Portable external HD

[dmegatool]

Long story short.

I got a MacPro. I'll get a MBP for my job. I'll use it at my office. Web/3d design so no video editing or REALLY big intensive usage.

I would like some recommendation. I know FB800 kickass so I'm probably looking for it (unleast you tell me I shouldn't). I don't need extensive storage too. I'll probaly get the 7200RPM in the MBP so 100gb. I just need a little more.

I found this one:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10720

What do you guys suggest ? Does the FB800 worth it ? Should I look for a 7200... I mean, does the speed will be really noticable ?

There is also this one
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE-mini.cfm

But it's completly out of stock. Don't know what to think about this. It's a little bit more expensive but...


**On a side note: With 2 FB800, does this mean I can plug the thing in 2 computers at the same time ? What about 1 FB800 and 1 USB2 ? What are the possibilities of this ?

[chucker]

**On a side note: With 2 FB800, does this mean I can plug the thing in 2 computers at the same time ? What about 1 FB800 and 1 USB2 ?

No, and no. You'll need NAS if you want to share a hard drive across multiple computers.

[beardedmacuser]

I found this one:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10720

What do you guys suggest ? Does the FB800 worth it ? Should I look for a 7200... I mean, does the speed will be really noticable ?


I have the 120 gig version of this drive, which I use for the odd bit of video and some extra storage for my PowerBook when I'm out and about. I really don't know if the FW800 makes any difference at all*, but as a whole the drive works really well. I've not had a single problem with it at all (which is more than I can say for a lot of the external cases I've bought to put old 2.5 drives in myself). However, it's not cheap. If you don't need FW800 then there are probably better deals out there. But still, recommended.

* at the very least, using FW800 means I keep a port spare on my PowerBook for FW400 devices like my video camera.

[dmegatool]

No, and no. You'll need NAS if you want to share a hard drive across multiple computers.

Why 2 FB800 connection then ?

[chucker]

Why 2 FB800 connection then ?

Because FireWire is daisy-chained, so you can use the other FW connection to hook up yet another FireWire device, like this:
your computer <-> FW800 cable <-> your external hard drive <-> FW800 cable <-> another FW800 device.

[dmegatool]

I see... Very well explained chucker !

I just realised that a NAS enclosure would be cool. I could use it with my router. Anyone know a good one ? Like NAS, USB2 or FB800, not too big cause it has to be a little bit portable. If it can be bus-powered, it would be nice.

[dmegatool]

This could be good.
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10843

What do you think ? No too big, but it's not bus-powered. Actually I didn't find any NAS that is bus-powered.

The strange thing is : There is no price on the canadian site. No shopping cart either. Do you think I can buy on the US site and ship it to canada? I can't find the information...

Merged post

Another question.

Does the USB connection is for connecting the enclosure like a regular HD ? Like plug it into USB and it's mounted it like a regular HD...

[chris e boy]

http://www.formac.com/webapp/products_drives_disk_mini.php

I've got a 120gb one of these and its fantastic. Comes with Firewire(400) connection AND usb2 connection (which takes up 2 usb ports). the best thing is, it's about the size of my iPod and doesn't require a power adapter.

Really fast, and it looks quite pretty too. Recommended.

[dmegatool]

Looks nice. That's what I call portable :p Thx

It depends on what I'm loonking for now. I think a NAS HD enclosure would cool. With it, I could plug it in my router and acess it wirelessly...

[dmegatool]

Me again !
I'm now wondering: If I plug the external HD in my Mac Pro, can I connect to it ? I mean, will it appears on the shared network or something ? (never did networking with mac yet)

Like
External HD<-->Mac Pro<-->Routeur<-->wireless Macbook Pro

If so, anyone got a good suggestion for a FW800 that it is bus powered ? Should I go the way of enclosure and buy an internal HD ? Any suggestion is welcome !

I thought the G-Drive (http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE-mini.cfm) mini was great but it's only FW400 & USB2...

[kretara]

Me again !
I'm now wondering: If I plug the external HD in my Mac Pro, can I connect to it ? I mean, will it appears on the shared network or something ? (never did networking with mac yet)

Like
External HD<-->Mac Pro<-->Routeur<-->wireless Macbook Pro

If so, anyone got a good suggestion for a FW800 that it is bus powered ? Should I go the way of enclosure and buy an internal HD ? Any suggestion is welcome !

I think (chucker will correct me if I am wrong) that you could turn on file/folder sharing in your Mac Pro. This would allow the MBP to access your MP and then get to the external HD. Kind of complicated and not what I would do.

I would get a NAS and plug the NAS into the router/switch.



Internet
|
|
Router<-->MBP<-->NAS<-->MP



That way, everything is plugged into the Router and each computer can access the NAS.
I have a LaCie NAS and it is rock solid.
Beware of most NAS drives since they REQUIRE you to set the up with a windows machine before you can use them. I have been hit by this twice now.

[dmegatool]

Yeah I thought about NAS (few post above). But I think I'll need more of the bus-powered feature. But if you can find me a enclosure that I could use as FW800/bus powered and when home, I could connect it to my router... :)

[rasmits]

You can very easily access the HDD connected to your MP from your MB, or any computer on the same local network - Just turn on file sharing. I do it all the time.