# Help with deciding between these hard drives?



## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

Hi,

I posted awhile back about getting a hard drive and I'm still wanting one and found two at Future Shop that look interesting.

My iMac is a 17' 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Here are the links:

*the first is a 500 GB
*http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...angid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10087571&catid=23795

*the second one is another Seagate one 500 GB*
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...angid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10087564&catid=23795

*this is a Seagate 750GB one*
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...angid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10087567&catid=23795

*this one is a Comstar which says PC/Mac but to the right just says PC, it's 1000GB* 
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10091162&catid=

*another cheap Comstar at 500GB but again it lists PC/Mac but looks like it's for PC* http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...angid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10080571&catid=23795

I know that both are USB and not firewire which means I can't add on another drive right?

S.


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## Theseus (Jun 6, 2006)

I bought the 500GB Comstar earlier this week, works perfectly fine with a 1.83GHz Macbook and an old G3 iBook (USB 1.1).

You can add up to 127 USB devices (such as hard drives) to any USB bus, so adding drives shouldn't be an issue for you. You might be thinking of daisy-chaining hard drives, typical with FireWire drives as they usually have two FW ports on the enclosure.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

Theseus,

Good to know. Thanks. A friend of mine who was a PC user all his life just got a new Macbook Pro and is using his Comstar external drive with it as well.

S.


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## Paddy (Jul 13, 2004)

The Seagates have 5 year warranties...the Comstar only 1 year warranties. No idea what Comstar have put inside (they're not a drive manufacturer)

These people aren't too happy with them:

Is Comstar hard drive any good? - Virtual Dr Forums-Computer Tech Support
Comstar 250GB 3.5" External Hard Drive $157 after PM - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

I'm somewhat partial to Seagates - and usually assemble external drives myself, because until recently, you couldn't buy an external drive already assembled that had anything more than a 2-year warranty. Good to see that Seagate is now offering that on their externals. 

Of course, it is possible that Comstar have put a Seagate drive in that enclosure, but you have no way of knowing until you get it home and open it up to have a look. I somehow doubt FutureShop would let you do that in the store! And even if it IS a Seagate drive in there, it probably doesn't have the typical 5-year Seagate warranty.

How about one of these:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB 7200 16MB ATA-100 EIDE OEM Hard Drive with Ultra Mini Portable USB 2.0 Firewire External Hard Drive Enclosure in Canada at TigerDirect.ca (warranty on drive applies - 5 years)


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

I see Tiger Direct is still trying to get rid of these crappy plastic Ultra enclosures. They must have bought a ton on of them.
I find these 500 GB drives listed in this thread rather expensive. If you're happy with just USB 2.0, there is a Porsche USB 2.0 500 GB external coming up for $108.00 at Future Shop according to this:
Comp - LaCie 500GB USB 2.0 FA Porsche Design External HD 107.99 @ Weekend FS F&F - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

My current price target is $100 for a 500 GB drive (preferably SATA) and $20 for a USB or $40 for a USB/Firewire aluminum enclosure.
It's just hard to find a Firewire enclosure for a SATA drive at a reasonable cost.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

Paddy,

The one you suggested looked great and the price was good but then I read krs's reply so now am doubtful.

Why is Firewire the best way to go anyway? I just want something affordable that is reasonable good and is local so I can go and buy it and not pay for shipping and not have to go out and buy and enclosure or some other part. I'm a newbie at external hard drives so want something easy but good.

S.


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## meall (Aug 15, 2007)

spiralgirl said:


> Paddy,
> 
> The one you suggested looked great and the price was good but then I read krs's reply so now am doubtful.
> 
> ...


If you do video, firewire will be much better. That because (very high level) firewire transfert data in a stream while USB transfert data in burst. For video you need continuous stream. For all other tasks, USB drive can do very well.


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

In real world use (yes, I benchmarked it myself) Firewire 400 is almost exactly twice as fast as USB 2.0. Also, Firewire puts less of a load on your CPU, so you don't have as much of a slowdown effect while you are doing transfers.


