Hard drive + Enclosure Advice

[PKIDelirium]

OK, so my 60GB iBook drive is almost full, since I'm a photographer and do video editing as well, so I'm in the market for an external. I decided to go the route of an internal HD and an enclosure through Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822154414
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817145133

Advice? That is the combo I picked out after being told by a friend to stick to Seagate.

[Wyatt]

Any reason why you're spending $30 on an enclosure with no internal fan that doesn't have Firewire?

[T2dak668]

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail~dpno~267264.aspI have that one and i love it.

[PKIDelirium]

I don't want a Lacie because I don't have much trust on the future of FireWire in the consumer Macs. That enclosure was the best cheap one I could find.

[FFL]

Any reason why you're spending $30 on an enclosure with no internal fan that doesn't have Firewire?
Don't even think about getting an enclosure without FireWire.

[PKIDelirium]

I don't need FireWire...

[FFL]

I don't need FireWire...
:no:

Two big reasons:

1. The USB 2 data transfer implementation on Macs seems to be lacking. Despite the theoretical speed of USB 2, FireWire is faster every time (see graph below).

2. USB data transfer spikes your CPU usage - FireWire does not, because it's processor-independent.

http://www.barefeats.com/image05/usb2-sr.gif

[PKIDelirium]

OK, well, I can't find any enclosures on Newegg with FireWire, but I'll keep looking.

Any thoughts on the hard drives choices I picked?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822154414
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701

[Edna Crabtree]

Agree with FireWire rec. Shouldn't this work? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817146602

[PKIDelirium]

$42 is a little bit high, I was looking for under $30 for the case, but if I can't find anything else, that will work.

[intlplby]

anandtech.com is the best place to find HD deals

[PKIDelirium]

Agree with FireWire rec. Shouldn't this work? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817146602
Wait, OK that doesn't work. I'm getting a SATA drive, and that only has an internal IDE interface.

Damn, finding the enclosure is proving more difficult than choosing an actual hard drive...

[chucker]

I'm getting a SATA drive

Why? If you're going to connect it externally via USB 2.0 or FireWire, you lose all of SATA's advantages. If you use eSATA, you're going to have to get a port for that, and your iBook has no PCMCIA-style extension anyways.

You're better off using PATA.

[PKIDelirium]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148100

Same storage size, a little lesser price and non SATA.

[Wyatt]

Why? If you're going to connect it externally via USB 2.0 or FireWire, you lose all of SATA's advantages. If you use eSATA, you're going to have to get a port for that, and your iBook has no PCMCIA-style extension anyways.

You're better off using PATA.
What he said.

There's no point in buying SATA. It's a great standard, but it's not useful to you at all. Get good old PATA/IDE.

Not only is there no advantage to SATA for you, there are a boatload of firewire enclosures for PATA/IDE.

[PKIDelirium]

OK, looks like I've got my setup ready. Thanks for the help!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817146602

[FFL]

MacAlly's a decent brand, and that looks like a good case.

[MCQ]

Yeah. I use that same case for a Seagate drive that I have. No problems with it. :)

[CreativeSherpa]

:no:

Two big reasons:

1. The USB 2 data transfer implementation on Macs seems to be lacking. Despite the theoretical speed of USB 2, FireWire is faster every time (see graph below).

2. USB data transfer spikes your CPU usage - FireWire does not, because it's processor-independent.

http://www.barefeats.com/image05/usb2-sr.gif

Wow. Good tip.

I've been storing my larger files (images/iTunes) on an external iomega drive with a USB2 cable instead of Firewire because the specs said that USB2 was faster that FW400 but I switched cables and I have to say that initial results are great. Files seem to be zipping back and forth much faster now.

[CreativeSherpa]

Woo Hoo! My files are flying now that I've swiched from USB2 to FW400

[Schnauzer]

I don't need FireWire...
but firewire is great

[PKIDelirium]

I'll likely be ordering my 250gig Seagate drive with the Macally USB/Firewire enclosure here in a little bit :D

[Ichiban_jay]

I'll just pipe in here quickly, Firewire hard drives are also able to boot mac osx independent from the computer, you can't do that with an USB hard drive.

[colivigan]

... Firewire hard drives are also able to boot mac osx independent from the computer...
Whoa, that's a neat trick!

I know what you meant to say. :D

[PKIDelirium]

Yeah. I use that same case for a Seagate drive that I have. No problems with it. :)

My main concern is heat dissapation. Are the Macally cases good at that? The newegg reviews are very promising, but I'm always over-cautious when dealing with hard drives.

[MCQ]

My main concern is heat dissapation. Are the Macally cases good at that? The newegg reviews are very promising, but I'm always over-cautious when dealing with hard drives.

Pretty good job as far as I can tell. First external enclosure for me so I don't have a basis for comparison, but I don't have any complaints about heat. I use the drive on my PC to record TV shows (some in HD), as well as a buffer while watching TV, so disk access is pretty frequent.

No problems with the drive yet (6 months), so I assume the enclosure is doing its job. :)

[Ichiban_jay]

Whoa, that's a neat trick!

I know what you meant to say. :D

:p I should have worded that better. That would be cool though.

"Can boot from the external HD instead of the one in the computer"

[PKIDelirium]

ORDER'D.

Got the Seagate 250GB and the Macally case, and while I was on Newegg, got 512MB of Corsair to double my iBook's RAM, and a Crucial multi memory card reader for my cameras.

Total including shipping: $201, with a $10 rebate coming. Not bad at all.

[Edna Crabtree]

I picked up the WD My Book 250 GB, 7200 RPM firewire/USB 2.0 for $172, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136027 plus some more for shipping. I kept reading that using an internal HD plus enclosure was the way to go, but to be honest, I thought this external drive was a little more appropriate for me given my level of skills (= minimal). On the plus side, I was able to figure out how to backup my entire PB G4 in about 40 seconds (using SuperDuper) and spent the next hour outside in the sunshine while the files transferred. Thanks to other AN members' suggestions. Oh and I've read that WD is no Seagate, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. I do like the appearance of the My Book.

[rasmits]

I don't have much trust on the future of FireWire in the consumer Macs.Oh please, what use would iMovie/iDVD have without DV camcorder support?