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External hard drive deal for college?

O

opik

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 25, 2005
99
0
Cupertino, CA
I'm getting ready to start college as freshmen this fall and doing some tech shopping. I have a iBook G4 with 60GB of hard drive and I am interested in getting an external hard drive for back up of documents. What is the best deal out there today? I have no specific size in mind but I wish to get a good value for the buck.

(Will Leopard and Time Machine work on my iBook?)
 
If all you plan on using it for is to backup your laptop hard drive, USB 2.0 should suffice.
 
If you were say editing video and using an external hard drive as a "scratch disk" to store and access the source footage.
 
External Booting?

Is it possible to boot from a external USB drive? I thought only Firewire drives could do that...
 
DoFoT9 said:
since the switch ALL of the intel macs support both USB2.0 and FW startup. nify aye :)
Click to expand...

Yeah but the OP has an iBook G4. Some of the late PPC could boot of USB but it is very hit and miss, so i would go for firewire. Losts of drives come with Both USB and firewire and a slight increase in cost.

If you wanted a fully bootable backup then you need to get a firewire drive.
 
xUKHCx said:
Yeah but the OP has an iBook G4. Some of the late PPC could boot of USB but it is very hit and miss, so i would go for firewire. Losts of drives come with Both USB and firewire and a slight increase in cost.

If you wanted a fully bootable backup then you need to get a firewire drive.
Click to expand...

oh i spose i should read... sorry...

yea the firewire drive is highly recommened then...that and the faster speeds, if you need it.
 
Another way to consider going would be with an NAS (Network Attached Storage).

I'm starting to hear reasonably good things about the LaCie 'Ethernet' products.

The 500GB is $210, which is only $100 more than a bare 500GB drive costs you...a very good deal for a NAS appliance.

What should be nice about this approach is that if I understand their documentation correctly, one should be able to get it all set up so that its available over your network and be able to attach to it wirelessly. I'm still reading through the details to see if this is indeed correct before buying one myself (although I'll probably spring for the 1TB version for $320).


-hh
 
personally I have a couple of recommendations on the external hard drive front.

a few months ago I picked up a Western Digital 500GB My Book External Hard Drive @ Best Buy for $120, and that was before coupons and Reward Zone stuff.

or you could go with INOi's Media Tank. Essentially the Media Tank is a 320GB HD, 18x DVD+/-RW Burner, 6-in-1 card reader (CF I/II, MD, SD, MMC, MS/MS PRO).

I have both units currently plugged into my PowerBook G4 and really do enjoy both of them. Now if Belkin would hurry the hell up with the Mac drivers for their Network USB Hub I'd be an insanely happy man :p
 
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