anyway to get just the enclosure? I got a 160GB sata drive laying around just waiting to become a Time Machine disk
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what external harddrive do you use with your MBP?
- Thread starter DKatri
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anyway to get just the enclosure? I got a 160GB sata drive laying around just waiting to become a Time Machine disk
i think i might end up going for one that has both because all of the computers at my uni are PC's
so i can just take my hard drive with me instead of my laptop, but still get the advantage of faster speeds when im at homeall I can say is, if you can't read a post, then there is something wrong with you.
I did stated the difference in speed of about 10MB/s (~25%) which is a sustained speed. Meaning that if you are copying something that takes about 1 hour in FW, it will take 1 hour and 15 mins for USB. Since MOST people does not copy hundreds of GB each day it makes little sense to spend extra $30 bucks or such for avoiding 15mins of waiting once or twice, specially when often when you are copying large files you do so "unattended." For smalls files the difference will be extremely small at best.
Again I did say if money is not an issue just get the FW, since they still (usually) also include USB, so its both way.
This isn't accurate. The difference between FW800 and USB is MUCH more than what you stated. FW800 is more than double the speed of USB 2.0. In practical application, transfers are noticeably faster to my FW800 7200 external drive. "FireWire 800 is substantially faster than Hi-Speed USB, both in theory and in practice."
As for most people not making large transfers daily, you forget about backups. I backup daily.... sometimes multiple times a day. Most of the time, these backups are not "unattended", so speed is very important to me. Paying roughly $40 extra for FW800 is worth every penny.
Since LaCie doesn't make drives but only the enclosures, there could be any brand name drive in the enclosure. We have a drive that came with two 500GB Seagate drives in it and one of them makes a loud whirring noise occasionally when it spins up. Lightly tapping the enclosure can sometimes make it stop. I noticed that when I put WD drives in it, they are always super quiet..
FW800 is noticeably faster than USB.
I use a LaCie 1TB Neil Poulton drive. Not really portable, as it isn't bus powered. I connect it to my MacBook Pro using eSATA as I use it as a capture scratch disc for video.
WD Passports are great!
They are cheap, small and bus-powered!
I have had one for quite awhile and it's really great.
(althought I took out the Scorpio Blue drive inside and put it in my macbook pro and put the macbook pro HD inside the WD Passport.)
I also have a few others too, but they aren't bus-powered.
LaCie d2 (great drive, fw800, but too expensive)
LaCie Neil Poulton (********* drive ever, slow (only usb2), doesn't turn itself off when my computer sleeps, really cheap)
Seagate FreeAgent (great drive, fast, fw800, not too expensive either)
They are cheap, small and bus-powered!
I have had one for quite awhile and it's really great.
(althought I took out the Scorpio Blue drive inside and put it in my macbook pro and put the macbook pro HD inside the WD Passport.)
I also have a few others too, but they aren't bus-powered.
LaCie d2 (great drive, fw800, but too expensive)
LaCie Neil Poulton (********* drive ever, slow (only usb2), doesn't turn itself off when my computer sleeps, really cheap)
Seagate FreeAgent (great drive, fast, fw800, not too expensive either)
already got one, i managed to get one on clearance for like $21 USD and tax, so Its a good snag. I just wish it had FW400 or FW800 instead of just USB, but I'll live with it.
I have 2 of these:
http://www.wdc.com/cN/products/Products.asp?DriveID=374
The 500GB one for iMovie and stuff like that and the 1TB one for Timemachine backup of both my MBP and the 500GB external.
I think they are great and comes with USB 2.0/FW400/FW800/eSATA. (You'll have to get your own eSATA cables and eSata card though) Also they cost more than other drives..
eSATA is blazing fast,3 gbps if I remember it correctly, but I have bad experience with eSATA on OS X.
I bought the "laCie SATA II Expresscard 34" and as far as I recall the included drivers did not work on Leopard.. After some googleing I found drivers that worked on OS X, but its not anywhere as reliable as a FW800 connection. So I just use FW800 for now, its fast enough.
