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turtle777 · Aug 29, 2008, 10:30 PM

Costco has a good deal coming up for the AcomData AcomData ProDrive 2TB external HD:
$ 350 online for the month of September 2008

Features:

FireWire 800 port (2)
FireWire 400 port
USB 2.0/1.1 port
Seek Times: 11 ms read / 12 ms track to track

I have been looking all over teh intarwebs to find some feedback or user reviews, but couldn't find anything useful. How weird is that. And there seem to be no reviews from any tech magazines either.

What's worse: AcomData website doesn't even list those HDs (anymore?).

So, anyone here have experience with these ?
Is this a good buy ?

-t

mduell · Aug 30, 2008, 12:05 AM

No-name brand and RAID0? I'd run away.

turtle777 · Aug 30, 2008, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

No-name brand and RAID0? I'd run away.

Good point

I wonder if it can be formated Raid 1. Since it's Costco, I'm not concerned about warranty. I can always return it and get my money back.

-t

reader50 · Aug 30, 2008, 03:48 PM

Evaluating from a parts standpoint: if it's 2 x 1 TB drives inside, then it becomes a good deal for the price. 1 TB drives are running $150 today at newegg, so you're getting two big HDs at cost, plus a metal FW 400/800/USB enclosure for $50.

If it's 3 x 750 GB or 4 x 500 GB, then you're paying for the drives, and getting the enclosure for free. Might not be a bad deal if you can otherwise use the drives. In case the enclosure sucked.

[Dreamer mode]
If it's 3 x 1 TB inside, in RAID5, go for it. You're paying below-cost for just the drives.
[/Dreamer mode]

Gankdawg · Aug 30, 2008, 08:15 PM

I'd like some more info on this one too......my 750 GB TM drive will be full in probably the next 6 months or so.

turtle777 · Aug 30, 2008, 08:52 PM

Here's the linkt to the Costco page:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...1&Sp=C&topnav=

Unfortunately, it doesn't tell you a lot about the guts (i.e., the manufacturer of the HDs)

The Newegg page for the 1.5TB version provides the only customer feedback I was able to find:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ata-_-22216037

-t

Gankdawg · Aug 31, 2008, 08:14 AM

The Newegg page for the 1.5TB version provides the only customer feedback I was able to find:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ata-_-22216037

Costco's buyers usually select very good stuff........only 2 reviews at newegg though, one great and one terrible. I'm still tempted...

turtle777 · Aug 31, 2008, 08:48 PM

I'm tempted to buy it, open it up and see what the OEM of the HDs is.

If I don't like the result, I can always return it.

-t

zykron · Aug 31, 2008, 09:35 PM

I seriously can't imagine a 2TB (dual 1TB, i.e., dual 907 GB = 1814 GB) external hard drive package for under $300 not having something inside of it suddenly fail early in its life of use.

turtle777 · Aug 31, 2008, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by zykron

I seriously can't imagine a 2TB [...] for under $300 not having something inside of it suddenly fail early in its life of use.

Dude, close to a grammar FAIL

What are you trying to say ? That you'd expect those int. HDs to fail ?
That's why I said, I'd probably get one and gut it open.

But here's my question: I'd expect inside to find either 4x500GB HDs or 2x1TB HDs.
How many true no-name manufacturers of HDs are there anyways ? Don't these days all HDs come from a handful big names out there ?

-t

zykron · Sep 1, 2008, 01:05 PM

That's not a grammar fail.

The point of the [...] was to remind you that you're not gonna get 2 TB either way, but more like 1814 GB.

Don't you love letting the manufacturers rob you of close to 200 GB?

mduell · Sep 1, 2008, 01:30 PM

I would expect 2x1TB inside. I haven't see any mass market external drives with 4 drives.

If you're just after the internal drives, you can do better on price ($10 more, but saves the hassle of disassembly and preserves the warranty).

Originally Posted by zykron

Don't you love letting the manufacturers rob you of close to 200 GB?

I love how the manufacturers follow the SI standards for prefixes, rather than overloading them as others have done. Use binary prefixes (Ki, Mi, Gi, Ti, etc) if you want binary sizes.

zykron · Sep 1, 2008, 06:49 PM

"kibobytes"/"kibibytes" sounds like drooling children's blubberish. No way.

turtle777 · Sep 1, 2008, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

I would expect 2x1TB inside. I haven't see any mass market external drives with 4 drives.

So, what's the worst it can be ?

Are there any true no-name 1TB HD drive manufacturers ?

-t

LtCarter47 · Sep 6, 2008, 03:10 AM

The three 1TB Accomdata external drives (2 separate models) that I've purchased in the last year (and opened up) have all been Western Digital green drives. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they put in these as well.

