Best External Firewire Drive?
- Thread starter IanK
- Start date
Personally I find 1394 drives to be much flakier than USB drives.
These days it's most economical to buy an internal drive and an enclosure. I got a couple of 200 gig Maxtors yesterday for 55 bucks each. The enclosures can run anywhere from $20-30 and up, depending on what's on sale.
geo.
These days it's most economical to buy an internal drive and an enclosure. I got a couple of 200 gig Maxtors yesterday for 55 bucks each. The enclosures can run anywhere from $20-30 and up, depending on what's on sale.
geo.
ullanta
Veteran
GeoMar - you are on a PC?
I think in general Macs handle FireWire better than PCs; PCs may be a little better about USB. Which makes sense, historically...
But a good firewire drive (like, say, a Glyph) will work well with anything. Anyway, the current Glyph GT lineup has Firewire, USB, and eSATA on each drive.
I think in general Macs handle FireWire better than PCs; PCs may be a little better about USB. Which makes sense, historically...
But a good firewire drive (like, say, a Glyph) will work well with anything. Anyway, the current Glyph GT lineup has Firewire, USB, and eSATA on each drive.
ullanta
Veteran
Well, some drives I've known lately:
La Cie d2: 2 80GB, 2 200GB: Both 80 GBs died within a year; 200 GBs seem a bit better but occasionally don't mount. Too noisy for lots of applications; used for backup. Customer service replaced a few, but who wants to wait around for random failure, even if they replace it... cause the replacements aren't better...
OWC Mercury 60GB/7200 On-The-Go and 80 GB Express. The On-the-Go works great with my laptops, bus-powered, quiet; but doesn't work with some of the ports of my desktops. The Express dies randomly when used bus-powered, VERY unreliable. I was a bit disappointed with customer service.
SmartDisk Firelight (30, 2 x 40, 80GB): These are great, light, bus-powered drives that have been highly reliable. Never had a problem EXCEPT that they're not extremely fast - so not great for ProTools; I've used 'em all in a pinch for DV capture in the field, but haven't tried DVCPro HD. But pretty bulletproof - I use 'em for backup in the field and, until I got the OWC On-The-Go (which is fast), for occasional critical recording in the field. Quiet.
Western Digital external: flaky, returned
ACOMData 250GB metal enclosure: seems OK so far now, but used mainly for backup.
ION 160GB USB/FW cheapo drive: Used just for extended "temp" storage. Often doesn't mount on first or second time. A bit more reliabler as FW. No overt failure so far...
G-Drive 160 GB: Small, quiet, pretty fast. Sometimes flaky about mounting - doesn't like some computers, and some specific ports on some computers. But otherwise, no overt failure so far... still, relegated to use as a non-critical drive.
Glyph Companion (80GB), GT050 (80GB, 2 x 120GB, 200GB): The Companion is 6 years old, in almost daily use for that long (which means being transported and used on location, jostled, occasionally dropped, etc.). The GT050s have been acquired periodically since, but get the same treatment. All over 2 years old, often transported, rackmounted, shaken and stirred. These drives are designed to be extremely quiet (though they do have fans for extreme situations, unlike some which will roast 'emselves) and extremely fast (Glyph develops custom proprietary drive firmware specialized for A/V production needs). Rock-solid, bulletproof... as in NEVER A PROBLEM with any of the five drives. And, they have an overnight replacement guarantee, which though never likely needed shows that the company doesn't accept anything less than perfection. These drives are designed and made for professional recording use, and the company is focused on supporting the needs of recording professionals.
I'm skipping about 7 other drives I've used over the last few years that haven't made the cut but which I can't remember. I've heard good things about Granite drives, but have never personallu used 'em.
As you can see, I've both used Glyphs whenever I could afford 'em, and have constantly been experimenting with cheaper alternatives. Nothing's ever come close to the Glyphs for my critical tasks, though many do well for temp storage, scratch, and non-critical backup...
La Cie d2: 2 80GB, 2 200GB: Both 80 GBs died within a year; 200 GBs seem a bit better but occasionally don't mount. Too noisy for lots of applications; used for backup. Customer service replaced a few, but who wants to wait around for random failure, even if they replace it... cause the replacements aren't better...
OWC Mercury 60GB/7200 On-The-Go and 80 GB Express. The On-the-Go works great with my laptops, bus-powered, quiet; but doesn't work with some of the ports of my desktops. The Express dies randomly when used bus-powered, VERY unreliable. I was a bit disappointed with customer service.
SmartDisk Firelight (30, 2 x 40, 80GB): These are great, light, bus-powered drives that have been highly reliable. Never had a problem EXCEPT that they're not extremely fast - so not great for ProTools; I've used 'em all in a pinch for DV capture in the field, but haven't tried DVCPro HD. But pretty bulletproof - I use 'em for backup in the field and, until I got the OWC On-The-Go (which is fast), for occasional critical recording in the field. Quiet.
Western Digital external: flaky, returned
ACOMData 250GB metal enclosure: seems OK so far now, but used mainly for backup.
ION 160GB USB/FW cheapo drive: Used just for extended "temp" storage. Often doesn't mount on first or second time. A bit more reliabler as FW. No overt failure so far...
G-Drive 160 GB: Small, quiet, pretty fast. Sometimes flaky about mounting - doesn't like some computers, and some specific ports on some computers. But otherwise, no overt failure so far... still, relegated to use as a non-critical drive.
Glyph Companion (80GB), GT050 (80GB, 2 x 120GB, 200GB): The Companion is 6 years old, in almost daily use for that long (which means being transported and used on location, jostled, occasionally dropped, etc.). The GT050s have been acquired periodically since, but get the same treatment. All over 2 years old, often transported, rackmounted, shaken and stirred. These drives are designed to be extremely quiet (though they do have fans for extreme situations, unlike some which will roast 'emselves) and extremely fast (Glyph develops custom proprietary drive firmware specialized for A/V production needs). Rock-solid, bulletproof... as in NEVER A PROBLEM with any of the five drives. And, they have an overnight replacement guarantee, which though never likely needed shows that the company doesn't accept anything less than perfection. These drives are designed and made for professional recording use, and the company is focused on supporting the needs of recording professionals.
I'm skipping about 7 other drives I've used over the last few years that haven't made the cut but which I can't remember. I've heard good things about Granite drives, but have never personallu used 'em.
As you can see, I've both used Glyphs whenever I could afford 'em, and have constantly been experimenting with cheaper alternatives. Nothing's ever come close to the Glyphs for my critical tasks, though many do well for temp storage, scratch, and non-critical backup...
Holosynthetic
Active member
Anybody have any experience with cooldrives enclosures?
I was looking over this Firewire RAID Enclosure and was wondering what others thought
I was looking over this Firewire RAID Enclosure and was wondering what others thought
dregenthal
Veteran
Holosynthetic said:
Looks an awful lot like the enclosure to my G-500's. I'd be interested in trying one of those.