Which External HD To Return?

[cfs]

Hi Forum,

I would appreciate some input.

Today I went out and purchased two external HD's. However I only need one. Which should I keep?

One is an Iomega 500GB USB 2.0-120.00usd

The other is a WD My Book Studio Edition 750GB USB 2.0, Firewire 400/800, and eSATA-170.00usd

I really don't need 750GB as I am a consumer type user, but I was sold by the gentleman at Best Buy because he said that although in theory USB is faster, it can lose data being transferred so he suggested one with firewire and the $100 discount to boot.

What do you all thnink?

Thanks,
cfs

 

[ewilson6]

keep the firewire drive.

use carbon copy cloner (free) and make a backup of your internal hard drive.

that way if something would ever go wrong with your internal,
you can boot up your computer from the external firewire drive.

can't boot up any mac from external usb drive.

you would still have all your files and still have a way to start up your mac if internal drive fails.

you can replace your internal drive if it would fail and not loose any of your files at all.

you install new internal drive and run carbon copy cloner after booting from the firewire drive and copy all files back into the internal drive.


firewire is the way to go!!!


--Eric

 

[aross99]

Firewire is definitely the way to go for performance. As long as you aren't too hard up for the $50, I would keep the firewire one.

...can't boot up any mac from external usb drive...

You can boot Intel Mac's from USB or Firewire drives. Only PowerPC Mac's require Firewire for booting.

 

[cfs]

use carbon copy cloner (free) and make a backup of your internal hard drive.

If you were me would use Carbon Copy Cloner instead of Time Machine? Or would you partition the external HD- one side TM the other Carbon Copy Cloner.

Thanks,
cfs

 

[cfs]

Thanks for your replies. One more question... for now.

Do you know if I can make 3 partitions in the external HD?
And do I need to format it before using it?

Sorry. Thanks,

cfs

 

[gothamm]

Thanks for your replies. One more question... for now.

Do you know if I can make 3 partitions in the external HD?
And do I need to format it before using it?

Sorry. Thanks,

cfs

you can make as many partitions as you want. the drive may or may not come pre-formatted. Not a big deal at all. Just use disk utility to format. Takes less than a minute.

 

[aross99]

I would definitely format it when you get it. Most external drives are formatted for PC use.

You will want it to be formatted as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".

 

[celeste808]

I bought the MyBook for my father because I thought it would be very "user-friendly". Unfortunately, it's given him a lot of headaches and he is actually quite computer saavy. Have you found this to be the case for you? I remember him having problems with the HD not shutting down even with a hard reset, or not being able to eject off the desktop.

 

[iToaster]

I'd say you should keep the 750, due in part to the faster ways of interfacing with your computer, as well, you can never have too much free disk space.

 

[cfs]

I bought the MyBook for my father because I thought it would be very "user-friendly". Unfortunately, it's given him a lot of headaches and he is actually quite computer saavy. Have you found this to be the case for you? I remember him having problems with the HD not shutting down even with a hard reset, or not being able to eject off the desktop.

I have not opened it yet. I got it from Best Buy so I figured to come here first due to the 10% restocking fee for returns. I will post here with how it goes if I open it though.

-cfs

 

[ArthurDaley]

Firewire 400 is better than USB 2.0 in practice and Firewire 800 blows the pants off Firewire 400.

Nuff said.