On my Windows XP bootcamp on the other hand, eSATA screams!
http://www.wdc.com/cN/products/Products.asp?DriveID=374
The 500GB one for iMovie and stuff like that and the 1TB one for Timemachine backup of both my MBP and the 500GB external.
I think they are great and comes with USB 2.0/FW400/FW800/eSATA. (You'll have to get your own eSATA cables and eSata card though) Also they cost more than other drives..
eSATA is blazing fast,3 gbps if I remember it correctly, but I have bad experience with eSATA on OS X.
I bought the "laCie SATA II Expresscard 34" and as far as I recall the included drivers did not work on Leopard.. After some googleing I found drivers that worked on OS X, but its not anywhere as reliable as a FW800 connection. So I just use FW800 for now, its fast enough.
On my Windows XP bootcamp on the other hand, eSATA screams!
you are forgetting the fact that FW 800 is not the limiting factor in terms of speed for most HDDs under the characteristics the OP is asking (power drawn from the computer rather than an external adaptor.) The limit speed of most 5400rpm hdd (the kind that does not need extra power, though there are a couple of exceptions such as seagate momentus, etc) is about 40MB/s (give or take.)
I've done the test myself. I tested my 5400 hitachi HDD in an external enclosure (USB/eSATA) and here are approximate results:
USB: 35MB/s
eSATA: 42MB/s
SATA (inside the MBP): 42MB/s
Notice eSATA/SATA is almost twice and a half faster than FW800 however the difference between it and USB is not huge.
I'm not forgetting anything. You're assuming a bus-powered drive will be 5400rpm. There are plenty of bus-powered 7200 drives, such as those I recommended to the OP and the kind I own, with transfer rates around 100MB/sec via FW800.
I will ignore the exaggeration of your "100MB/s" which is unprobable due to the fact thats the actual maximun "theoretical" bus speed, which is usually not achieved, on the other hand the fastest 7200rpm 2.5" HDDs are 80MB/s MAX speed (under SATA) which is OK if it were achievable over FW since is twice as USB.
HOWEVER the price of the HDDs you suggested are extremely expensive, it makes more sense if such, to get a eSATA express card/enclosure instead (if speed is that important) otherwise ~35MB/s would be very decent for regular (backup, etc) usage. In fact for the price you get a 500GB enclosure of 7200rpm (the only kind that worth buying if you are already spending that much money for FW) about $200 you can almost get a two 500GB USB HDD or if you shop around even two eSATA/USB combo 500GB HDDs...
I didn't exaggerate anything. Unlike USB, Firewire IS capable of approaching or reaching its theoretical limit, since it doesn't depend on CPU to support the transfer:
As for hard drive speed:
I said nothing about prices, except to say that the $40 extra for FW800 is well worth the money. Personally, I think the prices are fine, but that's not what was being discussed. The bottom line is, FW800 is significantly faster than USB 2.0 and that difference can be realized with a bus-powered external drive.
Point taken. I did say if money is not issue FW is better option. However, the OP just need something to save his files + time machine (which probably means copy a few hundreds GBs once and then just actualize files every couple of days) its preferable to save the money. Its not like USB speeds are terrible anyways.
Saying 100MB/s while one of the best drives (probably the best) can barely reach 90MB/s under ideal conditions (SATA, benchmark test, etc) I think is exactly the definition of exaggerating. 10% not big deal but I could not pass the opportunity of being sarcastic
.
I had never backed up anything before until about 2 weeks ago. I've owned a BlackBook before, and I had to replace it about a week after I bought it because the hard drive was faulty. Fortunately, I didn't have much information on it.
Then I got this 13" MBP and I still hadn't backed up any of my data. About two weeks ago I had a problem with one of my fans. I wasn't sure exactly what was causing the problem at the time, but I was scared about losing my information since I didn't have it backed up at all. When I took it to get repaired at the Apple Store the following day, I decided it was time to invest in an external hard drive.
I was just going to use it to back up my files every now and then just to have something to go back to if something ever went wrong. I ended up purchasing a Verbatim 320GB hard drive. The Apple employee told me that they were pretty new, so she didn't know much about them, but I chose it because of the price compared to the other drives that included both USB and FireWire 400/800. It's really small too.
