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External Harddrive Help (1 Viewer)

pglore

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Peter
So...working on my HTPC set up and going to use a MacMini and connect it with this: http://kanexlive.com/products/item.aspx?id=3495 into my receiver. I want to use external hard drives for all storage. Anyone have experience with these? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/641140-REG/Western_Digital_WDBAAG0010HCH_NESN_1TB_My_Book_for.html#features


I'd like to be able to connect these together so they all appear together on my desktop. So can I go Macmini -> HD -> HD - etc. and they'll all appear? Any other recommendations for external hard drives? Thanks, everyone. Open to all recommendations.


EDIT: Looks like these don't have firewire ports.
 

SethH

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In my opinion, WD makes the best drives available right now. I used to be a huge Seagate fan, but I feel their quality has dropped off in recent years. WD has two external models that utilize Firewire 800 and I think either of those would be a good choice.
 

Will_B

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"I'd like to be able to connect these together so they all appear together on my desktop. So can I go Macmini -> HD -> HD - etc. and they'll all appear?"


Although SOME versions of the Western Digital MyBook can be daisy chained to another Western Digital MyBook, NOT ALL can be.


My belief is that the ones that have only usb CANNOT be daisy chained -- the usb protocol does not allow for it, which is why on the back of the usb versions you'll only have the usb input, and no outputs at all.


Western Digital makes so many versions of their MyBooks. The ones that have both usb and Firewire can be daisy chained (but they seem to be out of production). They've also got ones with usb and eSATA which I believe can as well. But the plain usb ones, cannot.


Daisy chaining is a bit of a pain anyway, since if the first drive in the line is asleep (from not having been used in the past few minutes), the second drive will be invisible until the first one wakes up -- which adds up to extra seconds of delay before everything is awake and ready to write to again. Are you sure you want to do that? Wouldn't it be better to just buy one 2TB drive?
 

KeithAP

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Go over to BestBuy.com and search for 9540687, it is a 1.5TB external WD HD with firewire, usb and esata, 3 year warranty $120. If you have multiple external drives, a hub might be a better way to go instead of daisy chained. Although hubs are normally associated with USB, they are also available for firewire and esata (I believe).


There is also the Drobo. The basic 4 bay model (USB and Firewire) can be found online for less than $300 but that is without any drives. You would need to supply those. If you aren't familiar with the Drobo, here is a link that talks about it (on older model)


-Keith
 

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