If you really care about QUALITY, as stated, then certainly don't get a Western Digital.
Cheap parts, plastic enclosures, driver problems, etc.
Cheap parts, plastic enclosures, driver problems, etc.
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External Hard Drive Recommendation??
- Thread starter Mac2004
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I would get either a G-Tech G-Drive or one of the NewerTech miniStacks from OWC. I have both and love both. They are also both very quiet. With the miniStack, you also get a USB and Firewire hub! I also have a LaCie which is about four years old and have never had a problem with it. It is also very quiet.
For anyone who is not aware, a point of clarification - Lacie does not manufacture their own hard drives. If you purchase a Lacie drive you are in effect purchasing a Maxtor, WD, etc. drive.
As I said, just a point for clarification for anyone not in the know. That being said, Lacie provides an excellent product so this would definitely be a viable option as well.
That's different from my experience, i've had good luck with WD. Do other dirve manufacuturers use more expensive parts (what parts are you talking about specifically) and use metal enclosures?
WD used to be the best (like a decade ago, maybe longer), and then they were supposed to be the brand to hate.
Now.....I don't know. I think they're one of the good guys again.
Now.....I don't know. I think they're one of the good guys again.
The reviews are definitely mixed on them. Yes, 10 years ago they were the cat's ass, but then again so was Quantum with their Fireball drives...
I have heard both very good and very bad reviews on their current offerings of drives, so would personally stay away, but that's just me. Seagate seem to consistently garner the best reviews and they do have a 5-year warranty so I always recommend them first.I would never buy a pre-built external. I would much rather spend that money on a sophisticated and maximally flexible enclosure and buy my own OEM drive to put into it.
In fact, up until I bought an OWC enclosure and a WD 500 drive for it, I had been using Wiebetech's Drive Dock and attaching it to one of several 3.5 inch external drives. There was a time a couple of years ago when Western Digital 80 gig drives were available (with rebates) for $20 from Best Buy. I bought about 5 of them, and with that Drive Dock, they are basically just plug and play 80-gig portables for me. I can swap 80 gig hard drive externals in the same amount of time it takes to change a compact flash card in my CF reader, and my only investment was one Drive Dock and as many external 3.5 inch bare drives as I care to buy or salvage.
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/firewiredrivedock.php
In fact, up until I bought an OWC enclosure and a WD 500 drive for it, I had been using Wiebetech's Drive Dock and attaching it to one of several 3.5 inch external drives. There was a time a couple of years ago when Western Digital 80 gig drives were available (with rebates) for $20 from Best Buy. I bought about 5 of them, and with that Drive Dock, they are basically just plug and play 80-gig portables for me. I can swap 80 gig hard drive externals in the same amount of time it takes to change a compact flash card in my CF reader, and my only investment was one Drive Dock and as many external 3.5 inch bare drives as I care to buy or salvage.
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/firewiredrivedock.php
Hard drive brand preference is like the brand of car that you drive - personal experience is a huge part. Personally, I'd never buy a Seagate drive because I've had two failures with that brand (and no, none of my Seagate failures were part of the relatively large scale problem of prematurely failing Seagate MacBook/Macbook Pro hard drives). OTOH, I've never had a Western Digital drive let me down. So, my personal bias is toward WD. But you should not take my personal experience (or any other person's) as gospel relative to brand choice.
adding on to this question...
if i have one computer on leopard and my MBP on 10.4 that means I dont have time machine on both of them. Does that mean that my MBP wont work on the time capsule network? only my mini?
Yep, as you say, everyone's experiences are going to be different. As a result it's best to look at as many reviews as possible to try and determine a statistical/historical view of how a brand's drives performs and then look at important factual information such as price point and warranty.
I have a 500GB G-Raid2 drive hooked up via FireWire800 to my 4 yr old Powerbook.
Running for 2 years every day... (I do shut down at night) NEVER a problem...
For me, it's the best drive on the market for the price. A true workhorse of a HD. That's my humble opinion.
Most of the drives i have are WD. I have one Seagate that is still running great in...my HTPC. I use the seagate as the startup drive but the other three (250GB, and 2x500GB) as the media storage. I also have 2x160GB drive that my sister an I use to back our macs up on and they are WD.
