I've been looking into many external drives, and the one I'm planning on getting is the G-Drive Mini. Has anybody encountered any problems with the hard drive?
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Is the G-Drive Mini (500GB) a good drive?
- Thread starter Mew2468
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lmao, that was good.
But back on the topic, yes G-Drive Mini is a pretty damn good drive. You'll be satisfied.
Unless I'm shopping in the wrong place the G-Drives are a complete rip off. Sure they may work great but your paying twice as much.
(Last time I checked their 4 bay raid enclosure was $800 w/o drives!!! My IcyDock was $300 and does the same thing!).
(Last time I checked their 4 bay raid enclosure was $800 w/o drives!!! My IcyDock was $300 and does the same thing!).
G-Drive is wildly regarded as being the best complete built drive. Also, they don't have faulty power supplies
.Haha, yeah, it was. My "Back on the topic" part was for my "haha that was good" part.. lol.
Because I didn't wanna leave a post that just had "lmao, that was good"
Got my OEM drive and it was about $120 for a 500GB Seagate and the enclosure. Sometimes you can get OEM versions of name brand enclosure at a cheap price.
I got the G -drive last Sept as a birthday gift and have been using it ever since with out any problems. I've also got a WD 320 GB Passport which I've been using for a little less then 2 years with out any problems as well. It's also less expensive & they have 500 GB.
Where do you get an OEM version of the G Drive Mini? I just got a 500gb 5400rpm Mini today directly from G-Technology. It's the latest version with dual FW800 ports and a mini usb. I would love to save some money on an OEM version if it has the dual FW800 ports. The last generation has a single FW400, FW800 and mini usb port.
I like mine very much, as thegoldenmackid indicated above. I have the previous revision (I hadn't noticed until now that it was updated) with FW800, FW400, and USB. The fact that it now has dual FW800 ports makes it even nicer and a better buy. The price is also much lower than it was when I bought mine.
G-Force
I too love my G-Drive mini. After my fair share of ill-fated Lacie drives, I've opted to try this line. Performance is great, lots of cables included with the mini. Build quality is also very good.
I have the triple interface model (which includes firewire 400/800 and USB 2). The price is higher than a USB 2 drive, but these are a "must-have" for anyone with high performance needs.
I too love my G-Drive mini. After my fair share of ill-fated Lacie drives, I've opted to try this line. Performance is great, lots of cables included with the mini. Build quality is also very good.
I have the triple interface model (which includes firewire 400/800 and USB 2). The price is higher than a USB 2 drive, but these are a "must-have" for anyone with high performance needs.
Mercury On The Go / G Drive Mini quick comparison
My other portable external drive is an OWC Mercury On The Go 320gb 5400rpm Samsung Spinpoint drive. Disk Utility doesn't show which drive is in the G Drive Mini, but I'm assuming that it's a Hitachi drive, since they now own G-Technology. My Mercury On The Go is about a year old now, I don't know if they still use the Samsung Drives or not.
Comparing the size of the two drives on paper, the G Drive Mini didn't seem much smaller, but looking at them side by side, it's obvious the G Drive Mini is more portable, the weight is about the same though. The G Drive Mini has a more professional appearance with it's aluminum enclosure while the OWC has a fun gadgety look with it's clear casing.
I did a quick unscientific test copying 7 files about 800mb in total size to each drive. Both drives did not contain any other data on it. The 320gb Mercury On The Go drive was a few seconds faster than the 500gb G Drive Mini. It was under a minute for both drives, using FW800 connection to my oldie but goodie G4 Powerbook 1.3ghz. I'm upgrading to the new Macbook Pro soon, hopefully the transfer speed will be quicker.
Both drives won't power off of the mini usb port on my Powerbook. I don't know if newer laptops have more power going into the usb port. Even though I wouldn't use the usb port, it's nice to know there's a back up just in case the firewire port was to go bad. The previous version of the G Drive Mini only had 1 FW800 port. This would have been the deal breaker with the previous generation G Drive Mini since I need to daisy chain 2 drives together through the FW800 ports. I'm a digital photographer and my workflow is dumping my CF cards onto 2 firewire drives for back up.
I paid $199 for the 500gb 5400rpm G Drive Mini. For the same cost, I could have bought the 7200rpm 500gb Mercury On The Go. I wanted to see what the difference was so I went the G Drive. The 7200 version is not available yet on the G Drive. I was told by a G-Tech sales rep since the switchover to Hitachi, they were continuing to tweak the 500gb drive to meet the standards of G-Technology.
I have 30 days to return the drive to G-Tech if I'm not happy with my purchase. I may opt to return it and get the 7200rpm when it becomes available.
