FW Hard Drive or FW Enclosure?

May 29, 2003 - 7:57am — bmann

I need to increase my storage. It's a long story, but basically I'd like to centralize all our music in a single place, hooked up to Lampie (my iMac) so we can use iTunes to organize/browse/play it.

Also, I really don't have much of a backup solution...if Lampie goes down, there is a bunch of stuff there that is gone.

So, I'm debating between a FireWire hard drive and a FireWire enclosure plus hard drive bought separately. I've pretty much narrowed it down to two options.

Option 1
Maxtor 5000DV 120GB
Available locally from RBC for $382 (I already had them do a price match against a Vancouver-based distributor).

Pros:
- FW and USB2.0, meaning it would work on basically any computer that has USB or FW ports
- somewhat cheaper
- available locally
- no fan

Cons:
- no extensibility -- if I run out of space there, no other options

Option 2
Concord Dual 3.5" FireWire External Hard Drive Enclosure
I just saw this advertised at FireWire Depot for $140US (~$210CDN).

Pros:
- massive storage potential
- expandability

Cons:
- only has FW, so can't use on lots of WinPCs
- has a fan
- somewhat more expensive (a 120GB drive is ~$210, so min. price would be $420)
- have to order from the US, so add shipping, duties, etc. (maybe another $50 or so?)

Those are the two main options. Kind of an "option 3" would be a single external enclosure. A "generic" one is ~$120 with both FW and USB2.0, so with 120GB drive as above, it would $330 -- the cheapest option.

So, let me know what you think. Which option should I go for? Do you have any other ideas? My one main requirement is that the storage must have FW / be able to be directly attached to my OS X iMac.

Comments

June 2, 2003 - 2:55pm — bmann

Maxtor 5000DV 160GB purchased

A whole bunch of meetings today, once of them thanks to Vince at Laurier Computers. I wandered by to meet him in person after the last meeting, and idly asked about the 5000DV. No more 120GB, but he was able to get me the 160GB version for the same price as the cheapest I had been able to find the 120GB elsewhere!

Thanks, Vince.

May 30, 2003 - 1:53pm — gfair

Case less expensive?

In my experience, I've rarely found an enclosure+drive option that is less expensive than the unified option, and most separate enclosures seem to be distinctly uglier than the unified option.

Other than that, I'm amazed that you were able to find the component option cheaper than a single drive solution, Boris. FW and USB is a good option, that I like. Ultimately, make sure there is a return policy on the drive so any unresolved problems with the hardware can be resolved through service.

May 29, 2003 - 9:58am — evan@home.justw...

Heh

I am thinking of doing the same thing. Let me know what you decide :)

I am kind of an Option 3 person but there is something to be said about a solid all in one solution...

Also the enclosure technique allows you to swap out the HDD for a DVD-R or CD-RW or whatever.... also desirable.

Where you get the generic enclosure?

May 29, 2003 - 10:34am — bmann

Generic

The "generic" enclosure was also from local shop RBC -- here's the direct link to the page. In your neck of the woods, NCIX also has a generic. Although, that one is FW only.

Also the enclosure technique allows you to swap out the HDD for a DVD-R or CD-RW or whatever.... also desirable.

Nope. Definitely wrong. These are specifically 3.5" hard drive enclosures. You can get enclosures that will support a 5.25" optical drives (link is NCIX again), but they are more expensive -- ~$190.

The "no fan" item is one of the big sellers for the all-in-one, especially since it will be sitting fairly close to you.

May 29, 2003 - 3:47pm — evan@home.justw...