LaCie Hard Disk 1 TB FireWire 400/USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive, Design by Neil Poulton 301315U Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I grew out of space to store my videos and captured footage. I bought this large capacity drive to solve that problem, and it has worked.

It was very easy to install on my desktop Mac. It has worked flawlessly out of the box, and the price was very competitive. I have used it for about one month so far.

I read reviews which told me that it was a little noisy and I thought that this would not bother me. I agree that the noise is not loud. It is a mild continuous background hum. But I was wrong.... It does get to me. The noise never goes away, and is the only drawback to this neat, small footprint, shiny black repository of huge amounts of data.

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Product Description:
The efficient 1TB LaCie Hard Disk, Designed by Neil Poulton, is extremely easy to use. Very compact for its colossal capacity, this lightweight storage solution moves around easily. Plug & play offering automatic formatting with LaCie Setup Assistant with customizable features. LaCie `1-Click'Backup Software for PC and Mac users is also included for quickly saving files in one click. Created exclusively for LaCie by world-famous designer Neil Poulton, the LaCie Hard Disk's one-of-a-kind, subtle all-black design blends perfectly into your setup. Adding sophisticated style to your desktop, it has a fashionable, mirror-polished finish and a distinguishing feature - a cool, blue LED strip on its underside that creates an ambient glow. With USB 2.0, eSATA and FireWire 400, the LaCie Hard Disk is designed to connect to any PC or Mac. The widely used interface USB 2.0 offers cross-platform convenience and hot-pluggable connection. For speed-demanding professional applications, eSATA offers an impressively fast transfer rate of up to 80MB/s.There are two FireWire ports so you can connect it to your computer and to another device like a second external drive, camcorder or camera. Even use it as a reliable data shuttle across platforms. Easily share and exchange your files and regularly back up your system or upgrade capacity when your hard drive is full. You can also conveniently save all of your digital photos, music files and videos in one central location for safekeeping.

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Hitachi XL2000 Desk 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive 0S02485 (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a large cheap functional disk (2Tb). Yes, like many Hitachi disks it will disconnect from a Mac when the Mac powers down so as to save power but when the Mac comes out of sleep you get a little message on the screen to say that a hard disk disconnected, you click 'ok' and the disk reappears, just like with this drive's predecessor. Not a big problem in exchange for cheap bulk storage that works (I have several of these drives). Hopefully Hitachi will correct this behavior in a future firmware but it is not a show-stopper when using a Mac by any means. Perfect for bulk storage of very large files like home video etc.

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Product Description:
Solid. Ready whenever you are. With the dependable speed of USB 2.0. When you need pure storage muscle, choose a drive that makes backing up your life a little easier. Because nothing should ever get in the way your memories, movies, music and entertainment.

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Hitachi LifeStudio Desk Plus 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive w/ 4 GB USB Key 0S02678 (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Arrived with something rattling around in it - but works fine. Software is ok and picture wall is also interesting. iphone app is not that useful, can only search though all files that have been uploaded - folders are not shown. UPDATE 1 month later.AVOID THIS!! Software crashes and files on the drive have also been found corrupted. Tried to work with Hitachi online help and support is depressing at best. They have no interest in helping issues to be fixed.I would not reccomend buying this at all.
-->UPDATE several months later: Hitachi offered to fix my drive, but in the end it looks like it could be something with my PC specifically, although I will never really know.The drive itself has been working fine. Only anoying part is it launches the install app to install the LifeStudio software everytime you plug it in. In the end the support I got from Hitachi was eventually ok - but we never did get the software to work on my laptop. I just use RSYNC (rsync.net) software now and it works great with the drive and has an online option. You need to get the older version to do drive to drive backups, but it works great, is simple but still tells you exactly what files are beings affected.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Hitachi LifeStudio Desk Plus 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive w/ 4 GB USB Key 0S02678 (Black)

Product Description:
The LifeStudio Desk Plus external drive automatically organizes your photos, movies, music, and files into a stunning 3D wall so you can easily view all your content both on your computer and from sites like Facebook. The included USB key enables ultimate flexibility on-the-go, and with plenty of capacity, reliable automatic backups protect all your content.

