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+--- Thread: Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? (/showthread.php?tid=54347)
Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? - mrlynn - 05-05-2008
Looking for one for not much over $100 (USBs are cheap, but USB 1.0 on son's TiBook is slow); found a few, but somewhat sketchy:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822204042
Fantom: Only 1-yr warranty
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822216031
acomdata: Only 1-yr warranty
http://dealmac.com/Maxtor-One-Touch-III-500-GB-Fire-Wire-800-USB-2-0-External-Hard-Drive-for-100-7-s-h/224973.html
Maxtor: CNet gives "horrible" reviews (2)
http://dealmac.com/Seagate-Free-Agent-Pro-750-GB-e-SATA-USB-2-0-Fire-Wire-External-Hard-Drive-for-126-11-s-h/226532.html
Seagate (750GB ) : Refurb; DM says 5-yr warranty applies, but eCOST page says only 90 days. ??
I know, beggars can't be choosers. Anyone with comments, better ideas?
The Seagate drive is $137 with shipping—anyone with better information on the warranty?
/Mr Lynn
Re: Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? - StingMe - 05-05-2008
[quote mrlynn]The Seagate drive is $137 with shipping—anyone with better information on the warranty?
If it's factory refurbished, ask Seagate...
Chat: http://seagate.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/seagate.cfg/php/enduser/chat.php
Email: https://seagate.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/seagate.cfg/php/enduser/stx_ask.php?p_cats=262
Phone: 1.800.SEAGATE (1.800.732.4283)
Re: Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? - mrlynn - 05-05-2008
Thanks, StingMe. I e-mailed Seagate CS.
The phrase eCost uses is "Seagate Recertified", not 'refurbished', but maybe they mean the same thing. I asked Seagate.
Pretty good price for 750GB. Comes with Seagate imitation-Time Machine software for PC, but you can format the drive for Mac.
/Mr Lynn
Re: Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? - jdc - 05-05-2008
that $100 maxtor is FW 800 as well, great deal
did you consider the PCMCIA card?
for $20, that gives him the ability to use anything USB 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124013
Re: Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? - jdc - 05-05-2008
although only 320, did you see this
http://1saleaday.com/?referrer=dealnews
those acomdata cases are great...fanless aluminum
Re: Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? - mrlynn - 05-05-2008
[quote jdc]although only 320, did you see this
http://1saleaday.com/?referrer=dealnews
those acomdata cases are great...fanless aluminum
I guess the main worry I have is this: Is the drive itself any good?
What drives are in those Acondatas? Or Fantoms?
And Maxtors don't seem to have a good reputation. . .
Time was, you could expect a 5-year warranty on a decent drive.
/Mr Lynn
Re: Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? - jdc - 05-05-2008
maxtors are fine.
you could *never* expect a 5 year warranty out of an external drive -- at least not until the last year or so
now seagate and maxtor both offer 5 years, and think WD has 3 on their externals
all drives can/will fail
buy whatever is in your budget and be done with it...
Re: Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? - GGD - 05-05-2008
[quote mrlynn]Time was, you could expect a 5-year warranty on a decent drive.
/Mr Lynn
I seem to recall that the 3-5 year warranties were always on bare drives in retail packaging, but when that same drive manufacturer put it in an enclosure and sold it, it tended to have just a 1 year warranty. Perhaps they have more faith in their drives than in their enclosures.
Re: Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? - tronnei - 05-05-2008
[quote mrlynn][quote jdc]although only 320, did you see this
http://1saleaday.com/?referrer=dealnews
those acomdata cases are great...fanless aluminum
I guess the main worry I have is this: Is the drive itself any good?
What drives are in those Acondatas? Or Fantoms?
/Mr Lynn
I bought a 250 GB Firewire Acomdata. About a year later it started causing kernel panics and randomly dismounting, then suddenly stopped working altogether. Cracked the case and found a Western Digital drive inside, which I transplanted into a OWC Neptune case, where it has performed perfectly ever since. Moral of the story for me: Acomdata = bad, regardless of the drive inside.
Those Fantom cases look almost identical to Acomdata's cases; I'm guessing they come from the same factory.
Re: Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive? - Psurfer - 05-05-2008
Deal or no deal?
Anyone have that Maxtor? That's a scary couple of user reviews on Cnet:
and the Amazon reviews for this one (mdl. # T01W500 is the one that has FW800) have 2 of 5 reporting failure.