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Please recommend case in which to put stock drive as back-up

C

Canuckistan

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 30, 2007
53
0
Guelph, nr Toronto, Canada
Hello:

I am considering repalcing the stock MBP 500 GB hard-drive on my 17-inch MBP.

Please recommend a case in which I can place the stock drive so that I can use it as backup.

Anything else I need to know about the process of making a back-up drive?

Am I correct in thinking that the cases come with power cable and connection cable?

Pardon my ignorance, but is the connection cable USB 2 or can it be Firewire?

Thanks
 
I just got a cheap one from Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182140

IMO, you don't need FW800 for a backup drive; USB is fine. It's not really going to make much difference if your routine Time Machine backup completes in 1 minute 45 seconds instead of 2 minutes or something like that.

There's not much to know about setting it up; just put the drive in there and plug it in.
 
When you say case, I think you mean a hard drive enclosure. You can get an enclosure with any connection type you want. I would recommend spending the extra cash and getting one with FW800. The ones at OWC are supposed to be good, but any 2.5" enclosure will work, you may also want one that is bus powered, so you don't need to plug it into the wall.
 
owc sells some good enclosures. i bought a usb one but in hindsight i should have bought one with firewire. i slapped an apple sticker on it and people are always giving me comments on it. (most have no idea it's a hard drive or just think it looks cool)
 
airplaneman said:
DON'T GET THE FIRST ONE! It's max capacity is 250 GB! Yea, you can get anything you want, but make sure it supports your 500 GB capacity!
Click to expand...

Where did you get that information? I have a 320gb Fujitsu drive in the FW400 version that I use for Pro Tools.
 
airplaneman said:
Oh shoot, I'm awfully sorry. I quoted the wrong person (silly me). Sorry. I was talking about the newegg stock version.

Edit: as posted by incandenza http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182140
is the one that only suppprts the 250 gigs. OP, I hope you are reading this :).
Click to expand...

It supports any size drive. I've used a 320G in it.

There's no reason for any of these types of enclosures to have a limit on the size. They just support any SATA drive. 250G was probably just the largest 2.5" drive size available when they wrote the specs, so they list it as a limit "just in case".
 
I've never needed to use both sides of the Y cable. Current drives draw very little power.

USB is also cheaper, and works with PCs/netbooks without having to remember to carry around two different cables.

Whether the speed matters depends on the application. If you're trying to edit video straight off the external drive, then sure, get the FW. But for something like Time Machine backups, it doesn't make much difference whether the time of an incremental backup is a few seconds longer or shorter.

Also, assuming we're talking about a new MBP, you'd probably need an adapter for that drive you linked (6-pin FW to FW800).
 
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