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LaCie Hard Disk 2 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive designed by Neil Poulton 301871U Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I attached this 1-TB USB external drive to my 2.8 ghtz IMac.The setup was a snap, but the included utilities wanted to take the whole drive as a single partition.I used the Mac's disk utilities, and created two partitions.This way, one partition can now be used for Time Machine (which by the way, will keep backing up until the disk is full, then begins deleting the oldest files), and another partition that is used to back up my Linux server.

The rest of the setup was fast. The Mac found the drive quickly, and so did Time Machine.The Time Machine software asked me which partition I wanted to use, and once that was decided on, Time Machine took off, and has been backing up ever since.How simple is that?

Also, most of the specs I read on this drive show a cache of 16 mb, but the drive as delivered, much to my pleasant surprise, has a cache of 32 mb.Even with the USB connection (I think firewire, which is available on some other La Cie drives, is about 15% faster), I found the file transfer time more than acceptable.I have run video from the drive with no issues.Also, I often transfer rather large photo files, and graphic images to and from the drive, and again no issues.

All that being said, for the money, the drive is hard to beat.

Click Here to see more reviews about: LaCie Hard Disk 2 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive designed by Neil Poulton 301871U

Product Description:
The user-friendly LaCie Hard Disk, Design by Neil Poulton adds sophisticated style to your desktop, yet its presence is quiet and unobtrusive. It has a unique distinguishing feature a blue LED strip on its underside that creates an ambient glow. Its subtle, all-black design blends perfectly into dark home entertainment setups and workstations. Very small for its vast capacity, this lightweight, compact drive has a fashionable, mirror-polished finish. The smartly engineered design allows for heat dissipation and near-silent, fanless operation. With Hi-Speed USB 2.0, this efficient external hard drive makes a great companion to your PC or Mac. Setup is nearly effortless; it's plug & play, offers customizable formatting, and comes with LaCie Backup Assistant and USB Boost. Box Content : LaCie Hard Disk, Design by Neil Poulton, USB 2.0 cable, External power supply, Quick Install Guide, LaCie Utilities (preloaded on the drive): User Manual, LaCie Backup Assistant (Windows and Mac), LaCie Setup Assistant.

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Western Digital My Book Home Edition 750 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive WDH1CS7500N Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This product was purchased for exclusive use as an external HDD for Dish Network's ViP 722.The "Home Edition" of the WD My Book has 3 ports: USB 2.0, Firewire, and SATA.This makes this HDD extremely flixable should it be decided to use the HDD for PC or even Tivo.

This HDD works flawlessy with the Dish ViP 722. It was connected to the 722 right out of the box and quickly formatted for immediate use.Transfers and playbacks to and from this HDD have been flawless.It is quiet and very good-looking.This HDD actually blends in very well, and is small enough to place additional My Book's for very neat and aesthetic appearance on shelves or TV Stands. It is the best looking and compact of all my external HDD's. I leave mine on at all times, so the blue indicator light is always illuminated.It makes a great night light.

One thing: the blue lights feature that indicates how much capacity of remains on the HDD works when using it connected to a PC.That feature will not work connected to the ViP 722.But I don't mind that, as it is very easy to check remaining capacity using the 722 menus.

I highly recommend this external HDD for use by Dish Network customers for their ViP series of satellite boxes, and I plan to buy this item again should I need more room.the 750GB is the current "official" maximum that Dish Network supports.HOWEVER, in the very near future Dish will officially support HDD's greater than 750GB.

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Product Description:
Western Digital My Book Home Edition 750 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive WDH1CS7500N

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Iomega eGo Mac Edition 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/800 Portable External Hard Drive 34629 (Ruby Red) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I got this portable hard drive recently to use for Time Machine with my MacBook Pro. Some notes and observations so far:

1) First off, the hard drive's ruby red color is not as bright as the Amazon photo. It's a darker red, which I prefer.

