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Which external backup drive should I buy for my MBP?

jusacruiser

jusacruiser

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 15, 2009
343
14
Palm Beach, Florida
I am thinking of getting an external backup drive for my MBP.

I was not sure whether to get a Lacie Backup Drive or a Western Digital Backup Drive.

Any other Backup Drive Suggestions?
 
Frist, get something with Firewire as the speed improvement is great. I have a Verbatim external hard drive, but it uses a Western Digital HD inside.

Out of those 2, definitely go with Western Digital.
 
ThaDoggg said:
Frist, get something with Firewire as the speed improvement is great. I have a Verbatim external hard drive, but it uses a Western Digital HD inside.

Out of those 2, definitely go with Western Digital.
Click to expand...

+1. I second Western Digital. Only ever had one fail, and their replacement process is great. File an RMA, and pay for your replacement; free second day air shipping. Get the new one, and buy a discounted UPS ground return label from them, and when they receive the old one, you get refunded the replacement price. In other words, get a new drive, and you're only out $5 for the return shipping. :)
 
ThaDoggg said:
Frist, get something with Firewire as the speed improvement is great. I have a Verbatim external hard drive, but it uses a Western Digital HD inside.

Out of those 2, definitely go with Western Digital.
Click to expand...

Does the Western Digital come formatted for the Mac? Is the Western Digital Time Machine friendly?
 
blevins321 said:
+1. I second Western Digital. Only ever had one fail, and their replacement process is great. File an RMA, and pay for your replacement; free second day air shipping. Get the new one, and buy a discounted UPS ground return label from them, and when they receive the old one, you get refunded the replacement price. In other words, get a new drive, and you're only out $5 for the return shipping. :)
Click to expand...

So are you saying you prefer the Western Digital to the Lacie? Does Western Digital come pre-formated for the Mac? Is the Western Digital Time Machine friendly? Thanks! :)
 
jusacruiser said:
So are you saying you prefer the Western Digital to the Lacie? Does Western Digital come pre-formated for the Mac? Is the Western Digital Time Machine friendly? Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

Don't fret about getting a "Mac-friendly" one. Any hard drive can be formatted for Mac. And yes, I've had bad troubles with LaCie power supplies. Any hard drive is also Time-Machine friendly :)
 
How much storage space to get on the backup drive

Ok, here is the question......My MBP has 250 GB of space. Does that mean my backup drive only needs to be 320 GB?

Or is the more space on the backup the better? Should I get 1 TB or is that a waste of money?
 
jusacruiser said:
Ok, here is the question......My MBP has 250 GB of space. Does that mean my backup drive only needs to be 320 GB?

Or is the more space on the backup the better? Should I get 1 TB or is that a waste of money?
Click to expand...

Depends if you want to go for portable or desktop. If you are going for portable (small, usb-only), I'd go for a 500GB. Desktop? 1 or 2TB. Bigger one you get, the longer Time Machine will be able to keep things. Also, if you ever decide to foray into the super media storage realm, the available space will be welcome.
 
Western Digital are good as are G-Tech. Capacity is one thing but the drives technology is very important. You want something with minimum 32mb cache, read/write speeds that match your internal drive.

320GB is relatively small in terms of size these days, your computers HD shouldn't really dictate the size of the external HD, instead I would think about what will you use an external for and how long will it take you to fill it up.

The Western Digital 'My Passport Studio' will offer you the fastest transfer rates with the FW800 connection. Desktops wise the 'My Book Studio' or 'My Book Studio LX' these also offer FW800. USB 2.0 bit dated now, invest in something that's not obsolete. That's the WD breakdown.

G-Tech offer nice drives Portable or Desktop like the G-Drive, G-Drive Mini, Mobile. If you have a bigger budget look at the G-Safe.

There really are may options, the main thing to remember is to look beyond the brand and size and see what is under the hood.

My experience with Lacie is horrendous by the way, cheap horrible drives IMO.
 
mwhq said:
Western Digital are good as are G-Tech. Capacity is one thing but the drives technology is very important. You want something with minimum 32mb cache, read/write speeds that match your internal drive.

320GB is relatively small in terms of size these days, your computers HD shouldn't really dictate the size of the external HD, instead I would think about what will you use an external for and how long will it take you to fill it up.

The Western Digital 'My Passport Studio' will offer you the fastest transfer rates with the FW800 connection. Desktops wise the 'My Book Studio' or 'My Book Studio LX' these also offer FW800. USB 2.0 bit dated now, invest in something that's not obsolete. That's the WD breakdown.

G-Tech offer nice drives Portable or Desktop like the G-Drive, G-Drive Mini, Mobile. If you have a bigger budget look at the G-Safe.

There really are may options, the main thing to remember is to look beyond the brand and size and see what is under the hood.

My experience with Lacie is horrendous by the way, cheap horrible drives IMO.
Click to expand...

I ended up getting the WD 1TB with USB 2.0. A little bit slow I know, but went for capacity. I also wanted it to take a long time to fill it up. Thanks for your input.
 
I think there's one that has USB 3.0. That's the one I just ordered. I figured if I ever get a new MacBook that has USB 3.0, I'm set.

I think I got the same one you did. My old backup was 250GB and I think I had about 100GB in backup stuff. Every now and then, I'd use it to store media files and stuff when replacing a hard drive or taking my MacBook into service. I know I had the backup, but having a 2nd spot where it was stored, one that I controlled what was on there, really made me feel a lot better.
 
davidg4781 said:
I think there's one that has USB 3.0. That's the one I just ordered. I figured if I ever get a new MacBook that has USB 3.0, I'm set.

I think I got the same one you did. My old backup was 250GB and I think I had about 100GB in backup stuff. Every now and then, I'd use it to store media files and stuff when replacing a hard drive or taking my MacBook into service. I know I had the backup, but having a 2nd spot where it was stored, one that I controlled what was on there, really made me feel a lot better.
Click to expand...

Yes, the piece of mind of knowing you have that data stored securely in a second location is the whole point.

PS: I am finding that up to the minute backup is unrealistic for me, because I carry my laptop around a lot......which means that I am plugging, then unplugging my backup drive often. I just need to be good about plugging in my backup drive on a routine basis, that's all.
 
I am very happy with the iomega eGo Helium 500G drive from the apple store...I back up every 14 days or so....simple and only 99.00
 
Third parties might make PCIe adaptors for older computers, but I think it's safe to say that you'll only be able to use thunderbolt if you have a newer computer...
Thunderbolt is a new standard that connects using the DisplayPort output, to allow for transfer speeds up to 10Gbps. Thats faster than eSATA.
As of now, there is only one drive that has Thunderbolt ports, and that's the one made by LaCie.
I don't think it's worth it, unless you're working with lots of streaming footage when editing/compositing video.
 
WD MyBook Studio 2TB ... Firewire 800/400 and USB 2.0... Enough for a backup drive. Can restore my 80GB TimeMachine backup on my SSD drive in about 40 minutes.
 
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