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Recommendation on a Quality External Drive

J

jinxer5000

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 11, 2008
74
0
Anyone have a recommendation on a quality external drive. Currently I have a portable 150GB Western Digital Passport that I use for bringing things around. I'm looking for something that I can use for backup at home. I know working on a Mac to look for at least a FireWire 400 but preferably a FW800 connection. Whatever I get is going to be pair with a soon to be purchased MacBook Pro. Right now I was looking at G-Tech for either a G-Drive of some sort or an expandable G-Safe.

http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-SAFE.cfm
 
I've been using a Western Digital Mybook for nearly a year and so far so good. I mainly use it to back up my MBP via SuperDuper. I do like the G-Technology stuff too though, looks great.
 
Personally, I'd recommend LaCie. They offer high speeds, large capacities, multiple ports, and sleek design. If youre looking for something large and also mobile, their little big disk is a great option at 320 GB. They also have more stationary drives (ideal for backing up) at large capacities. - All within a decent price range.
 
Seagate FreeAgent Pro for the 5-year warranty.

The only one, of the major brands, I don't recommend is LaCie. Great enclosures, but that's all LaCie makes. They do not make the drives. Buy LaCie, and you'll have no idea what brand of disk is inside, unless you actually open it. D@mn nice enclosures, though.
 
Maxtor One Touch

I've used two Maxtor One Touch II 200Gb and not had any problems with them at all. They are resectable looking and very are quiet.
 
Another big thumbs up for LaCie... I've been using their external hard drives for a great many years with complete satisfaction and reliability. For the last four or five years, I've been buying their drives housed in their "d2" case design (I use them upright)... most recently, I bought a 500 GB Quadra and a 500 GB Big Disk a couple of years back and just bought a 1 TB Big Disk Extreme a week ago... at this point I have at least six or seven LaCie external hard drives scattered around my portrait photography studio connected to different Mac digital imaging workstations.

If you want speedy operation, definitely choose a drive with a Firewire interface (preferrable over USB 2.0). Use Firewire whenever you can 800 if you've got the connection. Use eSATA connection for the very fastest, if your Mac has the eSATA port. THe best drive with the best forward looking connectivity is LaCie's d2 Quadra.

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10869

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11022

LaCie has great quality and stone reliability. LaCie rocks... check 'em out!

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/range.htm?id=10033
 
Ya know, I've been meaning to open up my old, dead LaCie for months now, just to see what's really inside. This thread inspired me. Here it is, folks. Freshly opened:

LaCie_dead.jpg
 
Not sure what there is to learn from your post, Heavy. Can you draw any conclusions? Certainly we know that at least one Maxtor drive in existence has failed. No doubt Seagate, Maxtor, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Western Digital, IBM, etc. have all had numerous examples of drives which have failed.

LaCie uses a variety of sources for it's drives, as do nearly all drive suppliers. As most here already know, hard drives can and do fail... every brand, no doubt. I was unlucky enough to have one of the fated Seagate drives in my older MacBook, which failed... it happens. That's why the smart money is on rigorous backup practices and/or TimeMachine!

My LaCie recommendation is based on having bought and heavily used, in a professional portrait studio, eight or nine LaCie drives over quite a number of years with complete satisfaction. My next hard drive purchase? It will be LaCie.

BTW, welcome to the world of Macintosh! Glad you made the switch! And that LaCie d2 case you have there (shown in the pic) is begging for you to drop a new drive mechanism into it and put it back into service! That's a great enclosure... you should put it to use with a new drive!
 
DHart said:
Not sure what there is to learn from your post, Heavy. Can you draw any conclusions?
Click to expand...

I can not draw a conclusion, only confirm one: That buying LaCie is a crapshoot. You could end up with a great drive inside. You could end up with a horrible drive inside. But, like you mentioned, every company has made good and bad ones.

I'm just saying I don't want another one because I don't know what's inside... Even within the same line. You could go by NewEgg user reviews, but who's to say you're getting the same drive inside that the great/poor reviewer got?

Personally, the only brand of drive I completely distrust is Maxtor. So it makes sense, in my mind, that that's what I found in there. I've had 2 (3, now that I know my LaCie was a Maxtor) Maxtor drives fail. But, bhop123 has had great luck with Maxtor. I guess, to some extent, they're all crapshoots.

As a side note, my 2nd least trusted HD maker is Seagate, and that's the one I'm recommending here. LOL. That 5-year warranty won me over enough to give them a 2nd chance.

The only brand that has never failed on me is WD. I'm not throwing my recommendation their way because of the user review issues I've read, and the fact that the cases feel so cheap. But, if my Seagate fails before my 5 years are up, it's back to WD I go.

DHart said:
And that LaCie d2 case you have there (shown in the pic) is begging for you to drop a new drive mechanism into it and put it back into service! That's a great enclosure... you should put it to use with a new drive!
Click to expand...

I sure love the look and feel of it. But, a fan-less enclosure that's made of something (metal) that retains heat well? Dunno if I'd call that "great" or not. I'll toss one in there next time I have a need for an external drive, and give it a shot. That'll be a while. Got some internal slots to fill first. :)
 
the owc enclosures are the best i have found for firewire 800, i have 2 single ones from them, one sata one ide. both have firewire 800, the sata one has quad interface (usb 2, firewire 400, 800, and esata)

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW924AL1K/

i also have 2 of the dual wide for fast cheap raid TB's, the enclosure is $120, and each 500 GB seagate with 5 year warranty i chuck inside costs $100. easily does 80 MB/s if you can feed it (firewire 800 to firewire 800 transfer the read and write each get 40, but usb gets 18 :eek:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW924AL2K/
 
The WD Mybook "Studio" 500GB edition is a good value. They reviewed it on MacWorld and said it was a VERY good external option. It has USB 2.0, Firewire and eSATA. I have a WD now and it does just fine. Every HD will or can fail so I would go by warranty and stay with the major brands then look for the type of connection you need. Best of luck.
 
I've had my 500GB G-Drive Q for a few months, and absolutely love it... It has been extremely reliable, it is quiet & looks pretty damn nice too!
 
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