2) As with most portable hard drives, it is very quiet. Sitting a foot or two away from it, you should barely hear it, if at all.

3) This hard drive does not spin down after a certain amount of inactivity (unlike, for instance, a WD Passport, which spins down after 10 minutes or so of inactivity). You may or may not prefer this, depending on what you use it for. I use mine as a Time Machine, which backs up my hard drive every hour. I prefer the fact that it doesn't keep spinning down and spinning back up every hour (many argue that this is worse for a hard drive than simply leaving it on all the time, but there are varying opinions on this).

4) I wouldn't say the hard drive runs hot. It feels warm to the touch when idling all day like mine. However it may get hot if being used for constant data access. The only time it has felt somewhat hot is when I did the initial ~200GB backup of my hard drive.

5) This hard drive works well for daisy chaining. I have it connected to my MBP via Firewire 800, and I have a Firewire 400 external hard drive connected to the Iomega. NOTE: If you have the Iomega connected to your computer via USB, you cannot daisy chain a Firewire device.

6) Size-wise, it is a bit bigger than my (USB-only) WD Passport but it is still fairly compact.

7) The exterior feels like plastic, but the box says that the case is made from aluminum, so I'll trust that it is.

8) The light on the back of the drive is VERY bright. It actually projects light onto my wall. The color of the light may vary. I bought two of these drives from two different Best Buys... One has a blue light, the other has a white light. Either way, I found the light to be pretty annoying, so I simply covered it up with a small piece of black electrical tape. Works well.

9) Comes with a USB cable, Firewire 400 cable, and Firewire 800 cable.

10) One review noted: "No on-off switch, drive does not stop when computer sleeps, does not stop when computer turned off!". As far as bus-powered 2.5" portable hard drives go, I have not seen any with an on-off switch, although some may exist. If you want that, you will probably want to go with a 3.5" external desktop drive. HOWEVER, I think it is important to note that the Iomega WILL power down when the computer is sleeping or shut off. I was worried when I read this review because I thought the drive would keep spinning when I put my computer to sleep, but this is not the case. The only thing that stays on is the light. It will only turn off when you unplug the drive from the computer.

Overall, this drive works perfectly as a Time Machine. It is fast, small, quiet, not too hot, and unobtrusive. After the initial backup, you should barely notice successive backups (unless they are really big ones). The price is also great for a portable hard drive with three different connectivity options. The only thing I can't review is hard drive longevity... Only time will tell. Here's hoping that it lasts for a long time.--UPDATE February 5, 2010--

Hard drive is still working extremely well for me as a Time Machine. A few new notes and observations:

1) A lot of people have been reporting that the top of their cases are detaching, which is pretty discouraging. I've been lucky, as the only problem I've had is that one of the front corners has come up about 1-2 millimeters. However, the top of the case is still in place and secure for the most part. I bought another one of these hard drives for my father, and the top of his case has not detached at all. I should note that I leave my hard drive on all day and sometimes overnight, whereas my father only turns his on every once in a while (when he turns his computer on), but it is generally turned off. I did buy my hard drives from Best Buy... Perhaps they received a shipment of units that were of better quality than what Amazon received?

2) This is a strange one... My hard drive runs SIGNIFICANTLY cooler than when I first got it. It hardly feels warm at all, even though it's spinning away all day. I don't really understand why, but I can't complain.

3) My thanks to A.W. Jester for pointing out that you must register online to get the 3 year warranty. I had missed this at first!