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## hUssain (Aug 10, 2007)

meall said:


> If you do video, firewire will be much better. That because (very high level) firewire transfert data in a stream while USB transfert data in burst. For video you need continuous stream. For all other tasks, USB drive can do very well.


You are right, USB is not consistent in speed, firewire 400 could outperform USB 2.0 at certain points. The consistancy is really important though for videos.

Also I've always noticed that Futureshop tends to be more expensive.
A local shop in ottawa sells Seagate 500GB ones starting at $172 to $225. The local shop has $225 includes USB 2.0, Firewire 400, and eSATA, whereas futureshop doesn't mention firewire and for $300


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## Bolor (Sep 14, 2003)

Costco has/had the Mybook 500GB usb/Firewire external for $179, That's a heluva price. I believe that's a Seagate make.


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

Bolor said:


> Costco has/had the Mybook 500GB usb/Firewire external for $179, That's a heluva price. I believe that's a Seagate make.


No it is Western Digital


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

krs said:


> I see Tiger Direct is still trying to get rid of these crappy plastic Ultra enclosures. They must have bought a ton on of them.
> I find these 500 GB drives listed in this thread rather expensive. If you're happy with just USB 2.0, there is a Porsche USB 2.0 500 GB external coming up for $108.00 at Future Shop according to this:
> Comp - LaCie 500GB USB 2.0 FA Porsche Design External HD 107.99 @ Weekend FS F&F




krs,

Glad you posted about the Tiger Direct one and I'm leary of ordering something and having it delivered and then I'm not happy with it. With something local where I can go and pick it up I can always return it.

I can wait for the other one coming up if you think it's a better deal. Although in another post I started LaCie wasn't a good brand to go with. As I read other posts though I'm seeing Firewire is good for videos. Does that mean for downloading videos or for watching them?

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

meall,

Thanks for the advice. 

S.


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## hUssain (Aug 10, 2007)

spiralgirl said:


> I can wait for the other one coming up if you think it's a better deal. Although in another post I started LaCie wasn't a good brand to go with. As I read other posts though I'm seeing Firewire is good for videos. Does that mean for downloading videos or for watching them?
> 
> S.


That depends on what you mean by downloading, I don't think we have internet that fast yet. Watching, well that depends again on the video, it's raw video files then yes.


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## MacBookPro (Jun 22, 2006)

Even better, IN STORE, this drive is selling for $159.00.

My son bought one yesterday, and they are selling at this price, in store at Costco, until Sunday 19th. And it is indeed WD.



Bolor said:


> Costco has/had the Mybook 500GB usb/Firewire external for $179, That's a heluva price. I believe that's a Seagate make.


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## meall (Aug 15, 2007)

spiralgirl said:


> As I read other posts though I'm seeing Firewire is good for videos. Does that mean for downloading videos or for watching them?
> 
> S.


It mainly depend on what you do, but has nothing to do with the download on video.

For example, if you do iMovies, firewire is a must. If you download video on Internet to watch them only (not editing or anything else like this) normally USB should be OK too. Videos from a digital camera (DV format for instance) are very huge, while Internet (YouTube) video are highly compressed. The limit here is not USB or firewire, but your Internet connection.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

I can also order from this place:

cstore - Product List (Storage - External)

Thinking the Seagate ones listed might be good or the Mybook one that's $185 or $258

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

meall said:


> It mainly depend on what you do, but has nothing to do with the download on video.
> 
> For example, if you do iMovies, firewire is a must. If you download video on Internet to watch them only (not editing or anything else like this) normally USB should be OK too. Videos from a digital camera (DV format for instance) are very huge, while Internet (YouTube) video are highly compressed. The limit here is not USB or firewire, but your Internet connection.



meall,

Thanks, I'm not really into iMovie now but may be down the road. Also at some point I want to buy a video camera. With this in mind Firewire is the way to go. 

