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Hard Drive selection for external backup use?
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: CO
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There's several thread about some issues, but they leave me unsure about minium requirements.
I've got an old Club Mac enclosure that came with a 30GB Quantum Fireball (back when that was big) and firewire.
Enclosure is very basic, but works fine for backup... I just need larger capacity (3.5") drive(s) in it to back up couple PBs & iBooks.
When I look at newegg or zipzoom fly I see some Western Digital, etc. 3.5", but many are SATA. Years ago when I got the Club Mac unit, SERIAL ATA was scarcely known, so the questions:
Can most drives listed as SATA be used in old ATA/firewire enclosures for 3.5" drives?
Is there any benefit to SATA? or just more expensive? Will the bridge in the old enclosure prob limit any speed gain from having faster speed drive?
Since it's just for backup, I'd like to know what's inexpensive (a "good value") but reliable. If they're reliable I'd rather get two inexpensive 100GB (so I can have diff rotating backups) for the price of one that faster, quieter, etc.
With PB replacements I've really liked the IBM/Hitachi 2.5" for both cost and performance. Prices for same size and speed vary so much it's puzzling. What will make me similarly satisfied for a 3.5" enclosure? Thanks guys!
PS: zipzoomfly list a 5400rpm for only $50:
***Maxtor Fireball 3 2F040L0 40GB Ultra ATA/133 5400RPM Hard Drive w/Fluid Dynamic Bearing Motors *** Free 2nd Day ***
If I could find something like that was 60GB that'd be great.
But I see that newegg has a WD 320GB ! for $125 (can that be right?):
***Western Digital Caviar SE 320GB 3.5" IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100***
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Last edited by Love Calm Quiet; Dec 7, 2005 at 12:52 PM.
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TOMBSTONE: "He's trashed his last preferences"
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Syracuse
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Imac Core Duo 1.83/1.5 GB/20 inch cinema, ibook G4 1 ghz
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Washington, DC
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Yeah, there are a lot of great deals on large hard drives. Since your enclosure is fairly old, though, you should figure out if it can actually support a large drive (over 128 GB) if you go that route.
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"One ticket to Washington, please. I have a date with destiny."
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Originally Posted by Love Calm Quiet
There's several thread about some issues, but they leave me unsure about minium requirements.
I've got an old Club Mac enclosure that came with a 30GB Quantum Fireball (back when that was big) and firewire.
Enclosure is very basic, but works fine for backup... I just need larger capacity (3.5") drive(s) in it to back up couple PBs & iBooks.
When I look at newegg or zipzoom fly I see some Western Digital, etc. 3.5", but many are SATA. Years ago when I got the Club Mac unit, SERIAL ATA was scarcely known, so the questions:
Can most drives listed as SATA be used in old ATA/firewire enclosures for 3.5" drives?
Is there any benefit to SATA? or just more expensive? Will the bridge in the old enclosure prob limit any speed gain from having faster speed drive?
Yes, you can get adapter boards to connect SATA drives to ATA ports; they're about $10. With the adapter the drive may or may not fit in the enclosure you have. For you theres no real benefit to SATA. It's about the same price, but why bother? A regular old ATA drive can easily saturate the practical bandwidth of Firewire.
Originally Posted by Love Calm Quiet
Since it's just for backup, I'd like to know what's inexpensive (a "good value") but reliable. If they're reliable I'd rather get two inexpensive 100GB (so I can have diff rotating backups) for the price of one that faster, quieter, etc.
PS: zipzoomfly list a 5400rpm for only $50:
***Maxtor Fireball 3 2F040L0 40GB Ultra ATA/133 5400RPM Hard Drive w/Fluid Dynamic Bearing Motors *** Free 2nd Day ***
If I could find something like that was 60GB that'd be great.
But I see that newegg has a WD 320GB ! for $125 (can that be right?):
***Western Digital Caviar SE 320GB 3.5" IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100***
Seagate offers an industry leading 5 year warranty on all of their ATA drives. You can look at the reliablity of a particular model at StorageReview(.com) Drive Reliability Database.
40GB for $50 is pretty bad. 250 and 300GB drives are the sweet spot these days, going for $0.40-0.45 a gig. 320GB for $125 is a good price, but nothing unusual. Newegg is a good vendor to buy from.
Something to keep in mind is that your old enclosure bridge chip may only support drives up to 128GiB (137 billion bytes). New enclosures don't cost much ($30-40); look for an Oxford chipset.
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA
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Some of the cases you can buy today won't support over 128 gigs. Look for a sticker on the box that specifically states that the case will support those big drives if you choose to replace your case.
Or just get a 120 gig drive (ATA as you've already seen above).
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Boston, MA
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Hmm...
TomRock, you present some very helpful info, as I've also got an old external box I'd like to upgrade.
Does anybody have some kind of a guide for what to look for (when gazing inside a box) to tell what a box (that came with no manual -or for which I lost manual years ago) can successfully accommodate? Am I guessing right that an older box almost certainly will NOT support over 128gigs? (mine came with a 20GB Quantum).
If so I guess I need to look for some dirt cheap 120GB drives. Shouldn't there be fire sales on some of those by now?
EDIT: Also, what does "not support over 128GB" mean: that it won't work at all? or that if I get a bargain on a 200GB that it'll work but that I'll not be able to access all of it?
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Left Coast
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Why persist with an ancient external box when you can apparently get a 250GB USB2 7200rpm at MacMall for $130?
I'm assuming that this is NOT a bus-powered unit, so shouldn't have those issues.
I haven't bought from MacMall for years, so if anyone has concerns or this seems too good to be true, please let me know.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Originally Posted by gopikrishna
Hmm...
TomRock, you present some very helpful info, as I've also got an old external box I'd like to upgrade.
Does anybody have some kind of a guide for what to look for (when gazing inside a box) to tell what a box (that came with no manual -or for which I lost manual years ago) can successfully accommodate? Am I guessing right that an older box almost certainly will NOT support over 128gigs? (mine came with a 20GB Quantum).
If so I guess I need to look for some dirt cheap 120GB drives. Shouldn't there be fire sales on some of those by now?
EDIT: Also, what does "not support over 128GB" mean: that it won't work at all? or that if I get a bargain on a 200GB that it'll work but that I'll not be able to access all of it?
Look up the part number on Google. If it mentions LBA48 support you will be fine.
120GB drives ~$70-75, while 250GB drives are $100.
You can put a larger disk in, but you'll only be able to use the first 128GB of it.
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