This product seems pretty hit-or-miss based on the workmanship. On the one hand, I'd have a hard time recommending it based on the other reviews I've read. On the other hand, I would recommend it based on my own experience. It's a great value for the price if you're lucky enough to get a good one.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Iomega eGo Mac Edition 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/800 Portable External Hard Drive 34629 (Ruby Red)

Product Description:
Great aluminum design and multiple connections too! With one FireWire 800 port, one FireWire 400 port, and one USB 2.0 port, the Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive offers triple interface versatility for Mac users and a stylish design. These drives are formatted HFS+ for a great out-of-box experience. Plus, the Iomega Drop Guard feature protects the drive when dropped up to 51" (40% above the industry average!). EMC Retrospect, QuikProtect, and MozyHome Online backup software is included with purchase. Available in Ruby Red, Alpine White and Midnight Blue in up to 500GB capacity (capacities vary per color).

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AcomData PureDrive 2 TB USB 2.0/Firewire 400/800 Portable External Hard Drive PDHD2000UFABSE-72 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Previously bought many (several dozen) of the 1Tb predecessor to this 2Tb firewireA,B,ESATA drive. Despite the bad reviews on this site, I have only ever had 1 drive fail and that was because it was dropped onto concrete and even then I replaced the hard disk in the enclosure which continues to run 24/7. So my experience is that these drives in all sizes and interfaces are fast, silent, space efficient and reliable. Firewire B (800) compatibility is hard to find and often very expensive, in this case if you watch the price of these and buy when it dips you will get a good generic solution at an affordable price that works fast on Macs (Firewire B/800) and has flexibility for other interfaces. Thoroughly recommend this, certainly my experience of this brand is extensive and uniformly positive.

Click Here to see more reviews about: AcomData PureDrive 2 TB USB 2.0/Firewire 400/800 Portable External Hard Drive PDHD2000UFABSE-72

Product Description:
AcomData PureDrive 2 TB Quad Interface USB 2.0, eSATA, Firewire 400/800 3.5-Inch External Hard Drive PDHD2000UFABSE-72

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Hitachi SimpleDrivell 2TB Turbo USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I own 2 Simple Drives. One is a very old 160GB usb drive and the other is a new 1TB usb drive. They both work great! I had 2 problems for which I needed tech support. I called the 800 number and got right through both times without any wait time.

The first problem was caused by me when I did a sector by sector backup of my hard drive, and the dell emergency backup partition became visible on my 1 TB usb drive. That partition is difficult to delete, but the support person was very helpful in getting it deleted. Unlike most, it was a very pleasant and pretty quick tech support call!

The second problem was a little more difficult. When attaching both usb drives at the same time, the 1TB drive showed up in "My Computer", but I could not transfer files to it. The support person had me try several different usb connections, checking of drive letters, and a few other things, but nothing worked. We both agreed that the problem was not the usb drive, but most likely an issue with my computer. He suggested I try attaching both to a different computer to confirm this, and call back if it still didn't work. I hung up, and attached both to a newer computer and they both worked perfectly. Issue resolved as far as I was concerned.

An hour later I get a call from tech support. HE has discussed my issue with an engineer, and they believe the problem is being caused because both drives have external power supplies and it could be overloading the usb controller. He suggested I unplug the power supply on one drive and see if that works. Then he asked if he could send me an email so I could respond to tell him if that worked.

I have been through many tech support nightmares. I have never before had such a pleasant tech support experience as this, and I wanted to share it with those that are considering this product.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Hitachi SimpleDrivell 2TB Turbo USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

Product Description:
Hitachi HSD2000 SimpleDrive External Hard Drive - 2TB, USB 2.0

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LaCie 301827U d2 Quadra 1 TB eSATA/FireWire800/FireWire400/USB 2.0 External Hard Disk Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm in shock.

Having just moved from Windows to Mac (OS X 10.5.2) I'm used to long, involved nightmare hardware installations.Between OS X and the utilities supplied by LaCie on this drive, the whole business was up and running in about ten minutes.It took me longer to figure out which was the FireWare 800 cable than it did to finish the rest of the installation!

I have a new iMac with both FireWire 400 and 800 ports, and I'm using the LaCie as my Time Machine drive, so I opted to use the fastest interface available, the FireWire 800.The installation had four steps:

1.Physically attach the footplate to the drive so it could sit on its thin side, as in the photo with this review.Tools:included Allen wrench.Time: 60 sec

2.Attach the FW800 cable and the power supply.Plug in same.Tools: none.Time:60 sec.

