About to buy. Need quick opinions.

Hey Guys,

I'm about to buy yet another external HD. I guess I'm a bit backup over cautious.

I've currently got a 1TB WD My book for my Time Machine.
I've got a 2TB WD My book for extra data that I don't store directly on my Mac.

I'm going to buy a 3TB drive that I can create two partitions on and use Carbon Copy on each of them.

One partition will be a 1TB partition that will hopefully serve has my bootable clone of my iMac HD. The other partition will be a 2TB partition that I will use to clone my external 2TB drive so that it is actually getting backed up.

I'm looking into a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk Kit 3TB. It is 139.99 on CDW.com.

I've never used Seagate drives before.

Anyone got any experience with them that they would care to share?


Does anyone have any other suggestions? I have to keep the price down because my wife doesn't quite understand why I need 3 external drives and I think I'm pushing it with this one .

Any assistance would be great. Thanks!

MacPastor said:

I'm looking into a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk Kit 3TB. It is 139.99 on CDW.com.

I've never used Seagate drives before.

Anyone got any experience with them that they would care to share?

Click to expand...

There may have been a time 15-20 years ago when there might have been differences between hard drive brands...but for me personally...these days, I think that they're all pretty much the same. The most important thing is having backups...which it sounds like you're doing a great job with! Shop for the best price...and get that one.

Here's something else to consider. I sort of like the speed & flexibility of these docking stations (see below). This way you can:

- purchase "bare" drives less expensively
- no cable swapping with multiple external drives (just have the docking station cable attached...if desired)
- fast swapping of drives

Voyager by NewerTech - Hard Drive Dock for 3.5" and 2.5" SATA Devices provides high-performance and flexibility



- Nick

Thank you very much for the response. However it appears that the overall cost would be quite a bit more than I'm looking to spend.

Any other responses?

Thanks

I have looked at the Voyager Docking Stations but haven't gotten around to trying one yet (I have a bunch of bare drives lying around).

On the original question, I have and continue to use a number of Seagate external HDs (lost count, but more than four-maybe a lot more as I generally only buy Seagate or WD drives). Of the lot I have only had one drive fail, and I suspect it is an enclosure problem but haven't dissected it yet to find out.

Thanks Razormac!

Since you use both drives, do you have one that you would choose if you HAD to make a choice?

MacPastor said:

Thanks Razormac!

Since you use both drives, do you have one that you would choose if you HAD to make a choice?

Click to expand...

Not really, though my first preference is WD. Main reason for the Seagates was compact FireWire HDs.

MacPastor said:

Thank you very much for the response. However it appears that the overall cost would be quite a bit more than I'm looking to spend.

Any other responses?

Thanks

Click to expand...

There were actually two parts to my earlier response:

1. My opinion is all hard drive brands are basically similar. So if you're looking for a 3 terabyte drive...just shop for lowest price.

2. Regarding the docking station. This was just an idea for you to consider. Yes...there is some extra cost upfront buying the docking station...but then in the future you save money by buying bare drives (not paying for the external HD enclosure each time)...and the dock makes swapping drives easy (since you have so many drives already). But if you don't like the docking station idea...that's ok. Just wanted to suggest it in case you didn't know about it.

If I had to choose between Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, Toshiba, etc...I would just shop by price (price/gigabyte).

I'm just trying to give you an honest answer. Asking a whole bunch of people what hard drive brand is best...is like asking 80,000 people at the Superbowl what their favorite automobile brand is. You'll get all sorts of varying responses...that will basically just confuse you more.

- Nick

Agreed Nick!! Yeah, opinions are like.....well, we all know what they are like LOL.

And I really do appreciate the Doc station idea. I had never even heard of that being an option. It is actually really cool, but I think I can sell my wife on $139 easier than over $300. At least for now.

If it wasn't so close to the last time I bought a drive (a few months ago) it probably wouldn't be such a big deal.


Anyway, you all have been great as always! That's why I really love this forum.

Steve

MacPastor said:

but I think I can sell my wife on $139 easier than over $300. At least for now.

Click to expand...

Where the heck are you getting $300 from??

The docking station only cost's $37.99 (the USB 3.0 version). Then you buy your "bare" hard drive from where-ever you want (lowest price).

You don't have to purchase an OWC hard drive with the dock...just buy the dock. You don't even have to buy OWC's HD dock either. Buy a hard drive dock from anywhere...they all basically do the same thing. Again...just shop for the lowest price.

- Nick

p.s.. Don't forget...the OWC dock supports both 3.5" and 2.5" drives (SATA drives). So if you had extra laptop drives laying around (2.5")...you could use those with the dock as well.

Yeah, I was looking at the dock that cost $80 (usb, firewire,etc) and then the 3TB drive that was listed under it was like $270 something dollars.

I didn't realize they were all interchangeable. You've definitely given me something to research a bit! Thanks a bunch.

Question,
I am not versed in the USB technology..
My new Mac Mini comes with USB-2, so what happens when you plug in the USB-3 unit?
Does it just run at USB-2 speeds or something?

YB. said:

Question,
I am not versed in the USB technology..
My new Mac Mini comes with USB-2, so what happens when you plug in the USB-3 unit?
Does it just run at USB-2 speeds or something?

Click to expand...

Yes.


I have the Voyager docking stations - last model prior to USB3 - had them on special after the USB3 models hit - I use eSATA on my Win machines and Firewire with my Macs. I've stuck all sorts and ages of drives in these things.

Thanks for the reply bobtomay.

I'm going to have to get a T-shirt made with you 'signature' for work lol....

Ok, just thought I would update everyone.

So I'm on my way to being as backed up and secure as I can be. I did pull the trigger on the Seagate 3TB GoFlex drive. Got here yesterday.

Hooked it up and formatted it as well as partitioned it. 2 partitions. 1 for my iMac, and one for my other external drive.

Therefore I have this setup:

iMac running TimeMachine to a 1TB drive and also have a 1TB partition on my 3TB drive as a clone.
Also have a 2TB data drive that I keep many extra's on that I will be cloning on the 2TB partition of my 3TB drive.

So yeah, probably seems like overkill, but I really don't want to loose data if I can help it.

Thanks everyone for your advice. My iMac clone probably has another 30 min or so and then I'll start the 2TB clone. So it will be running for a while yet.

MacPastor said:

So yeah, probably seems like overkill, but I really don't want to loose data if I can help it.

Click to expand...

You certainly sound VERY well protected! You're definitely not going to be one of those folks when their hard drive unexpectedly crashes...they then get that deep sinking (skip a heartbeat feeling in their chest wondering)..."What am I going to do now...my whole life was on that hard drive!!!

Now you can rest EASY!!!

- Nick

Amen to that Nick!! I am already feeling a bit better.

I also setup Carbon Copy on a schedule for it to clone each of them once a week so hopefully that will keep me going strong.