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

MacBookPro said:


> Even better, IN STORE, this drive is selling for $159.00.
> 
> My son bought one yesterday, and they are selling at this price, in store at Costco, until Sunday 19th. And it is indeed WD.


MacBookPro,

Thanks for that. I just need to renew my membership at Costco as I had one a few years ago. I'll take a look at the website. Also see that they have a 1TB one as well for $389, then again I could just get 2 500GB ones for only $318.00

S.


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## applebook (Aug 4, 2004)

I'm always going to recommend that you buy an external enclosure and get your own HD. 

Just make sure to get an enclosure with a fan for maximum cooling efficiency.


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## meall (Aug 15, 2007)

applebook said:


> I'm always going to recommend that you buy an external enclosure and get your own HD.
> 
> Just make sure to get an enclosure with a fan for maximum cooling efficiency.


I did that personally, and it cost me almost the same price, maybe less, and it is easy to install, and easy to open when you decide the HD in it is too small. I have a 200 gig for now. My enclosure is ATA only, not SATA, but I think it may give the same result over firewire.


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## meall (Aug 15, 2007)

spiralgirl said:


> meall,
> 
> Thanks, I'm not really into iMovie now but may be down the road. Also at some point I want to buy a video camera. With this in mind Firewire is the way to go.
> 
> S.


If you ever think that a video camera maybe in your hand one day (so iMovie) go firewire by all mean. But I think you got it!


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

I don't understand why people think a 500 GB USB/Firewire drive at Costco for $179 or even $159 is such a great deal.
Ever since 500 GB internal drives hit $99.-, that became the benchmark for me, and then add the cost of the enclosure.
Right now I think the 500 GB LaCie at Future Shop is a great deal if you don't need firewire. Even if you do; I'm tempted to buy it and sell the USB case.
Shipping for me from Future Shop comes up at $3.99, so that's not a consideration as far as the overall price is concerned - would cost me more to go there to pick it up.
I currently have both firewire and USB external drives. I use the firewire one to clone my hard drive for back-up. On the old PPC Macs, that only works with firewire.
But I use a 320 GB USB 2.0 hard drive to store some videos I moved off my internal drive. They play fine directly from the USB hard drive and my CPU is only a single 1.4 MHz unit.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

meall said:


> I did that personally, and it cost me almost the same price, maybe less, and it is easy to install, and easy to open when you decide the HD in it is too small. I have a 200 gig for now. My enclosure is ATA only, not SATA, but I think it may give the same result over firewire.


Putting in a larger hard drive may not always work.
I see more and more enclosures where they specify a maximum hard drive size of 400 GB. I have no clue why that restriction, I assume it's the bridge they use, but if you put a large drive into an existing enclosure you should check the specs to make sure that's actually doable.


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## applebook (Aug 4, 2004)

Always check the chipset that the enclosure uses. The inexpensive makes usually feature the worst chipsets with the most limitations.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

applebook said:


> Always check the chipset that the enclosure uses. The inexpensive makes usually feature the worst chipsets with the most limitations.


Easier said than done.
I remember when I looked for enclosures a year ago I emailed a few manufacturers to find out what the chip set was and I either received no or evasive answers.
Even when things are specified, you will find conflicting information/
Canada Computers has a Bytecc enclosure that uses the Oxford 911 chipset and states it's good for drives up to 300GB.
Actually the "F" version which is not even what they are selling:
Canada Computers - Drive Enclosure : Bytecc ME-740U2F 3.5" Aluminum External Enclosure (USB 2.0/ IEEE 1394).

Then if you look at the same product on the Bytecc website, it says it supports up to 750 GB
Welcome to BYTECC

So is CC selling old stock? And did Bytecc not change their product code if in fact the old unit was only good to 300 GB?

What size hard drive does an Oxford 911 chipset support?

This is all getting more complicated than the average Mac user wants to get into.