3.Turn on the drive.Tools:finger.Time: 15 sec.

4.Click through the installation program that pops up on the screen.The last click is to inform OS X that this will be my TimeMachine drive.Tools:mouse, finger.Time:5 min.

Total time:7.25 min.(It took me about 2.5 minutes to figure out which cable to use.)

The FireWire interface is so fast, it did the initial TimeMachine 30GB backup in about 30 minutes.

The drive is quiet, it's fast, and it has a cool blue light on the front.It also has an auto power switch that detects when the iMac is seeking from the drive and switches on drive power.

What's not to like?

Click Here to see more reviews about: LaCie 301827U d2 Quadra 1 TB eSATA/FireWire800/FireWire400/USB 2.0 External Hard Disk

Product Description:
With a unique ridged exterior that enhances the enclosure's cooling performance, and a quadruple interface for full Mac and PC compatibility, the LaCie 301827U d2 Quadra External Hard Drive is an all-in-one drive that's built with the professional in mind. Designed by internationally acclaimed designer Neil Poulton, this versatile drive offers extreme performance and an aesthetic touch that will enhance any work space.
The LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk offers:

eSATA 3Gbits, FireWire 400/800, and USB 2.0 for universal compatibility and extreme speed
1 TB of disk space.
7200 rpm spin speed and 16 MB cache.
Fanless ridged design for cool, quiet operation.

Unique ridged heat sink aluminum design increases surface area by 60% for cooler operation. (Show here with the Little Big Disk Quadra and the 2big Network.) View larger.

The minimalist space-saving design will enhance the aesthetics of any work space. View larger. View back.

The d2 can be racked horizontally and set up in a RAID configuration. View larger. Quadruple Interface for Unmatched Performance and Compatibility
The LaCie 301827U d2 Quadra External Hard Drive features one eSATA 3 Gbit port, two FireWire 800 ports (9-pin), one FireWire 400 port (6-pin), and one hi-speed USB 2.0 port that is USB 1.1-compatible. (Cables for each connection are conveniently included with the drive.) This quadruple interface makes the d2 Quadra ideal for demanding multi-media applications that require extreme speed as well as universal connectivity. The USB and FireWire connections ensure that you can transfer or back up your data from your laptop or other computers, while the eSATA interface offers a transfer rate of up to 300 MB per second (3Gbits/sec).
The LaCie d2 is compatible with Windows, including Vista, and Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, including Time Machine, making it an ideal partner for your Mac. Time Machine automatically backs up your Mac's system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents to an external hard drive and lets you easily go back in time to recover anything.
Superior Drive Performance for Power Users
Built for power users such as video editors, the d2 Quadra features a rotational speed of 7200 rpm and a cache of at least 8 MB. Perfect for digital content creation, audio/video editing, DVD authoring, web animation, and more, the d2 Quadra can handle multiple demanding professional tasks. It can also be daisy-chained via FireWire or connected to your DV camera and is even bootable in FireWire for Mac and in eSATA for Mac/PC.
With a capacity of 1 TB (1,000 GB), the d2 Quadra can hold up to 1,000,000 photos, 350,000 songs, or 70 hours of DV video. If you purchase multiple drives, they can be daisy-chained and set to RAID 1 for data redundancy and protection, or RAID 0 for even greater speed.
The d2 Quadra also offers three power management options: "Auto" for energy efficiency; "On" for instant access; and "Off" for data protection. The drive also lets you back up files or launch any application with a simple push of the front blue button. This "shortcut button" can be configured to launch any document or application, or initiate the included EMC Retrospect Express software that offers automated backups.
Smart, Elegant Design and Loaded with Software
With the d2 Quadra, Neil Poulton has fashioned a unique, attractive and functional drive that offers excellent heat dissipation features and space-saving options for stacking. The fanless aluminum heat sink design features exterior ridges that provide 60 percent more surface area for heat dissipation, keeping the drive quiet and as safe as possible at all times. The d2 Quadra will sit nicely in an upright position alongside your PC or Mac machines, or it can be stacked horizontally with other drives or rack mounted to save desktop space.
Set-up and use is quick and easy, thanks to LaCie's preloaded Setup Assistant that helps format the hard disk according to your needs. For instance, the d2 Quadra lets you easily create a FAT32 partition for use with Macs. With the LaCie 1-Click Backup, you can backup any file into the location of your choice with a simple "click"--either via the desktop icon, or CTRL-S on your keyboard. And LaCie's Shortcut Button lets you easily launch any application with one push.
Also included with the d2 is EMC Retrospect professional backup software for PC and Mac users. This award-winning software offers several back-up options, including fast backups and scheduled back-up of either a single file or your complete system. With EMC Retrospect Express, you'll never have to worry about losing your data again.
The drive measures a slim 1.7 x 6.3 x 6.8 inches (WxHxD), weighs 3.31 pounds, and is backed by a 3-year limited warranty.
About LaCie
Established in France in 1989, LaCie is a leading manufacturer of computer peripherals for Windows, Apple and Linux users. With offices and plants in the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Europe, Singapore and Hong Kong, LaCie develops and manufactures external storage solutions and color monitors that help professionals and everyday people easily manage their digital lives. LaCie has differentiated its products through original designs and leading-edge technology.

