The best 750GB External Drive?

[fivepoint]

I am looking for a good 750GB External HD to be used for Time Machine on my new iMac, and was hoping you guys could help me find a few options.

I was hoping to meet the following requirements:
1) It has to look cool. I know, I know, Its vain... but I want people to see my setup, and say "WOW!"
2) It has to have no external power brick. I guess this one and #1 are kind of related. I could probably skip this requirement if I had to, but I really like the idea of keeping the thing all-in-one.
3) Atleast 7,200 RPM. I don't want to be waiting for this thing. Make it fast.
4) In the name of keeping price down, I suppose I could go for just a USB 2.0... but if the cost wasn't much more, I would like to have Firewire 800, eSATA, or whatever the future holds.


Any suggestions guys?

 

[esaleris]

• Western Digital My Studio Edition 750 GB hard drive. Has a brick, but looks great next to a mac, and features FW800.
• Seagate or WD 750 GB SATA II hard drive + OWC Mercury Aluminum enclosure. Again, has a brick, but looks great next to a mac and features FW800.

 

[LaJaca]

Personally, I use the Iomega Utramax 750GB. Works flawlessly with Time Machine, and looks great next to the iMac as well. Great price on Amazon; don't own the WD or Seagate, so can't comment on either one.

 

[Bengt77]

WD My Book Studio, no doubt. Most serious Macs have FW800, and so does this drive. Can't go any speedier than that. Also looks really good. And, Western Digital drivers are really reliable and silent.

 

[jvette]

I have to agree with WD FW800 drive. I have a 500gig and it works great. I got it at My local Apple Store for$199 and Best Buy wanted $229.

 

[Morod]

G-Tech Quad Drive

For my money, it's the G-Tech in either the quad or f/w flavor. Silent, great reviews and looks very cool, too. Check it out at:

http://www.g-technology.com/

Good luck!

 

[roland.g]

For the money/performance hands down a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 750GB SATA II now with 32MB Cache, 2nd generation perpendicular technology. Just got mine yesterday from Newegg.com for $195 incl. free shipping, while the same 7200.10 drive with 16MB Cache runs $185. Western Digital is good too, but for the extra $10-20 I prefer the reliability/reputation that Seagate has built over the last few years, not too mention their edge in performance.

For a case, I just ordered a RAID case (arriving today) from Cooldrives.com, however they also have sweet single cases, http://cooldrives.com/saiitofi80al.html and http://cooldrives.com/esata-firewire-800-enclosure-case-external.html as well as some cheaper versions of the raid and singles if you are willing to forego the FW800 or FW400. The RAID case is $138, while it is $80 in usb2.0 only. Same with the single cases, $50 instead of $90-100. All that said, the Mercury Elite AL cases at OWC macsales.com are also good, I just think the Cooldrives cases look better. You can also find alot of the Cooldrives cases at USBGear.com even in FW versions at sometimes better prices. Same parent company, just different prices sometimes, why?? Good deals for good looking stuff.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

The ONLY external drive I'd buy would be either a Maxtor or Seagate (Seagate makes Maxtor). Both are the only externals that come with a 5 year warranty. All other internals come with a 1 year warranty...and for a reason.

 

[roland.g]

My RAID case arrived just moments ago, and it is very nice. The pictures on the website don't do it justice. From what I can tell, the Cooldrives cases are a notch above the OWC Mercury Elite AL cases. I didn't like the 2-tone look of the OWC case, or the slightly beveled edge. If you download the PDF for the instructions you can see in the pictures that the darker grey sections are actually cut with a slight edge to them. It's a little strange. I also didn't like that the OWC RAID case was vertical only while the Cooldrives case can be turned horizontal or veritical. It included feet for either. But the OWC case are slightly cheaper.