External HD for mac mini

[mckey]

Have a new mac mini 2.6 GH Quad-core i7 256 GB SSD that should arrive next week . Can anyone recommend which 2-3 TB external hard drive i.e. (apple time capsule) ,( Lacie), (western digital) they like best for backing up my photos and system backup.My last external Hd western digital 500 GB I purchased about 10 years ago still works but would like to upgrade to USB2 or USB3 .

 

[fa8362]

If you buy an Apple, you'll pay more than you should. Don't buy a USB 2.0. There are only a few hard drive manufacturers in the world. Apple and LaCie are not among them. Western Digital, Hitachi, Seagate and one or two others make drives. All others (including Apple and LaCie) just put their name on the case. That doesn't mean you shouldn't buy them, just that you're not buying an Apple or LaCie manufactured drive. You're buying an Apple or LaCie packaged drive.

You should look at owner reviews at retail online sites. Only pay attention to verified purchase reviews. Ignore the unverified purchase reviews.

Also, what you most want to know (long term reliability) won't be found in reviews.

I use/have used many different brands including Fantom, G-Technology, LaCie, Seagate, and Western Digital. All drives fail, but of the drives I've used longest, I've never had a Fantom (out of 12 drives) or G-Technology (2 drives) failure. Neither manufacture drives. I know G-Tech uses Hitachi drives, but I have no idea what's inside my many Fantom cases. Haven't used the Seagate long enough to comment. One of 3 Western Digital drives failed, and one of 8 LaCie branded drives failed, but I have no idea what was inside the LaCie case.

 

[Poob Bubes]

I ordered this one: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expan...351346190&sr=8-3&keywords=external+hard+drive

 

[Fishrrman]

You might consider one of these gadgets:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb3+sata+dock
(many items shown, they all work the same, just pick one you like that's cheap, make sure you get USB3)

Just combine it with one (or more) "bare" hard drives of your choice. You can boot from these via USB, as well.

The advantage to having a dock is that you're not locked into an external enclosure for every external drive you have. Just pop one drive out and insert another as required. This is especially useful for backing up and cloning -- you can keep a second backup, perhaps to store "off-site".

The disadvantage is that they aren't as snazzy-looking as some enclosures, and aren't "as portable".

But the usb/sata docks excel in functionality.