Recommendation for an External HD for Mac?

[Chekhonte]

I have a seagate freeagent Pro and it says that it has a limited 5 year warranty.

By the way, the Free Agent Pros look awesome. They are black anodized aluminium and a cool star trek next generation like glowing orange stripe that runs up front and top. The only shitty part is that the base isn't detachable.

[Chekhonte]

[ojnihs]

always liked how the new seagates look

[thrice]

Just thought I'd bump this up. I'm thinking about expanding my storage/backups to be more robust and I'd like something like this:

A one box solution where I could swap out/add drives as needed. Ideally it would be something that could handle at least 4 1TB 3.5" drives (unless there's a reason to go with 5" or something else).

I'd like for the first 2 1TB drives to be storage for digital media files and then the second 2 1TB drives as backups.

I'm not really familiar with NAS, so any links that can point me in the right direction would be good. I'm hoping to find something that can last awhile and handle higher capacity drives as they become available.

[deepak]

Here is some info on the Infrant ReadyNAS+

[ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=4sD3BjhOjq8]YouTube - JESUITS - gadget @ TTS -Ep3- Infrant ReadyNAS NV+[/ame]

It really is that good (but expensive), my friend's dad has one in their house and it gets accessed by 5+ computers at any given time. It's now sold with the Netgear brand name.

[thrice]

It's funny you mention that one because I was particularly looking at this awhile ago on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122010

[stevieo]

i happen to like the stuff from newer tech available at macsales.com

here is a link to their eternal drives;

http://www.newertech.com/products/externalhd.php

[deepak]

It's funny you mention that one because I was particularly looking at this awhile ago on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122010

Yeah I've been thinking about picking one up and adding my own drives. On the other hand 2x 1 TB drives is a lot cheaper and the other one would be used for backup. And I don't think RAID is the best solution if your data is of critical importance.

[grawk]

Yeah I've been thinking about picking one up and adding my own drives. On the other hand 2x 1 TB drives is a lot cheaper and the other one would be used for backup. And I don't think RAID is the best solution if your data is of critical importance.

RAID is better than no protection. Not everyone needs double mirrored backups with a hot site

[deepak]

RAID is better than no protection. Not everyone needs double mirrored backups with a hot site

I agree to both statements. Personally (I think) I would forgo the convenience of a NAS and just do manual backups myself. My biggest worry about the Netgear NAS is the quality of the power supply used.

[thrice]

Hmmm, well I was trying to avoid multiple drives and manual backups, but I guess if I went the NAS route, I'd really want to insure that the hardware was spot-on and reliable.

It's true that I could pick up 2 X 1TB Western Digital MyBook (or something similar) drives for $600-800, but I was also thinking about the future...getting something that would last 5-10 years and be flexible...start off with 1 drive and a backup and be able to expand from there. Perhaps I'm being a bit unrealistic about that?

[aardvark baguette]

It's true that I could pick up 2 X 1TB Western Digital MyBook (or something similar) drives for $600-800

http://www.buy.com/prod/cavalry-2tb-2-x-1tb-sata-drives-usb-2-0-external-hard-drive/q/loc/101/205714248.html

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=206805170&adid=17654&dcaid=17654

The JBOD version is whisper quiet and barley gets warm at all. Its power brick is bigger than all other external drive bricks I have personally used, which may indicate better quality (but that is pure speculation on my part).

I have several 500 GB external drives; Fantom Devices, Seagate and LaCie. The FD is the most responsive, but also the loudest. Annoyingly loud, if you want a quiet room. But my bedroom computer is so much louder it is negated. The Seagate that I use for web backup at work is whisper quiet, but rather sluggish. Its reasonably cool.

The LaCie is quiet and reasonably fast, but gets rather warm to the touch. When I use it, I put a Woo Audio headphone stand on top, and it acts as a giant heatsink. I have tested this several times, and it really sucks the heat out of the unit

But the Calvary seems to best, though it has not been used for very long. But it is as quiet and cool as any of the other drives, and just as fast, while also being 2 terrabytes. I am extremely happy with it.

[tyrion]

I know it's pricey but I'm going with an Apple Time Capsule, 1TB. I am looking for ease of use, no wires and easy access for the other comps in the house to use as backup. I should have it on Tuesday.

[n_maher]

For those of you now on the Buy.com mailing list one of the current specials is a 750GB WD "My Book" external drive for $159 w/ free shipping. That's about as cheap as I've seen that much storage.

[ojnihs]

For those of you now on the Buy.com mailing list one of the current specials is a 750GB WD "My Book" external drive for $159 w/ free shipping. That's about as cheap as I've seen that much storage.

thanks for the heads-up nate

[The Monkey]

I'm looking for an external HD for my iMac. Will be used for backup and storage. Looking for 500GB. Recommendations appreciated.

Here's what I ended up doing. I went with 2 of these enclosures: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/usb/eliteclassic. I put a 500GB in one for music and a 750GB in the other for backing up both my internal iMac drive (250GB) and the external music drive.