"...most attractive" ? Aside from the fact that you just got paid =) -maybe they are reliable,but they sure make a 3.5inch HD look REALLY big. Since when were abnormally big external HDs a good thing?

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They do look better than the older generation, especially the older white model. But I'm disappointed that they're eliminating FireWire 800 connections. I was expecting to buy a My Book drive when I got my new 24-inch iMac, and I was planning to take advantage of its FireWire 800 port. They were one of the few external drive companies that didn't charge an outrageous amount extra for drives with connections other than USB. I'm disappointed.

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I have three of these (the old models), an Essential, Pro and Premium. They have all been good to me. My only advice is to skip the Essential model if at all possible and move up one notch to the model with USB & Firewire 400. I guess they're calling it "Home" now. The Essential is a great bargain (500GB for $99-$129), but they really cut many corners to get the price down. The drive is skull-crushingly slow.

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I personally will only buy Seagate external or internal drives from now on. The fact that they stand by their products with a FIVE year warranty really says a lot to me.

I'm actually very suprised that other hard drive manufacturers have not followed suit.

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Scott,

I have a FW400 and an 800 model, and I really haven't noticed any difference. I'm sure there is technically, but in day-to-day operation it hasn't been apparent.

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I've owned a great deal of external drives in my time and one of these has been a My Book. I purchased it mainly based on Western Digital's reasonably good reputation and the nice styling of the case design. The truth is, however, the drive lasted only one year before experiencing the dreaded click. A quick Google shows this as a fairly common issue, though it's much more prevalent in their Elements line of external drives.

My experience could likely be a fluke, but it's worth mentioning since many others have shared my experience.

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"Western Digital" and "quietest" in the same story. That's news to me, unfortunately.

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I've never had a mybook drive, but I have a couple of seagate freeagent pros...can't complain about those:

quiet......check
purty......check
fast.......check
reliable...check

my book can suck it

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You are clearly a true professional, Western Digital makes the BEST hard drives. Or the exact opposite of that.

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Side note: Don't buy the existing gigabit ethernet models. Do some research on major online vendor's sites and you'll see what I mean.

As for these. No thanks. WD and reliable ... I used to stand by WD too and pretty much exclusively bought them. After a rash of failures starting with 200GB drives. And, I'm not the only person with this experience.

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I've got a My Book of the old line and use with Super Duper to great affect. Very quiet. And also, I too have notice no speed difference between FW 400 and FW 800 and USB 2.0.

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@7:

I bought a WD laptop HD with Whisper Drive to replace my stock one in an old ThinkPad and am amazed at how quiet it is. I have a hard time sometimes just making sure that data is being written and read because I can't hear it.

That being said, I've been wary of WD external drives due to horror stories and have only bought Seagate when possible. It's sometimes a little more expensive but the peace of mind is worth it.

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In my experience, OWC drives are the best. Never had one fail. I know one person with a Western Digital drive. It appeared to be on the brink of failing after less than a year of use.

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Hi

Since we are talking about Ext HHD's I thought I would throw this question out there.

What is the best RAID1 setup to use plugged into a GigE AEBS?

I have the newer AEBS and have 2 MacBooks in the house. I want a device that can plug into the AEBS (10/100/1000 or USB) that is RAID1 (2 disks inside device). What have folks found to work well?

My understanding is that I need a ext device that presents itself as RAID1 (read int. controller) to the AEBS, so I can have RAID1 in this setup.

So short version: 2 MacBooks, 1 AEBS-GE, and I want a RAID1 solution that plugs into AEBS, so I can have wireless centralized backup point, as well as be ready for "TimeMachine" and maybe a shared wireless iTunes Lib.

Thanks in Advance
-wsn

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These comments were VERY helpful. For one thing, I didn't realize that there was so little speed difference between USB 2.0, FW 400, and FW 800, in practical terms. The specs sound as if USB2 and FW 400 are roughly equivalent, but that FW 800 should be faster. I guess these drives really don't take advantage of that speed.

I've had a couple Lacie Porsche drives that have performed great for the past few years, except for some slight noise when they spin up after being asleep. They're both FW400, and I was wary of buying a USB2-only drive, expecting some speed loss. Now, I'm thinking it's not worth the cost difference to get one even with FW 400--although I still might due to the scarcity of USB ports on iMacs (I'm trying to avoid buying a powered hub).

Second lesson learned: stay away from Western Digital drives!

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OWC, baby!

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Scott,

I've used the LaCie Porsche design drives as well, and have had spotty luck at best with them. My first one is going on 3+ years and still strong, but another I purchased less than a year ago is already getting a case of the clicks. My company has also had one of their network drives crash to the point of being unrecoverable. I'm staying away from LaCie form now on.

P.S. Hey TUAW, any chance of getting the shiny new commenting system that's being used over at Joystiq and Autoblog?

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OWC doesn't make drives. They sell other manufacturer's mechanisms. Instead of recommending OWC in general, it would be wise to verify what you are buying from them. (I like OWC as well, just FYI.)

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@12 I've owned many WD drives over the years, and every last one ended up sounding like a refrigerator after a year or two. No harsh treatment or environment. I'm mostly Seagate now, with zero problems. Good luck.

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Perhaps relevant: Costco has the Seagate Freeagent Pro 750GB for $199 right now.

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