What's in the Box
LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk; eSATA-to-eSATA cable; FireWire 800 (9-to-9 pin) cable; FireWire 400 (6-to-6 pin) cable; USB 2.0 cable (USB 1.1 compatible); external power supply; drive stand for upright desktop use; LaCie Utilities (preloaded): LaCie '1-Click' Backup Software for PC or Mac; SilverKeeper Software for automatic backup and file verification (Mac); EMC Retrospect Express 6.1 (Mac); and EMC Retrospect Express HD 2.0 (Windows).

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Western Digital My Book Studio 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/800/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive WDH1Q5000N Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Like it says in the review title, I really WANT to like this drive. Unfortunately, I can't. I don't. And I probably won't. Ever. Why?

I bought one of these from another vendor (sorry Amazon, their price was better). I installed the drive on my 24" aluminum iMac (which I DID buy from Amazon, good job, guys). The drive recognized fine on firewire 800, and I set Time Machine to use it for backups.

Then the problems started. The drive would "freeze" when it went into suspend mode, and it wouldn't come back. OS X is too stupid to stop trying to access a "dead" drive, so the suspended/frozen drive would hang the system. The only solution was to power down the drive (if possible), or remove the firewire cable. Worse, sometimes the drive wouldn't power down using the power button, so I had to pull the power cord. NOT good.

Once the frozen drive was out of the firewire chain, the OS would recover semi-gracefully, with a "Device Removal" error. I figured it was a fluke, so I put the drive first in the firewire chain. No luck. Then I changed cables. No luck. Okay, try the drive as the ONLY firewire drive. No luck. It would still freeze, and still hang the system.

So, I figured I just had a defective drive. No problem. I already had another on order, so I sent the first back to the vendor and waited for the second to arrive.

Same problems with the second drive. I used every connection available: firewire 800, firewire 400, and even USB (iMac's don't come with eSATA, so I don't know if it's a problem too). No luck with any connection, OR any cable (I have several available, which work with other drives). The My Book Studio drive still hangs AT LEAST once a day, usually several times.

So the second drive is going back for a refund, and I'm going to call the other vendor and just have them refund my money for the "defective" drive already in transit as a return.

Now, why do I want to like this drive?

Pros:
- It's good-looking
- It's quiet (because it's fanless)
- Quadruple interface (nice!)
- It's small

Cons:
- It just doesn't work... do I really need any MORE cons?

When the drive started giving me problems, I went looking for a solution (updated firmware, updated Button Manager software, SOMETHING). I found several people on the Apple Discussion Forums with the same problem, which made me realize that the drive itself was the issue.

