Time Machine Best Setup?

[Rlnplehshalo]

Well as some of you, I am planning on getting the 'New' iMac when it releases.

I haven't bothered with Time machine before because I lacked an extra hard drive with the needed capacity.
So my question is, what hard drives besides Apples Time Machine would you recommend? Brand? Portable or external? USB 3.0 or Firewire?
All that good stuff.

Seagate offer a 2TB desktop hard drive for $139(AU) or there's a Western Digital Elements Desk 2.5TB for $159(AU)

Would it be advisable to use a desktop hard drive whats the power consumption like? I have been using 2 portable hard drives that use USB and they are still running smoothly.

And finally which is a more robust and reliable option?
I wish I could get the Apple Time Machine, but I feel that it is far too over priced when there are other cheaper options.

 

[Rlnplehshalo]

Anyone?

 

[Weaselboy]

Any external drive will work. Just plug it in and Time Machine will format it and use it.

Firewire is faster than USB, but costs more. Although USB 3 real transfer speeds are so close to FW it is probably not worth the extra money for FW now.

The larger desktop drive based and powered external drives are usually faster than the smaller portable non-powered drives.

I suppose it depends on how much data you are backing up. If you have many huge files to back up frequently then the extra speed might be worth the money. If it just a few documents, after the initial backup, any cheap USB drive will work fine.

 

[flatfoot]

...
I wish I could get the Apple Time Machine, but I feel that it is far too over priced when there are other cheaper options.

I guess you mean Time Capsule. Yes, that's kinda overpriced for what it does. And if you frequently back up large files, you don't wanna do that over WiFi. It's sooooooo slooooooow...


Weaselboy summed up the rest perfectly.

 

[mlblacy]

Western Digitals...

I would opt for firewire over USB, as the transfer rate is higher.
I use Western Digital My Book Studio II - 4 TB drives, and have four of them.
Erase and reformat ANY drive you get, even if it is "mac" compatible. It only takes a few minutes and prevents issues down the line (slow copying etc.).
Always buy twice the storage space of your info for your backup. If you don't think you can use the full 4tb for backup, you can always partition the drive into two volumes, one for Time Machine and another for external storage. The drives are both USB & Firewire, but have two FW ports so you can daisy chain them if you need to.

These drives are reasonably cheap (around $325 on Amazon), very quiet and pretty reliable. They also come with a 3 year no quibble warranty. Drives fail, its a fact of life. I had one go down after two years and they sent a new one with little fuss. I have had other brands fail earlier than that and was out of luck. I would buy another if needed, and indeed just added one last week...

cheers,
michael