h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've finally realised how much easier it would be to have an external HDD for backing up rather than having to use piddly wee 4 GB dvds.

So any suggestions about what my options are? I know next to nothing about external HDDs.

I'm on a G4 powerbook with an 80GB HDD.

Also, how easy is it to use the HDD all the time. I find 80 GB isn't really big enough now

I have a similar system, G4 PB 80Gb. I used to have a Western Digital 200Gb USB HDD and it was great...for about 4 months when it sudenly ceased working, and their customer service is crap. I wouldn't get another WD HDD, external or otherwise.

Saying that, it was good while it lasted, a bit slow though, I think I'll get a Firewire drive to replace it.

Hi kea

I've got a 160GB LaCie d2 triple interface which has been problem free for the last 2 years and is fast and efficient. ( http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=10511 ). I also paid less that LaCie want for it so it is worth shopping around.



turvy

Where I'm up to now is do I need firewire or not? Is it worth the extra expense?

kea, do you have USB 2.0? It's comparable in speed with Firewire but the drive "shells" are a little cheaper...

You can get a 500GB drive for just under £75 + carriage (http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3W4M) and a USB2 "shell" to fit it into for just under £16. (http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=44DP)

Including carriage, that would give you 500GB of external storage for pennies over £100. The "shell" clips together without needing any tools; you just plug two plugs into the back of the drive and slide it into the housing, then push the back panel on till it "clips". (I have one by my left knee as I type!)

Hi Peet,

How do I tell if it's 2.0 or not? I'm pretty sure it is, but I can't find anything in the System Profiler to confirm that.


Here's a look at what is available in NZ:

http://www.macwarehouse.co.nz/?page=shop/category&mac_product=de4f27ec8dfb006ae72fa9c805456261&ps_session=65ed3af563895a57f43157705ff71b43

I always go with firewire, but that's because my ancient iMac only has the slooooow USB 1. If you click "About this Mac" in your apple menu, then click "More Info..." it will start up the Apple System Profiler, and you can use that to see what kind of USB you have. Look for either USB 2.0 or "High Speed". You may have both USB 1 and USB 2 on the same computer.

USB 2 will be fine for most purposes including backup - but if you intend to use the external drive as real workspace for digital video editing or somesuch, firewire is still the better choice (and then go for firewire 800 if you can)

simulpost

When you click on USB in System Profiler, you'll see "USB Bus" items for each USB that you have. Click on those and you should see the details. Mine does *not* say USB 2 or "high speed" but that's the only way I can tell that I have USB 1

On closer look I do have a "Bluetooth HCI" item, when I click on that it says "Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec" - which is USB 1. USB 2 would show speeds closer to 400 Mb/sec.

can I delete a post. Ignore that last one. Bluetooth is NOT USB.

Firewire = 400Mb/s

USB 2.0 = 480Mb/s

Firewire 800 = 800Mb/s

Firewire lets you add up to 63 devices, but if all you want is a single hard drive, and your Mac doesn't support Firewire 800, then USB 2.0 theoretically has the performance edge, although some still say the Firewire 400 cable has better performance. The differences are pretty trivial, though.

One thing to remember, if you're doing video editing through Firewire, is that every device you add reduces the overall performance of the system. Thus, an additional Firewire HDD might reduce the bandwidth available for downloading from your camera, while a USB 2.0 one wouldn't. Just a thought.

It says high-speed (there are a couple of non high speed ones too).


What does it mean on an hdd advert when it says 'not Bus powered'?

It means that you have a separate power supply for it. Usually one of those little "plug blocks" with a transformer built-in. The HDD shell I pointed you to uses one of those; as you're outside the UK you'd have to budget for a "local" replacement.

I looked at the prices on the site you posted, and think that even paying shipping costs to NZ you'd be cheaper buying from Dabs.

OK, I need Bus powered then (have laptop do travel).

I didn't really follow that shell thing, Peet. Does that mean you are buying a HDD that needs a container, compared to say the la cie ones which are built to be external?

Dabs don't appear to have international shipping.

Traveller in Time a little late
"USB does have the same bandwidth system as firewire, that is one device can runupto 480Mbit where more will have to share the same bandwidth resulting in way less then the sum of 480Mbit.

Bus Powered seems an easy choise, however concidering the hard drive will not be using more then 500mA the speed up and seek will be slow. If your USB can supply the 500 mA (many laptops are reduced to 250 mA to preserve battery power ? ). "

Woah there, while USB 2.0 is theoreticly faster than Firewire, firwewire has a constant 400 Mbps access speed where as USB 2.0 varies.

As TiT says, using a bus-powered HDD on a battery operated laptop really limits you. You need an exceptionally low-power device, which in turn is likely to have a much smaller capacity. You should consider just moving files like movies etc. that you only use when you're sitting down somewhere onto the external drive and carrying a power supply.

And yes, the "shell" I described is the bit that turns an "internal" hard drive into an "external" one, adding the power supply and USB connector to what is essentially the same sort of hard drive you would have inside your machine, if it wasn't a laptop...

Bummer that Dabs don't ship internationally any more. They used to, but that was before they were bought over by BT, I guess.

T.B.F., Firewire has a constant 400Mb/s split across up to 63 devices... USB2 has 480MB/s per node, ("root hub") split across up to 8(?) devices.

If you only have the one external device the point is moot, as it'll get the full bandwidth of either.

That's wierd because I used to get faster access to my old iPod using Firewire than USB. Now though I have...3 USB printers, a USB Graphics tablet, a Gretagmacbeth Eye-One 2, sometimes there's also a USB midi keyboard, my new iPod, a USB memory card reader and a webcam...that's 9 devices wow that's quite a bit.