Then I got this 13" MBP and I still hadn't backed up any of my data. About two weeks ago I had a problem with one of my fans. I wasn't sure exactly what was causing the problem at the time, but I was scared about losing my information since I didn't have it backed up at all. When I took it to get repaired at the Apple Store the following day, I decided it was time to invest in an external hard drive.
I was just going to use it to back up my files every now and then just to have something to go back to if something ever went wrong. I ended up purchasing a Verbatim 320GB hard drive. The Apple employee told me that they were pretty new, so she didn't know much about them, but I chose it because of the price compared to the other drives that included both USB and FireWire 400/800. It's really small too.
Saying 100MB/s while one of the best drives (probably the best) can barely reach 90MB/s under ideal conditions (SATA, benchmark test, etc) I think is exactly the definition of exaggerating. 10% not big deal but I could not pass the opportunity of being sarcastic
Tell it to the seller:
You can keep splitting hairs and trying to argue all you want, but find someone else to play your games. I'm done! I made my point, which is that FW800 is, both in theory and practical application, significantly and noticeably faster than USB 2.0, and that benefit can be had in a bus-powered external drive for a mere $40 or so premium over the same drive with a USB connection.
I take it from that post that somehow you are annoyed. I guarantee my sole purpose is to inform the OP, in the other hand AFAIK I have not said anything yet that is iffy or inaccurate in anyway (if so point it out so I can fix it if you are right.)
I do notice however a trend here, you are comparing the very best (theoretical and improvable) results that you could get on FW vs. the crappiest (real life situation) of USB which is not comparing apples to apples.
For the sake of comparison check this "test" I have done with my own HDDs:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgAXc43htGZrdHM2dGNYOTc5SldLUlVkWWFvWTBndGc&hl=en
notice that the first two values correspond to the SAME HDD in an enclosure that have USB and eSATA (2x+ which is faster than FW) connections, I also added the USB HDD Seagate Free agent Go for comparison purposes. I relize this HDD is 5400rpm and eSATA/FW can get more out of a 7200rpm hdd, however a 7200rpm should be on average 20MB/s faster than 5400rpm. In these data you can see how on average eSATA is just ~9MB/s faster than USB and thats under benchmark testing conditions (in real life difference might be a bit difference depending on size of files, etc.)
Now 7200 rpm HDD on FW/eSATA should average about 65MB/s or just twice as a 5400rpm HDD on USB (on synthetic tests). The twist here is that a 500GB FW 7200rpm HDD cost ~$200 while a 500gb HDD 5400rpm cost just below $100.
Now the OP needs backup, and generally for backup SPACE > Speed. So if you do the math, getting a 7200 rpm 500GB HDD FW would be the equivalent to get 2x500GB 5400rpm HDD USB. The FW option could potentially be twice as fast (in synthetic test, in real life it could be about 50-60% faster and thats a gross estimate) while going for the USB option would secure twice the data.
The only difference is that I can warrant to the OP that a 5400rpm HDD will do about 30MB/s give or take depending on brand... Can you warrant to the OP any FW HDD that will do 100MB/s??????
Do you trust sellers?
Back to track:
@ DKatri
For backup purposes USB will do just fine and will save you money, USB's speeds are definitevly slower than FW but until this thread I have never seen anyone complaining about them, for backup purposes it will do just fine, and after you do the first BIG backup you should not notice a difference unless you consistently copy large files (10GB+) in which case you do will be able to notice a difference in speeds. For incremental backups (time machine) you should not notice much difference.
Assuming you meant to type "any" there instead of "anu", that's not true.
Not every HDD is compatible with HFS or HFS+. I myself encountered such a problem a month or so ago with a Seagate 1TB drive. Although the drive could be made to work (ie read/write) on a Mac by formatting it to FAT32, FAT32 is useless if you have files over 4GB in size. Mac OS X won't write NTFS (without a plugin).
I'm not sure, but Time Machine would probably rather you use a HFS+ formatted drive for backups.
I'm also carefully avoiding the whole USB/FireWire debate
Did I miss anyone?
