12-01-2007, 10:22 AM
> would a bigger external drive that she could boot from be a lot slower than her
> internal drive
Bigger drives are not necessarily slower. In fact, the latest 750GB and 1TB drives are much, much faster than most smaller drives.
> wouldn't it make more sense just to match hers in size
Not really. That's basically asking for obsolescence. What happens when your friend wants to move up to a bigger boot drive? Then your friend has to get a bigger backup drive, too?
There's a general principle of storage -- you have it, you use it. Unless there's some other important factor (like $$$), get the biggest drive you can.
> The next question is, should I get a miniStack
I haven't heard anything particularly bad about them, but they are more expensive than what your friend appears to need.
> or should I look at other external drives, which may be cheaper for their size and
> only USB?
I, personally, do not buy USB-only drive enclosures. Having a FW port on the case gives me the flexibility to use the drive in many more situations and FW is generally faster than USB. That being said, if this has to be done on a tight budget then buying a bare drive and a cheap USB enclosure is probably going to save mucho dinero.
> I thought only FW externals were bootable. Am I wrong...
Yes. Intel Macs and some others can boot from USB. Most PPC's can boot from FW drives, starting with the Sawtooth/AGP G4's.
> internal drive
Bigger drives are not necessarily slower. In fact, the latest 750GB and 1TB drives are much, much faster than most smaller drives.
> wouldn't it make more sense just to match hers in size
Not really. That's basically asking for obsolescence. What happens when your friend wants to move up to a bigger boot drive? Then your friend has to get a bigger backup drive, too?
There's a general principle of storage -- you have it, you use it. Unless there's some other important factor (like $$$), get the biggest drive you can.
> The next question is, should I get a miniStack
I haven't heard anything particularly bad about them, but they are more expensive than what your friend appears to need.
> or should I look at other external drives, which may be cheaper for their size and
> only USB?
I, personally, do not buy USB-only drive enclosures. Having a FW port on the case gives me the flexibility to use the drive in many more situations and FW is generally faster than USB. That being said, if this has to be done on a tight budget then buying a bare drive and a cheap USB enclosure is probably going to save mucho dinero.
> I thought only FW externals were bootable. Am I wrong...
Yes. Intel Macs and some others can boot from USB. Most PPC's can boot from FW drives, starting with the Sawtooth/AGP G4's.