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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Suggestions for External Hard Drive?
Jason Braverman, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Atlanta | GA | USA | Posted: 2:38 PM on 03.29.09 |
| ->> I am looking at getting a 1TB external hard drive for my MacBook Pro (running OS-X 10.4.11 - eventually upgrading to Leopard). I did a couple searches on here, but they are all about a year old. With the changing technology, I thought I would ask you guys what you suggest. Thanks a lot for the help. |
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Michael Clark, Photographer
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Santa Fe | NM | USA | Posted: 3:05 PM on 03.29.09 |
| ->> Seagate, Western Digital, or the best of the best in my view for externals are the G-tech drives - a bit more expensive but you get what you pay for. Avoid LaCie at all costs. |
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Kirby Yau, Photographer, Assistant
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San Diego | CA | USA | Posted: 3:12 PM on 03.29.09 |
->> OWC. www.macsales.com
I've had their hard drives for years and they are still spinning.
Depending on your budget. A Drobo maybe a good choice. They are down to $379.99 after a $50 rebate.
I've added a drobo to my work flow and it adds greater piece of mind. |
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Debra L Rothenberg, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 4:33 PM on 03.29.09 |
| ->> I have been using LaCie for 9 years and have never had a problem. |
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Michael Chansley, Photographer, Assistant
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Tucson | AZ | USA | Posted: 5:29 PM on 03.29.09 |
| ->> I also use LaCie and would highly recommend them |
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Mark Sutton, Photographer
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Herndon | VA | USA | Posted: 5:38 PM on 03.29.09 |
->> I can’t say this about all the Seagate brands, because I’ve had success with the small portable 500 Gig devices and the 1.5 Ter firewire devices. But this particular device http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8995554&type=product&id=12180... I would definitely stay as far away as possible. I brought one about a month ago to travel with me for backup because I had to shoot 2 college basketball tournaments back-to-back and was going to be living out of hotel rooms for almost 2 weeks straight.
I went to Best Buy because this particular drive was on sale, but to my amazement after the first day of the first tournament I downloaded 4 games worth of RAW footage onto this drive. The next morning my MacBook Pro wouldn’t recognize the drive or it’s content. I went on the Seagate website to download all the diagnostics associated with this drive and still couldn’t get it to be recognized. I even tried it with a PC, but still no joy. I went to the Best Buy website and the drive got very terrible reviews from its customers, so again STAY AWAY from this drive.
I returned it for full refund and got another smaller 500 gig drive. |
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Greg Francis, Photographer
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 6:21 PM on 03.29.09 |
->> I've had good luck with 6 Acomdata drives. One drive died and Acomdata repaired it within 3 weeks.
I just purchased two of the Seagate 1.5tb drives Mark references above ($112 each) and hope they will last. It's a 5 year warranty at least. |
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Ray Anderson, Photographer
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San Francisco | CA | USA | Posted: 6:33 PM on 03.29.09 |
->> To bulky to take on the road but I picked up a 2TB raid 800 firewire and USB western digital for 240.00 from a dealer with amazon.
I set the drive up to mirror all my backups so now if one of the drives fail I still have the other one in the same package.
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-WDH2Q20000N-Studio-Interface/dp/B0016... |
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David Seelig, Photographer
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Hailey | ID | USA | Posted: 6:46 PM on 03.29.09 |
| ->> I bought a seagate it went bad on me returned it to them they sent it back all my data gone. Get a drive you can get into if the drive fails and have it mirrored . BUY identical drives so you can change to elecrronics on one if the electronics go bad and get your data off of it. |
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Francis Specker, Photographer
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Riverside | CA | USA | Posted: 7:28 PM on 03.29.09 |
->> You can purchase a eSata express card for your MBP and use eSata drives that are faster than anything else out there.
To read more about eSata for the Mac Book Pro:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-Drive-SATA-vs-Firewire.html
You can buy eSata enclosures and put in any internal drive for sale.
The new Seagate 1.5 Tb drives had some firmware issues. Not sure if has been fixed.
I love my Drobo. Easy to use, and I have some peace of mind.
