Some Help Choosing an External Hard Drive...

[Spongey817]

Hey guys, I was hoping you could help me out...

I'm looking to purchase an external hard drive for my Late 2007 MacBook (running Leopard). Basically, I'm trying to get the highest possible storage for the price range that I've set. I'm looking to spend around the $100 range. That's negotiable, however.

After quite a bit of shopping around, I found this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...+Drives+-+External-_-FANTOM+DRIVES-_-22204069

For my price range, I'm definitely getting the max amount of storage (or so I think) with that 1 TB drive. I'm not too confident about the hard drive itself, though. I haven't heard much about Fantom Drives. Your input is appreciated on this one.

Aside from that, I'm open to suggestions. I'm just looking for a pretty big, pretty cheap external hard drive that I can use to store music, movies, and pictures on.

Thanks!

 

[iParis]

I too havn't heard much about Fanton drives.
In my experience Western Digital is the best.
Just searched new egg and found a 1TB Western Digital MyBook USB external hard drive for $129.99; well worth the extra $30 above what you were originally planning on spending.
I would post the link but I'm doing this from my iPod.

 

[Primejimbo]

I too havn't heard much about Fanton drives.
In my experience Western Digital is the best.
Just searched new egg and found a 1TB Western Digital MyBook USB external hard drive for $129.99; well worth the extra $30 above what you were originally planning on spending.
I would post the link but I'm doing this from my iPod.

I was going to get that till someone showed me this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/prod...ing=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar

 

[iParis]

I was going to get that till someone showed me this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/prod...ing=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar

Hmm... Maybe they just suck at using [external] hard drives.
Some people leave them on all the time, write to much at once, corrupt it, etc.
A couple months ago I got the 640GB version of it and haven't a single problem.
I also have had a 160GB WD MyPassport external hard drive for well over a year and have had zero problems and it still runs like a charm.

 

[hhlee]

its probably more important what brand of hd is in the fantom drive - might want to search for that.

 

[iParis]

its probably more important what brand of hd is in the fantom drive - might want to search for that.

Most likely a Fanton HD.
Wanna know what brand of hard drives are in my Western Digitals? The answer is... Western Digital.

 

[garnaby]

I have had my Seagate Free Agent Desktop for about a year now and its worked first time everytime, when i plug it in. The only downside i think that its a bit big especially the stand.

Garnz

 

[iParis]

I have had my Seagate Free Agent Desktop for about a year now and its worked first time everytime, when i plug it in. The only downside i think that its a bit big especially the stand.

<Seagate Free Agent Desktop pic>

Garnz

I have been hearing stories after stories (threads after threads) of Seagate drives failing, mainly recently.
This was especially common in the 1TB and 1.5TB drives.

 

[hhlee]

Most likely a Fanton HD.
Wanna know what brand of hard drives are in my Western Digitals? The answer is... Western Digital.

yes, because western digitals do manufacture hard drives. you know what brand of hard drives are in lacies? hint, they don't make hard drives.

try to keep the comments a little classier.

 

[eXan]

I'm also researching about external HDs...

I was thinking about WD My Book 500 GB Studio Edition (USB, FW400 & 800, esata), but I keep reading bad things about My Books, especially these "Mac" editions. Apparently, the recent models need a tricky firmware upgrade to be compatible with Leopard...

I found G-Drive, which looks really cool, also has FW and I never ever stumbled upon a bad review, but these are expensive and they aren't sold locally here, so I would have to order it somewhere, which adds even more cost

Argh..

 

[iParis]

I'm also researching about external HDs...

I was thinking about WD My Book 500 GB Studio Edition (USB, FW400 & 800, esata), but I keep reading bad things about My Books, especially these "Mac" editions. Apparently, the recent models need a tricky firmware upgrade to be compatible with Leopard...

I found G-Drive, which looks really cool, also has FW and I never ever stumbled upon a bad review, but these are expensive and they aren't sold locally here, so I would have to order it somewhere, which adds even more cost

Argh..

I'd stick with WD if I were you.
My 640GB MyBook is amazing.
And as long as it has USB 2.0 won't it work for Macs, unless you want firewire that bad.

 

[Spongey817]

After reading comments for the Fantom hard drive on Newegg.com, it appears as if the Fantom drive actually contains a WD hard disk.

Thanks for all the advice so far. As it stands, I'm having a hard time finding a better deal on any other external hard drive. I'm still open to suggestions, but I'm looking to make the purchase sometime this weekend.

Once again, thanks, and I look forward to hearing your opinions.