What's the most reliable 1-2 TB external HDD with firewire?
I'm looking at getting a Lacie d2 1TB drive with FW, though...
I'm also thinking about getting a HDD dock with FW, and then slotting in the drive of my choice.
I don't need the drive to be portable.
I already have a (slow) WD external with USB 2 (basically a plastic enclosure with a caviar drive inside), and I'm looking for something that's a LOT faster.
What's the most cost effective way to store about 1TB worth of data (while the WD will serve as a backup)?
Cheers
I think you're looking in the right direction as far as the connection interface is concerned Firewire is much better than USB for sustained, large data transfers. As far as hard drives themselves are concerned you can't go wrong with Hitachi, Seagate, or WD.
I use a WD My Book Studio over FireWire 800. So far, so good. It's considerably faster than the old USB 2.0 drive I had; not miraculously so, but Time Machine backups finish sooner.
The one catch is that it (usually) mounts a "WD Smartware" volume on the desktop, and right now there's no official way to take that off. Not a pain (it's just an icon) but unnecessary.
I have plenty of external HDs, but the best bang for the buck in my experiences has been a MacAlly external unit.
I bought a 1 TB drive for it, but here are the reasons why I LOVE IT:
1. it keeps very cool - only slightly warm on days when I've used it and kept it running nonstop. I have other metal enclosures and I really believe I could cook an egg on them. The MacAlly case is very, very cool compared to others.
2. I don't think there's a fan inside so I'm guessing that is why it's so silent (yet again, it keeps cool!
3. has plenty of connection types so no worries there (esata, usb and both FW types)
4. ok..it looks like mac pros.
I'm liking it so much that I'm going to buy the 2 drive enclosure so I can raid them. I'm on this kick about Raid'g all of my externals eventually for better data loss prevention and performance.
btw, of course the reason why I prefer externals to run cooler is (hopefully) better longevity out of the hard drive, but keeping it cool. Plus, I personally have enough devices in my office that any extra heat isn't wanted
But, if I had my drothers, I'd really, really like another G-Tech external HD. Similar to his macally, the aluminum enclosure keeps the HD cool (or slightly warm) and the G-TEch has a heat sink instead of a fan. The reason why I don't have more: they are expensive and I've found that you can find HDs and a case for less money.
I just ordered a Western Digital WD20EARS, the newer Green generation. Also bought an 8 bay eSATA enclosure, as I'm hoping to streamline a few things. Downside is that I have to convert it to USB, but it shouldn't be too much slower than the existing FW400 connections on my mini.
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I have had external Lacie Drives for 8 years now, none of them have had a problem. They are good quality. I recently got a 2TB Mybook studio, don't like it.
As mentioned above, it installs some software that you can't get rid of, also it doesn't always connect to my older Powermac, works fine on MacPro though, just have to deal with its stupid software.
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I would go with a HDD Dock as it it the most versatile and the drive runs absolutely as cool as can be. I have two HDD docks and love them for the ease of swapping a drive and putting in another. The other great thing is that a dock will take both 3.5" and 2.5" drives.
OWC sell a quad interface one from NewerTech that has every current commonly used connection. Voyager Q
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I would go with a HDD Dock as it it the most versatile and the drive runs absolutely as cool as can be. I have two HDD docks and love them for the ease of swapping a drive and putting in another. The other great thing is that a dock will take both 3.5" and 2.5" drives.
OWC sell a quad interface one from NewerTech that has every current commonly used connection. Voyager Q
+1
I use the Voyager, its great. I will never buy an enclosure again.
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I ended up buying a voyager Q, and I plan on buying a hitachi 1TB drive to fill it with (for the time being). I have to say how impressed I am that it comes with the connector cables - all of them: esata, usb, fw 400 and 800! I think most manufacturers would expect the buyer to buy the cables (so that the shops customers will spend $ on accessories), but this thing was good to go right out of the box. I have a 1TB WD "Elements" external drive that I'm thinking of canabalizing for its drive (it has a USB port, and the Q would make it sooo much faster), but I'm not sure about how to crack open the thing, or if it's more trouble than it's worth?
Firewire is much better than USB for sustained, large data transfers. As far as hard drives themselves are concerned you can't go wrong with Hitachi, Seagate, or WD.
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