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Scotttheking · Feb 25, 2001, 09:27 PM

I need a new hard drive, and since I can't put another hard drive in my comp without a card, I want to get an external firewire drive. The problem is that I can't seem to find a good drive.
I need a drive in the 45-75GB range, fast (7200RPM), and reliable.
Also, it must be relatively cheap in price, while still high quality.
I'd rather not spend more then $600.

Can someone point me to a good drive?

mike one · Feb 25, 2001, 10:40 PM

scott,

i've been in the same boat as you, with the same setup.
I haven't purchased a firewire drive yet, but i have been considering it.
one thing to think about is the drive speed.
if the price difference isn't that much between a 5400 and a 7200 then definately go for the 7200. but if the difference is huge consider that the bottleneck for firewire HDs is the firewire bridge and not the drive speed.

either way i would check out http://www.madlogix.com or http://www.madlogix.com/firacforcom.html

***75 GIG 7200 RPM EXTERNAL FIREWIRE HARD DRIVE FOR PC OR MAC
Regular price: $749.00
Sale price: $439.00

seems like that would be the answer to your question

[This message has been edited by mike one (edited 02-25-2001).]

Fyre4ce · Feb 25, 2001, 11:44 PM

Why go with FireWire? My recommendation is that you go with the IBM Deskstar 75GXP. It is a 7200 rpm drive that uses an ATA/66 or ATA/100 interface. It has a sustained transfer rate of 37 MB/s! That's amazing for a desktop-caliber drive. I don't own one, but I know other people who do and they are pleased. Before you buy a hard drive, compare its sustained transfer rate to the 75GXP's - I think you will be surprised. Most desktop drives get around 15 MB/s. Another nice thing about this drive is that it's compatible with your present hardware. Just find some way to back up your present hard drive, pop it out, pop in the 75GXP, and you're in business! It comes in sizes ranging from about 30 GB to 75 GB. You can find it on http://www.pricewatch.com/

HTH!

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Fyre4ce

"I need a vacation." - Terminator robot

Fyre4ce · Feb 25, 2001, 11:49 PM

To go along with my last post, I did a little comparison shopping on your behalf. The drive that mike one referred to has a sustained transfer rate of 13 MB/s, one third that of the 75GXP! And now let's compare prices: The drive mike one quotes was 75 GB for $439.00. On Pricewatch, I found a 75 GB 75GXP for $271 + shipping! Oh yeah!

I hope I helped you out!

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Fyre4ce

"I need a vacation." - Terminator robot

mike one · Feb 26, 2001, 12:18 AM

Fyre4ce,

what you fail to realize is that rev 1 b&w g3s only allow for one internal HD on the ata bus. you can buy a ata card to add 4 more drives, and i did but ran into problems because it tricked the comp into thinking all the drives were SCSI, which was a problem for certain installers, darwin 1.0 for one, and for OSXPB as well. so the card went back.

firewire drives have other advantages as well, namely that they're portable.

what i did with my b&w 350 was to install a 20 GB drive, and by chance my 6 GB stock drive died the same day, before i could transfer the files. good think i do CDRW backups frequently.

scott,
Fyre4ce has a good point suggesting that you might want to just upgrade the internal hard drive. the problem is figuring a way to file transfer the old data. you could for example plug the old drive into the CD/DVD bus temporarily. it works, i've done it before, and put the new internal drive on the ata bus.
or you could buy a usb box for one of the drives (~$60) i would be reluctant to do this especially if my data wasn't backed up.

also check to see if you have a rev 2 b&w then you could just install the new drive right on the old one. (i'm assuming that you have a rev 1)

you have many options. good luck with whatever you choose.

[This message has been edited by mike one (edited 02-25-2001).]

[This message has been edited by mike one (edited 02-25-2001).]

G4ME · Feb 26, 2001, 01:41 AM

You can pick up a IBM deskstar and an contoler card from VST or sonnet for far cheaped then an external firewire drive

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I Have a Super Computer

Scotttheking · Feb 26, 2001, 02:06 AM

a) PCI slots very valuable, no room for an IDE controller card.
b) I need multiple hard drives, I need a boot drive for OSX, 9.1, and 8.6. -can't just swap out current drive.
c) I'm going to college next year, and a firewire drive will plug into the laptop that I'm going to buy, although the 8.6 boot drive will be useless on it.

thus, I need a firewire drive.
The bridge shouldn't be such a limit, because an ATA 100 drive can go fast enough.
Can people give me recommendations for a drive that fits the requirements in my last post?

Also, how do I get files from the stock IDE hard drive to a new internal one? I'm also getting a deskstar, probably a 45GB.

Bartholomew · Feb 26, 2001, 02:33 AM

I also have a B&W G3 Rev 1. I recently upgraded the 6GB Hard drive to a 30GB Maxtor. The way I got around copying my files from the 6GB to the new 30GB was quite simple. I disconnected the CDRom/Zip drive ATA bus from the motherboard and connected the new 30GB drive in their place - while leaving the original 6GB in place of course.

Then I just started up the computer, formated the new drive and moved every thing over. Hope that helps, Good luck!

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G3BW300

Feb 26, 2001, 03:31 AM

New bridge chips for Firewire drives introduced late last year--should be making their way into product soon. ATA100 compatible and speeds of 30mb/s.