I'm headed out of the country on a travel photography trip. I'll have a better idea of which drive I like more after the trip.
Allen
My other portable external drive is an OWC Mercury On The Go 320gb 5400rpm Samsung Spinpoint drive. Disk Utility doesn't show which drive is in the G Drive Mini, but I'm assuming that it's a Hitachi drive, since they now own G-Technology. My Mercury On The Go is about a year old now, I don't know if they still use the Samsung Drives or not.
Comparing the size of the two drives on paper, the G Drive Mini didn't seem much smaller, but looking at them side by side, it's obvious the G Drive Mini is more portable, the weight is about the same though. The G Drive Mini has a more professional appearance with it's aluminum enclosure while the OWC has a fun gadgety look with it's clear casing.
I did a quick unscientific test copying 7 files about 800mb in total size to each drive. Both drives did not contain any other data on it. The 320gb Mercury On The Go drive was a few seconds faster than the 500gb G Drive Mini. It was under a minute for both drives, using FW800 connection to my oldie but goodie G4 Powerbook 1.3ghz. I'm upgrading to the new Macbook Pro soon, hopefully the transfer speed will be quicker.
Both drives won't power off of the mini usb port on my Powerbook. I don't know if newer laptops have more power going into the usb port. Even though I wouldn't use the usb port, it's nice to know there's a back up just in case the firewire port was to go bad. The previous version of the G Drive Mini only had 1 FW800 port. This would have been the deal breaker with the previous generation G Drive Mini since I need to daisy chain 2 drives together through the FW800 ports. I'm a digital photographer and my workflow is dumping my CF cards onto 2 firewire drives for back up.
I paid $199 for the 500gb 5400rpm G Drive Mini. For the same cost, I could have bought the 7200rpm 500gb Mercury On The Go. I wanted to see what the difference was so I went the G Drive. The 7200 version is not available yet on the G Drive. I was told by a G-Tech sales rep since the switchover to Hitachi, they were continuing to tweak the 500gb drive to meet the standards of G-Technology.
I have 30 days to return the drive to G-Tech if I'm not happy with my purchase. I may opt to return it and get the 7200rpm when it becomes available.
I'm headed out of the country on a travel photography trip. I'll have a better idea of which drive I like more after the trip.
Allen
Here's another option. I just bought the latest version of Seagate Free Agent Pro from Amazon for $158. It's a portable, 7200 RPM, 500GB, and triple interface drive. It comes with a dock to make switching between machines easier with less cable clutter. I plan to use mine as a central file storage for my school projects. This way I can work on my Macbook Pro at school or my Macpro when I'm at home and not have to worry about syncing files. Though, l will back up my files to another storage drive whenever the Free Agent comes home.
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/freeagent/
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/freeagent/
I just noticed your location. I will be in Vancouver for the Olympics. Half my family is Canadian.
I'm getting ready to travel tonight. I copied a folder containing 5gb of images from my OWC Mercury Elite-AL 7200 WD Black Caviar 1TB drive to the G Drive Mini and it was complete in 2 minutes. I then copied a folder that was 87gb and it took about 40 minutes. The G-Drive Mini was hot after all that data transfer. The Mercury On The Go drive doesn't get that hot. Both has heat sinks on the underside. I usually have the Mercury On The Go upside down so the heat sink is facing up.
I'm getting ready to travel tonight. I copied a folder containing 5gb of images from my OWC Mercury Elite-AL 7200 WD Black Caviar 1TB drive to the G Drive Mini and it was complete in 2 minutes. I then copied a folder that was 87gb and it took about 40 minutes. The G-Drive Mini was hot after all that data transfer. The Mercury On The Go drive doesn't get that hot. Both has heat sinks on the underside. I usually have the Mercury On The Go upside down so the heat sink is facing up.
The G drive are fantastic. I have 3 of them myself. A 1 & 2 gig for the Mac Pro and a 500 for the Macbook.
They are great quality drives. I am not sure about on the portable drive, but on the RAID drives they use server grade HDs. This to me is really important. They also have what seems to be a better interface then the likes of Lacie, WD, and Seagate, IMO. Also the heat sinks are so simple, but extremely effective at pulling heat away from the drive.
These drives do cost a bit more, but I believe it is a worth while investment.
They are great quality drives. I am not sure about on the portable drive, but on the RAID drives they use server grade HDs. This to me is really important. They also have what seems to be a better interface then the likes of Lacie, WD, and Seagate, IMO. Also the heat sinks are so simple, but extremely effective at pulling heat away from the drive.
These drives do cost a bit more, but I believe it is a worth while investment.
I would describe it as being so hot you couldn't keep your hand on it, unless you have a high tolerance to pain.