Buying an external HD

[Mr.Durden]

Hello,
Im looking to buy an external Hard drive, in the range of 250-500 GB. Ive read some posts on this recomending Internal HD's with enclosures, others recomending G-Tech Drives.
Concidering im looking for something in the price range of 200 to 280 bucks. What external HD or what combo of internal HD+enclosure would you recomend concidering im on a Mac.
By the way, im running an Apple 20" Intel Imac (no firewire 800 port).

[VaricamLife]

The hard drive choice is an ongoing debate without any real answer. In firewire 400 vs usb vs firewire 800, etc., you can make some more definitive comments and suggestions. As far as the brands and such go, honestly I think you're in for a crapshoot no matter what way you go.

I know some people that swear by Lacie. They feel its the absolute most reliable choice. While others around, even posters around here recently, have been crying about how their Lacie's crapped out on them. Pretty much had the same experience with Maxtor drives. Segate and Fujitsu I've heard quite a bit of good about. You could slap those in just about any external closure. I'd prefer one with a good fan/cooling setup though.

The only other thing I'd have to say is, find someway to get yourself the 500 gig drive. Whether you buy 250 or 500 gigs, you're still going to want more, pretty much guaranteed. So I'd go for the 500 now and try and ward off the needing another drive for as long as possible. If you really get into editing and such it won't take you long to start talking in terrabytes, gigabytes will be a thing of the past.

cheers.

[Mr.Durden]

Thanx for the advice varicam

I am between the option below, and a 250Gb G-drive (almost same price).
but am on the brink of choosing this drive:
OWC Mercury Elite-AL FireWire 400+USB2 Combo Drive Solution 320GB
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MAU4F7320G16/


I know i should get a 500GB, but for various reasons i just dont have the cash to spare, and i really need the memory. THat aside, has anybody had any expirience with these Hard Drives? Ive read good things but would like some testimonials. Are these reliable Drives?

[VaricamLife]

I understand the money pinch/memory trade off. In a dream world well you know.... As for the drive you listed, ah it looks okay in specs, 7200rpm w/ a 16MB cache, but I don't see any reference to what drive is in there or if it is a propritary drive. Not that it would make a huge difference either way, but wouldn't have minded knowing. The big difference I notice is that the G-raid can provide FW 800, but this other one you list is FW 400 only. If your computer has a FW 800 port, then I'd want the G-raid so I could make use of that added throughput. But if not, and you're not likely to get a new machine anytime soon, then well you don't specifically need to get a HDD w/ FW 800 abilities.

As for testimonials, don't rely on those. They are always skewed one way or the other. So many different kinds of motivating factors can be behind whether you see glowing testimonials or disgruntled reviews. You might want to investigate the company through stuff like the Better Business Bureau or some form of a consumer report. At least find out, how likely are they to honor your warranty if something does go faulty? Will they offer free data recovery as part of the warranty (or can you buy an inexpensive warranty upgrade for free data recovery)? That's what I'd look into if you're at all skeptical or unsure. Anyway, good luck.

cheers.