External Hard Drive

[iGuy]

Wanting opinions on external hard drives for storage.  I am needing one to backup family pictures, videos and music.  I realize videos take up lots of space I don't plan on putting a lot of those on the drive because of that.  I may keep some on tape of burn to DVD to prevent the drive from filling up.  Looks like OWC has different options for this but I came across this and wondered if it would be a good one.  http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack_classic/

Thanks,
Ryan

[iGuy]

I guess my first link is designed to stack with a Mac Mini but I like the looks of it.  Here is another drive on OWC.  http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MAU4S7S1TB32/

[kimmer]

I was just going to recommend the OWC Mercury Elite Pro. I have two and have found them super reliable. Sneakers has one, maybe two? Not sure.

[Jack W]

Ryan,

I've always been real happy with OWC, and I have had several of their drives over the years.

But not recently.

And I think you could not go wrong with the Elite model.

And it has firewire 400 and USB 2.

I currently use Hitachi 1TB drives for my external storage (in McCaAlly enclosures - firewire 2x800 & 1x400 + USB 2 + eSata).

Love them!

Jack

[RNKIII]

Have several OWC Mercury Elite Pros and Mercury Elites from 1Tb on down to 250 GB.  Most of them have been running 24/7 for a number of years without a hickup or failure  (as yet)...

Very highly recommend them.

Bob K.   rnkiii

[Paddy]

Um...first off, for forward compatibility, please don't buy anything without USB 3.0. New Macs have Firewire 800, not FW 400. And USB 2.0 is dog slow. Even if your current Mac doesn't have USB 3.0 or FW 800 or Thunderbolt, if you upgrade in the next few years, anything new will. You can use a USB 3.0 drive with a USB 2.0 Mac - it will just work at USB 2.0 speeds. For Firewire 800 you will need an adapter, and if it's that or using USB 2.0, I'd recommend you get the adapter as FW400 is faster than USB 2.0.

Given that, if you want the OWC drive, then I'd go with this enclosure:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20Wor...ng/ME3QHKIT0GB/

I don't generally buy pre-assembled hard drives because you never know what's inside until you get it. I usually buy drives with 3 or preferably 5 year warranties. I used to like the Western Digital Caviar Black (still do like the ones I have) but the reviews lately haven't been as good at NewEgg as they once were. However, it still has a 5 year warranty, so definitely worth consideration. An enterprise class drive is probably overkill, though the price of these isn't bad, considering: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?...N82E16822148784

Other options on the enclosure front:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?...N82E16817347039

I've had good luck with Macally enclosures.

And I've also had good luck with Vantec enclosures, which are a lot cheaper (but you only get USB 3.0):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817392036

I'm guessing portability isn't an issue, but my absolute fave little portable HD right now is the Hitachi Touro. Yes - violated my own rule against pre-assembled drives, but I've gotten these on sale for $79 at Staples, and they work off one USB port not two (like a lot of 2.5" drives without their own power bricks - you have to read the fine print!) and are fast and reliable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822145597 OR
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Touro-Mobile-Ex...s=Hitachi+Touro

I don't know what capacity drive you're looking for - I have noticed that there are 2TB drives out there that don't cost much more than 1TB drives. If you do go the route of buying the drive and the enclosure separately, read lots of reviews - NewEgg and Amazon are both good sources, and make sure that the enclosure you buy is rated for the size and speed of the drive you choose. (There are some enclosures, for instance, that say they can only take up to 1TB - I'd avoid those, again - for forward compatibility, even if you're not planning on putting anything larger in the enclosure to begin with).

Assembling your own HD is dead easy, by the way. Generally all you will need is a small Philips screwdriver.

[chriskleeman]

Hi iGuy,

What Paddy said...  

All good info and I've had good luck with the OWC Mercury Elite Pro drives, I've got 4 of them spread throughout the family. But do pay attention to the connectivity information for any enclosure for sure as Paddy recommends. OWC specifies which drives are in those pre-assembled enclosures, and I prefer the Hitachi drives. I was able to get them to swap out an enclosure that came with a Seagate drive, after Seagate had reduced their warranty to one year on the particular drive in that enclosure.

HTH,

Chris  

[Frances144]

I have one by Vosonic VP8870 that also has a card reader too.

Love it!

[iGuy]

Sorry I haven't replied sooner been busy.  Thanks for the helpful info.