Google for "my book studio freeze" and you can read the Apple Support discussion, which will lead you to more problem discussions.

That being said, I love Western Digital, and they're my first choice for external drives. I just think they have some MAJOR teething pains with the My Book Studio line. And since other Mac users love them, I suspect that WD Studio drives simply don't like the new iMacs. But since I spent $2000 on my computer, and $200 on the drive, the drive is the one that gets returned. Sorry, WD.

If you want a good, reliable drive for your iMac, I've had lots of luck with LaCie, and I've heard really good things about OWC drives. But if you're a tried-and-true WD fan... stay away from THIS drive.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Western Digital My Book Studio 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/800/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive WDH1Q5000N

Product Description:
Speed is what you need when for video editing, big design projects, or managing photo shoots and that's what this drive delivers with FireWire 800 and eSATA connectivity. With our automatic backup capability your creative masterpieces will be backed up the minute you save them.

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Hitachi LifeStudio Desk 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive 0S02666 (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Maybe for some people this would be a great external.I could see some people liking it, but not me.
First, the hard drive is more like a second computer.It will do pretty much everything, from storing your pictures and video to surfing the web.That's right the external will surf the web for you.I get that it is a cool feature, but it's not what I want when I buy an extra hard drive to store information.

Second, and this is what really did it for me and made me return it.When you search for items on the drive (pictures, music, video...) instead of searching like you might when you open the C: drive, it searches by tabs along a wall.So you scroll along the wall until you find what you want.Which in itself isn't horrible, but there is no fast way to search, if you are looking for one item, say the Beatles, if you scroll there is no way to tell you have gone to far or not far enough without continually stopping and looking.In order to be able to see the whole wall close up you can not have more than three rows.Which, once again is fine if you don't have a lot of music.As soon as you have lots of music imagine trying to scroll through a wall, while still being able to see what your doing, when you have thousands of tabs to pick through.It would take forever and defeats the point.

Finally, the only good thing, and in my opinion is also a bad thing, is that the drive is essentially a back-up of your computer.Meaning whenever it is hooked up it is backing up your computer.I found no easy way to load my music onto the hard drive without also having to load it onto my computer. Which is exactly what i didn't want to do.I don't want two exact copies of my computer hard drive, I want to keep as much free space on my computer so it runs fast and move all my music onto the hard drive.Maybe there is a way to do this, but I never figured it out, as such am returning it and am extremely disappointed.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Hitachi LifeStudio Desk 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive 0S02666 (Black)

Product Description:
The LifeStudio Desk external drive gives you plenty of capacity to easily find, automatically organize, share, and protect all your digital content.

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Seagate FreeAgent Go Special Edition 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive and Docking Station ST906403FSA2E1-RK (Silver with Chrome Trim) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been through a few external drives - WD Pocket drives, WD raid drives, HP Portable media drives, but the Seagate Freeagent GO is definitely my favorite. It's a very thing and stylish drive which is very reliable (and fast!), with a capacity big enough to hold all of your documents.

Compared to my WD Raid and HP Portable media drives, this one is by far the fastest (copying data through the same connector at almost twice the speed). It's also very stylish and easy to take with you wherever you go.

I originally purchased the normal Freeagent GO drive but after filling it, looked into the Freeagent GO Special Edition for my next drive.

The drive and connectors are all the same - the difference is a chrome trim along the sides, and a glossy black dock. The trim wasn't important to me (although was nice to help differentiate it from my plain black Freeagent GO), but the Dock was very nice. The dock is only available (outside of this package) in a matte white/grey color, not really blending with any of the drives outside of the Silver color. The glossy black dock matches the style of the drive and really gives an overall great appearance.

The dock uses 2 USB ports (although only one is necessary - the 2 USB ports are for older computers which can't power and transfer data with 1 cable). You can also choose to connect the USB cable directly to the drive, bypassing the dock.

