[the Battle Cat]

I've been using a Lacie d2 hard drive extreme for the last 5 years for backup and it finally took a dump. It lasted longer than the drive that shipped inside the G5, but it is sadly on it's last legs so I told it all about the bunny farm and how it could pet them and hug them then I unplugged it.

I need some advice from you big shot hardware gurus on what would be a fast reliable replacement. I'm looking at this to replace it. My G5 has 800 Firewire to connect to it, the USB is USB 1.0 I think? Is that right? I don't want to use the slow USB speed with my external drive. Anyway, my system stats are in my profile.

What would you recommend for a cheap, reliable 500GB-1TB external hard drive for nightly backup?

[Sneaky Snake]

I'd get a Firewire 800 case (it'll absolutely rape any USB, even 2.0) and then get a Western Digital Black or Seagate drive. I believe that the drives go up to 2 TB now, so basically get what ever size you think you'll need

[Matt Diamond]

I just got a portable LaCie Little Big Disk Quadra today at work. 640GB, 2x7200 rpm disks in RAID 0 configuration. Planning to hook it up to my MBP via eSATA, which will beat the pants off of the internal drive. When I bring it home I'll use the Firewire 800, not quite so fast but it'll run off the Firewire port for power, no need to lug the power brick home.

(Ironically, I need this speed so my Windows virtual machine will run better.)

I think the Little Big Disk would be way overkill for your backups, but the one you picked out happens to be a cousin of it. Looks decent.

[the Battle Cat]

Thanks Matt. K, I'm bout ready to buy it. Been poking around looking at external drives and this seems to be a good buy for the buck. I was wondering though about something that Hansi said a while back, that the new LaCie drives having reliability problems. Have you heard anything about this model having problems?

[PeopleLikeFrank]

I haven't heard about LaCie problems, but be aware that RAID 0 will be gaining speed at the cost of reliability - since the data is striped across the drives, if any one drive fails, so does your whole volume and everything on it. If the primary motivation is backup rather than a fast scratch disc, then stay away from RAID 0. Mind you, many multi-disc enclosures will allow you to simply have independent discs running inside them, or RAID 1, which mirrors the data across them, so it's not to say you should stay away from multi-disc enclosures entirely.

I'm a BYO type myself. I've got an Oyen Digital quad-interface (USB/FW400+800/eSATA) 2.5" enclosure for when I'm on the road, with a Seagate 500GB 2.5" in it currently.

For home, I got sick of plugging externals into different computers all the time, so I went the Network Storage (NAS) route. I've got a Synology DS 207+ (with 2x Samsung 750GB drives), which is basically a teeny Linux server with a friendly browser-based interface. I got it because it: a) supports OS X & Windows, b) streams iTunes to any computer on your network, so I only have to keep all my MP3s in one place, c) supports Time Machine, d) has a download function where you can give it a torrent file or download URL, and it will go all by itself, meaning I don't have to keep one of my computers on all night to download stuff, e) supports DDNS, so you can get yourself a DNS name and access the files on it from anywhere on the internet. It actually does a whole ton of stuff, including host a dynamic, database driven website if you want, but I'll never use half that stuff. You can certainly get cheaper NAS devices without all the shiny stuff.

[the Battle Cat]

I wasn't doing any raid scheme. Seagate is good stuff but would any drive with seagate technology be reliable? I see a number of drives that were unknown to me but boast "seagate technology".

[PeopleLikeFrank]

the Battle Cat, on October 31st 2009, 08:49 PM, said:

I wasn't doing any raid scheme. Seagate is good stuff but would any drive with seagate technology be reliable? I see a number of drives that were unknown to me but boast "seagate technology".

Yeah, I mentioned it because the drive Matt recommended has 'built in RAID 0'. "Seagate technology" would mean that the HD in the enclosure is made by Seagate, and they're generally reliable.

[the Battle Cat]

Awesome. Thanks for the info. I'm now looking at this one. I hope that foot is removable because it is going onto a shelf with a low overhead and will need to lay flat.

[teflon]

It is most definitely removable.

[Matt Diamond]

Good points about the RAID 0. I need mine for daily work, and I will be backing up the entire VM periodically.

For that matter, if you don't need portability, and you don't need eSATA, I'd consider an empty SATA enclosure and plop a cheap drive in it of the desired size. Pick one with the form factor and interfaces you desire. My last external for home backups was just a Firewire 400/USB 2 enclosure from OWC. And when it refused to boot via Firewire they cheerfully took it back and made the necessary fix. The thing has lasted me for years, I'm about to hand it down to my son for backing up his laptop.

So come to think of it, I'll be in the market for a FW800 enclosure myself very soon. The Seagate model looks fine, and a reviewer said there's just a cord, no big power brick. Be even nicer if it ran off the FW power, but that's just a nit.

[Matt Diamond]

teflon, on November 1st 2009, 12:07 PM, said:

It is most definitely removable.

Just to point out, that's the USB 2.0 model. The Mac model looks virtually identical but adds the Firewire, and none of the photos show it without the foot. You should probably doublecheck about the foot if it matters to you.

[teflon]

Oh well that sucks. The site tBC linked to has the wrong image up, evidently, since that's what I looked for on the seagate website.
Matching the model number, it's this one. It doesn't look like the foot is removable, and I couldn't find a relevant manual to this particular model...

[the Battle Cat]

teflon, on November 1st 2009, 02:39 PM, said:

Oh well that sucks. The site tBC linked to has the wrong image up, evidently, since that's what I looked for on the seagate website.
Matching the model number, it's this one. It doesn't look like the foot is removable, and I couldn't find a relevant manual to this particular model...

The small graphic by "Step 3" shows it laying flat. That's good enough for me. I'm getting this one. Thank you guys for all your helpful input!

[teflon]

Sorry, but that's not the same drive. Note the placement of the logo. On the drive you're looking at, it's on the slope, but in that image it's on the top. I think that one is a 2.5" external.

But it doesn't matter that much. Just take a hacksaw to it, or put it on its side and live with it being at an angle. Or maybe the foot is removable...

[the Battle Cat]

Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's going in a place where the sun don't shine anyway. I know what you are thinking, that I'm going to need a longer cord. But "where the sun don't shine" is a spot hidden back on a shelf out of sight. My LaCie external has a removable foot, but either way it's not going to be a problem. I have a great workbench with lots of tools and implements of destruction in the garage. If the foot is not removable, I'm sure it will chew it's own foot off when it sees what I have in store for it.