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## BReligion (Jun 21, 2006)

krs said:


> Right now I think the 500 GB LaCie at Future Shop is a great deal if you don't need firewire. Even if you do; I'm tempted to buy it and sell the USB case.


I picked one up tonight.. they are on sale for $119.00. I was just going to ask peoples opinions of the drive before i opened it.

Glad to see someone else was thinking of grabbing one.


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## meall (Aug 15, 2007)

krs said:


> Right now I think the 500 GB LaCie at Future Shop is a great deal if you don't need firewire.


Thanks to you, pretty girl (refering to your avatar, hahaha). I ordered one. I plan to buy an Airport Extreme (now that Apple put GE on it) and wanted to attach to it a USB drive for backups and other purpose. That could be it 

Nice community here!

I'm just surprise that Lacie, a know Mac company, does not have firewire there!

Anyway!


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

I looked at some reviews on the net.
Mostly very positive, but also a bit inconsistent.
Some reviewers say the case is plastic, others it's aluminum.
And some claim there is a fan inside, others say definitely not.Two complaints by anumber of people:
1. The USB cable is rather short at about 3 feet
2. The power brick is fairly large and uses an unconventional 4-prong plug
Drive inside was reported by most to be Seagate, which would be excellent.

Maybe someone who bought one can comment on the case/fan/and hard drive inside. System Profiler should tell you which drive it is.
Also, if the drive is already formatted for Windows, you may need to format it for the Mac. Instructions how to do this are apparently included, but it's pretty obvious.
Here is one group of reviews:
LaCie Computers - External 500GB Hard Drive Design by F.A. Porsche - 301103U - Ratings and User Reviews

Price is pretty much the same as the sales price in the US - that is really great. I'm sick of paying a huge premium on products when our dollar is almost at par.


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## BReligion (Jun 21, 2006)

krs said:


> Maybe someone who bought one can comment on the case/fan/and hard drive inside. System Profiler should tell you which drive it is.


Well... i can confirm this, the case is aluminum, the manufacturer in system Profiler says "LaCie SA". and for the fan.. i am just not sure.. there is a grill on the one side, but no obvious air flow... not sure if the noise of the drive is fan or just the drive spinning.

BReligion


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Sorry - I guess you need to look at Disk Utility to see what the actual drive is like in this thread
http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/54722-lacie-external-hard-drives.html#post575212


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## BReligion (Jun 21, 2006)

Yeah, i acutally just did that, and can confirm again, that they are Samsung Drives...


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Can you check what the complete product code of the drive is?
HD501.......???


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

krs,

Thanks for the review info as Costco is out as I can't get there before the sale ends and don't want to pay $50.00 to renew my membership when I may not go there again and haven't shopped there in a few years.

So now I'm looking at Firewire and Seagate brand and may go the the route of my local university computer store where I bought my iMac. They have lots of hard drives. cstore - Product List (Storage - External)

One store I went only sells the Rockbit (not sure of name) and they are really expensive and more than I want to spend at this point.

Also my sister has an Powerbook PPC and she will probably want to clone her hard drive as well and you mentioned that her model supports Firewire. Thanks for that.

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

BReligion,

Thanks for your input here as I was thinking of maybe getting one of these drives but think I'll hold out for a firewire one. Nice to have feedback from someone who bought one.

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

Is Maxtor a good hard drive brand?

I found one at Circuit City that is 1 TB, which is a bit bigger than I need but probably would be set for quite some time.

Buy the Maxtor 1TB External Hard Drive (C01W010) and other Hard Drives at circuitcity.com

S.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

I would never buy Maxtor.
They tend to run hot and heat is the worst enemy for electronics.

Circuit City is also a US company in case you didn't know that.

I bought the LaCie Samsung 500 GB drive for $107.99 and will put that into a firewire case.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

krs,

Thanks. I'm still keeping my eyes open for one. You got the Future Shop one didn't you? That looks great but no firewire. If all else fails I'll deal with my local university store where I got my iMac. They aren't as cheap around $253.00 for 500GB firewire drive but have Seagate brands, LaCie and Mybook and can order other models which is good.