One big difference (to me) was the lack of a case for the drive - if you buy the Dock separately in stores, you get a free faux-leather case to hold the drive. This was actually the selling point for me when buying the drive in the first place. The Special Edition only includes the drive, USB cable and the dock (no case). Keep this in mind if you decide to go for this version!

The drive has not given me any issues so far - something I cannot say about my WD raid drive - it's quiet and does just what it's supposed to.

Which version would I recommend? Normal or Special edition?

For looks? Special Edition - the black dock makes a big difference.

If you don't care about looks, or don't plan to use the dock, go for the regular one. It's cheaper, looks just fine and if you do decide to get a dock later on, you'll still be paying less than what the Special Edition costs, and you'll get a case out of it.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Seagate FreeAgent Go Special Edition 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive and Docking Station ST906403FSA2E1-RK (Silver with Chrome Trim)

Product Description:
With its sleek aluminum finish, exclusive chrome trim, piano black desktop dock and large capacity, the FreeAgent Go Special Edition portable storage solution makes it easy to take your photos, music, videos and documents everywhere - in style. Included, easy-to-use software helps keep your information safe with automatic data backup and encryption of your important files and folders. Plus, you can sync content so you'll always have your most current versions while on the go. In addition, the FreeAgent Go Dock accessory allowseasy connection to your PC whenever you want to access your files — no more fumbling for cables!

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Seagate FreeAgent XTreme 1.5 TB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive ST315005FPA2E3-RK (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Way better than the older freeagent external drive it replaced so far. It's smaller and lighter and the software to turn off the drive light actually works in Vista x64 now. What I really like is how the light stays off even when the power is completely off until you switch it back on. Previously you had to turn off the light every single time.Runs quiet and cool. No stuttering or failures so far. Pros - more than 2x as much space as my older external. Included software way better than older freeagent drives and works in Vista x64. Cons - doesn't come with esata cable so I wouldn't know if esata problems are as bad as suggested. It does come with firewire and usb cables and I'm using the faster firewire and works great with that as I said. Included stand crud and not worth using. Choice of white contrasting power and connection cables poor. Only 1.36TB formatted:( and if you are using nvidia nforce chipset even less space will show up in Vista due to bug:
1.5TB (ST31500341AS) or larger SATA hard drive only showing 1.1TB capacity in Windows Vista
[...]
Backup program is still not that great and not intuitive at all. I tried using the encryption feature and it's not worth using since it takes a long time to decrypt if you have thousands of files!

Don't know why this 1.5TB drive from Seagate is so much reliable than their normal 1.5TB retail drives?
The other 1.5TB Seagate drive I have installed inside my PC is making terrible screeching sounds like it's about to die anytime now :(
Already had to RMA several internal 1.5TB Seagate drives :(

Click Here to see more reviews about: Seagate FreeAgent XTreme 1.5 TB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive ST315005FPA2E3-RK (Black)

Product Description:
FreeAgent I Xtreme Desktop Drive-1.5TB 7200 RPM USB 2.0/eSATA/FireWire

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Iomega 2 TB USB 2.0 eSATA 3 Gbits Professional Hard Drive - 34527 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've had this drive for about 3 weeks now, on day one I transferred about 500gigs to it via the esata and it was incredibly fast and didn't over heat.I've been transferring smaller files to it since and there's still no problems, a great drive

Click Here to see more reviews about: Iomega 2 TB USB 2.0 eSATA 3 Gbits Professional Hard Drive - 34527

Product Description:
With a true eSATA interface for the fastest speeds available, the Iomega Professional Desktop Hard Drive eSATA 3 Gbits/USB 2.0 offers a powerful, high-performance storage solution. Now available in a sleek silver design in up to 2TB capacity and includes Iomega Protection Suite software via easy download. eSATA is up to 6 times faster than USB 2.0 It's a quick, easy way to save photos, music, videos and more. For an additional safety net, Iomega Never Down software (PC) is included via download so you can boot & work from your eSATA hard drive plus quickly restore your PC in case of a system disaster.

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