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paul55555 · Jul 26, 2011, 01:47 AM

Anyone care to recommend a reliable external drive for a MacBook Pro? Ease of use, ability to select my own folders/files for backup and incremental backups after the first main disk backup are preferred. However, all three capabilities seem to be lacking on devices I have reviewed.

I would share synopsis of reviews but am unsure if mention of product names is ethical or legal via forums.

Thank You

CharlesS · Jul 26, 2011, 03:16 AM

The best external drive is one of these inside a USB or FireWire enclosure of your choosing.

angelmb · Jul 26, 2011, 06:21 AM

I got the WD Caviar Black model, is it any better.?

CharlesS · Jul 26, 2011, 02:08 PM

The Blacks are faster than the Greens, but since the Greens are already faster than either FireWire or USB, it doesn't really matter for an external drive. The Greens use less power and generate less heat, which makes them a more solid choice in an external drive IMO as they'll be less likely to overheat, especially if the enclosure doesn't have a fan. Your Black will probably be fine though.

angelmb · Jul 26, 2011, 02:57 PM

Thanks Charles, I should had pointed out that mine is internal, my bad.

CharlesS · Jul 26, 2011, 03:19 PM

If it's inside your computer and connected directly via SATA, then the Black will be a bit faster, although it will consume more power.

richwig83 · Jul 26, 2011, 06:51 PM

I just bought a Western Digital MyBook Studio Edition II 2TB Firewire 400 / 800

Seems like it performs well to me!

CharlesS · Jul 26, 2011, 11:52 PM

The trouble with those is that they're just as expensive as buying an internal drive + an enclosure, but they're almost impossible to get open, sometimes even necessitating destroying the enclosure to do so.

angelmb · Jul 27, 2011, 02:21 AM

Originally Posted by richwig83

I just bought a Western Digital MyBook Studio Edition II 2TB Firewire 400 / 800

Seems like it performs well to me!

I have that one as back-up means for an iMac. It's nice and looks great, but as Charles pointed out, I guess we're not going to be able to open it should the need arise… Same for my LaCie brick (a.k.a. Lego). On the other hand, I've changed the hard disk inside my good old LaCie d2 countless times, OK, maybe just three or four times but it is doable.

Anyhow, I wish I had a LaCie 5big. Now those are cool !!

Spheric Harlot · Jul 27, 2011, 03:37 AM

They all suck: Get two.

(I've been happy with my WD external, and the LaCies had crappy power supplies but have long since switched to generic plugs, so that doesn't matter.

richwig83 · Jul 27, 2011, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

The trouble with those is that they're just as expensive as buying an internal drive + an enclosure, but they're almost impossible to get open, sometimes even necessitating destroying the enclosure to do so.

They are dead easy to open... push the top down and it springs open.

I paid about 140GBP for mine, which i don't consider to be fortune for something which looks and performs good!

angelmb · Jul 27, 2011, 01:07 PM

Duh!!, I need more sleep.