Lacie FA Porsche vs drive and case

[edrill]

Hi - I am wondering if anybody has any thoughts about the Lacie FA Porsche drives - the 250 gb firewire which is $155 at buy.com and other vendors.

The other alternative is to buy a case and enclosure. Here's a Seagate 250gb for $110. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101571&ps=hot0
I've read good things about Seagate and it has a 5 year warranty. There's also a 300 gb Maxtor for $120 - is the Seagate so much better than Maxtor that it's not worth the extra $10 or should I get the Maxtor?

Also wondering about this case by Kingwin, which I've never heard of http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=269916 it's firewire 400 and has an oxford 911 chipset. Does this sound OK? And am I missing something by not thinking I need USB 2 and firewire 800?

Is this all better than a Lacie d2 which seems so popular - the 250 gb is about $200. And of course there's also OWC - but am trying to keep costs down here as much as possible.

Thanks for the help.

 

[~Shard~]

The other alternative is to buy a case and enclosure. Here's a Seagate 250gb for $110. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101571&ps=hot0
I've read good things about Seagate and it has a 5 year warranty. There's also a 300 gb Maxtor for $120 - is the Seagate so much better than Maxtor that it's not worth the extra $10 or should I get the Maxtor?

I assume you mean hard drive and enclosure. I prefer using HD enclosures as the prices of HDs are drastically dropping, and the capacities are ever increasing. By buying an external HD, you pay a bit of a premium for it, and can never replace the drive inside without buying a new one. By using an enclosure, you can fill up a drive, replace it, etc., all for the regular (and relatively lower) price of an internal HD.

Seagates are better than Maxtors from my research and experience. I have had nothing but troubles with Maxtor drives.

Also wondering about this case by Kingwin, which I've never heard of http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=269916 it's firewire 400 and has an oxford 911 chipset. Does this sound OK? And am I missing something by not thinking I need USB 2 and firewire 800?

USB2 is nice, to ensure compatibility with everything, but FW400 is really all you need. FW800 is almost too fast - the other components would not be able to keep up to such a high data transfer rate, so I wouldn't bother with FW800. As fr the Oxford 911 chipset, this is the best chipset, and definitely a must for any enclosure you are going to buy.

Is this all better than a Lacie d2 which seems so popular - the 250 gb is about $200

A common mistake many people make is thinking that Lacie manufactures hard drives. They do not. Lacie uses other hard drives in their products, so if you buy a Lacie drive, you're probably getting a Seagate or Maxtor drive anyway.

My recommendation is to go with an enclosure and internal HD.

 

[edrill]

Yeah,I guess a case and enclosure wouldn't work so well ...

Are all cases bascially equal? I was looking at OWC and they have the drive for basically the same price. Their enclosure though, is about $27 more. http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW911PLUS/

I know that OWC has a good rep - would you go for the more expensive case or is the fact they both have 0xford 911 the key. And that the Kingwin has "bubble led lights"

Thanks for the reply.

 

[rickvanr]

Building externals yourself is fine. I've built 4 external HDs and a couple external DVD+/-R's in the past few years. It's very easy, essentially plug and play. I would recommend the BIY route to anyone.

Check out NewEgg, if you have USB 2.0 an external can be had for around $20. FireWire are a little pricer at around $30. But of course you can get more expensive models.

 

[Piarco]

I was going to get a Lacie external at the end of the month, but after seeing some of the newer enclosures such as the Netgear Storage Central SC101 (wireless, and two drive bays! great for multiple computers) or Freecom Mediaplayer 3.5 (LAN, and straight to TV multimedia capabilities) I'll be getting one of them and a suitable drive (or two! 500GB sounds nice. And excessive).

 

[~Shard~]

Are all cases bascially equal? I was looking at OWC and they have the drive for basically the same price. Their enclosure though, is about $27 more. http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEFW911PLUS/

I know that OWC has a good rep - would you go for the more expensive case or is the fact they both have 0xford 911 the key. And that the Kingwin has "bubble led lights"

Thanks for the reply.

For the most part, it doesn't matter - the Oxford chipset is the main thing. However, you don't want to cheap out and some lesser brands have reported troubles with keeping the drives cool, being noisy, etc. So, as with most things, you get what you pay for. Don't get the cheapest, but don't worry about paying an arm and a leg for the top of the line model.

Feel free to do a search through these forums for "HD enclosure" as well, I'm sure many other threads will come up which have had similar discussions. I know I've been involved in a few prior ones....

 

[dont24]

I'm using this enclosore connected to my Mac mini, via firewire.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...67813-2346250?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846
The firewire only case is ~$10 less. I have a 320GB HD installed. No issues.

 

[devilot]

I was thinking about the two options as well (currently no method of backing up, but being on MR has made me paranoid); external HD or DIY internal/in an enclosure.

