Suggestions for portable 2.5" HDD?

[wallaby]

I am looking to buy a portable 2.5" external hard drive for my Macbook Pro since I will be traveling in the Fall and want something easier to take with me than my 3.5" externals. I've been looking around a bit and so far the best bang for the book looks to be the WD My Passport. I would love to be proven wrong though; I have looked for firewire drives but they are all in the $200 range and I'd rather not spend more than $150, and USB performance is acceptable I guess. I'm still sort of deciding between 250GB and 320GB drives, but I figure more space is always better. It doesn't seem to be any cheaper to buy my own external enclosure and internal hard drive to piece together myself on Newegg, but like I said, I'd love to be proven wrong.

Things I will use this drive for: mainly backup for the 160GB drive on my MBP. I have about 30GB worth of projects right now and will probably be adding another 15 Gigs to that this semester, plus I would like some space for music media (movies not so important). I do graphic design work on my MBP, so that's what's getting backed up, as well as office documents and whatnot. I run Tiger so backup right now would have to be manual or by SuperDuper, but I am considering Leopard, since Time Machine seems to be such an easy backup utility. But I might wait until Snow Leopard.

Anyone want to talk about their portable hard drives? I'd welcome suggestions.

 

[consumedsoul]

We love the G-Drive minis, pricier but never had any issues w/ them (vs. iomegas and western digitals).

I am looking to buy a portable 2.5" external hard drive for my Macbook Pro since I will be traveling in the Fall and want something easier to take with me than my 3.5" externals. I've been looking around a bit and so far the best bang for the book looks to be the WD My Passport. I would love to be proven wrong though; I have looked for firewire drives but they are all in the $200 range and I'd rather not spend more than $150, and USB performance is acceptable I guess. I'm still sort of deciding between 250GB and 320GB drives, but I figure more space is always better. It doesn't seem to be any cheaper to buy my own external enclosure and internal hard drive to piece together myself on Newegg, but like I said, I'd love to be proven wrong.

Things I will use this drive for: mainly backup for the 160GB drive on my MBP. I have about 30GB worth of projects right now and will probably be adding another 15 Gigs to that this semester, plus I would like some space for music media (movies not so important). I do graphic design work on my MBP, so that's what's getting backed up, as well as office documents and whatnot. I run Tiger so backup right now would have to be manual or by SuperDuper, but I am considering Leopard, since Time Machine seems to be such an easy backup utility. But I might wait until Snow Leopard.

Anyone want to talk about their portable hard drives? I'd welcome suggestions.

 

[MartiniShotProd]

Go lacie

I love the hd's from lacie, they are not that expensive, but they offer quality design. they also offer a fw 400/ usb 2.0 for around $110 http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10976

 

[Gunga Din]

I love the hd's from lacie, they are not that expensive, but they offer quality design. they also offer a fw 400/ usb 2.0 for around $110 http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10976

Any other suggestions? I'm looking to store movies and tv shows from iTunes on it. Didnt realize how much space that stuff takes up.

2nd question. Can you easily move stuff from iTunes to the ext HD and access it? Do I have to make a folder etc?

 

[platypus63]

Super Easy. Move your itunes folder to the external drive, then go to
iTunes>Preferences>Advanced

In the General tab the iTunes Music Folder Location is specified, just change that to the folder in your external.

Don't delete the copy you have on your internal until you make sure your external is working fine.

I have the WD Passport 320GB hooked up to my PS3, works great, got it for cheap.

 

[Wotan31]

Best 2.5" portable enclosure is the one from OWC:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go

I have 3 of them and love it. FW800 interface is very fast and the enclosure has a finned alum heatsink on the underside to keep the drive cool. I have 3 of them.

USB sucks, it doesn't provide enough bus power for the faster 7200 rpm drives - but firewire does. You don't want to lug around an A/C adapter for your 2.5" drive do you???

 

[Gunga Din]

Super Easy. Move your itunes folder to the external drive, then go to
iTunes>Preferences>Advanced

In the General tab the iTunes Music Folder Location is specified, just change that to the folder in your external.

Don't delete the copy you have on your internal until you make sure your external is working fine.

I have the WD Passport 320GB hooked up to my PS3, works great, got it for cheap.

Awesome, thx for that reply. I might look into one of the G-Tec HD, the small ones. I dont need much room.

 

[magid]

I just picked up a wd 320gb passport for $115 shipped or so. Def worth it if you arent in dire need of FW. It is powered through the usb port.