I need a new external hard drive. At least a 500g but would like a 750G. Price is not a major thing but shouldn't be out of sight. I would like for it to have USB and Firewire.<br><br>I have looked at several sites and what they have to offer and looking at their user comments it's all over the board. In the past I have pretty good luck with a couple of my hard drives. I have a LaCie 250g and a WD 250. Both are USB and Firewire 400 with the LaCie also having Firewire 800. I have had no problem with either of them but I don't use them all the time as I only fire them up when I need them. I don't use any automatic backup or what not as I prefer to be hand on in my placing my stuff on drives.<br><br>I have ask here about this before and have gotten great advice. I know some will suggest that i get an enclosure and separate drive and mate them. But when I go to, say, Newegg.com and look at the 100s or enclosures they have I am so confused with what to get. <br><br>Again, I am not looking for the cheapest, I want one that will work for me. Also, I am not concerned if it has a fan. I don't hear too well anyway and don't care if it has a slight hummmmm<br><br>Any help would be so appreciated. It looks like I am either going to have to send this new iMac back or at least do a clean install and I need to back up some stuff. But first need a new hard drive. <br><br><br>dave<br><br><br><br><br>

I like Macsales.com at Other World Computing...<br>OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro™ 750 Gb $219 seems pricey...<br>you can buy any Internal drive and add on an external case for $40, most have 800/400 firewire and USB.<br><br>checking the MacCentral shop and Compare...<br>Maxtor One Touch 4 Plus External 750GB Hard Drive $167.00 <br>WD My Book Studio Edition External 750GB Hard Drive $169<br><br>also check Fry's if you have one close.<br><br><br><br>David (OFI)

Thanks, David. Whether it costs $200 or just $150 I don't much care it's the reliablity that's important. And those enclosures... They have different features that just get me comfused.<br><br>dave<br><br><br><br>

When I researched 1TB drives a couple months ago, I ended up choosing a Seagate FreeAgent. They have other sizes and models.<br><br>(And then I changed my order to a Time Capsule, but my parents did get a FreeAgent and it has worked fine.)<br><br>nagr[color:red]o</font color=red>mme<br><br>I require stroyent!<br>TeamMacOSX.com | MacClan.net

it's the reliablity that's important<br><br>That feature is a moving target... show me a drive, any drive, that gets rave reviews and I'll show you someone who absolutely hates it and would never buy it again.<br><br>Hard drives are a crap shoot. Redundancy is critical. In other words, backups of the backups.<br><br>My critical stuff is backed up to a drive AND dual-layer DVDs.<br><br><br><br><br><br>M i c h a e l (OFI)

If you don't already have one, or haven't seriously considered one, now's the time!<br><br>[b]You want a Drobo.<br>You NEED a Drobo.<br>Buy a Drobo!<br>Don't get left behind without a Drobo!<br><br>- alec -

After going the all-inclusive route and having the FW bridge fail on the enclosure, I bought a FW400/USB 2.0 enclosure and simply put the HD into it. It's working just fine. Also, the failed enclosure could be used as an external USB 2.0 if I were to put another HD into that. My personal preference is Seagate mechanisms, but folks have had good results with other brands. I'm seeing that the enclosures for SATA drives are predominately USB while the ones for ATA (IDE) drives have dual and triple interfaces available. Looks like NewEgg and OWC have the best deals at the moment. Set yourself a price point and then see how much storage you can get for that.<br><br>

I second the Drobo idea if you want reliability. I don't know if you have any extra SATA drives laying around the house ...if you do ...even better! If not, you can start with a couple smaller drives and work your way up as you need it. <br><br>If that route is too expensive and you just want a single external drive ...I vote OWC. They definitely aren't the cheapest line around, but if you have a Lacie they won't be any more expensive than that for sure. I've had BAAAD luck with the Lacies at work. We've probably bought 12 of them total ...and we've had problems or all out failures with at least 4. <br><br>Drobo Drobo<br><br>zweisoft<br>

I could see a Drobo for a small business, but home is hard to justify at that price... $900 for 2 Tb... <br><br>again If I had that much data, I'd do it in a heartbeat; but for me it's not cost effective. Super Neat Technology though.<br><br>David (OFI)

500GB drives are super cheap, nowadays. You only need two of those from your favourite retailer and the "bare" Drobo for $499. In my opinion, a Drobo configuration is THE BEST solution for Time Machine at that price point.<br><br>- alec -