Other User's Recommendation's:
Buffalo: techfreak85 (DriveStation Combo4 1TB)
Build Your Own: uberamd, kufford, SaSaSushi, nanofrog, Ti_Poussin, bigdaddyp; Cave Man, chkdg8, kdp.slider, mahen
Drobo: gatepc recommends it, further mixed discussion here. A Drobo v. alternative discussion was had here.
EZQuest: LizKat has owned a variety of Monsoons
G-Tech: RebornKillah recommends the G-Drive Quad 500GB, but it's currently out of production; Bill Gates (500GB Mini); Digital Skunk notes the great warranty; jaysmith & tcphoto recommend G-Tech
Hitachi: Trag (SimpleTech Signature Mini 500GB); J&JPolangin (SimpleTech 2TB SimpleDrive Pro Duo); BlizzardBomb recommends the Go; bigdaddyp recommends the Signature Mini. Thedesolateone also recommends Hitachi. Also of note is that Hitachi acquired G-Tech recently.
Iomega: mc3s (Ultramax 34495 1.5 TB); Justin Lee & quantum003 (eGo 500GB Portable Mac).
ioSafe: Tterb recommends.
LaCie: Note: there is an entire thread dedicated to LaCie, I have summed up support from users below, but simply a tally
jrotunda85 & Kronie (d2 Quadra 1 TB); RedTomato, gatepc & eVolcre, Cousin Dirk {although eVolcre owns the one with eSata and Firewire 400}(Hard Disk, Design by Neil Poulton 1 TB); iGary (LaCie Rugged); Gymnut (F.A. Porsche, out of production); VanMac (BigDiskExtreme, out of production); Digital Skunk (2Big Triple, out of production)
Users expressing general support: cmcbridejr, dpaanlka, LethalWolfe, mpsrig, UltraNeo*, iPhoneNYC, chocolate632, Hellhammer, romanaz
Users not so happy with LaCie: surfmadison (not a big fan), accacc57, dave12345 (Little Disk), jaysmith, Jerkfish, auero, mperkins37, dfs & jessica.
cluthz has mixed reactions regarding the (d2 and Neil Poulton)
Maxtor: adamvk purchased a OneTouch 4 1TB (not sure what version)
OWC: GGJstudios (1TB Mercury Elite-AL Pro) & (On-The-Go 200GB)
Seagate: steeler (FreeAgent Desk 1.5 TB); MacMini2009, rick3000, cluthz & soo (Seagate FreeAgent Desk 1 TB USB Mac); suekitch recommends Seagate because of its warranty; Acid303 does not recommend the (new) Seagate FreeAgent Desk series
Western Digital: MacMini2009, xpress1, patrickdunn, iphonematt & MacDawg (MyBook Studio 1TB); Thiol notes purchasing an incredible seven Western Digital MyBook Studio drives all working flawlessly; pprior (MyBook Studio Edition 2TB) Acid303 also notes a positive experience with a non-Studio Edition Western Digital drive; terp2007, odinsride, Samuriajackon, cluthz & matthewscott661 recommend the Passport Series; munkees notes a failure with one of the drives purchased, but a positive experience overall; rikdiddy, RebornKillah & Jerkfish also recommend Western Digital. chrono1081 does not recommend Western Digital & romanaz was also not happy.
More literature found here.
Here, is another thread on 1TB Hard Drives
This one is about LaCie...
Here is another, there is some more discussion about LaCie in there...
Here is one on USB 1TB, I'd stick to Firewire...
Just for kicks, we had a random thread.
Other User's Recommendation's:
Buffalo: techfreak85 (DriveStation Combo4 1TB)
Build Your Own: uberamd, kufford, SaSaSushi, nanofrog, Ti_Poussin, bigdaddyp; Cave Man, chkdg8, kdp.slider, mahen
Drobo: gatepc recommends it, further mixed discussion here. A Drobo v. alternative discussion was had here.
