What should I consider when purchasing a FireWire hard drive?

[Robert Garry]

I prefer metal over plastic as it is more bulletproof. Of course you shouldn’t be banging any drives arround too much but metal seems to hold up better.

As far as other things to look at:

Do you want to use the 400 or 800 port? Do you even have an 800 port on your CPU? 800 is faster but less common, however most drives with an 800 port also have a 400 port. (Sometimes even a USB port!)

Speed of FW drive should not be below 7200RPM just in case you ever plan on using it for media.

Personally I have used LaCie drives a lot and they have never falied me. I would check out them or possibly HUGE systems another drive manufacturer I have never had issues with.

Good Luck
Bob

[Howie Young]

Hi Bob

Thanks for the speedy reply. Both drives are 7200 rpm, have USB 2.0 and FW 400 ports. I have an older Mac and don’t think it is FW 800 compatible.

Howie

[Steven Gonzales]

I think an important consideration is the chip set in the bridge card. I’ve always stuck with the Oxford bridge card equipped units, and never had problems.

I’m also overly cautious, so I handle the firewire drives very gingerly, and I like to power them down before connecting or disconnecting.

I’ve had good luck with Wiebetech products. http://www.wiebetech.com

[Howie Young]

Steven

How do I know which FireWire chipsets are being used?

I am unable to take apart some of these hard drives to check.

Thanks
Howie

[Walter Biscardi]

[Howie] “I am in need of a large capacity FireWire drive which I will be using to back-up my media drives.

Which is a better FireWire hard drive case – plastic or metal, and why?”

Any unit from LaCie, G-RAID or WiebeTech will serve you well for a Media backup device.

Unless you’re planning to fling the unit around your office, plastic and metal really don’t matter for the case.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Director, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

Now Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Jeff Carpenter]

You should buy a firewire PCI card to put in your machine. Better to give the hard drive its own card so it’s not sharing bandwidth with other firewire devices you have plugged into your computer.

And since you’re buying a card it COULD be either 400 or 800 speed. Not that you have to get an 800 drive, I’m just pointing out that it’s possible.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[walter biscardi] “Unless you’re planning to fling the unit around your office, plastic and metal really don’t matter for the case.”

Well, I’m not sure what happens down at Biscardi Creative, but around our diggs, we have the weekly Firewire Drive Pigskin Classic. It’s great fun until someone has to punt, then it starts to hurt.

Jeremy

[Walter Biscardi]

[JeremyG] “Well, I’m not sure what happens down at Biscardi Creative, but around our diggs, we have the weekly Firewire Drive Pigskin Classic. It’s great fun until someone has to punt, then it starts to hurt.”

Well that’s brilliant! There’s the new Creative Cow Firewire Test we’ll have to include on all hard drive reviews from now on. Of course if we’re really going to have an authentic pigskin test, it’ll have to be in the middle of December at Lambeau Field on the famous frozen tundra. Wonder how far you can fling a WiebeTech in single digits with a 20 mph wind?

Actually when we have a tough decision between editor and producer, we generally get the ol’ Super Toe football player out and kick a few field goals in the hall. Save a lot of wear and tear on the hard drives. 🙂

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Director, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

Now Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Steven Gonzales]

The manufacturer should list this in the tech info. If not, you can call the company.

Also, any decent review will take the thing apart and tell you whose bridge card, or at least which chip set inhabits the bridge card.

What you are buying is a hard drive, a power supply, a bridge card, and an enclosure. The quality of each of these adds up to the reliability of the drive.

[Ken Summerall]

I have 5 G-Tech drives and have not had a problem with any of them. The only LaCie drive I have had went back to the factory after only 2 weeks. After terrible customer service I decided to replace it with a G-Raid drive. These things run 24/7 and never get hot or tired. They are also very fast. They cost a little more but they do have fans and look really cool. There is a G-Tech forum here, check it out.

BTW, I get nothing for recommending these drives, I am just a big G-Tech fan.

Ken Summerall
Wellwater Productions