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itistoday · 01:10 AM

In case this has been posted before, a short disclaimer: I did do a search and could not find a post like this, also, new hard drives come and go, so old posts on this topic likely contain outdated information.

That said, I'm looking for a nice Firewire 800 external hard drive at a reasonable price (around $150) with a capacity of 500 GB or greater. My friend has a 500 GB Western Digital My Book Pro, and let me tell you something... this thing seems QUITE appealing!

It's fast, it looks amazing, and it has interface ports for Firewire 400, 800, and USB 2.0. It will even turn itself off when the computer goes to sleep (or so I hear).

But before I decide to drop $180 on it, perhaps you know of a comparable hard drive for a better price?

mduell · May 19, 2007, 09:56 AM

macally PHR-100ACB Aluminum 3.5" USB 2.0 & 1394b Enclosure for $65 + whatever hard drive you want; I like Seagates because they come with a 5 year warranty (vs 1 for those MyBooks). $130 for 500GB or $250 for 750GB.

A lot of people are buying the various MyBooks due to their low low price, but the... reliability?... has been less than stellar.... "funny things happen."

itistoday · May 19, 2007, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

macally PHR-100ACB Aluminum 3.5" USB 2.0 & 1394b Enclosure for $65 + whatever hard drive you want; I like Seagates because they come with a 5 year warranty (vs 1 for those MyBooks). $130 for 500GB or $250 for 750GB.

A lot of people are buying the various MyBooks due to their low low price, but the... reliability?... has been less than stellar.... "funny things happen."

I like the way the enclosure looks and the fact that you can trade hard drives out of it like baseball cards is definitely a plus. I will meditate upon these options... keep 'em coming!

zerock · May 19, 2007, 12:16 PM

i want the myBook 1TB

cgc · May 19, 2007, 01:02 PM

I bought this external Firewire 400/800 with USB 2 and ESATA enclosure. Very well built and very fast. Love it.

Paid $99 for the enclosure and $59 for a 250GB Western Digital SATA2 drive to put in it.

slpdLoad · May 19, 2007, 01:07 PM

Any capacity of the LaCie D2 series Amazon.com: LaCie d2 250GB TRIPLE interface external hard drive FW/FW800/USB2 ( 300718 ): Electronics

Kenneth · May 20, 2007, 01:04 AM

I like my LaCie d2 FW800 drive although some users ain't happy about the reliability and support from LaCie.

Macintouch.com link.

itistoday · May 20, 2007, 01:18 AM

Originally Posted by cgc

I bought this external Firewire 400/800 with USB 2 and ESATA enclosure. Very well built and very fast. Love it.

Paid $99 for the enclosure and $59 for a 250GB Western Digital SATA2 drive to put in it.

Oh my god... Wow. That is a nice enclosure indeed... It even has eSATA... It seems I've made a mistake in rushing to order the Mybook... hopefully it's not too late to cancel the order...

cgc · May 20, 2007, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by itistoday

Oh my god... Wow. That is a nice enclosure indeed... It even has eSATA... It seems I've made a mistake in rushing to order the Mybook... hopefully it's not too late to cancel the order...

I like it but I originally bought it because I knew the drive inside it was of good quality. BTW, check Spoofee.com - Best Deals, Freebies and Coupons Everyday! for deals on a hard drive, they're always posting (and there's a 500GB Maxtor on there for $99 from Fry's)

itistoday · May 20, 2007, 03:50 PM

Originally Posted by cgc

I like it but I originally bought it because I knew the drive inside it was of good quality. BTW, check Spoofee.com - Best Deals, Freebies and Coupons Everyday! for deals on a hard drive, they're always posting (and there's a 500GB Maxtor on there for $99 from Fry's)

Thanks, I decided to go with your enclosure and a 320GB Seagate hard drive from Newegg. It came out to about the same price as the Mybook. Can't wait till they get here!

cgc · May 26, 2007, 05:21 PM

How'd the drive and enclosure work out for you?

itistoday · May 26, 2007, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by cgc

How'd the drive and enclosure work out for you?

So far it's working great! I'm very impressed with the enclosure, the only "problem" that I had with it was with the instructions that came with it (they didn't mention a few screws that had to be unscrewed). As far as the hard drive is concerned, it's seems to be working fine. The only minor concern that I had is whether or not the drive gets too hot since the enclosure doesn't have active cooling, but I don't think it's a problem.

Thanks again for the suggestion, I'm really happy with this setup, and it feels like a great weight has been lifted off of my shoulders now that I don't have to worry about my laptop's hard drive dying.

cgc · May 26, 2007, 06:44 PM

Cool. I had the same issue with the screws in the cover. The directions said to remove two screws and had a drawing but there were two others (four total). Other than that I have no problem with heat, noise, speed, etc. Great enclosure.

hamertime · Jul 27, 2007, 10:59 AM

(oops, wrong thread)