External Hard Drives

Hey all...

On the topic of external hard drives for digital photography, I was wondering about various brands of these puppies. I see LaCie mentioned but what about companies like Maxtor and Western Digital?? LaCie seems to be a bit more pricey.

On CDW's site, Western Digital external 40 and 80 gig HDD's (USB 2.0) are affordable at around $150. Is this the sort of thing that you take with your laptop when you travel?? Or would I be better off with a Delkin PicturePad???

It looks like my dad and I will definitely buy a D2H after Christmas, so I am in the full tilt ultra-anal research phase.

Thanks!!

Mark in Austin

I've been picking up external drives here recently. http://www.wiebetech.com/ The pocket 60GB firewire drives are great and don't require an external power supply when using my Mac. They also supply a great piece of software with any purchase, software so a PC can read a Mac formatted drive. The neat thing is, a Mac formatted drive is faster on a PC than a Fat32 formatted one.

Anthony Medici wrote:I've been picking up external drives here recently. http://www.wiebetech.com/ The pocket 60GB firewire drives are great and don't require an external power supply when using my Mac.

Thanks Anthony....

With the advent of the new USB 2.0 and the prospect of getting a new computer to go along with all of this, is firewire necessary??? Just curious...

Cheers,

Mark in Austin

mwagner1 wrote:With the advent of the new USB 2.0 and the prospect of getting a new computer to go along with all of this, is firewire necessary??? Just curious...

I have both Apple Macs and Sony Vaios. The common link between the two and my DV video equipment is firewire.

USB 2.0 is a good alternative. If you have no real reason to use firewire, then USB 2.0 is the way to go. Depending on your current computers and your future needs, USB 2.0 should serve you fine. It is not a good choice for me at this time.

Anthony Medici wrote:
USB 2.0 is a good alternative. If you have no real reason to use firewire, then USB 2.0 is the way to go. Depending on your current computers and your future needs, USB 2.0 should serve you fine. It is not a good choice for me at this time.

Hey Anthony....

I guess that it boils down to when I get a new laptop..if it is a new one that is available with USB 2.0, then I guess it boils down to buying whatever is available on a new machine....

I have seen some laptop models at CompUSA that have the new USB 2.0..so if that is the case, then I bet that the issue becomes moot...go with USB 2.0...if the machines have Firewire, then stick with Firewire..I guess that if I had a machine with Firewire, I would not be in such a hurry for USB 2.0....

The thinking goes on...

Cheers,

Mark in Austin

mwagner1 wrote:I guess that if I had a machine with Firewire, I would not be in such a hurry for USB 2.0....

Mark:

If you had a laptop with firewire you may still be in a hurry for USB 2.0. All of the laptops [including my Dell] I have seen have 4 pin firewire. This means the hardrive has no power source. The attraction of USB is that your device gets power from the USB port. I have seen a firewire device with an extra cord to get power from the USB port.

rocky,

I have that cable and it works. I alos have an external power source for the FW and that works as well The USB2.0 is of course easiest as it takes power from the port.