What hard drive should I buy?

S

Spiral Girl

Registered
Hi,

I've been thinking of getting and external drive and am not sure what brand is best. I mainly want it for my iMac 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM so I'm been wondering if I should get 750 GB or 1 TB.

Also my sister had a Powerbook PC G4 so then I thought maybe I should get two 500 GB drives so I could have one and my sister could use the other and if I needed I could combine the two for my iMac. Have an older iMac G3 that I could possible upgrade the RAM so it could use my sister's 500GB as well.

The bottom line really is what drive is best. I've read LaCie is Mac friendly but read good and bad reviews and some people will say it's amazing and others that it's junk. Same thing with Seagate, WD My Book etc. Fantom had mostly positive reviews with some negative at one site I went on, but would consider Fantom if I went the 1 GB route. The thing I like about Seagate is the 5 year warranty but don't like that the back up system with it is for PC.

What are people's opinions about brands?

S.
 
"Mac friendly" doesn't matter. Both USB-2 and FW drives don't need drivers on the Mac. Size matters, of course. Any "backup system" that comes with a drive, I'd probably ignore. Get a drive that comes without one and is cheaper. There are great free backup systems around and if you upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5 (comes out sometime in October), you'll have one of the greatest backup solutions already included.

If money is the issue behind the decision to get 2x500 or 1x1000, I'd get 1x1000 now and a second 500 or 1000 later.
 
fryke,

Thanks for the info. The reason I'm leaning the way of 2 500 GB is because I could use one for my iMac, the other for my sister's Powerbook PC (which I also use) and then hook up the iMac G3 to the one next door to where the Powerbook sits.

I've heard using one TB drive across 2 or 3 computers is a bad idea but I'd like to just use one for all three if I could. Just thought two 500GB was offering me more flexibility.

S.
 
You both can connect to one drive if you want the 1TB option, just use File Sharing, connect the drive to one computer and the other computer can access it. No need for two drives and you'll save money buying 1TB drive as well rather than 2 500MB drives.

Lacie drives are horrible when connected to an xserve (a 1TB drive we got at an old job crashed the server twice; got our data back $6000 later!) but could work for you in this case.

Just make sure whatever drive you get runs at 7200rpm rather than 5400. You'll get better performance as a result. I like my Maxtor drives, myself.
 
Natobasso,

Thanks, I just heard if you use one TB drive for the two or three computers and it crashes then you are stuck. If I had two 500 GB then I would have another drive to work with. Just thought it would be a hassle to have all of them access one but I like the idea and appreciate the suggestions.

S.
 
Spiral Girl said:
Natobasso,

Thanks, I just heard if you use one TB drive for the two or three computers and it crashes then you are stuck. If I had two 500 GB then I would have another drive to work with. Just thought it would be a hassle to have all of them access one but I like the idea and appreciate the suggestions.

S.
Click to expand...

Do not use external drives for backup purposes other than temporary. For sharing data it is oke (any way single or dual drive solution). Single drive is cheaper, dual drive is more secure (if one fails, you have a second available and really important data can be stored on both drives, creating a backup in a more safe way (but also make multiple backups on more permanent base).


Good luck, Kees
 
Of course double and triple backups are the way to go, but as long as we're encountering four or five threads a year that read "My harddrive's dead, how can I restore data", I think it's important that people first get _one_ backup in place. Thank Steve for TimeMachine. I'm pretty sure it'll get more people to backup their stuff.
 
fryke said:
Of course double and triple backups are the way to go, but as long as we're encountering four or five threads a year that read "My harddrive's dead, how can I restore data", I think it's important that people first get _one_ backup in place. Thank Steve for TimeMachine. I'm pretty sure it'll get more people to backup their stuff.
Click to expand...

Ofcourse we start by making the first, but encounter almost every day customers who think that is enough. And because backups are seldomly needed, most users think they are 100% safe with one backup.

Next to the fact that in this case the stuff on the external drive will not be a backup, but the 'original'.


Good luck, Kees
 
I would stay away from the LaCie externals because in the past I had nothing but problems with mine. So I upgraded to FW800(new Mac machines) and got a drive from OWC. I like their drives because they included all the cables for the ports on their external.
 
fryke and Kees Buijs,

Well I've never had a back up in my life of owning a Mac and haven't yet had a problem. That isn't to say I won't and that is why I want and external drive because I have no room on my machine to do a back-up (which is a bad idea though because if my internal drive is lost then I have no back up period).

Curious about this Time Machine coming up and the idea sounds great.

Kees Buijs,

By dual drive are you meaning having a TB that has two drives inside? You have to have a big size to get two drives don't you? I'm trying to learn all this stuff.

S.
 
Satcomer,

Thanks, you are the third person to recommend OWC other than "MacWorld" which always advertises their ads. Yes, I think that is the way to go because they sound like a great company and I've looked at some of their drives already and know they will help me out if I'm confused.

S.
 
Has anyone tried Airport Extreme's exterrnal USB harddisk interface? It should
help on the case of several machines, since you do not have to move the
disk (since you can access it via wlan or ethernet).
 
Whatever you hear: It's much slower than a direct connection. Having it connected on your main machine and sharing it over the network is the much better solution. Depending on use, of course. If speed doesn't matter, it's okay. (But when doesn't it.)
 
artov said:
Has anyone tried Airport Extreme's exterrnal USB harddisk interface? It should
help on the case of several machines, since you do not have to move the
disk (since you can access it via wlan or ethernet).
Click to expand...

I used it before, it does alright since I have wireless N, it's just 100 Mbps less than firewire 400, so I didn't mind for access simple files, but writing to it was not that fast. And I never liked USB 2.0.
 
Spiral Girl said:
fryke and Kees Buijs,

Well I've never had a back up in my life of owning a Mac and haven't yet had a problem. That isn't to say I won't and that is why I want and external drive because I have no room on my machine to do a back-up (which is a bad idea though because if my internal drive is lost then I have no back up period).

Curious about this Time Machine coming up and the idea sounds great.

Kees Buijs,

By dual drive are you meaning having a TB that has two drives inside? You have to have a big size to get two drives don't you? I'm trying to learn all this stuff.

S.
Click to expand...

About having the backup - never having the need for it gives some false sense of security. As I tell my customers - the neighbor is always right - it happens to the neighbor.

Dual drive = 2 separate 500gb drives, not 1 split into 2 times a 500gb drive.


Good luck, Kees
 
More drives is better and if back up is the goal, then it just makes sense. 1 monolithic drive, even if partitioned, is just asking for trouble some day. I have 7 drives with 4 external. The combinations and flexibility make this the way to go. Carbon Copy Cloner is the only backup tool I use or will ever need and it is free!!!
 
karavite,

Thanks for the advice. I haven't bought one yet but am planning to go with OWC when I do. In the meantime I just cleaned up my computer a bit and now have 22 GB free. I know that isn't a lot but I have more clean up to do so that will help while I wait to get a new one.

S.
 
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