No, I didn't know Circuit City was US, last night I just tried to find all my local stores online to see who had hard drives. ie. London Drugs, Future Shop, Circuit City (oops just realized it's The Source I'm thinking of that we have here).


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Don't forget this comparison shopping tool:

Ehmac.ca: Search. Compare. Buy. - Canadian Online Shopping Search and Comparison!


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

HowEver,

Thanks, didn't know about that. I'm leaning towards the USB LaCie at Future Shop even though it doesn't have firewire. At $119.00 it is a good deal and right now I don't need Firewire but may down the road.

Also thinking of the Costco one your originally mentioned that is 1TB at $389.00. The only drag is I have to pay $55.00 to renew my membership and will have to check on shipping charges as well.

Basically I want it all at the right price that's why I've been waiting for awhile to get one.

S.


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## BReligion (Jun 21, 2006)

spiralgirl said:


> Thanks, didn't know about that. I'm leaning towards the USB LaCie at Future Shop even though it doesn't have firewire. At $119.00 it is a good deal and right now I don't need Firewire but may down the road.


You may be to late for the sale at Futureshop. I think the sale is only till Thursday, and i know all the Futureshops around Hamilton & Online are sold out, so hopefully they may still have some where you are...

BReligion


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

BReligion,

Thanks, I'm not in Ontario but will call my store to see. I can always order it online, it says out of stock but will ship when they get more in so that's an option.

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

I just read a bunch of reviews on amazon.com about the Western Digital My Book Pro II and there are a lot of negatives about the drive failing and the loud fan noise. Also customer support is bad. So I guess that one is out now too.

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

Does anyone know if these ones are good?

Hi,

What about these ones:

this is a Fantom Drive 1 TB:

Fantom Drives G-Force MegaDisk 1.0TB 7200 32MB USB 2.0 FireWire 400800 External Hard Drive MDC1000 in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

or this Seagate 750GB one:

Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB 7200 eSataUSB 2.0FireWire External Hard Drive ST307504FPA1E3-RK in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

this one is cheaper and looks to be the same:

Canada Computers - Hard Drives > External Drives : Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB USB2.0, eSATA, FireWire External Hard Drive (ST307504FPA1E3-RK).

this is a 500GB Seagate:

Canada Computers - Hard Drives > External Drives : Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500GB USB2.0, eSATA, FireWire External Hard Drive (ST305004FPA1E3-RK).

S.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Here are a few customer reviews on the last one.
Vary from "fantastic" to "a piece of junk"
Trek Software: Computers: Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500 GB USB / eSATA / FireWire 400 External Hard Drive ST305004FPA1E3-RK


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

krs,

Thanks, it's difficult figuring this out. I checked out some reliable reviews for the Western Digital and a lot of people loved it and then there was quite a few that said it was horrible.

Same with the Fantom one. 3% said poor, 6% said fair and 74% were happy with it. It's a toss up.

S.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

I think the best bet is if you find some people on ehMac who have used these drives.
I find that some people who post on the net have no clue about computers or hard drives and can't get the simplest interface rolling.
Hard to rationalize one person saying it works beautifully with the Mac and the next that it doesn't work with a Mac at all.
For large storage requirements, 500 GB seems to be the sweet spot right now; if you go to 750GB the cost per GB goes up.
The trouble with the pre-packaged drives is that you don't really know which drive you are getting.
Even when I looked at the LaCie website for the drive that futureshop is selling, it will give in many spec areas a number with a comment "or better"
That allows then to substitute drives as will as long as they meet the minimum spec.
If you buy a drive and put it in your own enclosure, you know exactly what you have up front.
But I find that Firewire/Sata enclosures are hard to find and the ones I have seen are ugly as sin. Hopefully this will change - right now most separate enclosures will only accept IDE drives, not SATA.


