What is the fastest external drive for Macbook Pro?

[Joko]

I want to run Logic 8 on my MBP but keeping the large sound files on a separate hard drive. Is firewire 400 significantly faster than usb 2?
Or should i try find a firewire 800 external? (Still haven't seen one)

 

[xUKHCx]

For sustained transfers you definitely want firewire over USB. FW800 will obviously be better than FW400, there is also the option of esata drives. although you will need to buy an express card for that option.

 

[matperk]

LaCie makes some Firewire 800 portable drives. Here's one with a 7200rpm drive. Pretty pricey though.

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10997

 

[Apple Corps]

Why are people talking about Firewire and USB ???

The fastest drives (ignoring SCSI) are SATA - fed into the MBP via a SATA Expresscard 34. WD Raptor, SAMSUNG F1, and others all have fast offerings - especially when striped.

xUKHCx - ditto

 

[operator207]

I just bought these:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182123
Chipset: Oxford OX924DSB

External Interface:
eSATA x 1 port
FireWire 800 (1394b) x 2 port
FireWire 400(1394a) x 1 port
USB 2.0 & USB 1.1 x 1 port

And this to go in it:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145166

I would go with an Oxford chipset in an external enclosure, Prolific's chipset gives me errors on my old enclosure. Drops the Firewire connection randomly, and the USB connection was very bursty. Most of the threads I have been to, state the Oxford chips are better.

 

[Ranchdip]

I just bought these:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182123
Chipset: Oxford OX924DSB

External Interface:
eSATA x 1 port
FireWire 800 (1394b) x 2 port
FireWire 400(1394a) x 1 port
USB 2.0 & USB 1.1 x 1 port

And this to go in it:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145166

I would go with an Oxford chipset in an external enclosure, Prolific's chipset gives me errors on my old enclosure. Drops the Firewire connection randomly, and the USB connection was very bursty. Most of the threads I have been to, state the Oxford chips are better.

I probably would have went with a Seagate HD because they seem to be much quieter than other manufacturers. I have a WD external drive that sounds like a jet engine. (Not good for recording)

 

[Joko]

For sustained transfers you definitely want firewire over USB. FW800 will obviously be better than FW400, there is also the option of esata drives. although you will need to buy an express card for that option.

That sounds like a good option, and probably the fastest?
Will have to keep my eyes open, don't see many of them around here.

Any particular brand or model you'd recommend?

 

[Heston]

Here's what I would do. Buy an enclosure like this:

http://www.macally.com/EN/Product/ArticleShow.asp?ArticleID=140

And then buy a harddrive that has decent read times.

 

[comptr]

you want firewire 800 drives. The brand you want for spped it G-Drive. They are pricy but they are the best.
Here is a Link : http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm

 

[bigiffo]

use SSD

 

[Joko]

you want firewire 800 drives. The brand you want for spped it G-Drive. They are pricy but they are the best.
Here is a Link : http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm

Thanks for the replies.

This G-Drive looks serious!

Priorities for me are:

1: Fast
1: Quiet

Both equally important..

 

[comptr]

Thanks for the replies.

This G-Drive looks serious!

Priorities for me are:

1: Fast
1: Quiet

Both equally important..

well the G-Drive covers 1 and 2
There is no fan in the G-Drive and it is cool. There is a heatsink on the bottom.

 

[Apple Corps]

joko - your post wanted SPEED - firewire and usb are not in the running for fastest - period!!

g-technology SATA enclosures are not even compatible with OS X 10.5 for heavens sake.

So what are you after???

 

[OllyW]

g-technology SATA enclosures are not even compatible with OS X 10.5 for heavens sake.

As I read it, it's the eSATA card for the Mac Pro which is only compatible with 10.4?

http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-SATA.cfm

Kit includes 2-port PCIe eSATA adapter and (2) eSATA cables
Host adapter compatible with Mac Pro OSX 10.4 and PC systems only

 

[KJdanReuben]

I have one of the G-Technology G-Drives that I use as a scratch disk with Final Cut. I have it hooked up via FW800 and it is quick. It is also very quiet. I would recommend getting the G-Drive Q and use FW800. If you still want faster, then buy an express card and use esata.

This Iomega drive also looks pretty good. Never used one though so I'm not sure how quiet they are.

http://www.iomega.com/direct/produc...&ASSORTMENT<>ast_id=63191&bmUID=1204660098261

 

[operator207]

I probably would have went with a Seagate HD because they seem to be much quieter than other manufacturers. I have a WD external drive that sounds like a jet engine. (Not good for recording)

Sound is not an issue for me. If its too loud, I will put in under my desk on the shelf. Its for backups (time machine) and archiving (movies, etc).

I bought the enclosure I mentioned above specifically because it has pretty much all the port types I have running around on various hardware. And I am sure esata host adapters will eventually come to OS X natively or in 3rd party driver form. I can wait, and when they do come, I will not have to go buy yet another enclosure. Unless they change the plug standard, which is doubtful.

 

[Apple Corps]

As I read it, it's the eSATA card for the Mac Pro which is only compatible with 10.4?

http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-SATA.cfm

Correctomundo - but the drives / enclosures are all "out of stock" and not available - hmmmmm??

 

[PeaceOut]

I read somewhere that having esata along with the firewire ports on a external hdd limits the esata's speed. To get the true speed of esata...you need an external solely with the esata port.

Is this correct?

The g-technology cases are pretty.

 

[alphaod]

I have a 1TB MyBook Studio with FW800, USB, and eSATA. Very nice; I use it as a scratch disk. I also have a 1TB drive my built and it's eSATA mainly; I think the performance are comparable.