External HDs

Ok.. In my 14 years of experience (I've used macs since I was born ).

External HDDs end up as a disk appearing in the OS X native environment. Just like a cd, or a floppy, or another comp in target mode.

What you can do, (same with iPod), is to put OS X on it and make it a boot disk. Then, depending when you turn the drive on, it will boot off it, or just mount it.

I have a tri (firewire 400&800, USB 2.0) interface lacie external HDD 250GB. I got that from macmall.com.au . It's really a matter of preference. I love lacie overall as a brand.

 

i have the same lacie drive. it's great. starts and sleeps with my PB. not too noisy. i have two partitions that can be used as boot disks.

andi

 

I'd check out this thread for starters and would say to build your own.

Help!!! Brand Name or Generic Firewire Drives???

I just got a 400GB Seagate drive and put it in an OWC aluminum case and it works beautifully. The Seagates come with a 5-year warranty. Hitachi/IBM drives are really good, too, and come with a 3-year warranty.

 

The OWC aluminum enclosure came with FW400 and FW800 ports and uses a custom Oxford 912 chipset. It's rated at:

FireWire 800 - 800Mbps (or 100MB/sec)
FireWire 400 - 400Mbps (or 50MB/sec)

and the 400GB Seagate drive is rated at:

Transfer Rate
Maximum Internal (Mbytes/sec) 95
Maximum External (Mbytes/sec) 150/100
Sustained Transfer Rate OD (Mbytes/sec) 65
Cache, Multisegmented (Mbytes) 8
Average Seek (msec) 8
Average Latency (msec) 4.16
Spindle Speed (RPM) 7200

Hope this helps.

 

I would recommend going with a HD enclosure, as it is the most cost-effective solution. With the rapidly increasing capacities and decreasing costs per GB, this is your best bet. You can purchase the overall solution for less, the internal version of a HD is cheaper than its external version, and you can always swap the drive out at a future date. Just do a search for "Hard Drive Enclosures" on the Forums and you'll find a lot of great advice and further information on the subject.

 

I'm too lazy to build my own. I want to just take it out of the box, plug it in and it works. That's why I went with the LaCie 250. Never a problem. In fact I'm backing up to it right now using Superduper, but you can also use the SilverKeeper software that comes with it.

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

Well, it doesn't take much more effort to plug an enclosure into your computer instead of the external drive, and then pop an internal drive into the enclosure. But if the extra 30 seconds that takes is too much for ya, that's cool.

 

yea u like lacie as well

 

Just keep in mind that Lacie doesn't manufacture their own Hard Drives. If you buy a Lacie drive you're actually buying a Maxtor or Seagate drive, most likely. And there's nothing wrong with that, but it's a common misconception that Lacie actually manufactures drives - they don't.

 

Just shows exactly HOW lazy I am

Haven't done so in a while, but I put together an internal drive and an enclosure a while back (I mean years ago). At that time I had to have the right mounting hardware to put it in and I had to set jumpers. It was a pain.

Not so bad these days, huh...

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

Haha - no, not too bad at all... An external drive is definitely easier to set up when all is said and done (i.e. plug it in!) but the enclosures are definitely not a pain either. In the end, it just comes down to what you need and what you want.

 

I'm a design whore, I'll admit it. I like LaCie's sense of style, and I haven't found an external casing that matched my PowerBook as well. I'm probably going to buy another one of their drives soon—running out of space! But beyond that, this FW800 d2 Extreme I have has been great, very reliable and fast. I'll probably get an F.A. Porsche drive next, as they're smaller and quieter and I'll be using it for personal data, not digital video as with my d2.

 

I've often wondered about the cost effectiveness of using an enclosure + internal drive. When I do cost comparisons, they usually come out pretty close.

• For example, if I got an Mercury Elite Pro (Oxford 922, FW800/400 + USB2) for $110 and a Seagate Barracuda 250 GB HD from Newegg for $117 (both products and sites have been highly recommended elsewhere) that adds up to $227, plus shipping.
• I could even forgo FW800 (which I don't have, and won't for at least 3-4 years) and get the Mercury Elite Pro (Oxford 911, FW400 + USB2) for $90 and perhaps a Western Digital 250 GB HD for $110 which adds up to $190.

Both of those come really close in price to the LaCie 250 GB d2 which is normally $219, or $199 with my educational discount, plus free shipping.

• Is it because of the educational discount that I could do nearly as well or better with LaCie, and the non-edu price difference ($219 - 190 = $29) is the savings that people are referring to?
• Is it because I'm choosing quality components instead of more basic ones?
• Perhaps I've hit a cross-over or break-even point with my particular specs (250 GB, FW + USB) and for other specs DIY has a stronger price advantage.
• Or finally, is DIY a better value because in a few years I can easily take out the 250 GB HD and drop in a much larger HD, plus I'll know exactly who to complain to / blame if one component or the other has problems?

I'm not trying to challenge anyone or be obstinate, I'm just trying to get a better idea of how others see the situation so I can get the best-value "companion" for my brand new iMac. Thanks for listening, everyone!

 

Just that there are way less expensive choices than the Mercury enclosure. Look for the MacAlly aluminum enclosures, PHR-100 series
http://www.macally.com/spec/firewire/storage/35enclosure.html

Randy Singer (on another list) recommends Argosy cases
http://www.pcmicrostore.com/PartDet...6232;p:10500933
The price is good if you are in the USA, not so good after costs of importing to Canada though.

The other thing is if you buy your own Seagate mechanism, you can choose one with a 5 year warranty. (don't buy the OEM versions with 0 - 1 year)

With any packaged external drive, you're getting only 1 year warranty.

 

... you also dont need the top of the line enclosures..

I bought a 30 buck enclosure stuck in a 200gb hdd (the enclosure only recommended a 100, but I got the sucker to get in there ) and BOOM! I saved myself a hundred bucks

 

And then you go and find deals like a $50 rebate on the Seagate 250 GB drive and save even more money. Hmm...

 

This has been a good thread to read since I'll probably cross the bridge at some point.

In my opinion, I don't always feel confident tinkering, particularly if it's for a machine that I really need to use. Hopefully I'll keep my G4 tower to play with, and I'll probably try to "build" my own external HD. BUT.... if I needed an external HD tomorrow, I'd rather spend a little more to get a "turn-key" solution and some peace of mind.

--> Of course, with the help of everyone on these forums, and with reference to past threads, there are probably great "turn key" solutions available in the DIY camp.

 

Although I am a DIY guy (at least I am in the PC world, I don't have much to do in terms of DIY when it comes to my Mac! ) I would still argue that going the way of a HD enclosure isn't exactly "tinkering", or such an ordeal as some people think. Really, it's plugging the enclosure into your Mac just as you would an external HD, and then plugging the internal HD into the enclosure. Simplistically, that's all there is to it! ;cool:

 

You guys pronounce it "lacy" or "la-see"?

 

I pronounce it la-see. I don't know if that's correct, though.

 

Do you pronounce your name "lay-cero" or "la-cero"?