I like the WD's mostly because they are nice and quiet. There is not a whole lot of seek noise when they are spinning at full tilt which is especially nice for time machine drives (if you computer is in your room) and HTPC so that you can't here the drive while you are watching something from the HD.
I like the WD's mostly because they are nice and quiet. There is not a whole lot of seek noise when they are spinning at full tilt which is especially nice for time machine drives (if you computer is in your room) and HTPC so that you can't here the drive while you are watching something from the HD.
I absolutely love LaCie harddrives. They're reliable and well designed. I'm not an expert, but I think they are reasonably priced as well. Of course, the MyBook seems to be very popular as well, I don't have any experience with it, though.
Also: order from Amazon. They've always been obliging when it comes to defunct gear and replacements and the like, even outside the usual warranty. Seriously, they have the best customer service I've seen so far.
Also: order from Amazon. They've always been obliging when it comes to defunct gear and replacements and the like, even outside the usual warranty. Seriously, they have the best customer service I've seen so far.
I have a pile of external and internal drives... OWC 250, a 500 seagate and 500 maxtor runing in tandem, a 750 seagate and a 400 seagate. I also have a tangle of wires. I like Seagate, never had any drives fail, but apparently some people hate Seagates, depends on their past experiences, which can be all over the map. I also will only get FW capable drives and I wish I would have got all FW 800 drives. Moving 500GB of data takes a long time!
Everyone makes a bad batch of HDs from time to time, and hard drives can fail at any time. Just make sure you get 2 hard drives and either run a raid mirror or backup often, if you value your data. Try this test...imagine all your data on your one external hardrive gone. Can you easily live without it? If not, it's time to spring for 2 drives. At least Firewire 400.
It's also nice to be able to boot from your external hard drive if your regular drive should fail. Need FW for that. Of course you have to clone your system to the external drive, with something like Super Duper. That way there's 2 copies of your OS and everything else to choose to run from. It's very reassuring! Practice booting from the backup too, and make sure it works!
Just read a few posts like "my hardrive failed now what? Who want's to be left in that circumstance?" 100% avoidable!
I certainly like the idea of using Amazon, IF they make good on bad drives. Usually, resellers just send you to the manufacturer if there is a failure. Then you send the bad drive off and get a new one, hopefully!
Some Seagates come with a 5 year waranty, which means they stand behind their product. Of course the value of the data on the disc can be many times more than the $150 HD, or irreplaceable, so unless your data is backed up, getting a replacement for a bad drive, is not going help the problem if all your data is gone.
You must have a backup on a seperate drive, at least to get some protection. Pros back up and then back up again and store the 2nd back up off site in case of fire, flood or other acts of God (or man).
An electrical surge can fry everything and corrupt data or a virus can screw up two drives running as mirrors. Just depends how important that stored info is.
Everyone makes a bad batch of HDs from time to time, and hard drives can fail at any time. Just make sure you get 2 hard drives and either run a raid mirror or backup often, if you value your data. Try this test...imagine all your data on your one external hardrive gone. Can you easily live without it? If not, it's time to spring for 2 drives. At least Firewire 400.
It's also nice to be able to boot from your external hard drive if your regular drive should fail. Need FW for that. Of course you have to clone your system to the external drive, with something like Super Duper. That way there's 2 copies of your OS and everything else to choose to run from. It's very reassuring! Practice booting from the backup too, and make sure it works!
Just read a few posts like "my hardrive failed now what? Who want's to be left in that circumstance?" 100% avoidable!
I certainly like the idea of using Amazon, IF they make good on bad drives. Usually, resellers just send you to the manufacturer if there is a failure. Then you send the bad drive off and get a new one, hopefully!
Some Seagates come with a 5 year waranty, which means they stand behind their product. Of course the value of the data on the disc can be many times more than the $150 HD, or irreplaceable, so unless your data is backed up, getting a replacement for a bad drive, is not going help the problem if all your data is gone.
You must have a backup on a seperate drive, at least to get some protection. Pros back up and then back up again and store the 2nd back up off site in case of fire, flood or other acts of God (or man).
An electrical surge can fry everything and corrupt data or a virus can screw up two drives running as mirrors. Just depends how important that stored info is.