Portable Hard Drives

**focus** · 05-05-2007, 10:29 PM

What's good, what's bad? What breaks, what lasts?

I want something small that doesn't need a seperate power cable. More is better, but I'd be happy with 100 gigs...

What the heck happened to firewire? I thought it was the pimp shit, but nobody seems to talk about it anymore....

**nick > jesus** · 05-05-2007, 10:57 PM

i loved fire wire too

get a lacy brand external, those kick ass

**bio-smear** · 05-05-2007, 11:27 PM

I had an extra 60GB 2.5" laptop drive laying around so I bought a $15 USB2.0 enclosure for it. It's thweet!

**Arty50** · 05-06-2007, 01:52 AM

Tons of companies still make firewire external drives. Right now it's still your best bet. In real world usage it's faster than USB 2.0 and bus powered if you like. And Firewire 800 blows the doors off USB.

That said, eSATA is the future. It spanks the shit out of everything else.

**squirrelmurphy** · 05-06-2007, 03:58 AM

make sure to get one with a good power supply. my cord is some weird 5 pin circular thing that looks like an old-school keyboard or mouse hook-up, and it's worked its way so loose that i have to tape it in place, or it'll just restart itself mid-backup

**Free Range Lobster** · 05-06-2007, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Arty50

Tons of companies still make firewire external drives. Right now it's still your best bet. In real world usage it's faster than USB 2.0 and bus powered if you like. And Firewire 800 blows the doors off USB.

That said, eSATA is the future. It spanks the shit out of everything else.

I've got an older USB 2.0 ext drive
A Firewire 400 drive
And just picked up an eSATA enclosure.

I'd say I could run all the fucking benchmarks you wanted but we already know the eSATA drive will beat the fuck out of the rest.

**focus** · 05-06-2007, 12:48 PM

My powerbook doesn't have high-speed USB 2.0. It does have firewire 400.

I ended up going with an apricorn 120gb ---> http://www.apricorn.com/product_deta...8&type=family&

Cost a little less than $100 shipped after rebate.

edit: I lied about the high-speed bit, I guess. USB might have been a better option, for better pc compatibility. Firewire still has a cooler name.

**Free Range Lobster** · 05-06-2007, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by focus

edit: I lied about the high-speed bit, I guess. USB might have been a better option, for better pc compatibility. Firewire still has a cooler name.

new(er) motherboards will have firewire/usb and some even have eSATA (i have that)

**bossass** · 05-06-2007, 02:28 PM

Firelite makes FW drives that are really nice. I guess the MacAlly ones are good too (at macsales.com) and they seem reasonably priced.

**RShea** · 05-06-2007, 05:48 PM

If you want something that does not require power then you probably will need to think about going with a 2.5 inch lower power notebook hard drive and enclosure. The 3.5 inch drive enclosures (99.9% of the time) need a power adapter due to the fact that the drives draw more. The other issue you have to be careful of is the PATA (standard IDE) vs SATA drive connectors. Most of the higher capacity notebook hard drives are SATA drives. There are a few standard IDE 2.5 inch drives out there over 80 gig but they are rarer than SATA drive capacities.

**gg8983** · 05-07-2007, 04:51 PM

i just picked up a 160gb Western Digital USB 2.0 from Costco for $120. Best price around for what I needed. Only problem is on some older macs the USB port isnt strong enough to power the HD so you need a special cord that bascially connects the HD to 2 usb ports to get enough power. Sucks because I cant steal my roommates music

**Vinman** · 05-07-2007, 08:31 PM

250 gig i/o magic (some canuk co..) from Costco for $110. Works pretty good.

**fez** · 05-07-2007, 09:45 PM

i just got a 400 GB western digital from staples for $89 after rebate. i also had to get a usb 2.0 pcmcia card since my laptop doesnt have usb 2.0

**smalls** · 05-07-2007, 10:40 PM

250 gb refurb lacie firewire (from manufacturer) - $95. no complaints.

**Ripzalot** · 05-08-2007, 12:42 AM

i've got a western digital passport 160GB. works like it should. i like the small compact size. USB power is an issue with some computers, but i haven't had any problems connecting to a powerbook, old IBM thinkpad, or computers with old USB ports. all work fine.

**Arty50** · 05-08-2007, 12:59 AM

Originally Posted by Free Range Lobster

I've got an older USB 2.0 ext drive
A Firewire 400 drive
And just picked up an eSATA enclosure.

I'd say I could run all the fucking benchmarks you wanted but we already know the eSATA drive will beat the fuck out of the rest.

Pretty much. There was supposed to be a Firewire 1600 and 3200, but it looks like they're pretty much dead. Not one single device has shipped with either despite the fact the standard was ratified ages ago. eSATA started out around the theoretical speed of FW1600, eSATA II is running around the speed of what FW3200 would have yielded, and it's only going to get faster from here on out. FW will still have it's place in cameras and such, but SATA is going to kill it in hard drives.