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ShortcutToMoncton · Oct 18, 2007, 02:23 PM

Aloha. I've recently picked up a new Macbook Pro with the 120 gig disc. I do have lots of backup files – specifically 15+gigs of pictures, a few gigs of movies, 40 gigs of music, that sorta thing. I obviously don't want to throw it all on this disc, so I was thinking I'd get an external HD so I could have access to all this stuff without slowing me down terribly.

With so many external drives out there now, it's a bit confusing figuring out which is the best. I guess my question is two-fold: is there any "real" benefit going with a Firewire 800 drive, besides having the comfort of knowing I'm actually using the damn port? If so (or if not), does anyone have any drive recommendations for me?

I'm not terribly picky, and I'm a poor-assed student – my budget will be in the $170 range give or take....

greg

peeb · Oct 18, 2007, 02:54 PM

If it's just for backups, and you're not using the drive for a scratch disc or something, it's probably not worth it for you.

cgc · Oct 18, 2007, 02:57 PM

I have an external enclosure that has USB 1, USB2, FW400, FW800, and ESATA and I can tell you the FW800 gets about 55-60MBps throughput while FW400 is 40-45MBps. USB 2 is slower than FW400 but I don't use it enough to have a throughput number for you. If you search this forum you'll see a LOT of questions about external HDD enclosures with recommendations. I love my enclosure and paid about $99 for it plus $59 for a 250GB drive.

Make sure you get a good chipset if you get FW, I'd recommend Oxford (Oxford 911 or Oxford 924 specifically, though others may be ok as well). If you go with a third-party chipset, such as Prolific, you're going to have issues. BTW, the chipset is what translates between the SATA or PATA drive and the USB/FW/ESATA external connector.

Hope this helps.

ShortcutToMoncton · Oct 18, 2007, 03:13 PM

Ahhhhh, so you're recommending an internal HD and external enclosure huh? What's the real difference between that and just buying an external hard drive?

For $89, that enclosure doesn't look too bad...there's also a $99 version with a fan, although I don't know if it would make that much of a difference.

greg

peeb · Oct 18, 2007, 03:27 PM

There's no difference between an internal and external drive. They are all 'internal' they either go in your computer, or in an enclosure.

CharlesS · 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton

Ahhhhh, so you're recommending an internal HD and external enclosure huh? What's the real difference between that and just buying an external hard drive?

The differences are:

1. If you get the enclosure separately, you can get one with a high-quality Oxford chipset. If you get a pre-built, who knows what chipset it uses.

2. If you get the hard drive separately, you can get a top-quality Seagate with a 5-year warranty. If you get a pre-build, who knows what hard drive you'll get, and it'll most likely only have a 1-year warranty even if it is a Seagate.

3. If you get an enclosure separately, it'll be easy to open up and swap the drive out. So if the internal hard drive fails, or if you decide you'd like to put a bigger one in, you can just swap it out. If you get a pre-built, who knows if it'll be a complete PITA to open, since they don't expect you to do so.

With all that said, here's the enclosure I have:

OWC Mercury Elite-AL Quad Interface eSATA,... (MEFW924AL1K) at OWC

There are also cheaper versions of it both with and without FireWire 800.

cgc · Oct 18, 2007, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton

Ahhhhh, so you're recommending an internal HD and external enclosure huh? What's the real difference between that and just buying an external hard drive?

For $89, that enclosure doesn't look too bad...there's also a $99 version with a fan, although I don't know if it would make that much of a difference.

greg

Yes, but the internal drive goes inside the external enclosure since the enclosure doesn't come with a drive. I did this, as someone pointed out, so I could get exactly what I want (e.g. Oxford 924 and drive brand). I don't have the fan model and it gets warm; fanless = silent.

Kenneth · Oct 19, 2007, 02:51 PM

I have a LaCie d2 Triple-interface external hard drive, it works fine. After a year later, I opened up the case and dropped a bigger capacity drive in it. Some people had problem with LaCie hardware/customer service, but I didn't have any problem.

Months ago, I went on transintl.com and bought the miniXpress 2.5-inch enclosure along with a 160GB Seagate 7200RPM HDD. It has FW400, 2 FW800 ports (good for doing RAID), and USB 2.0. It went pretty well. Lastly, I also have a Mercury Elite-AL Pro FireWire 400+USB2 enclosure from OWC as well.

So, all three of them come without fans, which I like. I think $170 should get you a FW800 equipped HDD enclosure and a 250GB HDD.

ShortcutToMoncton · Oct 20, 2007, 12:14 PM

Thanks for all the help! While Cooldrives was slightly cheaper than OWC, they don't ship to Canada so it's a moot point. I've tried Canadian vendors like ncix and tigerdirect but didn't really see anything tasty for external enclosures to be honest.

I guess my final question is: will I really see a benefit from the SATA interface? It looks like I'll save about $30 if I go with an IDE/ATA FW800 enclosure and 250 GB Seagate 7200.10 "perpendicular drive" as opposed to the same configuration in SATA. I mean, that doesn't sound like much, but realistically speaking will it make a difference to me? That's like...a nice bottle of rum, very delicious when you have no income for 8 months of the year....

greg

mduell · Oct 20, 2007, 01:15 PM

No... Firewire is the bottleneck so it doesn't matter if the drive is IDE/ATA or SATA.

CharlesS · Oct 20, 2007, 01:45 PM

Unless, of course, you get a drive with eSATA support, and then Apple ends up releasing some machine in the future that has an eSATA port, and you end up getting that machine (or you add an eSATA card to a MBP or Mac Pro). Then you'll pretty much have the fastest possible external drive.

With a 250 GB drive, though, the difference between FW800 and eSATA really isn't going to be that great, so I'd just get whatever you feel you can afford.

angelmb · Oct 20, 2007, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by Kenneth

I have a LaCie d2 Triple-interface external hard drive, it works fine. After a year later, I opened up the case and dropped a bigger capacity drive in it.

I have a LaCie d2 FireWire 400 unit, I have also replaced the hard drive several times without any issue, I wonder about what would be the biggest IDE hard drive I could put in it…

ShortcutToMoncton · Oct 20, 2007, 02:27 PM

Yeah, in looking at the throughput it seemed as if FW800 should be the limitation, but I wanted to check with the experts first.

I just got this Macbook Pro and I expect it to last me for at least 3 years until I'm out of school; my Quicksilver chugged along for 6, so I feel that's a realistic goal. By the time I need another external drive, there'll probably be a great new standard out anyway, and by then I'll have enough money to get that one.

Thanks for the great help!

greg