New imac needs more storage options

[68shelbymustang]

Honestly, the HD space is the only thing holding me back from buying a new one for the house. The bottom 20" model is a very attractive price, IMO.

I'm sure it's a ploy to upgrade to a better model, but I wish there was a BTO option to add a 1TB drive to any of them.

I've seen a couple of take-apart threads to do the upgrade, but I don't feel comfortable doing this to a brand new machine.

:adface::

[BigGuynRusty]

[quote 68shelbymustang]Honestly, the HD space is the only thing holding me back from buying a new one for the house. The bottom 20" model is a very attractive price, IMO.

I'm sure it's a ploy to upgrade to a better model, but I wish there was a BTO option to add a 1TB drive to any of them.

I've seen a couple of take-apart threads to do the upgrade, but I don't feel comfortable doing this to a brand new machine.

:adface:: External FireWire HDD?
::HappyFace::

BGnR

[Robert M]

68,

I disagree. The imac is a consumer oriented machine. The average person or family buying one isn't going to need that kind of storage. Heck, many will do just fine with the 250 gig drive in the base model and they can always add more storage externally if necessary. It'd be a different matter entirely if you were speaking about a professional machine like the Mac Pro.

Robert

[RAMd®d]

Agreed, external FW is a good way to go.

And at this point in time I'll repeat one of my current mantras- I don't feel comfortable putting data on a single spindle that big.

I'd want to get a box that holds two or four 1TB HDs and RAID them to 1 or 2TBs.

Putting a bigger HD in my 250G G5 iMac is a walk in the park. My new iMac looks to be more work than I care to embark on, so 320G will be fine. I might add a miniStack for the short term.

I like the idea of keeping a lot of storage inside the iMac, but not being able to wouldn't keep me from buying an iMac.

[68shelbymustang]

Would you go external FW or USB 2.0 these days?

250GB or even 500 will fill up rather quick if you store home movies and photos.

[BigGuynRusty]

[quote 68shelbymustang]Would you go external FW or USB 2.0 these days?

250GB or even 500 will fill up rather quick if you store home movies and photos. FireWire 400 is still faster than USB2, despite the tech specs to the contrary.

BGnR

[modelamac]

FW, in a New York Minute. I have USB2 and FW r400, and the FW wins hands down every time.

[Robert M]

RAM,

I hear you. One of the reasons I've always preferred towers over an all-in-one design is storage. I like having two drives in my machine. My current system is a G5 tower with two internal drives.

One drive is a primary drive. The second internal drive is a backup drive. I use an external as a scratch drive. The external is a Weibetch Baydock tray based system. So, the scratch drive is on one tray and i have another tray with another backup drive.

If I was buying a new Imac, I'd get a 320 gig drive and then purchase an enclosure with two bays. One bay would be for a backup drive and the other as a scratch drive. Or, I'd get an enclosure like a Wiebetech Baydock or Traydock. That way, I can use one drive tray for a backup drive and a second tray for scratch drive.

And, like the others, I'd go with a firewire drive though I'd make sure the enclosure has USB 2, as well.

Robert

[68shelbymustang]

hmmm...

Not a bad idea at all on the double enclosure.

Thanks!!

[MGS_forgot_password]

Apple just needs to add eSATA to the iMacs, and then it wouldn't matter.