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Old Feb 10, 2005, 03:40 PM   #1
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USB/Firewire hard drive
I want to buy one, at least 200 gigs with both USB 2 AND firewire support. I don't necessarily need any backup software or other frills/gadgets.

Can anyone recommend a good quality drive? Any helpful advice or tips would be appreciated. Thanks!
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 06:05 PM   #2
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I have an Iomega USB 2.0 160gig myself, no complaints.

Have you though about buying an enclosure, and then picking out which HD you want?
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 07:03 PM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #3
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yeah i've been checking that out. what are the benefits besides being able to pick any hard drive?
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 07:45 PM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #4
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ok i'm liking the enclosure idea, but i can't find any that support serial-ATA drives. If i'm going to buy a new hard drive i want a SATA.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 07:49 PM   #5
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how about this one
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 07:55 PM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #6
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how about this one
yeah i googled up that one myself, thanks! checking it out... looks sweet!

so who can recommend a reliable SATA drive?
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 08:06 PM   #7
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Personally I've never had a problem with Western Digital or Maxtor drives although I've never used them in anything other than a stationary rig. The guys in the repair shop at work reckon of Seagate drives to have the best anti-shock protection/shock resistance so they may well be worth looking at.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 09:05 PM   #8
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get the new maxtor 16 meg cache drives. firewire and USB2. "one touch 2" - they are actually better than the western digital counterparts, and I never thought id rate maxtor that highly.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Maxtor.html
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 09:11 PM   #9
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I like the Seagate - great warranty and very quiet - the software is not that friendly though...
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 09:30 PM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #10
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thanks for the advice guys! i was looking at those maxtors Zardon, but i'm thinking of going with an enclosure seeing how i don't really need those 'one-button' backup features. It seems to be cheaper and i can pick my drive.
I can only find the one enclosure for SATA drives, because of the usb/firewire thing i guess. it's probably not worth the extra expense anyway...
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 09:42 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LeanWolf
thanks for the advice guys! i was looking at those maxtors Zardon, but i'm thinking of going with an enclosure seeing how i don't really need those 'one-button' backup features. It seems to be cheaper and i can pick my drive.
I can only find the one enclosure for SATA drives, because of the usb/firewire thing i guess. it's probably not worth the extra expense anyway...
Well you dont need to use the button, I dont. its just there as an extra with some very good software. they act as normal drives. incidentally you can configure the button to do anything you want via scripting and you can also set power saving times so you can feasibly keep them on 24/7.

however, they perform like no other drive ive used externally via firewire due to the massive 16 meg cache and they also are built to take some serious abuse, they are very heavy. they also look gorgeous and glow blue at the front. extremely stylish, fast, options for both USB2 and firewire, all leads supplied with top notch build quality.

Im not trying to sell them btw, ive just had the luxury of testing them recently along with about 10 other drives, they are the best out there.

EDIT: there is also a LINK firewire supplied which means you can daisy chain as many together into one slot as you can afford.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 09:48 PM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #12
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Thanks Z, you've sold me! Your endorsements carry alot of weight for us non-gurus. heh
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 09:59 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LeanWolf
Thanks Z, you've sold me! Your endorsements carry alot of weight for us non-gurus. heh
Well if you want I can run some tests over the weekend and post them on any drive you are interested in, ive about 10 makes of external drive here on various platforms.

I have to say though I just cut to the chase in the earlier posts, seriously the only thing against these maxtor drives is the quite high price but there is no other drive ive tested right now in an external enclosure that performs like these drives. They are 5-10% faster than the western digital models.

I strongly suggest if you get them to do two things.

Use firewire if you can, latencies are lowered and ms access times are greatly improved. also go to start/run/cmd, type in diskmgmt.msc and reformat the drive to a quick NTFS format, as they come (like all drives) in FAT32 format for as much compatibility as possible. You will find errors if you dont in copying large files like 4gb to the drive as FAT32 has issues handling files this large.

For the record, the maxtor drives come with a massive instruction booklet, quick guide, USB2 (certified and highest grade) lead, Firewire (certified and highest grade) lead, all other things like PSU etc. backup software, online support, additional PDF information, vertical stand (very cool), and rubber feet for horizontal stability mounting.

On the back on the drives, you have on/off switch, USB2 port, Firewire port x 2 (one for daisy chaining multiple drives so you dont need more than one port).

I cant recommend them enough, the western digital drives are excellent performers, but these drives are in a league of their own, ive seen accesses on firewire as fast as my internal 10k raptor drives, even in some cases surpassing the performance. The build quality of the casing of these drives ive never seen equalled. they weight almost TWICE as much as the western digitals and are also acoustically dampened.

Also the operation is top notch, you get software to WRITE power savings to flash memory on the drives, so you can tailor them to go into power saving after a certain period of non use, they come with 1 hour at default but all options are covered from never to several hours. This means you can keep the drives on permanently and when they go into powersaving they use virtually no power and go ice cold. The blue light on the front which is built into the button also shows you writing and accessing via various flashing and in standby slowly flickers from the top position to the bottom. (its also not too bright to keep you awake if they are in the same room).

Pure class, one of the best designs ive seen, and as I said the button is totally optional, it only "adds" support for scripting to a program of your choice when pressed. I dont use it.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 10:25 PM Threadstarter Thread Starter   #14
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well if you have the time and all those external drives you could always do your proposed tests and post the results in a hardware review for all to enjoy, but you really don't have to go to all that trouble just for me. i'm more than satisfied with the information you've provided and what i've read myself on the net. but thanks for offering, that's very generous of you! and thanks for all the additional information, now i can't wait to get one! i'm thinking the 250GB should do.
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Old Feb 11, 2005, 12:23 AM   #15
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you should be able to just buy the housing and stick whatever IDE drive you like in there....
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