Just got a Symphony Mobile! / Need a drive

[Silver Sonya]

My studio is based around an Apogee AD16x/DA16x/Symphony/Dangerous/outboard rig. (I know... you're already yawning. Yes, we are a cliche of the modern studio era.)

Recently I've started doing some creative/production projects [not my main line of work, which is as a mastering engineer] which will require mobile recording, so I just realized that the smartest thing for me to do was get a Symphony mobile card for my MacBook Pro. The only tricky thing about this will be that I will be removing the Apogees out of the rack at the studio when I'm doing mobile recording, which will mean that I can only do this when there is no session at the studio. I think I can work around the studio's schedule for now, but I may be forced to buy my own Rosetta 800 at some point. Hopefully I can avoid this just by clever scheduling. I like to wring value out of the things I already have.

Anyway, I am wondering --- and I apologize if this is an FAQ --- what you would recommend as a mobile hard-drive. I have had a couple of hard-drive data loss nightmares recently with Western Digital drives, so I am looking for a different brand. 'Cause, frankly, those people spook me!

So this is a request for web-links to your favorite rugged, dependable mobile firewire 800 drives. No Western Digital, please!

- c

[staudio]

I use GLYPH. Nothing has been more reliable for me. I love that they have a built in PSU (no wall wart/line lump).

[Sound Sorcerer]

I had only trouble from WD drives... I'd recommend Glyph's PortaGig 800...

[Silver Sonya]

Thanks, guys! Very helpful.

More suggestions are welcome.

- c

[hummer]

Mercury Elite Pro drives.... from Other World Computing.

[rmx16]

Originally Posted by hummer

Mercury Elite Pro drives.... from Other World Computing.

+1

[NorseHorse]

Oh no! I've found the WD Passports to be super reliable (after two years now).

I don't use large external hard drives that require their own power.

HIGHER SPEEDS + HIGHER VOLTAGE = less stability

I don't think voltage is the appropriate word here, but what I'm trying to say is that you don't need to buy the biggest, fastest hard drive possible. It's just asking for more trouble.

[TonyBelmont]

Originally Posted by hummer

Mercury Elite Pro drives.... from Other World Computing.

Originally Posted by rmx16

+1

Plus they look cool.

[pro]

Newegg.com - SANS DIGITAL ES104UB 1U 4 Bay Rackmount SATA to Firewire 800 and USB JBOD / RAID 0 Storage - Server RAID Systems

[matyas]

Originally Posted by NorseHorse

HIGHER SPEEDS + HIGHER VOLTAGE = less stability

That's not been my experience, but if it works, for you, who am I to judge? Parasitically-powered drives actually make me kind of nervous. And faster drives are usually a good thing with high track count. It can be true that faster _internal_ drives can fail more quickly, on account of all the non-linear reading and writing that a system disk has to do, but 7200 RPM disks are definitely more reliable for recording than 5400 or slower. I have no experience with 10000 RPM or faster disks. I will, however, grant that larger-capacity drives have a tendency to be flakier, but even that observation may not turn out to be statistically provable.
As to my own personal preference, I'd always used LaCie, but I don't like their newer drives at all. The studio where I work has Quantegy and Avastor - good, solid drives which take a standard IEC power cable (now stupid propriertary power supply!)