EZQuest: LizKat has owned a variety of Monsoons
G-Tech: RebornKillah recommends the G-Drive Quad 500GB, but it's currently out of production; Bill Gates (500GB Mini); Digital Skunk notes the great warranty; jaysmith & tcphoto recommend G-Tech
Hitachi: Trag (SimpleTech Signature Mini 500GB); J&JPolangin (SimpleTech 2TB SimpleDrive Pro Duo); BlizzardBomb recommends the Go; bigdaddyp recommends the Signature Mini. Thedesolateone also recommends Hitachi. Also of note is that Hitachi acquired G-Tech recently.
Iomega: mc3s (Ultramax 34495 1.5 TB); Justin Lee & quantum003 (eGo 500GB Portable Mac).
ioSafe: Tterb recommends.
LaCie: Note: there is an entire thread dedicated to LaCie, I have summed up support from users below, but simply a tally
jrotunda85 & Kronie (d2 Quadra 1 TB); RedTomato, gatepc & eVolcre, Cousin Dirk {although eVolcre owns the one with eSata and Firewire 400}(Hard Disk, Design by Neil Poulton 1 TB); iGary (LaCie Rugged); Gymnut (F.A. Porsche, out of production); VanMac (BigDiskExtreme, out of production); Digital Skunk (2Big Triple, out of production)
Users expressing general support: cmcbridejr, dpaanlka, LethalWolfe, mpsrig, UltraNeo*, iPhoneNYC, chocolate632, Hellhammer, romanaz
Users not so happy with LaCie: surfmadison (not a big fan), accacc57, dave12345 (Little Disk), jaysmith, Jerkfish, auero, mperkins37, dfs & jessica.
cluthz has mixed reactions regarding the (d2 and Neil Poulton)
Maxtor: adamvk purchased a OneTouch 4 1TB (not sure what version)
OWC: GGJstudios (1TB Mercury Elite-AL Pro) & (On-The-Go 200GB)
Seagate: steeler (FreeAgent Desk 1.5 TB); MacMini2009, rick3000, cluthz & soo (Seagate FreeAgent Desk 1 TB USB Mac); suekitch recommends Seagate because of its warranty; Acid303 does not recommend the (new) Seagate FreeAgent Desk series
Western Digital: MacMini2009, xpress1, patrickdunn, iphonematt & MacDawg (MyBook Studio 1TB); Thiol notes purchasing an incredible seven Western Digital MyBook Studio drives all working flawlessly; pprior (MyBook Studio Edition 2TB) Acid303 also notes a positive experience with a non-Studio Edition Western Digital drive; terp2007, odinsride, Samuriajackon, cluthz & matthewscott661 recommend the Passport Series; munkees notes a failure with one of the drives purchased, but a positive experience overall; rikdiddy, RebornKillah & Jerkfish also recommend Western Digital. chrono1081 does not recommend Western Digital & romanaz was also not happy.
Other Threads:
1TB is prbly a good size to start at it, I would say most people looking for non-mobile externals start at that size, here is a (not-so) recent thread about that...More literature found here.
Here, is another thread on 1TB Hard Drives
This one is about LaCie...
Here is another, there is some more discussion about LaCie in there...
Here is one on USB 1TB, I'd stick to Firewire...
Just for kicks, we had a random thread.
And if all else fails, MRoogle
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I have 4
- Time Capsule
- 500 GB Seagate ES in a Philips External Caddy - Movies
- 80GB 2.5 laptop ( out of my macbook i upgraded) That is a generic Case - Scatch disk
- 320 GB Seagate ( in a generic case) has all my imovie Stuff on it.
I have a few external drives options...
LaCie D2 750 GB on FW800 (photos and music)
Toshiba portable laptop drive on USB 2 (mainly when I travel)
A hard drive caddy on USB 2 where I stick in any internal SATA drive that I may be using at the time. (time machine)
I haven't had any problems with any of the drives and I would highly recommend FW800. I would love to use eSATA, but I haven't found a eSATA card that is known to be solid under $100.
LaCie D2 750 GB on FW800 (photos and music)
Toshiba portable laptop drive on USB 2 (mainly when I travel)
A hard drive caddy on USB 2 where I stick in any internal SATA drive that I may be using at the time. (time machine)
I haven't had any problems with any of the drives and I would highly recommend FW800. I would love to use eSATA, but I haven't found a eSATA card that is known to be solid under $100.