LtCarter47 · Sep 6, 2008, 03:23 AM

Originally Posted by LtCarter47

The three 1TB Acomdata external drives (2 separate models) that I've purchased in the last year (and opened up) have all been Western Digital green drives. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they put in these as well.

Oh, and that said, since I have experience with Acomdata, I suppose I should mention how they were.

The PureDrive (http://www.acomdata.com/hdp/harddrives_PDxxxUE-72.html) has been my favorite. Well built, compact, and reliable. I have two of these, and keep an eye out for good deals on them.

The E5 series ((http://www.acomdata.com/hdp/harddrives-HDXXXUE5-72.html) I was not happy with. The drive would unmount randomly several times a week. I ended up pulling the drive out and throwing the enclosure away. Since then the drive itself has worked perfectly in my Mac Pro. Simple a defective box? Perhaps, but I won't be buying another when there are so many options out there.

Finally, the Samba USB enclosure for SATA & PATA drives (http://www.acomdata.com/hdp/harddriv...enclosure.html) was "eh" at best. I had quite a few of these for a project that needed a lot of cheap storage. While they worked, the felt a little cheap, and my major complaint with them was that they did not support spinning down the drives when they were idle, so they got pretty warm, and obviously were running non-stop. I was worried about the life of the drives so I ended up replacing them with enclosures from another manufacturer after a few weeks.

Hope that helps.

fosters2 · Sep 6, 2008, 06:30 AM

Thanks for the tip. I decided to buy two of them. I wanted the Firewire 800 connection.
If they don't work out, I'll take them back.

turtle777 · Sep 6, 2008, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by LtCarter47

The three 1TB Accomdata external drives (2 separate models) that I've purchased in the last year (and opened up) have all been Western Digital green drives. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they put in these as well.

Thannks, LtCarter47.

I'm going to buy it and see how it works.

-t

Y-Guy · Sep 11, 2008, 07:07 PM

I'm curious as to any follow up from those that were going to buy one of these? Any thoughts on quality?

turtle777 · Sep 12, 2008, 12:23 AM

Haven't received mine yet. Should be arriving in the next days.

However, I'm on a business trip for the next two weeks, so I won't be able to report back until later this month.

-t

Gankdawg · Sep 24, 2008, 05:28 PM

Your two weeks are up!

turtle777 · Sep 24, 2008, 05:39 PM

I know. I just returned home yesterday night, and still haven't opened and connected it.

Sorry to disappoint

-t

Gankdawg · Sep 24, 2008, 07:47 PM

Hurry up man!!!!

turtle777 · Sep 25, 2008, 08:13 PM

First impressions:

- fan is a bit loud, at least compared to my silent iMac
- can't be formated RAID 1

Don't know about speed yet.

-t

turtle777 · Sep 25, 2008, 10:29 PM

Erasing it as Mac OS Extended Journaled for the last 2 hours. Still going.

This is not good...

-t

Gankdawg · Sep 26, 2008, 10:51 AM

ouch

turtle777 · Sep 26, 2008, 11:03 AM

Got it formated now. You have to re-partition it, can't just erase the volume that it ships with.

Well, tonight I'm gonna run some speed tests. Don't know what I'm going to do about the noise though...

-t

turtle777 · Sep 27, 2008, 11:18 AM

The Disks inside:
2 x Western Digital 1TeraByte
WD10EACSRTL2
WDC WD10EACS-00ZJB0

Each disk currently goes at Newegg for $ 130.

-t

Gankdawg · Nov 17, 2008, 03:22 PM

Still happy? It's down to $300 at Costco.com now and I think I'm ready to get it.

turtle777 · Nov 17, 2008, 04:46 PM

Speedwise and overall, I'm happy.

It's not completely quiet, due to the fans. So if you want a absolutely silent environment, this one's not for you.

-t

Gankdawg · Nov 17, 2008, 05:04 PM

I can live with some fan noise. Better to have some noise than have the drives burn up.

So the drives are configured RAID 0? Or as 2 independent drives? If RAID, how is that accomplished?

I'd be using it as my TM drive and am looking for a big drive. My current TM drive is 750 GB and it's about 60GB away from filling up so I want to buy something like this, clone my existing TM drive, and use the new one for TM.

Mrjinglesusa · Nov 17, 2008, 07:36 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136256

2 TB pre-configured RAID 0 and formatted HFS+. Firewire 800, USB 2, and eSATA and also comes with a Firewire 800 to 400 cable. Has received good reviews on Amazon and New Egg. Also able to be used RAID 1. I'm getting one of these next month.

turtle777 · Nov 17, 2008, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by Gankdawg

So the drives are configured RAID 0? Or as 2 independent drives? If RAID, how is that accomplished?

I'm not sure, it just shows up as one big volume.

I don't know if you could completely reformat it and split it apart.

Originally Posted by Gankdawg

I'd be using it as my TM drive and am looking for a big drive.

That's what I'm doing.

-t