[JoshuaZ]

I've currently got two 250 GIG external hard drives sitting next to my Powerbook. All is fine, but I'm low on space thanks to lots of pictures, video, and music. I was wondering if anyone could point me towards a larger solution. Something in the 750 GIG -1 TB range all packaged up in a single case. Firewire would be nice, but USB 2.0 would be ok as well (if the price was right).

Thanks a bunch.

[jamil5454]

Check out the Lacie Big Disks and Bigger Disks.

[tooki]

The biggest single hard disk on the market is 750GB. Anything bigger (plus many of the 500GB+ models, such as the LaCies mentioned above) is actually two disks together. IMHO, that's bad, because hard disks WILL fail eventually. If you use a disk array (2+ disks merged to one icon on the desktop), the failure of one disk causes loss of the entire array, and the fact that any disk's failure means total loss, the chance of total loss is much higher. If you use individual disks (where each disk gets its own icon on the desktop), the loss of one disk means only the loss of the data on that disk.

So if your data can handle being broken up across several disks, I'd suggest that over a disk array.

OWC: Apple Mac G4 upgrades, Laptop Batteries, Memory, Drives sells a dual-disk housing that can be set via software to operate as an array, or to just hold two individual disks.

tooki

[JoshuaZ]

I figured as much. I honestly don't mind having a 2 in one hard drive happening for me. There are just so many cases and drives on the market, and I've not kept on on them recently, that I'm always worried about quality and price.

[mduell]

I'd stay away from the 2 drive models, espically from LaCie; their single drive reliability is bad enough in my experience.

Here's a 750G drive for $400: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB 3.5" IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM at Newegg.com
And here's a USB+FW enclosure (Oxford chipset based) for $50: AMS VENUS DS-2512C Silver External Enclosure - Retail at Newegg.com

[JoshuaZ]

I would totally go for one of these right now...

Western Digital My Book Pro Edition Does a Three-Way - Gizmodo

[cagljevic]

I too have been in the market recently looking for a smart backup solution and I have noticed that the best option right now is to buy 2x 500GB drives, seagate or western digital are roughly the same price in my area and find an enclosure that supports raid 1 (mirroring) if you want the safest option. i would suggest sticking with firewire, and if your system allows for it fw800. As one user above mentioned, disk will eventually fail, but the chances of BOTH drives in a raid 1 failing at the same time is not very likely.

mark

[cspuryear]

Just got one of those Western Digital My Book Pro 500's this weekend from NewEgg.com for about $262. It shipped last night, so I'll let you guys know how it is once I get it!!!