03-09-2007, 07:40 PM

Ok, I am looking to purchase an external Hard Drive partially for backup, as well as to have more storage.

Anybody have any problems or thoughts on this drive?

Will I be able to partition this drive to use part of it for backing up my MBP, using the rest for storage? I am assuming I can, since I can do it easily enough with a winpc, but just want to make sure since I am new to mac.

Thanks for any tips/help.

03-09-2007, 08:05 PM

Looking for the same thing, but you can get the next one in the line which also has FW 800 for only another $7.00. And it matches the color of our MBP's.
Trying to decide myself this weekend. Saw the 1TB raid for $404.

Found a review in Macworld for it, has a link for their review of the Lacie d2 also. The MyBook beat the Lacie in all their speed tests. The Lacie is another $5 at newegg, only 2 yr warranty vs 3 for the WD, Lacie has fingerprint access for locking the drive if that is of interest though.

Here's another review. This one gives a clear picture of the advantage of FW 800.

Looking for a write up on the Maxtor One Touch with FW 800.

03-10-2007, 03:03 AM

Hey guys,

I own a 250B myBook standard drive and I can safely say that its a top drive. Firstly its western digital, other than Seagate WD is my second choice when buying hard drives.

The myBook itself is not too big, it sits on your shelf or desk nicely. As far as noise is concerned, the only noise you hear is that of the drive inside spinning. The design allows for no fans but simply a system of vents.

One handy feature I love is the fact that the drive turns off when the computer has shut down, very handy in my opinion.

I would have liked to have bought the myBook premium as I think the disk space indicator on the front would have been a nice touch, I would have also found a use for the firewire interface too!

But that said, I'm still very happy with myBook, maybe in the future when I need more hard drive space I will consider getting a premium drive?

Hope this helps some,

Regards

Chris :mac:

03-10-2007, 03:08 AM

i just got the 500 gb maxtor onetouch III with the fw800 about 2 weeks ago...

pros....
+ its relatively quiet
+ its fast, being fw800
+ its cheap... only $179 compared to other 500gb external drives
+ once setup, the backup software is really easy to use (can't be said about the actual time spent and figuring out how to setup the software ...see cons....)

cons....
- really annoying bright WHITE blinking light .... im talking really bright!
- kinda big and bulky with a rubber coating as a finish, i prefer metal enclosures........
- it always "on"...... even when the u turn off ur computer..... i worry that the drive might wear itself out by always being "on"
- instructions for installing the included "backup" software is kinda confusing at first, the enclosed manual is outdated...... i couldnt get the program to run correctly until I went to the maxtor/seagate website and found out that there is a mac/intel driver.....


hope this helps....
overall, for the price, a fw800 500gb drive like this is hard to beat!

josh

03-10-2007, 05:12 AM

cons....
- really annoying bright WHITE blinking light .... im talking really bright!

That would eliminate the drive for me, intend on puting it in the TV room where I like it dark when I'm watching movies. Maybe you could get some blue painters tape and cut a piece small enough to cover just the light. If it is that brite, I think it would still allow you to see the light, but would sure tone it down.

03-10-2007, 05:32 AM

ya, i totally was looking at my hd when i was reading your reply.....
i might take a blue sharpie to the light and hopefully that will dim it down.....
currently its on my desk in my bedroom... i turned the harddrive around so it was facing the wall but the thing lit up half the wall up! ha........ currently i put a brown paper bag over it.... it works....


josh

03-10-2007, 07:18 PM

What about the Newer Technology drive that match the Mac Mini and have a USB and firewire hub built in? Any good? Any bad?
mikeylee

03-10-2007, 11:30 PM

Its cheaper to buy an internal hard drive and the enclosure compared to a pre-made external HDD .

03-11-2007, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by viridian

Its cheaper to buy an internal hard drive and the enclosure compared to a pre-made external HDD .

Yeah, seen this posted several times, so I've spent ?? (a lot of time) researching (bad habit - stupid internet : before the internet I could have just gone down to my favorite store, picked one out of the 2 they stocked, brought it home and usually would have been plenty satisifed). But, as a hardware enthusiast from the PC world, am use to researching every individual component I put into a system. From the case, MB, power supply, CPU, RAM, etc.etc. ad nauseum. However, since I did do the research, here it is, maybe save some other nerdy geek the time I spent trying to compare buying a single unit (MyBook, Maxtor OneTouch, Lacie, etc. vs an external enclosure and a hard drive).

Maybe, if you're looking for USB only or USB and 1394a. You can get this for $20 - $40 all day. You can find hundreds of enclosures (newegg currently has 317 at the 3.5" size). This is not the case if you want 1394b (FW 800) connectivity (less than 10%, a total of 3 out of the 317 single drive enclosures at newegg). At this time, it seems all the manufacturers are charging a premium for this connection. When you find one, the MSRP is ranging from about $120 - $180. Have only found 2 for under $100, with the least expensive being the Macally that lists at $149 for $65 at newegg. This puts the combo of the enclosure and a 500GB drive at a minimum $13 above the price of the MyBook with FW 800. Also, now have to deal with 2 manufacturers instead of 1 if something goes wrong.

Now, let's add to that enclosure the ability of putting an SATA drive rather than an IDE drive into it. We're talking "best" price of around $150 for that enclosure and less than 10% of the already less than 10% of the enclosures out there. Plus, when you do find an enclosure that has FW 800 and SATA internal connections, I've never heard of the manufacturer. And try to find a review or any information other than what the manufacturer has listed. Not gonna happen.

So, bottom line: if ya wanna go cheap, yeah, ya kin get a case and a 250 drive fer under a hunerd dollers. This'll save ya about $20-30 max. Ya wanna 500GB, FW 800, just look at the few that are set up fer ya already.

And still ain't made up muh mind on which 'un to git. (S'pose to be a smilie here, but don't none of em fit fer what oughtta go here.)