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## nick24 (Jul 11, 2006)

I just bought a WD My Book Pro 500GB. And so far, so good. 

It's hooked up to my mini to store pictures, movies, music etc. You don't realize how much 500GB actually is until you have the chance to fill it! It's only using a tiny proportion of the HD, so I'll probably rip all my music to it, as well as DVDs, rather than a select number of discs. And I'll probably buy another one to RAID it, just incase something goes belly up. Or just back up the pictures to another drive, as the music/movies can be re-ripped, while the pitctures can't.


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## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

For those of you who purchased the Lacie USB drive, does it sleep properly? When the computer sleeps, does the drive go to sleep as well?


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

krs,

Thanks, I'll just wait to see if anyone has bought the ones I mentioned.

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

milhaus said:


> For those of you who purchased the Lacie USB drive, does it sleep properly? When the computer sleeps, does the drive go to sleep as well?


milhaus,

You may want to post this as a new topic since this one is titled deciding between hard drives.

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

nick24 said:


> I just bought a WD My Book Pro 500GB. And so far, so good.


nick24,

Thanks. I read a lot of reviews on the 1 TB one and half the people were very upset with it and half liked it but said the noise was very loud and drive failed after a few months.

Still thinking about The WD or the Fantom one.

S.


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## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

Buy the Seagate on the cheap, if you can Price Match: Comp - Seagate 250GB ext hard drive 5yrwanty Poss. PM for $72 - Page 3 - RedFlagDeals.com Forums


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

milhaus said:


> Buy the Seagate on the cheap, if you can Price Match: Comp - Seagate 250GB ext hard drive 5yrwanty Poss. PM for $72 - Page 3 - RedFlagDeals.com Forums


None of the drives on RFD that are mentioned in the threads are firewire.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

krs,

Thanks for the heads up.

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

Something else I've been thinking about related to hard drives.

I have an:

-iMac 17" 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1 GB 667MHz

-1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 512 MB DDR SDRAM

-iMac G3 DVD Rom slot loading drive 10 GB 400 MHz 64 MB of RAM Mac OS9.2 

If I get one hard drive about 750 GB would I be able to use it across all three computers? Would a new hard drive allow me to run Tiger on my old iMac G3 (does it up the RAM that's needed for Tiger or do I still need to buy that separately?).

If one drive can do all this, what would it be called? Is it a certain feature I'm looking for in the drive itself?

S.


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## sharkman (Nov 26, 2002)

Sorry, can't help with answers to your most recent post, but here's my 2¢ regarding your original request:

Get the biggest Seagate drive that you can afford. Make sure it has firewire.

Several years ago I unwittingly purchased a 500 mg Seagate Barracuda upgrade to run in my 7100AV (I thought the name of the drive was cool). Four years and eleven months into owning it, I kid you not, the drive failed and unfortunately, all info was lost (I had back-ups). I was ready to chuck the drive when someone suggested I call Seagate regarding the failure and they sent out a new Barracuda that day. An excellent company to deal with in my opinion. You can't put a price on peace of mind. Corny but true.

As far as the firewire goes, do you have any idea how you'll be using that drive in five years time? Probably not. Get the firewire model and know that the drive will likely still meet your needs if/when said needs inevitably change/grow.

Buddabing.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

sharkman,

Thanks, I've realized I have to have Firewire 400 and USB because so it can be used across the three machines which all have different things.

Good to know about Seagate being a brand that stands by their products. Sad you lost all your info but good thing you had backups. Your given me tips for that too. 

S.


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## miguelsanchez (Feb 1, 2005)

Hi spiralgirl, 

I'm late to this discussion, but I want to let you know that I recently picked up this drive enclosure:

http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013061&cid=516

at Canada Computers for backing up my data. It is also bootable as a firewire drive. It uses the Genesys 711 chipset which is very Mac compatible.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

miguelsanchez,

What type of hard drive did you put in it?

S.


