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Looking to purchase a 1TB external hard drive

K

Kenzembo1

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 22, 2008
361
0
Youngstown, OH
Hi! Now that the semester is finally over, I'm scrambling to get my Christmas shopping done - My dad hinted that he wants a 1TB external hard drive to use for storing photos, videos, music, etc. (he's a photographer)...he has an aluminum 20 inch iMac and told me that it would be "nice" if he could find one that matches his mac, so I was looking at purchasing something like the WD studio edition. I went to Best Buy and all they carried were the standard (black) 1TB drives for mac. I was looking on Amazon and found that they go for around $130 or so.

What do you guys think? What do you recommend as far as external hard drives - brands, models, features, etc. I don't mind spending a little more to get him something really nice (something with a brushed aluminum modern look to match his iMac). Any photographers or designers out there? :eek:
 
Kenzembo1 said:
Hi! Now that the semester is finally over, I'm scrambling to get my Christmas shopping done - My dad hinted that he wants a 1TB external hard drive to use for storing photos, videos, music, etc. (he's a photographer)...he has an aluminum 20 inch iMac and told me that it would be "nice" if he could find one that matches his mac, so I was looking at purchasing something like the WD studio edition. I went to Best Buy and all they carried were the standard (black) 1TB drives for mac. I was looking on Amazon and found that they go for around $130 or so.

What do you guys think? What do you recommend as far as external hard drives - brands, models, features, etc. I don't mind spending a little more to get him something really nice (something with a brushed aluminum modern look to match his iMac). Any photographers or designers out there? :eek:
Click to expand...

Ok most of the pre-assembled external HDD's use crappy enclosures and are prone to failure so are not the best option unless it is only used as a backup drive. If you want a good media storage external you are best to buy a decent case and put a server grade drive in it. here are some good brand enclosures.

* Clearlights
* DaisyCutters
* Mvistos
* Mini G2s
* Impacts
* Icecube G2s
* MantaRays
* SATA Xpress
* Taurus
* SOHO Tanks

That being said i have a WD My Book Studio Edition as my backup drive which i turn off unless backing up and it does the job fine.
 
torana355 said:
Ok most of the pre-assembled external HDD's use crappy enclosures and are prone to failure so are not the best option unless it is only used as a backup drive. If you want a good media storage external you are best to buy a decent case and put a server grade drive in it. here are some good brand enclosures.

* Clearlights
* DaisyCutters
* Mvistos
* Mini G2s
* Impacts
* Icecube G2s
* MantaRays
* SATA Xpress
* Taurus
* SOHO Tanks

That being said i have a WD My Book Studio Edition as my backup drive which i turn off unless backing up and it does the job fine.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response! I would imagine he would be using the drive primarily as a backup to maintain a 'time machine' in case there was a situation where precious video (i.e. wedding photos, etc.) got misplaced or deleted. In other words, this drive would act as a catch-all so-to-speak for the more vulnerable material on his machine. I guess in his mind, he wants to maintain an electronic 'portfolio' of his work and he sees an external hard drive as the best way to do that. How do you like your WD My Book Studio Edition? Where did you purchase it if I may ask?
 
Here is a pic of my fav external case the Icecube Generation II Pleiades pdcl_400.jpg
 
Kenzembo1 said:
Thanks for your response! I would imagine he would be using the drive primarily as a backup to maintain a 'time machine' in case there was a situation where precious video (i.e. wedding photos, etc.) got misplaced or deleted. In other words, this drive would act as a catch-all so-to-speak for the more vulnerable material on his machine. I guess in his mind, he wants to maintain an electronic 'portfolio' of his work and he sees an external hard drive as the best way to do that. How do you like your WD My Book Studio Edition? Where did you purchase it if I may ask?
Click to expand...

No worry's mate. If its going to be used as a backup drive then the WD My Book Studio will work fine. I bought mine from Office Works here in Australia. It matches my 2008 I-Mac perfectly. Just make sure he unplugs it after he does each backup to extend the life of the drive and reduce chances of failure.
 
I like (and own the 1 TB version of) this one from Lacie. It should look great next to an iMac with its shiny black bezel.
 