For portable drives, my Lacie rugged drives with FW800, FW, and USB have been good. No power brick needed. |
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Russ Isabella, Photographer
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Salt Lake City | UT | USA | Posted: 8:22 PM on 03.29.09 |
| ->> The only brand I have personal experience with that I would not recommend is Maxtor. I've had 3 of them fail on me (out of about 6 or 7 I've used). More recently, based on advice from this message board, I've stuck with Western Digital or Seagate. |
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Karl Anderson, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
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McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 11:06 PM on 03.29.09 |
| ->> Go for the MacSales drives. |
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Mike Isler, Photographer, Assistant
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New York | NY | US | Posted: 12:28 AM on 03.30.09 |
->> I'll second Michael's comment about avoiding LaCie's. The drives don't usually die, but the power supplies do. I've had 6 power supplies fail, making it seem as though the drive died (drive spins up but blue light blinks constantly and drive doesn't "mount"). I also had a LaCie that the FW port died on it. I avoid these at all costs now (except for the Rugged's, the small bus-powered models).
Wiebetech's are pretty solid. |
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Neil Turner, Photographer
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Bournemouth | UK | United Kingdom | Posted: 3:42 AM on 03.30.09 |
->> I have seven LaCie drives including the excellent RAID 2big version and the only problems that I have had have been dead power supplies. They get too hot if they are left connected 24/7 - especially on the network drives - and I keep a couple of spare power supplies in the cupboard.
The 320 Gb rugged LaCie drives are good for travel and I can honestly report no problems with any of them.
I have had three drive failures in the ten years that I have had externals. The first to go was a Maxtor One Touch, then a Buffalo Link Station and last week my other Maxtor went. I am happy to report that I had all of my data backed up on at least one other drive and so nothing lost. I have removed the drive from the Buffalo and that is OK now it is in a housing but neither Maxtor seems to be savable without resorting to big money. |
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Jason Braverman, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Atlanta | GA | USA | Posted: 10:20 AM on 03.30.09 |
| ->> Thanks guys for all the opinions. I appreciate it! |
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Harrison Shull, Photographer
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Fayetteville, WV | Asheville, NC | | Posted: 10:45 AM on 03.30.09 |
->> Evidentlyy... opinions on LaCie vary here at SS. LaCie does not make hard drives. They buy hard drives from a manufacturer and place them into their enclosures. Some may have had good luck with them but I have heard too many stories of issues backed up by too many people for me to gamble on them.
Just like Ford/Chevy, Nikon/Canon, and Chocolate/Vanilla... you are going to get varying opinions of reliability of hard drives from varying manufacturers. The bottom line is that all hard drives will fail at some point.
If you are looking for a hard drive that you take on the road and only spin up when you need it, then get one of those compact 2.5" drives that have been touted above.
But if you are looking at an external drive that will be at home/office and be powered on most of the time, it is VERY important that you address the #1 killer of hard drives - heat. Make sure you get a hard drive that has a fan in the enclosure to help bring air across the drive to moderate temps.
The best solution I have found - and interestingly the cheapest as well! - is to buy a reputable internal SATA hard drive at whatever capacity you need. Then buy an external enclosure that has a fan on it. Spend ten minutes "plugging-and-playing" to get the drive installed and you are set to go.
A few of the advantages are... saved initial cost, fan cooling, drive/case interchangability, ability to stick the HD from the external case into your tower, ability to salvage case or drive if the other fails, and peace of mind |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | US | Posted: 2:14 PM on 03.30.09 |
->> I haven't read all the responses here but this is what I gather about this topic (and many other topics here at SS):
Every product is great. Every product is bad. Every manufacturers service is great. Every manufacturers service is bad. |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 6:57 PM on 03.30.09 |
->> I just went and purchased a My Book from Costco (139.00) which has 3 ways to connect, USB, Firewire 400 and eSata.
Right now I have it connected via FW400 till I get a eSata card.
My other 2 external drives are another My Book (USB 2.0 version) and Seagate Pro which has eSata, Firewire 400, USB 2.0 as well.
I am moving all of my images to the faster new My Book and making the slower My Book a Backup destination for my images and computer.
All three externals are 1TB each. Works for me |
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Neil Wade, Photographer
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Taipei | __ | Taiwan | Posted: 6:54 AM on 03.31.09 |
| ->> I've had no problems with Seagate or Western Digital. An old LaCie portable drive corrupted on me though. |
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