Maxtor 'One Touch' vs. Seagate 'FreeAgent' - 500GB External HDD

[Clyde099]

In the market for an external hard drive and am focusing on these two...

Seagate - FreeAgent Pro 500GB External Hard Drive
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8294008&st=seagate&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1172277308372

Maxtor 500GB One Touch 4 Plus External Hard Drive
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Maxtor-500GB-One-Touch-4-Plus-External-Hard-Drive-STM305004OTA3E5-RK/sem/rpsm/oid/193212/catOid/-12976/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Which one should I buy and why?
I have a MacBook, in case that information is necessary.

Any other recommendations/opinions welcomed!

 

[skybolt]

Don't know about the Maxtor, but we have a 500g and a 250g Freeagent and it is great! So quiet you don't even know it is running! They both use USB, so a little slower than a firewire would be, but certainly fast enough to be usable!

 

[desenso]

Love seagates. 5 year warranty!

 

[TBi]

One thing to note on the seagate if you get the USB2/FireWire model is that it uses separate modules for the firewire and usb. So if you want to use faster firewire and then need to use USB you'll have to unscrew a part of the base to install the USB module. Assuming you haven't lost it

 

[Clyde099]

Thanks guys!

 

[soLoredd]

I have a 100GB OneTouch USB and the thing is horribly slow on my MacBook. It takes absolutely forever to copy big files to it (i.e. 2+GB). On my external FireWire drive, which is just an IDE in an enclosure, it goes super fast.

I'm not sure if it's a USB limitation or maybe my OneTouch isn't USB2.0 or what, but I wouldn't buy another one, if using it for a lot of data is what you are after.