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Kenzembo1 said:
torana, what's the capacity on this? Is it 1TB? I'm not sure what the difference is between an external hard drive and an "enclosure"...are they the same thing? :confused:
Click to expand...

...an external HDD is pre-built, an enclosure needs to have you add your own HDD to it... usually pre-built HDD's have shorter warranties and you can't open them yourself if something breaks due to a seal over the screws...
 
J&JPolangin said:
...an external HDD is pre-built, an enclosure needs to have you add your own HDD to it... usually pre-built HDD's have shorter warranties and you can't open them yourself if something breaks due to a seal over the screws...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification! So, the enclosure that was recommended that costs $180 doesn't have a hard drive in it - it's basically just a case :confused:
Seems kind of expensive...maybe I better just stick with an external hard drive as planned.
 
...with enclosures, you can choose more types of connectivity to your systems... you also get a longer warranty on the enclosure and the bare HDD you put into it (most of the time)...

Unless you can find pre-built HDD's very cheaply (I just got two WD 320GB 5400 RPM USB portable drives for $39 each NIB on clearance) I like building my own for the above reasons...

BTW, I was thinking of using those drives in a Thecus pocket NAS enclosure but haven't decided yet...
 
OWCs are nice, but pricey

And that $180 one does have a drive in it, but you can build your own, by buying their bare case ($90) and adding your own drive. But not worth it for what your dad needs, and thats completely getting off the subject of what you want to buy.

355s case isnt anything special, its actually made by Rosewill (and sold under many other brand names) http://www.rosewill.com/products/1049/productDetail.htm

As soon as everyone realizes that ALL drives fail, no matter who makes it, then the decision is much easier.

Just buy whatever you can afford.

500 gigs for $50 http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/664119/Seagate-External-Desktop-Drive-hard-drive/

1.5TB for $99 http://www.frys.com/product/6002338

Im not necessarily advocating Seagate drives, (although they do have a nice 5 year warranty) -- those just happened to be two of the first deals I found. Whats nice about these Seagates, is that if they ever do fail, the drive and case are both made by Seagate, so they replace the whole thing. I like that.
 
I don't know if this idea sounds nuts but, can you take the above listed hard drives (1.5TB or 500GB)and put them in an enclosure that supports firewire 400 or 800?
 
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Kenzembo1 said:
Thanks for the clarification! So, the enclosure that was recommended that costs $180 doesn't have a hard drive in it - it's basically just a case :confused:
Seems kind of expensive...maybe I better just stick with an external hard drive as planned.
Click to expand...

Yes it is more expensive to buy a decent enclosure with a oxford chipset but these are far superior to the enclosures that come in the pre built externals like the WD My Studio. In the end you may pay $50 more but you will have a quality reliable external.

If the drive is purely for backup then the Wd My Studio will be fine.
 
Kenzembo1 said:
what do you guys think? It's on the Apple site too and it has pretty good ratings...should match my dad's iMac pretty well.

http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-FireWire-External-301442U-Aluminum/dp/B001KFH6K6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1260823427&sr=8-1
Click to expand...

$150 for a 1TB FW800 drive is pretty good. Just make sure he uses the FW800 port, otherwise you are paying extra for nothing.

Again, if its just for basics, the $99 1.5TB USB 2 drive I linked to is more than enough for his needs, and you get another 500 gigs for $50 less....
 
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Compact enclosures?

Just stumbled upon this thread, another question, I would like to have a compact external HDD like WD-My Passport or Seagate FreeAgent.

Can I get it cheap with a enclosure and a bare HDD?

Is that possible with either 1TB or 500GB?

Thanks,
Swami.SP
 
swamesp said:
Just stumbled upon this thread, another question, I would like to have a compact external HDD like WD-My Passport or Seagate FreeAgent.

Can I get it cheap with a enclosure and a bare HDD?

Is that possible with either 1TB or 500GB?

Thanks,
Swami.SP
Click to expand...

You should start a new thread, but yes its possible to get a 2.5" USB 2 drive with a 1TB drive inside, but they are not out yet.

There are 1TB 2.5" USB 2 drives for sale, but they have a USB connection on the inside.

750 gigs seems the largest bare 2.5" drive for sale right now.

The way they price the 2.5" USB 2 drives, you probably wont be able to build one for much less than buying it prebuilt
 
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