I am adding a external Hard drive and just looking for a recommendation. Still trying to decide which, I want a 1 terabyte to 1 1/2 terabyte and prefer it have the option to use Firewire 800 not just USB.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Have you thought about adding a second internal hard drive?

I'm currently running 2 internal and 1 external.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I love external HDs. Estimate the space you will need and don't overspend on buying too much capacity. Chances are you will get another one when the technology changes. I keep all my old back ups on my external HDs stored in a fire proof safe.

Sounds like you know exactly what you want. The only thing I would caution you about is not to move it while it's on. A tech told me once that moving an external HD while it's on is the major cause of their failure.

Look at the cost per byte. If you get 1 TB for $100 or 1 1/2 TB for $125, I would go with the 1 1/2 TB. Obviously, the cost per byte will decrease in the near future, so get the cheapest memory you can right now.

Hi CV: on the main computer I have a 2TB WD (Western Digital) external drive. I did some shopping around and that was a good cost per unit at the time. Dunno if it still is.

2 terabytes is insanely huge for my requirements so I'm sure I'll never outgrow it. I have a couple of smaller 1TB WD drives on other computers too.

Can't claim it's any kind of scientific road test, but they've not let me down over the last couple of years, and the big one saved me from what otherwise would have been a catastrophic computer failure. Just plugged it into the new computer and, presto, there was all the data safe. So, money well spent!

BTW: dunno what it's about, but I can second what lucy487 says about not moving them while they're on. They don't seem to like that!

Cheers - C

I have been pleased with my 1TB Verbatim external drive. It is fast, well made and has USB, Firewire and eSATA connections. Another nice thing is that there is no brick on the power cable. The one complaint I have is that it is noisy.

I've had a 500 gig (small by today's standard) WD for a few years now with out a problem. Nicest feature for me is the fact that it turns on and off with the computer. So far,so good.

John.E

I reccomend you use 2 Externals break your potential data loss by 50% I've had plenty of hardrives pack up over time and its very stressful having to recover from such a thing.

Im sorry if you wanted a HDD suggestion but tbh anything will be fine

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A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski~

Good article on FireWire 800 :

http://www.pcworld.com/article/111331/f ... rious.html

I took an old tower and put in 2 smaller (various size) hard drives that use 2.0 USB.

I'm looking at the Iomega 1.5TB, but still think prices will come down a bit before I decide for certain.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Having just replaced my 7 year old XP/120 Gig machine, my opinion is this:

As a hard drive lasts only 3-5 years, (they say), and my usage in 7 years including music, pics and family home movies has been about 100 Gigs, I opted for a 500 Gig hard drive. To me, it doesn't make sense to have a giant hard drive that is going to crap out when it is less than half full. I have other hard drives to keep things backed up, of course.

Oh, and USB 2 is still the easiest, cheapest,and almost the fastest transfer method - certainly fast enough for the amount I use it.

For my two cents, I follow the newest processer technology more than anything else, (even though the hard drive is the slowest part of the machine).

Now if I could just figure out Windows 7. It's far too Mac-like for me.

Peace, Gridlok

That what I was looking at the Western Digital Drives, I want to run My Mac's Time machine on it. The Mac has One Terabyte so I want the external to be that at least.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

CV- if you have a mac, you can format most WD drives to operate on them. WD do however make a drive for a Mac- 1TB I think with Firewire but they are quite pricey compared to most other models because of it.

I have a 320Gb with movies on it and 1Tb with my music, photos and movies too- both WD. I cant recommend them enough to be honest- they are brilliant Moving them while they are on, has anyone tried just picking one up??? its a weird feeling when you pick it up and turn your hand slightly... cant explain, you have to try!!

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I believe that is the internal gyroscope - so that in a geostationary orbit they will automatically orient themselves to point at the Pole Star. A handy little feature.

...Well really, why not? The iPod has an app that allows it to be used as an ocarina, after all.

Do you sometimes feel that life has out-weirded you...?

Cheers - C

USB 3.0 is just starting to come to market, 10 times as fast as 2.0, probably a lot faster than firewire as well. A few extra bucks now could be worth it in the long run.