Or you could purchase an IBM60-75GB drive, pop it into your computer, purchase a bare firewire drive enclosure [$150-$200--YMMV] and pop the old drive into that.

Transintl.com has Maxtor branded 40 and 60 GB firewire drives starting at $260.

Scotttheking · Feb 26, 2001, 03:35 AM

The maxtor drives only do 10MB/sec or so.
That kind of speed sucks.

Fyre4ce · Feb 26, 2001, 01:14 PM

Scottheking,

I know you want a firewire drive, but please consider the facts. You get about six times the perfornance/price ratio with the IBM drive. If there is any way at all that you can live with it, it will be worth it.

originally posted by Scottheking:
a) PCI slots very valuable, no room for an IDE controller card.

No biggie - swap out your current drive.

originally posted by Scottheking:
b) I need multiple hard drives, I need a boot drive for OSX, 9.1, and 8.6. -can't just swap out current drive.

Partition.

originally posted by Scottheking:
c) I'm going to college next year, and a firewire drive will plug into the laptop that I'm going to buy, although the 8.6 boot drive will be useless on it.

Just use an Ethernet crossover cable or a small hub. Doing this is just as easy as swaping an external drive, yet you still reap the speed benefits.

I'm not trying to be a jerk or a hard-a$$ about the issue - I'm trying to help you get the best setup possible. I know the setup I'm suggesting isn't what you have in mind, but please consider the alternative. I am in a very similar position as you - I'm going off to college next year, except I have the laptop now (Pismo) and I'll be getting a desktop this summer. I'm going to get a 75GXP and take the ethernet switch from my house. Now all I have to do is pray for UMA-2 in MWNY!

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Fyre4ce

"I need a vacation." - Terminator robot

[This message has been edited by Fyre4ce (edited 02-26-2001).]

Scotttheking · Feb 26, 2001, 10:45 PM

a) I still need TWO physical drives.
The internal one, which stays with my G3 AT HOME when I go to college.
The external one, which goes with me to college to serve as my extra drive space.

Ethernet?
I want to have ONE computer with me next year.

The Firewire drive is going to be a seperate boot drive.
It is going to be for my migration to OSX.

Can anyone recomend a good firewire hard drive?

Feb 26, 2001, 10:56 PM

http://www.scsipro.com/
Download the pricelist >> page 17
Drive enclosures with new bridge chips >> 40 mb/s
Put your own bare drive in it.

G4ME · Feb 26, 2001, 11:08 PM

Macware house has a LaCie 60 gig firewire hard drive @ 7200 RPM for only 340 pretty good buy I'll take two.

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I Have a Super Computer

Fyre4ce · Feb 27, 2001, 12:48 AM

originally posted by Scotttheking:
a) I still need TWO physical drives.
The internal one, which stays with my G3 AT HOME when I go to college.
The external one, which goes with me to college to serve as my extra drive space.

Ethernet?
I want to have ONE computer with me next year.

The Firewire drive is going to be a seperate boot drive.
It is going to be for my migration to OSX.

OK, fair enough. I didn't understand what you wanted to do. I am by no measure an authority on FireWire drives, but it sounds like you may still be able to get the 75GXP and put it in an external FireWire enclosure. Now that would be awesome.

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Fyre4ce

"I need a vacation." - Terminator robot

Scotttheking · Feb 28, 2001, 01:36 AM

Thanx for the help, I guess I have to build it myself.

Scotttheking · Feb 28, 2001, 02:00 AM

Will the firewire drive be bootable?

Feb 28, 2001, 02:11 AM

OK, fair enough. I didn't understand what you wanted to do. I am by no measure an authority on FireWire drives, but it sounds like you may still be able to get the 75GXP and put it in an external FireWire enclosure. Now that would be awesome.

This will do no good if you put it in an enclosure that uses original 1394-IDE bridge chips. Expect speeds of 16-20mb/s as the bridge is only ATA33.

Digital Granite is the only dealer offering newer, faster bridge chips in their enclosures.

Scotttheking · Feb 28, 2001, 08:48 PM

That is what I'm getting.
Question repeated: Is it bootable?

mike one · Mar 1, 2001, 02:30 PM

I don't think you should count on it being bootable.

Scotttheking · Mar 16, 2001, 03:36 AM

OK, I got the deskstar, I got the case from digital granite, and now I get cannot format errors.
What can I do to fix this?
I really need this drive to work.

WillyB · Mar 16, 2001, 09:22 AM

Do you own "HardDisk ToolKit" ? Apple's 'Drive Setup' is notorious for dis-liking 3rd party drives. If you don't own it already, Give FWB HardDisk ToolKit a try. It's very stable.

nine11always · Mar 16, 2001, 12:25 PM

Scotttheking:

I too needed a new HD, and after reading this thread and doing a little of my own research decided to get the 75GXP (60gb) for my B&W G3/450 as a slave. I couldn't be happier with the drive. Installation was a snap and Drive Setup formatted the drive in about 10 sec. (from my original drive).

Is your model the GXP? I think there is another Deskstar model that isn't a GXP version � that could be one problem. Are you using drive setup from OS 9.1? Make sure both the spare IDE cable AND the spare power cable are inserted tightly. Finally, make sure you have the correct jumper settings for the Deskstar. Here's a link that will explain everything (if you don't already have this):
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/IDE/add_2nd_drive/index.html

Good luck!