What do I do? (External HD related)

Hi everyone-

I want a new external HD, a firewire one on my macbook as it would be faster. i have a usb 2.0 one now, and it is somewhat slow. as my whole iTunes and iPhoto libraries are on the external HD (my 60gb macbook HD isn't big enough, thus i have the external hd plugged in at all times), it is important that it is efficient and dependable.

however...

i want to import movies from my video camera that only takes a firewire connection, and put it directly onto a firewire drive. as you may be aware, the macbook only has 1 firewire port. thus, this poses a dilemma.

2 things:

1) what do i do about the lack of firewire ports? are there firewire hubs you can buy? or should i just go usb 2.0 on the external hd?

2) can anyone recommend a good hd (i looked in the sticky) that would be extremely dependable, considering i would have it plugged in all the time as a result of my iphoto and itunes libraries on it?

thanks!!

milk is white said:

i want to import movies from my video camera that only takes a firewire connection, and put it directly onto a firewire drive. as you may be aware, the macbook only has 1 firewire port. thus, this poses a dilemma.

1) what do i do about the lack of firewire ports? are there firewire hubs you can buy? or should i just go usb 2.0 on the external hd?

Click to expand...

Yes, there are firewire hubs. Belkin $50, and LaCie $90, make them. The LaCie one looks like a triffid, amazing!

2) can anyone recommend a good hd (i looked in the sticky) that would be extremely dependable

Click to expand...

There are more opinions about hard drive brands than almost anything else, but fwiw, I say Hitachi. Others prefer Seagate or Western Digital. Best value for money, based on cost/Gb is the 500 Gb capacity. I would suggest you get the combo firewire/USB drive, cover your bases.

Stupid question.....whats a "triffid" ?

Triffids are plants that can move around and try to take over the world. Read more here.

Here's the page for the Lacie "triffid" here. With a fan. Weee!

There are several available. Try searching for firewire hub at your favorite online seller. They aren't as cheap as USB hubs.

I tend to use Western Digital drives, but everybody has their own tastes. If you really want dependable you can check out the Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II external RAID drives.

Lucion said:

Triffids are plants that can move around and try to take over the world. Here's the page for the Lacie "triffid" here. With a fan. Weee!

Click to expand...

Way to go Lucion! Are you a s-f addict? I recall the novel 'The Day of the Triffids' from yesteryear. There was even a BBC tv series about it if I remember correctly.

Yes, I am a bit of a sci-fi man. I've been reading some of the classics of years past. I like hitting the used bookshop nearby for old paperbacks. I read that book many years ago. I recall a friend of mine was very excited when the BBC series came out on DVD.