Most reliable brand of Firewire drive?

[elambo]

No brand is crash-PROOF, but what are some types that have proven reliable. If money was no object, what would you buy?

OR, on the flipside, what are some types to avoid at all costs?

Historically I've had bad luck with LaCie drives, and also the plastic-cased drives Maxtor made 5 years ago (the new metal case stuff has been solid).

[T_R_S]

Seagate!!
stay away from Maxtor and Lacie.

Even though Seagate is now owned by Maxtor I hoping the future does not change for Seagate.
I have 10 Seagate drives and about 20 Maxtors, 6 Lacies, and 4 IBM/Hitachi.
I the last 6 years I have never sent a single Seagate drive back in for an RMA ever.
All of the others have have mutliple RMA's, over the years
Not scientific but that is a pattern

[celticrogues]

I'm a fan of Glyph
ON another note I have heard a lot of people say Stay away from Lacie, but I have had 2 of their drives for 2 years now - one as a recording drive and the other for my iTunes with nary a problem. I do know people who have had their Lacies crash immediately though so I guess it is luck of the draw.

Cheers,
-MIke

[ToddF]

OWC Mercury Elite and Lacie D2 have been good for us. We have probably used 50 of them between both brands.

Format with Disc Utilities OS Extended, non journaled and you will be good to go.

Backup always,

Todd

[Finnish]

Running Lacies about 2 years, not a single problem

[noobtoob]

I use a Weibe DriveDock and primarily Western Digital IDE drives. Never had a problem with the DriveDock and drives are so cheap I just swap them around for projects and backups.

[absrec]

I like EzQuest. Lacie drives have worked out for me before, as well. I just have more experience with the EzQuest. I recently went out and bought a firewire enclosure. Now I can go buy any IDE drive and make it a firewire. Much cheaper that way. Not good if you are constantly switching drives, though.

-Aaron

[kittonian]

Glyph all the way. Customer service is 2nd to none, and the drives/enclosures are rock solid. Never had an issue with any of my Glyph gear.

[Power Supply]

Wiebetech or EZ Quest but lately Wiebetech wins hands down.
Great service too.

[6strings]

OWC Mercury Elite Pro

[thinman]

Originally Posted by ToddF

OWC Mercury Elite and Lacie D2 have been good for us. We have probably used 50 of them between both brands.

Format with Disc Utilities OS Extended, non journaled and you will be good to go.

Backup always,

Todd

Todd, I just got an OWC Mercury Elite. Haven't even taken it out of the box yet. Just curious, why do you recommend formatting as non journaled drive? Thanks!

.

[elambo]

I've had two OWC drives go down. When I bought them I was under the assumption that they were a high-end drive also but my history with them ways otherwise.

I've had my eye on Wiebetech for awhile. I may try them next. A bit expensive, but worth it if the data is secure.

[djk]

I second the Glyph recommendation. I have had a very good experience with mine. Customer service is great too. I can always get through quickly and actually get real help without being rushed off the phone.

[ToddF]

Originally Posted by thinman

Todd, I just got an OWC Mercury Elite. Haven't even taken it out of the box yet. Just curious, why do you recommend formatting as non journaled drive? Thanks!

.

We have been in OS9 till of recent and I see OS10 does recommend journaled.
Here is a link to Digi's site where they explain it. Glad you brought it up.


http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...4&itemid=23114

Todd F.

[6strings]

Originally Posted by elambo

I've had two OWC drives go down. When I bought them I was under the assumption that they were a high-end drive also but my history with them ways otherwise.

They don't make the drives. The drives are standard mechanisms by Hitachi or Seagate or whatever. Any hard drive can go down. The difference is how easy is it to deal with customer service when something isn't right. I dealt with them twice on such issues: Once when I changed my mind and wanted to send something back, and another when I bought some faulty RAM. Customer service was stellar and quick to respond in both cases.

Also, the thing about the OWC cases is that you can easily take them apart and put in a new, bigger drive down the line. Basically, you paying for a Firewire enclosure with a hard drive included....

[thinman]

Originally Posted by ToddF

We have been in OS9 till of recent and I see OS10 does recommend journaled.

Todd, thanks for the clarification; I'm in OSX for a while now, so that's why I was wondering. Also, thanks for the link.

.

[elambo]

Originally Posted by 6strings

They don't make the drives. The drives are standard mechanisms by Hitachi or Seagate or whatever. Any hard drive can go down. The difference is how easy is it to deal with customer service when something isn't right.

I know - they make the enclosure, but in each case that the OWC drives failed it had something to do with the enclosure (something with the power supply first time, pc board controller second time) so they're not off the hook. The data was retreivable each time, but I'm looking to avoid that headache again.

The "top" manufacturer that I'm searching for would use the best power supply, controller, connectors, fan, housing, etc. and of course have great customer support. So far, Glyph and WiebeTech seem to be fitting this criteria the best.

[Quickpunch]

http://www.granitedigital.com/index.htm

[Curve Dominant]

Originally Posted by elambo

I've had two OWC drives go down. When I bought them I was under the assumption that they were a high-end drive also but my history with them ways otherwise.

I admit I have absolutely no idea if this was the source of your problem or not:

With the OWC Mercury Elite drives, you MUST drag the drive icon into the Trash before powering down and/or unplugging the drive. Failure to do so will result in damage to the drive enclosure, and the drive will go south.

[elambo]

Originally Posted by Curve Dominant

I admit I have absolutely no idea if this was the source of your problem or not:

With the OWC Mercury Elite drives, you MUST drag the drive icon into the Trash before powering down and/or unplugging the drive. Failure to do so will result in damage to the drive enclosure, and the drive will go south.

We have very clear rules at our studio about unmounting firewire drives. It's certainly possible that someone disconnected without dragging to the trash, or that a cable was disconnected unintentionally, but I don't think that was the problem in either case (hmm, pretty good pun there).

[oceantracks]

I have 4 OWC Mercury Elite drives, and two of them have been on 24 hours a day for about two years. They work. I have never had a problem with any of the OWC stuff.

TH