Help Finding External Hard Drive

Discussion in 'Buying Tips and Advice' started by tommyzot, Aug 16, 2012.

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  1. tommyzot, Aug 16, 2012

    tommyzot macrumors newbie

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    Aug 16, 2012
    #1
    I would like to preface this article with the fact that I'm not technically savvy, all that I know about hard drives are what my cousin has told me.

    I am looking for an external hard drive for my Late 2011 Macbook Pro.

    I am going away for college this year, and I'd use my hard drive for simple school stuff and storing movies. Currently I have a G-Drive Mini (500 GB, 7200 RPM, Portable, Firewire 800). However I only have 40 GB left of memory so I am looking to upgrade storage sizes.

    I have a few questions to ask, my reason for posting this thread:

    • If my primary purpose for my external hard drive is playing movies off of the hard drive, does it matter for me whether the drive is 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM?
    • For my intentions of my hard drive, what type of connection would satisfy my needs? (Firewire 800, USB 2.0, USB 3.0)
    • Can you suggest any hard drives that could suffice my needs?

    Thank you for all the help, I feel confused when it comes to this stuff and I'm hoping your replies can clarify everything. Thanks again
     
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  2. RedCroissant, Aug 16, 2012

    RedCroissant Suspended

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    Aug 13, 2011
    #2
    If the primary purpose of your external is to store movies or watch them from there, then it really doesn't matter what the I/O is and it also doesn't matter what the sped of the drive is.

    Best Buy has a 1TB portable drive that should be more than sufficient and it's USB.

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/WD+-+My+Passport+1TB+External+USB+3.0/2.0+Portable+Hard+Drive+-+Black/4911796.p?id=1218575757942&skuId=4911796

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+-+FreeAgent+GoFlex+1TB+External+USB+2.0/3.0+Portable+Hard+Drive+-+Black/1305503.p?id=1218249066333&skuId=1305503

    And if that price is too high, there are a couple of 750GB portables that are about $25 cheaper. And since you are already using firewire for the other one, then you could just connect a new one via usb and have both of them running at the same time. I would recommend the Western Digital since their drives have always been reliable. I even took a few of their drives on deployments and they worked great for years.
     
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  3. tommyzot, Aug 16, 2012

    tommyzot thread starter macrumors newbie

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    #3
    thank you very much for the suggestion
     
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  4. jefbond, Aug 28, 2012

    jefbond macrumors member

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    Aug 27, 2012
    #4
    RedCroissant couldn't have hit it more on the dot. No need for a 7200 RPM drive, and even for most if not all HD movies you should have no issue with even USB 2.0. The only time these will make a difference is if/when you're actually saving the movie on the external HDD if you originally save it to the internal HDD, but even then it won't take a significant amount of time unless transferring all your movies at once. As for just watching the movie, you'll never have to worry about it stopping to buffer.
     
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  5. LaunchpadBS, Aug 28, 2012

    LaunchpadBS macrumors 6502a

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    #5
    A 1TB 2.5" external firewire drive should more than suit your needs!
     
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