Part 3 (Read Part 1 here, or Part 2 here)
Back in September, I decided to see if USB 3 was worth my time and money. I installed a USB 3 PCI card (CalDigit SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Card - $79.00 USD) in my Mac Pro and set out to take a look at drives that offered USB 3 as an interface option.
As you can see in this chart, USB 3 is advertised as being much faster than USB 2 or Firewire 800, but much slower than Thunderbolt.
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Life changes forever when you have a 3TB external FireWire 800 + USB2 AC powered hard drive. You can backup and archive anything and everything. You’ll be glad you paid the extra $60 over the price of the puny 2TB GoFlex Desk for Mac sibling.
So far so good. Hard drives backed up? Check! iOS devices backed up? Check! Photo and music libraries’ redundant archives? Check! Plenty of additional storage capacity for future expansion and bloatware? Double check!
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GoFlex for Mac
Company: Seagate
GoFlex and GoFlex Pro for Mac Ultra-portable Drive – speed, capacity, pricing:
GoFlex 5400RPM: 1TB ($190) or 1.5TB ($220)
GoFlex Pro 7200RPM: 500GB ($140) or 750GB ($170)
Formatted for TimeMachine, with Windows compatibility possible, these two new bus powered external backup and storage portable hard drives from Seagate are fine products. A generous three year warranty is provided.
Unusual non-standard FireWire800 and USB2 cable adapters connect directly into a GoFlex’s rear SATA port for live plug and play swappable access. Don’t lose those cable segments! Exterior silver outer shell material is pleasant to touch with a gentle and soft tactile feel. There is no carrying case or protective cover.
Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard
Company: TidBits TakeControl Ebooks
Price: $10.00
83 pages
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/
Joe Kissell is at it again; this time with an ebook entitled “Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard” designed to make the practice of backing up your Mac an easy-to-do experience. The three most important points that I see that he brings to the table are: Continue reading »
• Use Time Machine or another backup program to store archives
of your files
• Create a bootable duplicate of your startup volume and update it
regularly.
• Keep at least one backup copy of your important data
somewhere safely away from your computer.
OWC Mercury On-the-Go Pro FW800 Hard Drive
Company: Newer Technology
Price: With 160 GB HD (5400-RPM), 8MB Cache, $349.99 USD
http://www.macsales.com
I am constantly amazed at how small things are becoming in the world of computing. I remember BIG cpu’s, BIG floppy’s and BIG headaches when dealing with all of it. Now we have Mac mini’s and in keeping with “down sizing,” OWC is offering the Mercury On-the-Go Pro FW800 Hard Drive. Compact in size, the FW800 HD is only 3.5”(W) x 5.5”(D) x 1”(H) (it’s smaller than my hand!) and it only weighs 11 ounces. But being compact doesn’t stop it from doing big things. The unit utilizes Oxford 911+, Oxford 912, or Myson Century Bridge chipsets to accomplish its job. The unit I evaluated came with a Seagate Momentus 5400 160 GB hard drive.
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