External Hard Drive

[MKAsok]

I'm looking to buy an external HD, around 1000 GB, but will consider 500 GB if 1000s are prohibitively expensive. Doesn't need to be anything too fancy, just reliable and minimum 7200 RPM. Anyone got any specific recommendations? Also any recommendation of where to buy (preferably in Fortune) would be much appreciated... Cheers...

mk

[Wolfie]

I recently bought a 2TB Western Digital "MyBook" Series for 9,000b - Its set to RAID 0 but you can set it to RAID 1 if you want to backup sensitive/important data. Not sure what speed it is, however i am able to stream media to my XBox from it without any problems. Its USB 2.0, Firewire 400 & Firewire 800. I'm using USB.

I got it in Pantip last week, i hunted around a bit for the best price, but i only went to about 5-6 shops so you might be able to find it a touch cheaper

[webfact]

I am using 2, 1TB MAXTOR. Great performance. Streaming, watching movies, no problem. They transfer really fast via USB HUB.

Bought them in Fortune a while ago. Have seen plenty of that brand around on the 3/fl a week ago.

[MKAsok]

Thanks chaps. @webfact - what did you pay for 1 unit?

[astral]

You also need to look at the case that you will put the disk in.

I strongly recommend Icy Box.

Solidly built. Will not fall apart like some other brands.

[Wolfie]

The MyBook series is a fixed unit, not an IDE/Sata Drive in an external housing - so no need for a special case on that - i copied over *all* my media when i got it (some 1.3 TB's) and the drive never got hot - its sat on the top of my PC Unit.

The Fan kicked in for a few mins (which, incidentally is *LOUD*) but it didn't stay on long

[MKAsok]

Thanks astral, but I'm really looking for a 'ready-enclosed' drive.

@webfact - those Maxtor drives are made by Seagate right? I don't think I'd trust a Seagate drive again (I've had 2 fail on me), or have they improved dramatically since a couple of years ago?

[webfact]

Thanks astral, but I'm really looking for a 'ready-enclosed' drive.

@webfact - those Maxtor drives are made by Seagate right? I don't think I'd trust a Seagate drive again (I've had 2 fail on me), or have they improved dramatically since a couple of years ago?

I am using a few TB Segate (5 drives internal/external) and never had any problems with one of these drives. The problems I faced was with WD.

Maybe I had good luck but in 8 years using only Seagate (purchased in Thailand) I faced no HDD disaster! Price for 1TB was 7.5K or 8K but not sure.

The real trouble I had was with WD which I purchased in Canada...

[aussielad]

Im running 5 WD My Book 1 terabytes (home edition), they are usb or firewire400 mine are all daisy chained via fire wire, work a treat and all show up as individual drives, current price is 5400tbh at Tukom in pattaya.

Edited December 23, 2008 by aussielad

[slackula]

I bought a WD Studio Edition 500 GB drive to use for back up on the iMac (and Mrs MacBook Pro over our LAN). It was running over FireWire 800 and died within 3 months. Replacement (under warranty) died after 2 months, replacement of the replacement died after 2 months.

Bought a Time Capsule and it is chugging along fine after ~4 months. I'll never buy another WD external drive again. YMMV

[MKAsok]

Im running 5 WD My Book 1 terabytes (home edition), they are usb or firewire400 mine are all daisy chained via fire wire, work a treat and all show up as individual drives, current price is 5400tbh at Tukom in pattaya.

Thanks to you and Wolfie for the info on the My Book. I'm definitely leaning towards this (the 1 TB).

I bought a WD Studio Edition 500 GB drive to use for back up on the iMac (and Mrs MacBook Pro over our LAN). It was running over FireWire 800 and died within 3 months. Replacement (under warranty) died after 2 months, replacement of the replacement died after 2 months.

Bought a Time Capsule and it is chugging along fine after ~4 months. I'll never buy another WD external drive again. YMMV

Yeah, I had a similar situation with 2 Seagates I bought in the US. See here.

Externals don't seem that reliable. What's the general consensus on buying a top-rated internal and housing it in an enclosure like the one astral suggested? Is this a better solution? Or is it too much hassle?