I want a good external portable HD for my Macbook Pro. I've done searches on this forum and only found threads for desktop externals and enclosures. I need something with as big of space as possible, obviously reliable, and needs no additional power source. Thanks in advance for any help.
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Need help finding a portable external HD
- Thread starter gorenut
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I've heard good things about the Seagate Momentus hard drives, you could get one of those and get a portable external hard drive enclosure.
if you want a cheaper alternative just buy the case and harddrive seperate. $160gb 2.5' harddrives arent that much. cases cost as little as $15(here in aust) you could grab a 250gb 2.5' if u really wanted to. theyre about $1 per GB i think atm,.
just so you kno, anything that is 2.5' in size only needs 2 USB slots for power. no external power needed
1 USB slot.
Reason they have 2 is so you can get power from else where other than the laptop. Otherwise, with just 1 connected it'll get power and transfer data.
i suggest buying your own harddrive, and your own case. works out cheaper and u get to decide exactly what harddrive you want. and some of the cases are really coool
buy the Western Digital Passport! Its incredibly stylish and small. so small it fits the back pocket of any jeans. I bought the 160GB version on ebay for about 110 dollars. Its the best bang for buck and the most stylish... no power supply needed and no software.
I've been using 2 Western Digital 120GB portable drives (the shiny black ones) for several months now. One I use to keep a copy of RAW camera files I dump from my camera until I get a chance to archive to DVD.
The other I use as a working drive that I can attach to either my MBP or my Dell XPS laptop. I run Eclipse projects off it directly and when attached to my Dell I also use it for Thunderbird mail files I can later import back into Mail.app. This drive gets a lot of use. Neither has had a problem, unlike a LaCie I had before that failed after a few days of use.
They have worked flawlessly. On the MBP I only need a single USB to power it. On the Dell (which has 6 USB2 ports) I find it more reliable to use a twin USB cable for power.
The other I use as a working drive that I can attach to either my MBP or my Dell XPS laptop. I run Eclipse projects off it directly and when attached to my Dell I also use it for Thunderbird mail files I can later import back into Mail.app. This drive gets a lot of use. Neither has had a problem, unlike a LaCie I had before that failed after a few days of use.
They have worked flawlessly. On the MBP I only need a single USB to power it. On the Dell (which has 6 USB2 ports) I find it more reliable to use a twin USB cable for power.
how about an iomega like this…
120GB Silver Series Portable Hard Drive FW400/USB2.0
I'm thinking about either that or the eGo 160GB USB2.0
one reason is if you have a G4 powerbook (afaik 1.5GHz or less) you need to use two usb ports as for some reason one port does not give enough power for an external HD like the WD Passport
120GB Silver Series Portable Hard Drive FW400/USB2.0
I'm thinking about either that or the eGo 160GB USB2.0
one reason is if you have a G4 powerbook (afaik 1.5GHz or less) you need to use two usb ports as for some reason one port does not give enough power for an external HD like the WD Passport
If you want performance and storage capacity there is no competitor to the Western Digital 250GB Passport drive.
Crazy awesome drive and only $200.
Best Buy online link.
I have one and it's working great. Right now it's running as a network drive on my AirPort Extreme but it's grabbing power fine from a USB Hub that's shared with a printer :]
The drive inside this baby is a top performer right under the Seagate Momentus 7200.2 drives. It's #3 performance ranked (Hitachi 7K200 is #1, Seagate Momtenus 7200.2 160GB drive is #2) and is bigger than the top two :]
That said, I have a Seagate Momentus drive in my MBP, but I've considered swapping it out for the WD 250GB drive. *sigh*
Crazy awesome drive and only $200.
Best Buy online link.
I have one and it's working great. Right now it's running as a network drive on my AirPort Extreme but it's grabbing power fine from a USB Hub that's shared with a printer :]
The drive inside this baby is a top performer right under the Seagate Momentus 7200.2 drives. It's #3 performance ranked (Hitachi 7K200 is #1, Seagate Momtenus 7200.2 160GB drive is #2) and is bigger than the top two :]
That said, I have a Seagate Momentus drive in my MBP, but I've considered swapping it out for the WD 250GB drive. *sigh*
hahah that would help if i had a powerbook. i have a cd mbp. should it still work even then?
I can definitely vouch for the Western Digital Passport line. I bought the 120gb model last September and having been using it for backups since. It's light, small, attractive and powers off the USB port of my iBook G4 fine. Seems quite heavy duty too - it has taken a few drops onto my hardwood floor and has kept on working fine.
It'll work. It also might work on the last versions of G4 laptops.
*grumbles about powerbook*
i'm guessing your not using an external power brick then.danielhayter said:
nvm. your ibook is one of the last G4's
Well mine just fell of a chair and doesn't work at ALL right now :-(. Just moved a year worth of pictures to it, from my PC so I could get them transferred to my mac..
Cmmiserations PimpDaddy. In your place I would definitely write a letter to their complaints/customer services department expressing your disappointment with the durability of the HD.
Currently shopping for a portable external harddrive that's bus-powered. Debating whether to buy the OWC Mercury On-The-Go hard drives.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
They look pretty compact and they offer capacities up to 250GB@5400rpm or 200GB@7200rpm. You can just buy the small enclosure for $79-$89 depending on the interface(s) and just buy the appropriate 2.5" hard drive that fits your needs and install the bad boy.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
They look pretty compact and they offer capacities up to 250GB@5400rpm or 200GB@7200rpm. You can just buy the small enclosure for $79-$89 depending on the interface(s) and just buy the appropriate 2.5" hard drive that fits your needs and install the bad boy.
I had a LaCie go bad with the exact same circumstance. It had pictures pending archive and removable to other media. The drive went dead. As a last resort I gave the thing a good smack while powered up...and it spun up and worked. I quickly offloaded everything and took it back to BB where I got it a few weeks earlier.Well mine just fell of a chair and doesn't work at ALL right now :-(. Just moved a year worth of pictures to it, from my PC so I could get them transferred to my mac..
Now when I do shoots at auto races I use 2 drives and copy my pictures to both.