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External Drive Recommendations?

Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
edited March 2008 in Strut Central
I tried searching the archives but couldn't find what I was looking for - I'm pretty much a luddite when it comes to computers and I really, really need an external drive. Two, actually.So what's good out there? USB vs Firewire? Brands? Probably will roll with a 500gig pair, that'll be way more than necessary for a while.Thanks fam

  Comments

  • keithvanhornkeithvanhorn 3,855 Posts
    i've been using western digital passports for a while with zero problems. they are about the size and weight of an ipod.
  • hemolhemol 2,578 Posts
    As far as firewire versus USB it's a matter of whether you are using for storage, or work. High RPM firewire is the only way to do it if you're going to be writing large files to the disk. Also, consider other devices that you'll run at the same time. If your scanner is usb and so is your printer and you only have two usb ports, and you want to be scanning stuff to the external, and printing it, then fire wire obviously. I'm sure you get the point.

    I've had nothing but good experiences with my Lacie drives, and I recently bought a G-Tech passport which works great too. Passports are nice because they are bus powered, and easily portable.
  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,901 Posts
    Had a WD 500Gb lifebook thing for a year with all my stuff on it and (touches wood - no ayo) it's been fine. Cheaper now also.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Weird - I have not heard good things about Western Digital.

    Lacie, Seagate... those names seem to come up with more positive recommendations.

    One for work, one for home. The work drive would be mainly storage for mp3s, movies, big documents... that's it.

    The one at home I would want to tote with me for S*rato use. I also want to store my multitrack sessions from a tower that's running OS9... don't know if that's a problem?

    Much Obliged...
  • pacmanpacman 1,114 Posts
    I have a 250GB Maxtor. No issues whatsoever.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    Weird - I have not heard good things about Lacie.
  • canonicalcanonical 2,100 Posts
    Weird - I have not heard good things about Lacie.
    Really? I've only heard good things about Lacie and my 200GB has been going strong for 2 years now.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts


    The one at home I would want to tote with me for S*rato use. I also want to store my multitrack sessions from a tower that's running OS9... don't know if that's a problem?


    For S*rato, I would recommend Firewire if that's an option, besides daisy chaining abilities, it doesn't add any more latency to the USB bus, since FW is independent. Also, I would recommend no less than 54,000RPM with a 8mb or more cache for playback. IF you can find 72,000RPM's with a 16m cache, do that.

    Watch out for those passport/lifebook drives many of the sku's are cheapish because they:

    a.) run at a slow 48,000RPM
    b.) have a 4b cache (!!important!!)
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    Weird - I have not heard good things about Lacie.
    Really? I've only heard good things about Lacie and my 200GB has been going strong for 2 years now.

    Lots of instances of excessive vibration & noise. Also dead/intermittently mountable drives, which would be the end of the night in a S*rato situation unless you're gonna open up the terminal and manually -f force mount it.

    I dunno. you mileage may vary...
  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    Definitely make sure it has firewire capability.
  • pacmanpacman 1,114 Posts
    What about external enclosures with swappable drives?
  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts
    I've got a Western Digital MyBook Pro 500GB drive running on Firewire 800. It's been great, real fast file transfers, and it's true that if you're running Microwave you want a firewire drive.

    Make sure that whatever drive you get, you turn off the "put the hard drive to sleep when possible" function in the System Preferences.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    What about external enclosures with swappable drives?

    Best look evar (depending on the case).
  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
    Seagate

    i dont know about external drives, but ive had 2 internal seagates crash in my life.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    Seagate

    i dont know about external drives, but ive had 2 internal seagates crash in my life.

    I have a seagate ext that has really strange mounting issues in OSX and refuses to use USB power in Windows. Never buying seagate again.
  • pacmanpacman 1,114 Posts
    Seagate

    i dont know about external drives, but ive had 2 internal seagates crash in my life.

    I have a seagate ext that has really strange mounting issues in OSX and refuses to use USB power in Windows. Never buying seagate again.



    I had a Seagate once. Key word is ONCE.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    soooo... Western Digital then?

  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
    soooo... Western Digital then?


    hard to say with this kinda stuff. seems like every company is going to have a few bad drives. like i said my seagates were internal (AKA didnt take abuse) and they both crashed. i also had a maxtor that went bad. however im sure tons of people are still using their seagates and maxtors theyve had from day one with zero problems. its a game of chance i guess.
  • keithvanhornkeithvanhorn 3,855 Posts
    soooo... Western Digital then?


    my computer nerd friend swears that all the drives are basically the same. i like the WD passport because its small and light, but i think their pretty much all like that now. get your froogle on. see which one is the cheapest.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Also, I would recommend no less than 54,000RPM with a 8mb or more cache for playback. IF you can find 72,000RPM's with a 16m cache, do that.

    OK just to be clear the stuff I'm seeing is 7200 RPM... not 72,000

    Just making sure this is the right speed
  • DjArcadianDjArcadian 3,630 Posts
    Freeagent Pro. 500 GB's. I've had 2 for about six months or so. They're on the cheaper end of drives that size last I looked. I like that it shuts down when you turn off your computer. On my other Seagate external drive you have to flip a switch.
  • DjArcadianDjArcadian 3,630 Posts
    Also, I would recommend no less than 54,000RPM with a 8mb or more cache for playback. IF you can find 72,000RPM's with a 16m cache, do that.

    OK just to be clear the stuff I'm seeing is 7200 RPM... not 72,000

    Just making sure this is the right speed

    Yeah, he means 7200. That's a standard drive speed. Bumps up to 10,000 after that and then you pretty much have to go to SCSI for anything faster but for most people 7200 is fine. You only need faster stuff when dealing with databases accessed by a lot of people. I have a 10,000 Western Digital drive in my office server. Kind of overkill. If I built it again I would have gotten a standard 7200 drive.
  • JimBeamJimBeam Seattle. 2,012 Posts
    The 7200 RPM/Firewire stuff is understandable for use with Microwave where latency is an issue, but for home use such as hard drive backup or just external file storage, (unless you're dealing with large database queries and things like that,) a large drive connected by USB is usually sufficient, and a bit cheaper than the higher performance externals. If you want to stick with the MyBooks by WD, go with newegg, their customer service is unparalleled.

    500GB Mybook (not the 7,200 RPM, I think it's a 5,400) for $128 w/ free shipping
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136175
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Yeah J&R/Amazon has the WD "My Book" 350gb/7200rpm/firewire400 for $99... I think I'll cop 2.

    You guys have about 30 minutes to tell me "STOP! DON'T DO IT!"
  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    Yeah J&R/Amazon has the WD "My Book" 350gb/7200rpm/firewire400 for $99... I think I'll cop 2.

    You guys have about 30 minutes to tell me "STOP! DON'T DO IT!"
    do it. that's around the best price you'll be looking at
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    cool. I hit "Place Order" just a couple minutes ago. Thanks to all who repped
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