External hard drive for my needs?

[deryk]

Hi,

I'm ready to make the switch from backing up my Mac to CDs and my iPod and I'm looking to purchase a 160GB external hard drive. There are many hard drives out there and for people with different needs. My sole purpose is to back-up my computer once a week--perhaps twice if I burn a lot of my CD (I'm working on transferring a 2000 CD collection to iTunes, I'm half-way there). I do not need the hard drive to be portable, nor will I be storing anything on it besides backed-up information.

I'm contemplating the LaCie p3 160GB F.A. Porsche FireWire Drive. It has a decent $/Gb cost. It seems to have mixed reviews from people, but my perception is that the people who have had problems with it are professionals who use the drive much more than I will.

I'd like to know two things: What external hard drive do you use? and In what capacity do you use it, ie, back-up or as a device that you travel with and/or access frequently?

Thanks,

Deryk

 

[baummer]

I currently use a Western Digital 120GB external hard drive. I use it for storage of media files (.psd files, .mp3's, .mpegs, etc.) as well as a file server between my XP machine and my OS X machine. I purchased it on sale at Target for $99 and I haven't had any problems with it whatsoever. I highly recommend anything produced my Western Digital, as in my experience, their drives are much higher in quality and stability than anyone else.

 

[blodwyn]

I have several hard disks laying around so I bought an external 5.25" enclosure and fitted it with a removeable drive dock. this allows me to swap different hard disks in and out in under a minute for different backup purposes.

 

[_pb_boi]

LaCie d2 160gig Firewire 400/800 drive.

Great - never had any problems with it when it's connected to my Mac.

andy.

 

[kgarner]

Can't speak to that particular drive, but I have a LaCie 40GB Portable Drive that I absolutely love. Never given me any problems and I haul it around everywhere.

 

[lopresmb]

I have a Western Digital Media Center External HD, and I love it for several reasons:
-has USB 2.0 and firewire (firewire for file transfer and usb as a 2 port hub)
-fast 7200 RPM, I use it maily for backing up music, photos, and ducuments
-one touch backup AND scheduled backup using retrospect (included)
-I have the "media center" version that also includes a 6-in-1 card reader which is nice for transferring photos.

--you can probably get a little better $/GB ratio, but I love this drive.

 

[robx2]

I have the 250GB model and it's worked really well under heavy use. I've been using it to edit a 60-minute video project and it's performed perfectly with Final Cut Pro and across several different Macs.

The only caveat I would make is that it isn't the toughest hard drive on the market. The first one I had died after a fall of only about 18 inches. Fortunately, the fall occured during the return period and I was able to get a new one.

If you're planning to use it on the go, you might want to reconsider, but if it's just going to be sitting on your desk for occassional backup, I'd recommend it without reservations.