Large Portable External Hard Drives and misc advice

[camking]

I need to upgrade my old G4 power mac as it is too slow for my needs and is genrally getting very tired. I'm worried it might die any day soon.

After thinking about it for nearly a year and waiting for all this intel transition I've got heart set on a MBP, I've always used desktop macs but I really want to get a laptop, I'm going puchase this as soon the updates are made (hopefully 2moro!)
I need advice on a good portable external hard drive (250GB+) as 100 GB and 120GB internal drives won't be enough. my itunes collection is already 80GB, I have atleast 30GB of other Audio files and another 40GB of photos so even a 160GB internal wouldn't be enough.

Basically I think I need a hard drive that that i can store my itunes/photo collection on, thus freeing up enough space to keep all my applications and working audio and photoshop files, without fear of always running out of space. (i've never felt like i had enough hard drive space)

Sorry if similar questions have been answered before but i have read lots of info on desktop hard drives but not much stuff on portable drives.... any help would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone had any experience using a laptop with an external hard drive that was always in use? Would I find this really annoying.... please help!

 

[DEXTERITY]

I don't know much about the laptop side of things. But in regards to external hard drives I have 4 Lacie externals and have never had a problem. I've had one for over 5 years. Some say they don't like them. They have worked fine with me even with my pro tools session.

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10511

Recently (and I'm about to purchase another one), on the advice of people on the forums, I purchased an external hard drive from OWC.

This link should take you to the comparison page of the external fire wire drives.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/800+USB2/

I have the 300gb and I'm about to get a 500gb. You can also ask them which internal drive they are using on the ones they presently have in stock. Last time I was able to request a seagate drive which I trust.

If you want to spend a little bit more money you can always get a glyph har d drive. Those are most known for being used in studio's. Places like sam ash, guitar center, etc sell them...

hope that helps. You can also search for external hard drives and see others experiences..some will say to buy an internal drive and an enclosure case. I just can't remember which cases were recommended.

 

[camking]

thanks dexterity. Those OWC drives look really good.
those say they are shock resistant and stuff and I was looking for drives that are designed to be moved around a bit that was the only reason I wasn;t too keen on the idea of using an internal drive and enclosure even tho thats what people seem to be recommending for desktop back up etc

I think what I'm looking for tho is a bus powered external drive so i don't have to take another power supply with me everywhere.

The biggest bus powered drive i can find is the 120GB. (Smartdisk - Firelite)
Anyone know of anyother ones?

 

[technicolor]

I am in the same position as you.

When I got MBP it was secondary machine that I used mostly when I was at home or wanted to compute in a different area of the house. Now that school has started and we are required to have our lappies in class, and I need to use it my studio at school it has become my main machine. It has 100 gig drive, and I never would of thought that 100 gigs would be to small, but it is. I am constantly deleting things, and really have like 20 gigs of useable space. I too am looking for a rugged external hard drive. These are the models I am considering...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144344

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822154407

 

[displaced]

thanks dexterity. Those OWC drives look really good.
those say they are shock resistant and stuff and I was looking for drives that are designed to be moved around a bit that was the only reason I wasn;t too keen on the idea of using an internal drive and enclosure even tho thats what people seem to be recommending for desktop back up etc

I think what I'm looking for tho is a bus powered external drive so i don't have to take another power supply with me everywhere.

The biggest bus powered drive i can find is the 120GB. (Smartdisk - Firelite)
Anyone know of anyother ones?

I think bus-powered drives are almost universally 2.5" drives. At the moment, I believe 160GB 2.5" drives are about as big as you can get. I use a 120GB Seagate 2.5" drive in a MacAlly (I think...) aluminium Firewire/USB2 enclosure. It's served me well so far! It's great to have just the one cable, and remain free from needing mains power.

 

[technicolor]

I think bus-powered drives are almost universally 2.5" drives. At the moment, I believe 160GB 2.5" drives are about as big as you can get. I use a 120GB Seagate 2.5" drive in a MacAlly (I think...) aluminium Firewire/USB2 enclosure. It's served me well so far! It's great to have just the one cable, and remain free from needing mains power.

Do you find that your battery dies faster with the external attached?

 

[slackersonly]

I am very happy with my Seagate in an OWC enclosure. Whisper quiet, fast, and open to future expansion.

Another option is this which I came across today while surfing around. $159 for premade External setup: Seagate 400GB 16mb 7200 with both usb&fw. It says 1 year warranty but I believe that is for the enclosure and the drive is the standard 5 years but verify that before believing me.

 

[technicolor]

I am very happy with my Seagate in an OWC enclosure. Whisper quiet, fast, and open to future expansion.

Another option is this which I came across today while surfing around. $159 for premade External setup: Seagate 400GB 16mb 7200 with both usb&fw. It says 1 year warranty but I believe that is for the enclosure and the drive is the standard 5 years but verify that before believing me.

That doesnt look to be a portable drive.

 

[displaced]

Do you find that your battery dies faster with the external attached?

It's certainly drawing more power, although not so much that you'd be inconvenienced. It's probably a drop of 10-15 minutes, if that -- nothing as severe as dropping battery life to 1/2 an hour

I've been able to happily get myself immersed in World of Warcraft for a while before reaching for the power cord.

Naturally, it depends on how intensely the drive's being used. Just having it attached isn't going to draw much, since the disk spins down after a few minutes of inactivity. Plus, my caddy's got a physical on/off switch, so I can eject the drive from the Finder and flip the power switch without disconnecting the firewire cable.

 

[slackersonly]

That doesnt look to be a portable drive.

I find the concept of portable to be kinda funny. Laptops are portable but a harddrive less that half the size are not? Is there a defined size for a hard drive to be considered portable.

This reminds me of a college discussion over a couple of beers in which we tried to establish the point at which a coaster becomes a doiley and then becomes a table cloth.

 

[technicolor]

I find the concept of portable to be kinda funny. Laptops are portable but a harddrive less that half the size are not? Is there a defined size for a hard drive to be considered portable.

This reminds me of a college discussion over a couple of beers in which we tried to establish the point at which a coaster becomes a doiley and then becomes a table cloth.

There are drives that are labelled portable, YES!. They have more rugged exteriors, more shock protection, and normally dont require a power cord, and yes they ARE smaller.