just ordered the newest FW chipset enclosure and the Hitachi HD separately.

Hopefully it'll come by Friday!
 
Khryz said:
Thanks for all your help Maestrokev -- just ordered the newest FW chipset enclosure and the Hitachi HD separately.

Hopefully it'll come by Friday!
Click to expand...

which enclosure did you get ?
what made you order them separatley?
i priced the enclosure and the HDD separately and it was more expensive

just curious which route you took
 
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