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## miguelsanchez (Feb 1, 2005)

This is the one:

http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=001379&cid=HD.443

Put it all together in less than five minutes; a couple of screws and a couple of plugs and you're ready to go. The enclosure comes with FW and USB cables as well.


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

spiralgirl said:


> I have an:
> 
> -iMac 17" 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1 GB 667MHz


Good


> -1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 512 MB DDR SDRAM


Good


> -iMac G3 DVD Rom slot loading drive 10 GB 400 MHz 64 MB of RAM Mac OS9.2


Oops. This is USB 1.1 -- it will be pigdog slow on any hard drive. Y'know how long it takes the machine to do anything reading from a CD? That's approximately the speed of your new 750 GB hard drive on this machine.


> If I get one hard drive about 750 GB would I be able to use it across all three computers?


One computer at a time. You can't have a device connected simultaneously to 2 machines. 


> Would a new hard drive allow me to run Tiger on my old iMac G3 (does it up the RAM that's needed for Tiger or do I still need to buy that separately?).


In a word -- no. A hard drive doesn't increase the RAM. Or the CPU speed. And as mentioned, with USB1.1 it can hardly even qualify as a hard drive --- you will not be able to boot from it either. I know some people have done it, but unless you have a machine with built in Firewire, and at least 512 Mb RAM, IMO Tiger is a lost cause.


> If one drive can do all this, what would it be called? Is it a certain feature I'm looking for in the drive itself?


A drive that can be simultaneously connected to all three machines by Ethernet is called a NAS (or Network Attached Storage) device. DOn;t know if that's best for your needs though.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

CanadaRAM,

Wow, thanks for the info. It's not a necessity to have the iMac G3 updated just wondered if it would work. It does have Firewire though (I checked system profiler but don't know what speed of Firewire exactly). Didn't realize the USB was 1.1 so that is good to know.

In the past I've thought of upping the RAM to 512MB and may eventually.

So to get the Powerbook PC and the iMac working on a hard drive I would two separate ones. Here I thought I could get a 1 TB and then connect the two via Firewire.

S.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

spiralgirl said:


> So to get the Powerbook PC and the iMac working on a hard drive I would two separate ones. Here I thought I could get a 1 TB and then connect the two via Firewire.
> 
> S.


Here is a bit of a discussion about connecting two computers to one firewire drive.
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/firewire/topic2199.html

One thing that miht be possible is to partition the drive so that each computer always only accesses the same partition.
Don't know if there is any way for each Mac to only show one of the partitions on the desk top.

Physically connecting the drive to the two mac could be done by either networking the two macs and connecting the drive to one of them and then accessing the drive throught the network from the second one
or get a firewire A-B switch
or get a firewire hub.

Ihaven't tried any of this, I think the key thing is to always ensure that each Mac only accesses its hard drive partion.
However, I think you would be much better off to get two separate 500GB hard drives, one for each Mac. The cost won't be any moe than the TB drive and you're more flexible, don't need hubs or A-B switches, don't have the problems described in the discussion link and if a drive fails, you only have a 500GB problem, not a TB problem.

The enclosure miguelsanches bought is very nice and a reasonable price, but it will only accept a IDE or PATA drive, not a SATA drive.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

krs,

Thanks, great info there. I'm leaning the way of getting 2 500GB drives since I'd like to have my newer iMac and my sister's Powerbook PC be able to have more space. Hooking up the older G3 would be great but isn't really essential at this point since I don't use it often.

Now one last thing. You've been great helping me out and I appreciate it. :clap: (This forum has been most helpful) So a 1 TB has 2 separate drives in it that are 500GB each right? So you couldn't just divide those two drives up between the two computers. (I haven't checked out the discussion but will later today) Or what your saying is I could but I run into getting the extra Firewire hub and going through the rigamarole (sp?) described in the discussion?

Well I'm glad I've held off on this decision because I'm more informed.  

S.


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## spiralgirl (Mar 8, 2007)

miguelsanchez,

Thanks.


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