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External storage solution?

D

donjao

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 21, 2008
80
0
o/

I've just returned my WD My Passport Studio 320 GB (WD3200MT) as it was freezing my mac. Well, according to applestore user reviews - it's a common issue. But now, I do not want to use any of those WDs anymore.

Can you advise a good external storage solution? I don't really care about the size and form factor. I need a drive that works and works fast. FW800 is must. eSATA II is a huge plus.

Thanks in advance.
 
donjao said:
Yeah, OWC is cool but quite problematic for EU residents. Although, I made business with them couple of times. This is gonna be my 4th attempt to find a working drive, I had enough of headache already, that is why I'm not considering OWC.

But thanks for a tip!
Click to expand...

Ahh, I understand. Well, I have 3 LaCies and haven't had any issues so I can gladly recommend them. Another option is that you buy an enclosure and build your own.
 
I have been looking at one of those orange LaCies (maybe 500GB-so I never need another one) for my MBA.

Guess they work just fine. That's good to know. My Apple store even sells them now, but when I'm ready I'll probably get it on the internet.
 
Thanks guys.

I hear more and more good feedback for LaCie. I'll definitely look into them.

As Hellhammer suggested, getting an enclosure was my 2nd concern.

But thanks for the drive suggestion. I've checked reviews on applestore and they are also quite positive. So, I guess next brand is LaCie *fingers crossed*.

So, thanks everyone! Have a pleasant time!
 
mangrove said:
I have been looking at one of those orange LaCies (maybe 500GB-so I never need another one) for my MBA.

Guess they work just fine. That's good to know. My Apple store even sells them now, but when I'm ready I'll probably get it on the internet.
Click to expand...

I have the Rugged one as well 500gb and it works prefectly even though I am using Itunes and aperture of it
 
Btw, are LaCie 3.5" external drives disassemblable? As I might wanna keep the enclosure and replace the drive unit later.
 
I don't quite understand. Looking at this drive: http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=11471

But it says that the "burst" write speed is only 40 MB/s. How can that be if it has eSATA and 1 GBit LAN ports? eSATA suppose to allow you to write at 100+ MB/s! Am I missing something?

And, it does not say, If I can attach that drive to router directly and then access it wirelessly.
 
donjao said:
I don't quite understand. Looking at this drive: http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=11471

But it says that the "burst" write speed is only 40 MB/s. How can that be if it has eSATA and 1 GBit LAN ports? eSATA suppose to allow you to write at 100+ MB/s! Am I missing something?

And, it does not say, If I can attach that drive to router directly and then access it wirelessly.
Click to expand...

It's NAS meaning that it would be used wirelessly, thus the slow speed. If you use eSATA, then you should be able to achieve greater speeds. See the manuals for instructions how to set it up
 
Ok, another question. What speeds will I achieve, If I plug this drive directly to a PC/Laptop's 1 GB Ethernet controller? Will I get the same low speeds as stated in specification doc, or direct wiring will speed up to proper 1 GB/s speed?
 
donjao said:
Ok, another question. What speeds will I achieve, If I plug this drive directly to a PC/Laptop's 1 GB Ethernet controller? Will I get the same low speeds as stated in specification doc, or direct wiring will speed up to proper 1 GB/s speed?
Click to expand...

You should be able to achieve greater speeds if you use a proper cable. However, I would call LaCie and check these things. They can help you a lot more than we can
 
donjao said:
Ok, another question. What speeds will I achieve, If I plug this drive directly to a PC/Laptop's 1 GB Ethernet controller? Will I get the same low speeds as stated in specification doc, or direct wiring will speed up to proper 1 GB/s speed?
Click to expand...

You're not going to get full 1000mbit (120MB/s) speed out of any NAS you buy on a budget. You also can't directly connect it the way you think you can.
 
RedReplicant said:
You're not going to get full 1000mbit (120MB/s) speed out of any NAS you buy on a budget. You also can't directly connect it the way you think you can.
Click to expand...

Ok. Thanks for info. Understood!

Hellhammer, yeah, got my question answered by now. Thanks for help anyway!
 
donjao said:
Ok. Thanks for info. Understood!

Hellhammer, yeah, got my question answered by now. Thanks for help anyway!
Click to expand...

Ok, got ultra fast response from LaCie guys, and they told me that none of eSATA or Ethernet socket can used to plug in the drive directly to a computer. LAN is for NAS, and eSATA is to connect other LaCie drives to create arrays.

Doh!

But, now I know that I'm not going for this one!
 
donjao said:
Ok, got ultra fast response from LaCie guys, and they told me that none of eSATA or Ethernet socket can used to plug in the drive directly to a computer. LAN is for NAS, and eSATA is to connect other LaCie drives to create arrays.

Doh!

But, now I know that I'm not going for this one!
Click to expand...

Good that you called them. LaCie Quadra is good, I have two 1TBs. It's expensive but nice design plus great outputs
 
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