Weekend project - DIY cheap 500GB external drive
Ah, the weekend; it stretches out before you like an open field, waiting to be plowed into furrows of laundry, errands, home improvements and recreation. Of course, for us, recreation = new stuff for our beloved Macintoshes! Ready to load up that shiny new Airport Extreme with some capacious shared storage to hold your iTunes library? Let's see... mix one part Staples $140 closeout deal on 500GB Maxtor PATA internal drive, add in one part external FW/USB enclosure with wicked flame graphics for $30... result: one excellent drive that wouldn't look out of place alongside the Mystery Machine. If you prefer the MacAlly cases (rugged!), there's a free shipping deal on those too.Now, for only $20 more you can have these guys assemble the USB-only case and drive for you, or these guys I've never heard of for only $145... but no pretty flames. Of course, if you want it to actually look good under the base station, then the Newer MiniStack is probably a better bet: the empty USB enclosure is only $60/$40 for an open-box unit, so add that Maxtor for some storage that's both functional AND stylish. Happy shopping!
Update: The trend of the comments is decidedly unfavorable towards the reliability of both the Maxtor drive and the Metal Gear case, so: message received. Here's a deal on a cheaper DiabloTek enclosure, which makes up for the extra you'll spend on a Seagate or WD drive. If you'd prefer a SATA drive, there is a Maxtor out there for a strangely low $127, as pointed out by Trojan below.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jonathan Grynspan said 1:24PM on 3-09-2007
I bought a "METAL GEAR BOX" enclosure a while back. They have no fans or ventilation, and the lack of temperature control caused my hard drive to, quite literally, burst into flames. I do not recommend getting one.
Reply
Toastmaster General said 1:42PM on 3-09-2007
Maxtor drives are the only brand that i have ever had fail on me. I would not recommend them to anybody.
Reply
mkuker said 1:42PM on 3-09-2007
Or, you know, you could pick up a Western Digital 500GB external with USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 at CostCo for $189. Your call.
Reply
Pete said 2:33PM on 3-09-2007
Humorously enough, I just bought a 500gb drive this week and found a BETTER deal. On newegg, you can get a 500gb Seagate for $10 more. The advantages, Seagates are awesome drives, and come with an unmatchaed 5 year warranty. A 5 year warranty on a hard drive! You won't find that ANYWHERE else.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148136
Reply
Mark Benson said 4:05PM on 3-09-2007
You'd actually recommend using a Maxtor hard drive? You guys must have lost the plot! I'd say look around and find a Seagate or a Western Digital, at least that way you've got much less chance of having to replace the drive in a years time...
Reply
Fritz Laurel said 2:47PM on 3-09-2007
I also do NOT recommend the "Metal Gear Box." Those cases are crap, IMHO.
Yes, go with the WD as #3 suggests...
Cheers,
FL
Reply
Darrell said 2:54PM on 3-09-2007
Or from Buy.com for $144.95
Reply
Trojan said 3:00PM on 3-09-2007
Yeah, 5 year warranties, you don't find them anywhere, like, perhaps on THIS Maxtor Maxline Pro 500 GB SATA2 drive. http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=21768&promoid=1001 And only $149 Cdn.
I've had drives from all manufacturers Fail, Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital, Quantum, everyone. There's nothing magical about it, if you use enough harddrives you'll see them all fail eventually.
Reply
tony said 4:03PM on 3-09-2007
Western Digital's come with 5 year warranty now too.
Reply
Brian said 4:12PM on 3-09-2007
If you don't like Maxtor, skip this, but otherwise, you can get a Firewire 800/400/USB 500GB in a case for $180 at Fry's:
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4951741
Reply
The Centurion said 4:10PM on 3-09-2007
I currently have 3 Metal Gear Box Substance II models in diff colors. Easy to assemble, sturdy, aluminum sides so they run cool. Never a prob. Bought them at diff times from diff vendors.
Be aware that there are diff models out there. Maybe some of the older ones were more prone to problems.
Reply
Corienti said 8:34PM on 3-09-2007
I always go for a dual-bay drive enclosure. They're a little more expensive, but you can add another drive later. I use a lot of external storage (1.5TB so far and counting) and if I had each drive in its own enclosure, that'd take up a lot of desk room and need twice the number of cables. The 5-bay (etc) cases are waaaay too expensive, but the simpe dual bay ones are reasonable. One example is the ones from Macpower, the Igloo for PATA or the Taurus for SATA.
http://www.macpower.com.tw/products/hdd3/
If you get a dual enclosure, you don't have to go and get another enclosure when you want to add another drive later. And for me at least, I'm frequently adding yet another drive :-)
Reply
Clair said 6:56PM on 3-09-2007
Seagate bought Maxtor over a year ago. I guess they haven't passed on their quality.
Reply
khawk said 10:51PM on 3-09-2007
If you just want to do it on the cheap and aren't scared of refurbished greatness:
LaCie refurbished 500GB usb drive
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/clearance/products/?id=10007
Pretty solid construction :)
Refurbished 180 day warranty :(
No idea on the drive itself.
Reply
Rich Schmidt said 12:28AM on 3-10-2007
I bought three 200 GB Maxtor drives last year from Staples at $50 each, after mail-in rebate. One went into the old Windows tower, one went into an external drive enclosure for use with my MacBook Pro, and one's still waiting to go into service. It'll probably end up in the tower, too, eventually.
Reply
Dean Thompson said 9:34PM on 3-10-2007
Re: #13, how is the noise level on the Igloo and Taurus?
That's one thing I like about fanless enclosures... very little noise. Positioned strategically cooling hasn't been a problem.
Reply
Stephen said 10:48AM on 3-12-2007
let's hear it for jumping on the bandwagon.... first, as mentioned...Seagate and Maxtor are now the same company...products could be coming off same manufacturing lines, don't know.
having owned many many drives over the years, internal and external, the only hard failures I have ever had are Maxtor....and it's been 3 drives in the last 6 months, two 250gigs and one 500gig....seems like somebody lost the recipe
Reply
Elvedhel said 1:16PM on 3-22-2007
I also went down the dual hard drive road with a couple of seagates. That 5 year warranty makes it woprth it when you only get 1 year on the pre built cases. checked out the Taurus too and picked mine up from here. http://www.span.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=19_1302_1324&products_id=8102
so far great unit, looks the nuts alongside my g5 and quiet as anything too.. now i can downlaod even more stuff with 1TB of storage sitting on my desk
Reply