External HD for Mac?

david29dpo

Don't forget thunderbolt!

Chartered_Eng

david29dpo wrote: »

Don't forget thunderbolt!

Yes, much faster than Firewire 800 but there are very few external drives that have the Thunderbolt interface and they are significantly more expensive than FireWire 800.

So for the use originally indicated (backup) I would say USB 2.0 is ok for lowest price and FireWire best for speedy first and incremental backups (these happen once an hour automatically).

As ever, you pays yer money and takes yer choice

InsideInsurance

Dont forget eSATA too, which fits between USB 3 and Thunderbolt in speed.

Different manufacturers have different preferences and so for a universal device you probably want USB 2 (which everyone supports) and then what ever higher speed interface for your main system.

one_dull_guy

I used to work in an Apple Store and got asked this question every single day.

Look at whether you want to travel with it (with your laptop) or leave it on the desktop. Desktop hard drives work out around half the price of portables, for the same capacity and connectivity.

If you're saving and retrieving large files (videos, pictures etc) you will see a speed difference with a Firewire 800 connection compared to USB. (Firewire 800 transfers data at 800MBps whilst USB2 is around 400 MBps).

I've had a Western Digital desktop drive for the past 2 years without any problems, but am changing it as it is USB and I need a Firewire drive because I have my entire iTunes library on it (including movies), and the transfer speed is spluttering at best.

If I had the money, I would buy Hitatchi or G-Tech (who are owned and made by Hitatchi) as they are the best quality, but will cost slightly more. Otherwise Western Digital, Lacie or possible Seagate at a push.

Thunderbolt devices will start trickling onto the market in the next couple of months, but they are going to be very expensive initially. Personally, I would get a Firewire device now, and then a Thunderbolt drive when that dies.

vuvuzela

paddyrg wrote: »

Whichever drive you buy (and frankly why pay Apple massively over the going rate just for Apple branding on identical hardware?), think how you need to use it - do you need to -

1) Share files with Windows and Linux PC's using the drive
or
2) store any individual files larger than 4GB (eg huge video files)?

If 1) format the drive as FAT32
if 2) format the drive as HFS+ (aka "Apple OSX advanced file system", or something like that)

Alas 1) and 2) are incompatible. Stupid in this day and age. It is ALL about licensing and politics, could be solved in a heartbeat, but it is the customer that suffers.

Why not format the drive as EXFAT ? Now natively compatible with Windows and OS X and gets round the 4GB limit.