Choosing between two ext. hdds

Choosing between MyBook and miniStack ext. hdd

Right now I'm trying to decide between the following two external hard drives:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136022

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/

They both have obvious pros and cons, so here's a basic rundown:

The ministack is good because it has extra USB/firewire ports, it has a 16mb cache and comes with backup software.

The WD is good because it is $40 cheaper, a very reputable brand and the next OSX upgrade will have built-in backup software so I don't really need it anyway.


So is it worth $40 for a bigger cache, some extra ports (that I don't really need but would be convenient to have) and some software (that I also don't really need)?

A Mac-user friend of mine has the Ministack and absolutely swears by it. I've seen backups scream on this baby.

The Ministack has Firewire and the Newegg one doesn't. Firewire is worth the extra cost alone-- the USB-only unit will be slower in actual practice.

:girl:

I might offer one caution. I recall a thread from some time back regarding fan noise from the miniStack. Apparently it can be quite intrusive. If possible, a fanless enclosure would be best. I have searched for the thread, but can't seem to find it.

By the way, I completely agree on the comment re Firewire. Definitely better. I have Firewire backup drives, and they really scream. Granted drive performance varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, but as a general rule, my Firewire drives are much faster than my USB drives.

Okay, thanks... anybody else have an opinion?

My next question would be should I go with the 160gb or the 250gb. The 250gb miniStack has twice the cache and it's only $20 more, so I think that's the best choice.

cath462 said:

A Mac-user friend of mine has the Ministack and absolutely swears by it. I've seen backups scream on this baby.

The Ministack has Firewire and the Newegg one doesn't. Firewire is worth the extra cost alone-- the USB-only unit will be slower in actual practice.

:girl:

Click to expand...

USB 2 is faster then original firewire, unless it is firewire 800,

but fire wire seems to handle multiple requests / streaming alot better then USB does.

i would go fire wire if you plan to use this drive frequently enough. Have you considered just buying your own separate external case and hard drive seperately, would come out cheaper.

I have considered that, however I would rather buy an external drive that is already in an enclosure for two reasons: warranty and the fact that the company making it has engineered the enclosure to work with the drive that comes in it. I've heard bad stories about drives getting too hot for their enclosures and things like that. I'd rather have a sure thing than save a few bucks, but thanks a lot for the input.

You have to have firewire if you want to make it a boot drive.

Fanless = quieter
Fanned = more reliable over a long time in extended usage

I've got a 250gb Lacie D2 for backup which is fantastic, but the fan noise is annoying when it's on. I'm hoping to use it for Time Machine, but if it means the external drive has to be on all the time I'm going to have to swap it for another one.