My Backup + has/had a 3-year warranty. The FW port died in 18 months. Exchanging the bottom section for 2 separate 'Flex Bit' sections did not fix the problem. Where is QC?
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External Hard Drives - What to avoid?
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My Backup + has/had a 3-year warranty. The FW port died in 18 months. Exchanging the bottom section for 2 separate 'Flex Bit' sections did not fix the problem. Where is QC?
WD and others also reduced consumer level desktop warranty to one year. You need to go NAS or Enterprise class to get 5 years regardless of vendor.
Given your problems with multiple firewire devices, have you considered that there just might be something wrong with your Mac's firewire ports?
He's talking about the base of these:
http://www.seagate.com/au/en/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/goflex-desk/
Basically, you can get different bases with different interface (in his case, the FW800 unit)
Thanks. The reason for the confusion is that some people refer to the cables connecting drives internally, if they're made out of mylar with copper traces etched on them as "Flex cables" and I got confused.
That said, some Firewire ports, if not properly protected, have a tendency to blow. The Titanium PowerBooks were notable for that.
In what seems to be a race to the bottom, external drives just aren't what they used to be. I've got some old clunkers, namely an old Maxtor and an ACom, and they're built like a fortress compared to some of the newer drives. The Maxtor literally takes about an hour to take apart. It has a metal reinforced external case with heavy rubber bumpers to lessen impact and a well engineered and solid frame enclosing it's drive. The ACom isn't up to those standards but the drive is still on it's own sled with a circuit card total isolated from the external case, which although plastic, is still tough an rugged.
The Acom is about 12 years old and it still works. It doesn't get much work anymore, but it still works. I still use the Maxtor, which is about 8 years old to do secondary backups (a backup of a backup yes, I'm that paranoid!)
I took a look at some WD's and Seagates and couldn't believe how cheap they were. Both the units I looked at had a flimsy plastic cases that seemed to be made out of the same type of plastic you would see in plastic model cars or planes. I could squeeze the cases and they'd actually flex. I don't believe either has any metal support internally to ruggedize the unit.
A backup drive is more than a little critical. It's usually used to restore systems that have crashed. This is not the place to be cutting corners or taking shortcuts to save a buck.
The Acom is about 12 years old and it still works. It doesn't get much work anymore, but it still works. I still use the Maxtor, which is about 8 years old to do secondary backups (a backup of a backup yes, I'm that paranoid!)
I took a look at some WD's and Seagates and couldn't believe how cheap they were. Both the units I looked at had a flimsy plastic cases that seemed to be made out of the same type of plastic you would see in plastic model cars or planes. I could squeeze the cases and they'd actually flex. I don't believe either has any metal support internally to ruggedize the unit.
A backup drive is more than a little critical. It's usually used to restore systems that have crashed. This is not the place to be cutting corners or taking shortcuts to save a buck.
I'm pretty sure Acom went bankrupt and Maxtor got bought by Seagate, so you won't see any of those brands around again.
The consumer hard drive business is so price competitive that if they can find a way to save a penny they will do it, for survival. The enterprise market does not have as much price pressure as enterprise buyers are willing to pay for proven reliability and durability. You will find some very well built enclosures and drives selling at the enterprise premium.
The only time I had an issue with FW drives is when I tried to daisy chain 3 bus powered ones. It was happy with 2.
With the more recent Macs that still had FireWire ports, the ports could only deliver 6watts. So not surprised at all with the limit of bus powered drives.
Some of the first Macs with FireWire could deliver 15watts.
That is one thing about FireWire that caused some compatibility issues - no power spec. There were 4-pin connectors with no power, and the 6-pin for FW400 on original Macs, and the 8-pin FW800 connector. You could never be sure how much power was available.
We've repeated that with USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 which could offer up to 500ma and 900ma respectively; then complicated by the charging spec for phones and tablets, and Apple's own private API and capability which could permit USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports to provide more current for certain Apple peripherals (ie G4 Cube speakers and current SuperDrive).
USB 3.1 and Type-C connector complicates matters further with up to 100watts available according to the latest power delivery spec. We have the new Macbook being charged via the companion 29watt power adapter that connects via USB Type-C connector and charging cable.
Thanks. That's very useful information.
Generally I've learned to steer clear of port powered stuff, especially on USB since it always seemed to be a crap shoot seeing if it would actually be fully powered.
Is anyone having any problems with Thunderbolt stuff? Considering that it's really sort of an extension of the system bus, I assume the answer to that is "no." Is Apple the only company using Thunderbolt? Finding anything Thunderbolt outside an Apple store or an online retailer seems to be impossible.
