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Thread: External Hard Drives
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08-03-2011, 09:36 AM #1Web Hosting Master
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External Hard Drives
I was looking for an external hard drive to start backing up some of the data on my iMac and saw some varying prices between products.
For computing purposes I have an iPad & iMac and will be upgraded my blackberry to an iPhone as soon as my upgrade is eligible. However, I currently am not fully utilizing time machine because my external hard drive stopped working. I am looking for a replacement and noticed Apple offers the Time Capsule 2TB for $299.99 which utilizes wireless technology (which I like).
However, if I visit bestbuy.com I can get a 2TB external drive starting at 89.99 up to 3TB for $299.99.
How do you choose which is best and why benefits are added to the different models?Doug
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08-04-2011, 11:19 AM #2WHT Addict
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Hard drives are extremely cheap nowadays,
You just need to look at what you need and how much you want to spend. Look at the specs of the External Hard Drives, some will have a faster write / read speed over others and obviously quality will be a deciding factor on price. I always found Western Digital or Maxtor to be very good drives for both cost and performance.
Remember via USB 2.0 you are limited to a transfer rate of 480 mbits per second (60MB)
The wireless on the Apple drive does seem like a nice feature both speed wise and obviously no wires but at the end of the day, if you can back up and dont mind plugging in a cable for lets say $89, is it worth spending the extra for wireless which could just end up being a gimmick?
Remember with the brand name Apple behind it, its bound to be expensive.Choose your web host wisely.
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08-04-2011, 11:31 AM #3Web Hosting Master
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08-08-2011, 12:46 AM #4Web Hosting Guru
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The best thing to do is buy 2 hard disk enclosures for $30 and then by 2 2TB hard drives $70-80 a piece and then you have 4TB of space without some bs software that you can download for free on the internet.
The math:
Samsung 2TB HD $79
ENCLOSURE $15██ Brad T. Burns - CEO - brad.burns(@)zioinc.com
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08-08-2011, 02:47 AM #5Disabled
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get seagate. most reliable in the market.
the 80 gb seagate i just took out of this case was working for what like 7-8 years nonstop. and i took it out only because i upgraded to a ssd. not that it was failing or giving any issues.
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08-08-2011, 02:49 AM #6Web Hosting Guru
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08-08-2011, 03:27 AM #7Disabled
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yes i heard about the 2tb drive issues. but these are new drives just in at the market. it is rather normal for first generation of major tech changes to have problems. the problems will go away probably in firmware revisions higher than 1.0. its not too different from mainboards actually. see, for example asus's new crosshair v amd 900 chipset mainboard is having appalling rma rate, in places like newegg. a $300 priced board.
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08-08-2011, 03:40 AM #8Web Hosting Guru
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I was wondering about the Crosshair V Thunderbolt. I was thinking about buying it. I knew the RMA was bad for the Crosshair IV.
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08-08-2011, 07:31 AM #9Disabled
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crosshair v is getting rmas like there's no tomorrow.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131735
way too much.
do a google too. its similar in a lot of other places.
i advise GIGABYTE 990FXA-D3 , GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD3, GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD5, or GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD7
d3 is just 150 bucks, can run 2 cards in crossfire in 16x mode, and add 2 other cards in 4x modes. (why would one crossfire 4 cards beats me at this point tho).
the only problem is the second 16x pcie slot for crossfire blocks the only pci (legacy) slot.
other than that its a very well set new generation amd chipsed board with real bulldozer support. (black socket).Last edited by unity100; 08-08-2011 at 07:35 AM.
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08-08-2011, 07:46 AM #10Web Hosting Guru
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Thanks for the recommendations. I will definitely take these boards into consideration when purchasing a 990FX
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08-08-2011, 08:25 AM #11Web Hosting Master
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08-08-2011, 08:31 AM #12Web Hosting Guru
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Just trying to get you the best bang for your buck.
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08-08-2011, 09:20 AM #13Disabled
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get one of the ones with sata 3. sata 3 mobos are getting common now.
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08-08-2011, 10:38 AM #14Web Hosting Master
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08-08-2011, 03:46 PM #15
get yourself either an enclosure, or something like this. I recommend the latter, picked it up about a year and a half ago, and have had zero issues. From there, you can grab whatever drive you need. I keep a stock on hand myself, rotate drives in there.
Not the fastest sucker, but it'll do most anything you need it to, except maybe play games, which I wouldn't do off a USB (or external) drive anyways.
The product linked also has the advantage of 2 USB ports and various sized memory card readers.Tom Whiting, WHMCS Guru extraordinaire
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08-08-2011, 04:15 PM #16Web Hosting Master
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08-08-2011, 04:37 PM #17
I've sworn by mine the past year and a half. It's done everything from charge my iPhone to rip camera data to it's main purpose, which is to provide an additional HD spot so that I can store iTunes backups. Best $30 I ever spent.
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08-08-2011, 07:13 PM #18Web Hosting Master
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08-08-2011, 07:22 PM #19
I wouldn't call it 'big', but I can see how some might. In this picture it sits on top of a blockbuster mailer and pretty much covers it all up
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08-09-2011, 10:47 AM #20Web Hosting Master
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Ah not that bad. Thanks.
Doug
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08-09-2011, 04:03 PM #21working on it
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This has two harddisk bays and looks sleeker but not sure about its quality.
http://www.google.com/products/catal...ed=0CBUQ8wIwAA
The WD Green has become very cheap nowadays. I cant imagine a better solution than this but you want it even cheaper just extend the power cable and pull out the sata cable from the internal interfaceLast edited by RajanUrs; 08-09-2011 at 04:08 PM.
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08-09-2011, 04:23 PM #22working on it
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Here's nice little adapter which can connect externally
http://www.cooldrives.com/saandidehadr1.html
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08-09-2011, 04:35 PM #23Web Hosting Master
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08-09-2011, 05:08 PM #24working on it
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09-16-2011, 02:44 PM #25Newbie
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I was researching external hard drives for personal use not so long ago and got an impression that the most reliable ones were HP, Toshiba and WD. My search criteria were: portable, reliable, plug&play with no backup software.
I got Toshiba Basics 500G (they come in larger capacities as well) and very happy with it. It's small, quiet, and relatively fast. I would have opted in for USB 3.0, but don't have it on my PC anyway.
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