Which External Hard Drive should I buy/Do you suggest?

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Interesting find.
 
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Just to play devil's advocate...how would LaCie know?

(The answer, most likely, is, "they read the same rumors we all do.")
 
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It would be even more interesting with a link to some proof, other than a sales rep's hearsay. ;)
 
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MyBook External Harddrives

I'm on the market for an external harddrive and I've decided to go with a MyBook Pro or MyBook Studio drive by Western Digital.

I went to the Western Digital site tonight to order the drive and I couldn't because I live in Canada. I didn't think it was a big deal though because there are other online retailers, right? NOPE. Every Canadian site I go to doesn't have it listed. They have other WD drives but not one of the ones I'm interested in.

So I went to bigger players like Amazon and DELL. They have the drives but won't ship them to Canada.

WHAT GIVES!
 
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I bought my MyBook Pro new on eBay. It was cheaper there than anyone else I could find.
 
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US laws preventing export of computer goods to other countries. Have exactly the same problem here in Australia. As bryphotoguy suggest go to ebay.com or ebay.com.ca (is that right for Canada?) and buy from a seller there.

Have purchased two WD HDD recently from dealers using ebay with no probelms at all.
 
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I checked Ebay and all of the drives were about the same price but they also had a shipping cost of about $30.00.

I went to the Canadian COSTCO site and just bought this...
Call me crazy but I love COSTCO. If the drive tanks in two years I can take it back for another - well, okay, a refund. They have an amazing return policy.

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10306518&whse=BCCA&Ne=4000000&eCat=BCCA|84&N=4008634&Mo=18&No=8&Nr=P_CatalogName:BCCA&cat=4298&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-CA&Sp=C&topnav=
 
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Congrats on the find!
 
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Advice on buying a TB external HD

I'm going to be buying a TB external for my macbook pro (will hold mostly video). I've looked at the Lacie ones and think I might go for that (280 on neweeg.com). Are there any other suggestions?

I've heard people who say to get two 500gig HD instead so that you dont lose everything if they fail. It obviously takes up more desk space and is hard if you are traveling around (im a student). My question is do these fail all that often? And if they 'fail' what are the chances the data on it will be unreadable even for a computer repair person?
 
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The problem with that argument is that more often than not, the two drives are in a RAID 0 or JBOD configuration. So even if just one drive fails, you'll lose all of your data anyway, making it no more secure than a single TB drive. The only way you benefit from data loss is with a RAID 1 or RAID 5 drive, but to achieve 1TB in either of those configurations, you would need either two 1TB drives or four 500GB drives.

I've had hard drives last me years without a problem. The chances of drive failure are pretty low, so just go ahead and buy whatever drive you want.
 
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I got a Lacie 500GB over a year ago, for video. I have never had a problem. For christmas I go the TB. Lovin it...
 
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For HDDs, my favorite company is WD (Western Digital). Followed by Seagate, then Lacie. However, if I wanted to get a large external drive, I'd go for a solution called Drobo. It's the only way I'd do it.
 
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Western Digital vs Iomega Hard Drive

I am looking to add another external hard drive to my computer to run time machine off and add just some other stuff on it, music and videos mostly. I currently have a western digital 250gb, and am looking to upgrade to a 500gb. However I was wondering how Iomega and Western Digital compare to each other. Is one truly better than the other or are most external hard drives the same?

Thanks for your input

Jason
 
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I have a Western Digital My Book external HD and it works great. I haven't had any problems with it.

It's mainly used for Time Machine and other files I put on it.
 
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Silent/Quiet external hardrive?

I'm looking for an external hardrive to use for backups. I've come to love the mostly silent operation of my mini. On the Apple site, I've read good reviews on the g-tech g-drive, which has no fan, though reviewers elsewhere have had some negative comments on noise. I've thought about getting a drive intended for Audio recording, which should be quiet, though I don't know what to look at, or how it would compare to the g-drive. Any advice on a silent/quiet hardrive? Any quiet lovers own a g-tech? Thanks!!
 
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We have two, make that three, Seagate FreeAgent externals, and they are super quiet -- I can't event tell they are on unless I look at them and see the light is on.
 
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I have a Maxtor One Touch 4 Plus and it's totally quiet. It completely powers down when not in use and it works perfectly with both 10.4 and 10.5 (and Time Machine).

I also have a WD My Book and I've had to remove it from my main machine because of all the noise it makes. I'd recommend you avoid that drive.

Claire
 
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I have two LaCie 500GB external drives, and I have to look at the front panel light to see if they're even turned on. Very quiet in operation.
 
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I need some safe storage . . .

I would really like to make a RAID set up for storing about 600 gb of info (which is always growing). Now it is spread across a number of external hard drives and I'm nervous that one is going to eat it on me.

Now the question, should I get a NAS device (i like the idea of just plugging it into my router and having it work) or step up and build my own server? Anyone have any experience with Dell servers and RAID 5 setups or a a NAS RAID 5 setup?

Any info/suggestions would be appreciated.
 
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enclosures and external drives...

hi,
I'm in the need of an ext HDD and a bit confused over the options.
I need one for video, so I'm looking into range of 500-1TB.
It seems cheaper to get a separate HDD and enclosure that can support FW800 for my MBP.

In terms of enclosures,
I've heard the Icecube G2 is good, then I read someone
http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/12/31/...ive-enclosure/
raving about the NewerTech miniStack:
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newe...gy/FWU2ESMSV3/
Any ideas with these or other recommendations?

My priorities are cost and reliability. I presume the HDD itself needs to reliable (seagate/WD generally best?) as well as the enclosure chipset (oxford?).

It seems not that much more expensive to get two 500GB drives and use one as a backup. (was thinking of having a RAID 1 setup but it just sounds a bit confusing). I guess with the price of drives dropping I can always get another in a couple of years if I fill up.

anyway any suggestions greatly welcome to these confused ramblings!
 
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