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External Harddrive

C

CV4

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 7, 2007
87
0
Ontario, Canada
Yes, I know I could search for other threads on this basic subject, but I would like my specific questions answered. Anyway,

I am picking up one of the new MBPs in a week or so. I need an external harddrive to go with it.

I am looking at 320-500 GB, and a $150 to $220ish price range.

I need to be able to make 2 partitions, a small one to back up the MBP and a big one for various multimedia (music, movies, documents, etc.). The ability to use it on both Mac OS X and Windows XP would be a plus (can they all do this?).

Right now, I am thinking I will either get:

1. LaCie F.A. Porsche Design 320 GB
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...angid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10085214&catid=23795

or

2. Seagate Free Agent Pro 320 GB
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=L&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10087565&catid=

or

3. Seagate Free Agent Desktop 320 GB
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=L&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10087572&catid=

Which of these do you recommend? I personally don't want to go with a My Book from WD because I have heard a lot of bad things about them.

Also, can any of these be run through a firewire 800 connection?

Is it worth the extra money to get one of the Seagates? And on top of that, is it worth the $20 to get the Pro edition as opposed to the Desktop edition?

Thanks for the help.
 
????

None of the three drives you listed have Firewire 400, let alone FW800?

You can do the partitioning from your Mac however you like. Choosing "MS-DOS" gives you a FAT32 partition which will be both WIN and OSX usable.

My bias is to get a good external case, like a MacAlly PHR-100xx aluminium case, (there are a number of choices) and put in it the IDE drive of your choosing. That way, you get the full drive warranty (typically 3 years, or 5 for Seagate) rather than 1 year on the LaCie.

PM me for more specifics

Thanks
Trevor
 
CanadaRAM said:
????

None of the three drives you listed have Firewire 400, let alone FW800?
Click to expand...

Ya, I wasn't sure about the firewire part. For some reason, I thought the Seagates were firewire compatible and that it just wasn't said.

Thanks for the help though.

Also, any suggestions on where to get one of those cases but in Canada? Probably NCIX is the best bet?

Looked over NCIX, I am considering going with this setup now:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18410&vpn=ST3320620A&manufacture=Seagate
+
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18725&vpn=NST-360UF-BK&manufacture=VANTEC
 
CV4 said:
Yes, I know I could search for other threads on this basic subject, but I would like my specific questions answered. Anyway,

I am picking up one of the new MBPs in a week or so. I need an external harddrive to go with it.

I am looking at 320-500 GB, and a $150 to $220ish price range.

I need to be able to make 2 partitions, a small one to back up the MBP and a big one for various multimedia (music, movies, documents, etc.). The ability to use it on both Mac OS X and Windows XP would be a plus (can they all do this?).

Right now, I am thinking I will either get:

1. LaCie F.A. Porsche Design 320 GB
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...angid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10085214&catid=23795

or

2. Seagate Free Agent Pro 320 GB
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=L&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10087565&catid=

or

3. Seagate Free Agent Desktop 320 GB
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=L&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10087572&catid=

Which of these do you recommend? I personally don't want to go with a My Book from WD because I have heard a lot of bad things about them.

Also, can any of these be run through a firewire 800 connection?

Is it worth the extra money to get one of the Seagates? And on top of that, is it worth the $20 to get the Pro edition as opposed to the Desktop edition?

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
I heard the LaCie drives are great. My friend has one and he has never had any problems with it.
-Justin
 
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I checked www.dealnews.com daily until I found a decent price on an IDE HD (ended up with a 200GB Seagate from Circuit City for $50 after rebate) and paired it with a Macally PHR-100AC from Newegg. The power cable isn't very secure and my Macbook shuts off instantly when I try to use Firewire. :(

I wish I bought a 2.5" external that draws its power from USB. Then again, I hate extraneous cordage.
 
pavloskgr said:
my book pro edition 500gb with firewire 800(as well as 400 and usb of course), and i strongly recomend that as soon as you buy a firewire 800 capable laptop, you should take advantage of it! But no you can't install windows on your external hard disk as far as boot camp is concerned.......

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Dig...8?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1181418787&sr=8-8
Click to expand...

I don't want to boot windows from the external.

I just wanted to make sure I could use the contents of the external on both windows and mac.
 
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