Best external HD for PB?

[Randall]

Hey guys, i've read some posts about how important it is to backup your files and i have yet to do so and i've had my first mac (12inch g4 pb) for about a year and half.

So i was wondering, what is the best hd i can get without paying an arm and a leg. Simply to backup my files and also to put my movies and music so my powerbook can have some free space.

I'm pretty much a newbie in the aspect of external hd's so please feel free to school me on it, thanx guys.

If you're gonna buy an external hard drive just remember that seek time is important, but the real bottleneck is the data connection. Ideal is SATA, but since you can't have an external SATA hard drive without an external SATA connection, your best option is to find one that utilizes the FireWire 800 connection on your PowerBook. There are only a handful of these available, but there are some. I would highly recommend the LaCie d2 Hard Drive (250GB), or if you got the $$$, the LaCie Little Big Disk (240GB). I realize the Little Big Disk is about 3x more expensive and 10GB smaller, but it's also about 2x faster. Always use the FireWire 800 connetion for optimal performance. Since you have a PowerBook, I assume that performance is immportant to you.

Damn, I just realized that you said PB 12", so you don't have a FW800 connection. My appoligies. But my recommendations still hold. Just use the FireWire 400 connection, and you can get decent speed, and won't have to use the external power adaptor.

 

[telecomm]

...Always use the FireWire 800 connetion for optimal performance. Since you have a PowerBook, I assume that performance is immportant to you.

There's no Firewire 800 port on the PB 12.

 

[Synapple]

Quite right! I own one and it is terrible.

Now, some people in this thread are taking what many of us have said about the 1TB drive and applying that to ALL La Cie drives. That's not the case. Myself and others have only been harping about the 1TB drive.

FWIW I have two 2.5" La Cie portables that I use on my PB - a 40GB and an 80GB - and they are both fine and quiet and I have no hesitation recommending those drives.

With regards to the La Cie 1TB drive my advice is plain and simple. DO NOT BUY ONE.

Well, I was just saying that I do find my 160GB to be noisy. It certainly doesn't apply to all Lacie drives (I explicitly stated that my 30GB is very silent) but there are less noisy ones IMHO

 

[Randall]

Coming in February, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be the best, quietest, smallest (physical size of device), and fastest External Hard Drive on the market for quite some time. http://www.lacie.com/company/news/news.htm?id=10267

 

[Danzsupreme]

Seagate External 200- Any good??

Has anyone had any experience with this drive, i may buy one second hand and amazon give it mixed reviews. Let me know

 

[weckart]

Coming in February, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be the best, quietest, smallest (physical size of device), and fastest External Hard Drive on the market for quite some time. http://www.lacie.com/company/news/news.htm?id=10267

Looks like just a rehash of the d2. I have one of those which failed the other day. The problem with the d2s and, I suspect, this new one is that LaCie gives you a near silent drive (no fan and Maxtor drive inside) which is a trade-off against reliability. The controller board is pressed up against the hard drive which means any heat build-up takes its toll on the chips which means read/write/mount errors and eventually failure. You could use these as the occasional backup but they will not tolerate being used as an extension to your hard drive and placed under load. YMMV, of course.

Your best bet is an external case of your own choosing WITH a fan. Check the insides to make sure there is a decent enough distance between the disk and the electronics and that airflow is not impeded by cables etc. As for the hard disks, they are much of a muchness - Maxtor and Samsung are said to be a tad quieter than the rest.

 

[CanadaRAM]

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/NPFW7160GB/
That should suit your backup needs more than adequately. It's FireWire 400, which is bootable, (FW800 adds cost and since the 12" PB doesn't have it...)



Er, I assume you mean RAID 0, which is striping only, so if one drive goes down, you can kiss your data goodbye. RAID 1 (and others) are mirroring, which duplicate the data on multiple drives for safety.
Wiki Clicky

Yeah, RAID 1 is what the other poster was talking about, making a single large volume out of 2 drives, using buss powered drives, off a powerbook... stunningly bad idea.

 

[TheMasin9]

Heck, the highway outside is louder than the HD.

How close do you live to the highway?

 

[mcgarry]

Just got my second WD hard drive.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=107

Haven't had any problems, and it comes with Retrospect Express, which has served my backup needs. The brushed aluminum finish and the blue power light look really cool next to a PB as well.

This one's not firewire, though, so that might be something you'd want to consider.

WD makes FW drives too, some with some nice features:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=147
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=153
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=148

 

[rt_brained]

Either MacAddict or Macworld (I think it was MAcAddict) compared external HDDs in 2005 and gave the nod to OWC's Mercury over Lacie's D2.