I've not seen or heard of many MB having any Thunderbolt I/P (except for one Z87 MB from Asus, using Thunderbolt 2...), in Windows based products. And a haven't seen/met any finished products (laptops) using Thunderbolt 1/2 except for Macs. But afaik, Thunderbolt is not a proprietary case like the Lightning; as it has been developed by Intel. Pls. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)
If you search Amazon for external HDDs with Thunderbolt interface, you will see some limited and usually highly priced ones from only a few manufacturers.
Here in the US, I see Thunderbolt peripherals available at a number of online and storefront locations.
Apple Store
Fry's
Micro Center
B&H Photo and Video
Amazon
Newegg
eBay
and at many Mac centric stores
Seagate, LaCie, WD, and G-Tech seem to be the most prominent and widely available. El Gato, Caldigit, and Monster less so. And there are many others
On the Windows side, I've seen computers from Dell, HP, Asus, Lenovo, and Acer.
For motherboards, there are Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI to name a few.
Google and other search engines are your friend in your quest.
Granted, you won't find "in your face" ads with blazing messages about Thunderbolt sales. You will need to read the reviews on internet retailers and internet publucations.
There us a website, www.thunderbolttechnology.net that also summarizes many products.
Perhaps what you are really asking is where are the best deals!
Apple Store
Fry's
Micro Center
B&H Photo and Video
Amazon
Newegg
eBay
and at many Mac centric stores
Seagate, LaCie, WD, and G-Tech seem to be the most prominent and widely available. El Gato, Caldigit, and Monster less so. And there are many others
On the Windows side, I've seen computers from Dell, HP, Asus, Lenovo, and Acer.
For motherboards, there are Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI to name a few.
Google and other search engines are your friend in your quest.
Granted, you won't find "in your face" ads with blazing messages about Thunderbolt sales. You will need to read the reviews on internet retailers and internet publucations.
There us a website, www.thunderbolttechnology.net that also summarizes many products.
Perhaps what you are really asking is where are the best deals!
I know you can find stuff online or at the Apple store. I'm just saying it doesn't seem to be commonplace at all. If I go to the local Best Buy, there's nothing on the shelf. The same for local computer parts stores. I can find stuff with dual USB/Firewire often, and once in a while a Firewire only unit, but no Thunderbolt. eSata and USB are everywhere.
That's because eSATA and USB are cheaper interfaces to incorporate into storage devices etc. Thunderbolt hasn't been adopted much by PC motherboard makers unfortunately, so you're not going to see your average computer parts stores stocking Thunderbolt gear.
Thus far in my 30 years' experience with Macs, the best drive enclosures I've come across have been made by OWC (I think Akitio is the OEM for them)
It isn't commonplace at all, at least not like USB. However Thunderbolt is very versatile and you can get adapters for just about anything, for a price, that is.
The shear cost of Thunderbolt accessories is probably enough to steer a lot of people away from using it. Also, with Thunderbolt, get used to using the web and ordering online.
The Thunderbolt vs. USB 3 showdown!! 
http://gizmodo.com/5980157/thunderbolt-vs-usb-30-the-definitive-showdown
For the bucks USB 3 can't be beat. Assuming of course it works on your system.
http://gizmodo.com/5980157/thunderbolt-vs-usb-30-the-definitive-showdown
For the bucks USB 3 can't be beat. Assuming of course it works on your system.
Thunderbolt devices must go through a rigorous certification process before being using the log and sold.
Anyone can make a USB device and sell it as certification by USB-IF is not required.
So...there are varying degrees of quality for USB devices.
Also, just because a device is USB certified, does not mean it will work properly with a Mac.
Anyone can make a USB device and sell it as certification by USB-IF is not required.
So...there are varying degrees of quality for USB devices.
Also, just because a device is USB certified, does not mean it will work properly with a Mac.
Apple seems to be having a lot of problems with USB devices, and now, it seems they're having problems with Firewire too (Yosemite only, to the best of my knowledge.) Most of the problems I've seen reported with USB are the drive not being recognized, the drive being ejected after sleep, but these things all seem to work on other systems. The Firewire problems are similar, but to the best of my knowledge, Yosemite-only.
There's too much evidence to suggest this is a problem with Apple, not the peripheral vendors. Go to the App Store and read all the complaints that people are having with their systems, and it's not just Yosemite's looks either. There are real problems out there.
There's too much evidence to suggest this is a problem with Apple, not the peripheral vendors. Go to the App Store and read all the complaints that people are having with their systems, and it's not just Yosemite's looks either. There are real problems out there.