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

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I bought a LaCie d2 quadra awhile ago and it has performed perfectly. At least so far.
Yeah, I can second that.

I use my d2 Quadra with SuperDuper, no problems in about a year.
 
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Not sure if this was mentioned before but Best Buy had a 500MB external HD for $89. and a 650 MB for $99. I just picked up the $99 one (had a store credit of $68.)
 
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Im a complete noob when it comes to ths kind of thing, but i am going on a spree updating my computer. Im running the G5 1.8 GH 17 inch imac with leopard, with all the standard specifications. And being honest, its all getting rathert slow.

So i am upgrading. I am getting 2 CT407782 1GB, 184-pin DIMM memory things from crucial.com(if anyone has any feedback it would be great) And i also feel the need to upgrade my hard drive space, as the 70 odd Gigs i have at the moment just isnt cutting it. So i am basically looking for a hard drive that:

-Between 250 and 500 GB storage
-Connects through firewire (only because i have herd this is the fastest)
-Is as quiet as possible
-Is fast enough to run my itunes library from(this isnt essential, but it would be nice)
-Is as cheap as possible.
-Size, as in dimensions, and style/appearance are completely irrelevant
-they must deliver to ireland.

If anyone has any suggestions i would be eternally grateful!
 
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I'm looking for an external HD and trying not to spend $200. If possible, I'd like a 1 TB drive. I saw this one (Hammer MoreSpace 1TB External USB) on Tigerdirect for $129. Can anyone add an opinion? (is it loud? trustworthy?)
 
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Just purchased a WD MyBook 640 Gb USB 2, SATA and Firewire extrernal HDD. I Aust $ it cost me $235 but that is expensie as our $ has dipped markedly. Works a treat though.
 
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Not sure if this was mentioned before but Best Buy had a 500MB external HD for $89. and a 650 MB for $99. I just picked up the $99 one (had a store credit of $68.)

unless u meant GB thats kind of a rip off
 
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hi

i was checking out some external HDs on the apple store and noticed the iomega drives are no longer being stocked. anyone know if this is a quality issue or just business/politics?

was considering the new lacie 500gb (the black one, designed by neil poulton whoever he is....) and was wondering if anyone has had any experience of this drive yet?

thanks
 
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...My whole PhD is on the laptop and it would be three years down the drain if anything happens to it....

Back it up, already!
 
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I have a Maxtor 200GB that worked very well with all of my Windows files and then my Mac files as well, until I got the Time Capsule and I've been doing the normal hourly backups, but I would recommend either for your videos (I also recommend doing the full backups as it has saved me the frustration of accidentally deleting files)
 
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Hi all my mac is coming in the mail today in addition I ordered a new external which is also coming in the mail.

I wound up going with the a 750GB Lace which has both great reviews and looks pretty sweet too.

22-154-206-02.jpg

I have 3 questions:

1) Is it safe to leave it powered on and plugged in all to the computer all the time? The HD is self powered with a plug. I assume the drive spins down and goes to sleep when the computer isn't in use.

2) The enclosure looks big do you think it's safe to put my mini on top of it?

3) Can I give say a 250GB partition to Time Machine and not have it muck around with the rest of the drive?

Thanks,
Dan
 
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Yea , I think They are fine for Macs. I have a Lacie 1TB and it works great. Honestly though I also have a WD MyBook Studio Edition 500 Firewire 800, or USB that not only works well but I use it as a bootable startup drive, and if I'm not mistaken It's cheaper. But haven't checked lately. Be careful though, you didn't mention this, but not all drives are capable of being a startup drive, but both of these are. PS. Just for the record, I've never used the eSata connection on the MyBook, so all comments above related to WD MyBook are Firewire only(Don't think you can create a startup disc from USB, but not 100% sure). Both as backups with Time machine, Backup, Silverlight...etc.. both are really good. Snakedoctor......
 
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Hd

hi all
i got a WD 1TB yesterday and i formatted it on my mac and partitioned in 4 sections with the mac journaled option( stupid i messed up )

anyway i did that and copied all my stuff from macbook to it and did a rebuild

now i took the drive to work so i could organize my crap.

well i use a XP machine at work and would ya beleive it , i cant read it go figure

so is there a third party app so i can read this drive

otherwise i have to copy back to the macbook 109gb then reformat then copy back

im just trying to save a step
 

cwa107


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hi all
i got a WD 1TB yesterday and i formatted it on my mac and partitioned in 4 sections with the mac journaled option( stupid i messed up )

anyway i did that and copied all my stuff from macbook to it and did a rebuild

now i took the drive to work so i could organize my crap.

well i use a XP machine at work and would ya beleive it , i cant read it go figure

so is there a third party app so i can read this drive

otherwise i have to copy back to the macbook 109gb then reformat then copy back

im just trying to save a step

Mediafour | MacDrive
 
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thank you
i did find that software which worked great today

however now i was trying to use time machine on the 250gb partition i made and all it wants to do is back up the mac and the other 3 partitions?

how can i make it only time machine my hard drive ?
 
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I built my own using a Macally enclosure and a SATA Western Digital Hard Drive. I even installed 10.5 on the drive and it boots right up, on my eMac, using the Firewire port.


James
 
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I have very pleasant experience with the WD MyBook line. The MyBook 1TB NAS I have has served me for 2 years and is still working great, only opened to clean the internal fan once. But That's not a machine I can recommend for video editing because of the slow transfer rates. I have one of the black MyBook (1TB) with firewire, usb and eSata, it's been working flawlessly for a few months connected to a PC which is always on. This one has pretty fast transfer rates.
Also, I haven't experienced any problem with my LaCie little disk (500gb). I bought it 4 months ago, this is probably the best portable hard drive ever, very high transfer rates (30mbps).
I wouldn't recommend WD passport. The new line can't work on some older iMacs, and the one unit I had from the older line broke down after a few months of use.
 
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I'm waiting for my WD MyBook 1Tb to arrive to use with my MacBook. My MacBook doesn't have Firewire 800 only 400. Now I know that adaptor cables come with the MyBook but isn't it better to use the USB connection since it transfers at 480, where the Firewire, I assume, won't get above 400?

What's the word?

Grrrrr
 

cwa107


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I'm waiting for my WD MyBook 1Tb to arrive to use with my MacBook. My MacBook doesn't have Firewire 800 only 400. Now I know that adaptor cables come with the MyBook but isn't it better to use the USB connection since it transfers at 480, where the Firewire, I assume, won't get above 400?

What's the word?

Grrrrr

USB2 has a peak transfer rate of 480Mb/s in short bursts, but in reality, Firewire 400 can do faster sustained transfer rates. And since Firewire has its own controller, it doesn't consume system resources like USB can.

It's unfortunate that Apple nixed FW on the Aluminum Macbooks. It's my hope that the next generation brings it back, particularly since it was Apple that pushed the standard all along.
 
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USB2 has a peak transfer rate of 480Mb/s in short bursts, but in reality, Firewire 400 can do faster sustained transfer rates. And since Firewire has its own controller, it doesn't consume system resources like USB can.

It's unfortunate that Apple nixed FW on the Aluminum Macbooks. It's my hope that the next generation brings it back, particularly since it was Apple that pushed the standard all along.

Thanks for the advice. I'll use the Fw!

Gggrrrr
 
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ioSafe. Their external drives (and, for that matter, internal drives) are waterproof and fireproof.
 
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