My cousin suggested an external simply because of the warranties they come w/-- 3-5 years whereas if you build one yourself, you might not be 'protected' in case of a HD failure. Is this true? For someone very computer illiterate , would an external be a better buy?

 

[_bnkr612]

I read this post fast, but I say go for the Porsche by LaCie. It's solid, has either firewire or usb 2.0 (make sure your puter supports usb 2.0)

I have an 80GB + 250GB LaCie, I also have their dual layer DVD burner...

So choice.

Downside is that they give you short firewire/usb cords.

 

[~Shard~]

My cousin suggested an external simply because of the warranties they come w/-- 3-5 years whereas if you build one yourself, you might not be 'protected' in case of a HD failure. Is this true? For someone very computer illiterate , would an external be a better buy?

Warranties with external drives are no different than warranties with internal drives. There are some (all?) Seagate drives out there I believe that offer at least 3 year warranty, if not longer.

And putting an internal drive into an enclosure does not void any warranties - it is no different than plugging it in internally inside your machine.

As for "computer illiterate" people, the external drive would technically be the easier option. True plug and play, for the most part. However drive enclosures have improved a lot in the past few years, and are pretty simple to use now as well. It's essentially just a matter of popping the internal drive into the enclosure, plugging it in, hooking up your USB/FW connection, and off you go! Definitely not rocket science.

And once again, with regards to Lacie drives themselves, just keep in mind that Lacie does not manufacture their own drives. To some people this doesn;t matter and is a non-issue, however I run across countless people who are under the misunderstanding that Lacie actually makes hard drives and that they are good quality because they are "Lacie". Lacie drives are only as good as the manufacturer, whether it be Seagate, Maxtor, or whomever.

 

[macstatic]

I'm also on the lookout for a suitable hard drive enclosure for use with a 15" Powerbook G4 (the one introduced last week that is).
Not many of the enclosures offered are to my liking in general. They look too much like geeky toys. But the "PowerMac" styled enclosures shown here look a lot better.

Out of all those enclosures, for a single drive, the Macpower Pleiades (which seems to be available rebranded as the Rosewill RX-30 (available in silver or black!) and OWC's Mercury Elite-AL pro look most attractive and suitable for my Powerbook.
Alas, none of them have fans as they claim their design cools the drives without the need for a fan! Is there any truth to this, or should my warning lights start blinking?

I've read different things when it comes to noise levels. Obviously I want a quiet running hard drive and need to shop for a drive mechanism that's quiet to begin with, but some people claim that the design "amplifies" any noise there is. From other people I've heard that it's very quiet, so I don't know what to believe.

OWC also has a dual drive enclosure in the same style, and that one seems to have a fan. Would I need to expand to two drives at some stage? The reason I need an external drive in the first place is for home-video editing and (serious hobby) music-productions.

And in case I want an external DVD burner (to save tear and wear on the internal DVD burner, and possibly also get a higher spec'd unit when the time comes) I would want an enclosure to math the drive enclosure, something which looks hard to achieve.

Anyone have any experience with any of these enclosures?

 

[CanadaRAM]

Warranties with external drives are no different than warranties with internal drives. There are some (all?) Seagate drives out there I believe that offer at least 3 year warranty, if not longer.

Segate Internal (bare) drives have 5 years warranty. Seagate External drives such as the ST3200823A-RK 200 Gb also have 5 year warranty.

Maxtor externals have 1 year, LaCie's have 1 year

PS: Virtually all enclosures take IDE (Parallel ATA) drives. The original post I think referenced a SATA drive which would not be appropriate.

 

[~Shard~]

Segate Internal (bare) drives have 5 years warranty. Seagate External drives such as the ST3200823A-RK 200 Gb also have 5 year warranty.

Maxtor externals have 1 year, LaCie's have 1 year

PS: Virtually all enclosures take IDE (Parallel ATA) drives. The original post I think referenced a SATA drive which would not be appropriate.

Thanks for the confirmation on this CanadaRAM.

 

[edrill]

Hi- CanadaRAM- you wrote that:
PS: Virtually all enclosures take IDE (Parallel ATA) drives. The original post I think referenced a SATA drive which would not be appropriate.

i did not notice the difference between serial ATA and ultra ATA. thanks, i was able to cancel my order. not very careful reading on my part.

i bought this http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101571
when i should have bought this http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101570

in the specs for the IDE drive it says Ultra ATA 100 - so is ultra ATA the same thing as IDE?

thanks for the help.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Hi- CanadaRAM- you wrote that:
PS: Virtually all enclosures take IDE (Parallel ATA) drives. The original post I think referenced a SATA drive which would not be appropriate.

I think I bought the wrong type of drive - are you saying that this drive http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101571 will not fit in a firewire enclosure. I do see that the enclosure is IDE interface. So it looks like I mssed this up ... did not notice serial ATA - just assumed it would fit.

Too true. Lovely drive, that; just won't go in 99.9% of Firewire cases. Sorry, mate.

/ Cap'n Jack Sparrow at your service