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External HDD- Fast, Cheap, Good Looking

X

XTRanger

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 24, 2007
95
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Im looking for an external HDD drive, with a minimum of 500GB space. I dont really want to spend over 200 bucks for it... I was thinking of getting a LaCie's Porsche drive, But I've heard that it is not fast enough, although it quite nicely will complement my MBP's design.

i plan to install games and run them off of there (in bootcamp windows)

so if you folks have any external HDDs in mind, please do let me know!
 
I always suggest Seagates... Not sure what you think of the design, it's not terrible, but it's no LACiE Porsche, that's for sure. Here's a link. Like I said, I don't think it's terrible looking, but it's not winning any beauty contests. What it lacks in aesthetics it definitely makes up for in both performance and reliability. Seagates rock.
 
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desenso said:
I always suggest Seagates... Not sure what you think of the design, it's not terrible, but it's no LACiE Porsche, that's for sure. Here's a link. Like I said, I don't think it's terrible looking, but it's not winning any beauty contests. What it lacks in aesthetics it definitely makes up for in both performance and reliability. Seagates rock.
Click to expand...

I highly recommend this drive, we have two of them at work. The brushed metal enclosure is really slick. I think we got 750GB for about $250.

The five-year warranty is nice too! :)
 
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XTRanger said:
Im looking for an external HDD drive, with a minimum of 500GB space. I dont really want to spend over 200 bucks for it... I was thinking of getting a LaCie's Porsche drive, But I've heard that it is not fast enough, although it quite nicely will complement my MBP's design.

i plan to install games and run them off of there (in bootcamp windows)

so if you folks have any external HDDs in mind, please do let me know!
Click to expand...

You are confusing "drive" with "drive enclosure" one holds data and the other holds a drive.
What you really should care about is who makes the drive (Seagate, WD and so in) and what interface electronics connects to the drive. Companies like LeCie simply buy from 3rd parties and resell it. So look at the parts being resold not so much who is doing the reselling.

That said, I think the people at OWC are doing a nice job. They have an attractive aluminum box that matches the Mac Pro's style with integrated heat sink. Buy the box that comes with a FW800
interface and it will be as fast as you can get but the FW400 is $20 less
Then pick the disk drive as the box
is offered with a choice of several drives inside or sold empty. Think about if you
want a box that can hold two drives, better this than two single drive boxes if you
think you will be needing this much space later. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/
$200 will buy you a FW800 400GB drive and enclosure.
 
I was about to buy a ministack or an elite from OWC, but in the sunday paper, I found this Maxtor 750gig Firewire 400/USB 2.0 from bestbuy.

It doesn't look as good as I would like (mainly because of the odd wedge shape that you can't really tell from the pictures), it doesn't have esata, and I don't like that it has the small USB connection (like the one on digicams), but I use the firewire anyway. But for the price ($199.99) and the fact that I had a $200 giftcard for bestbuy that I have not had any use for almost a year, (it was about to go on eBay last week!)

But it is fast. And big. And cheap. Also a 5 year warranty, but I could give a crap about the drive, I don't want my files lost, no warranty covers that.

698 gigs formatted. Not bad. A shade under 31 cents a gig. Since I basically only paid the tax on it because of the giftcard, I don't have too much to complain about it. But then again, I have had it for less than a week. But I think I can live with it. Now to load leopard on it in a few days...:D
 
Demon Hunter said:
I highly recommend this drive, we have two of them at work. The brushed metal enclosure is really slick. I think we got 750GB for about $250.

The five-year warranty is nice too! :)
Click to expand...

The drive I linked (the Seagate) has a plastic enclosure. I think you're referring to the LACiE Porsche, which isn't the drive I suggested. I bring this up just so that people aren't confused about what they get with a Seagate.
 
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