which external hard drive for MBA

[tigres]

Anyone use the Lacie for a long period of time? I like the design, but I've had three desktop drives from Lacie die and would never buy a desktop drive from them again. Anyone know what mechanism they are using? The Maxtor drives they used in their desktop line were terrible for reliability.

I have a Lacie 1TB desktop, as well as the 500gb little disk. The little disk is what I use for my MBA, and has lasted me a couple of years so far, I think it's a great product- because I like the size, but LOVE the usb is attached to the drive, nothing to loose.

I dont think you should blame LaCie for this. I havent had more troubles with them than any other brand I've used. I have heard that their warranty-service isnt the best, unfortunately I havent taken the time to try it, takes to much time I think.

The rikiki is made out of aluminium and I don't think the usb-sata board is the first thing to fail. Since aluminum transfers heat good I think it is a good enclosure for any drive that might be inside.

Maxtor doesnt make portable drives either but remember alot of brands have had problems with different batches and series of drives. Who doesnt remember the old IBM Deskstars?

My Lacie 1TB did die on my a couple of months ago (my itunes lib.) I called LaCie, and to my surprise they were extremely helpful. Did not ask for a receipt, told me to ship it back with the power cable only- not the original box. Got a brand new one back within 4 days, so I was very pleased they backed the product. Same thing happened to me on an Adcom data drive last year, they told me to basically pack sand- Never buy Adcom...

 

[gloryunited]

Are the Western Digital my passport and LaCie Rikiki/Rugged good for BitTorrent file sharing?

I've heard those portable hard drives(esp. WD) will die easily if you use BT. Is it true?

But SSD is also not suitable for BT right?

 

[barmann]

I dont think it matters very much how ruggerized an external hard drive is. They should never be shaken or dropped while in use and not in stand by either.

If safety is the first concern you should buy an external closure with an harddrive that has its own sudden motion sensor, both seagate and western digital makes such drives and works very well. Having one of theese in a small rikiki-case would be really lovely.

Fair point; as for LaCie portable drives, I have 5, 3 rugged and two Porsche, not a problem and one of them I got back in my G3 days .

The problem with the desktop models are often related to modified controlers, that's how you hear so many bad things from Lacie and WD desktop owners .
And then there are faulty power supplies.

Most portables just use Oxford chips straight from the factory and don't have those fishy eSata-USB bridges .

I've seen the Rikiki in person today, very neat .
The 500GB is $60 at Newegg, not too shabby.

 

[double329]

I am using three years old WD 2.5" ext drive for TimeMachine. It seems to work fine. Thinking of picking up new one soon and Looking at Seagate 500GB.

 

[jamesyd1991]

western digital my passport essential drives are awesome, no power source needed, just usb and you're good to go

 

[Corax]

The Iomega eGo Helium (2,5") I use is reliable, fast and small enough to accompany my MacBook Air. Had several other disks and brands in the past, some didn't last very long and some were very slow. This one is the best yet I ever had.

 

[i7QuadCoreMania]

Im waiting for the Lacie Starck