[Ham-Mac] External HD Recommendations

[Daniel Rostkoski]

Lon:  Go back to MacSales and others; Check out internal ATA - EIDE  
(same) bare drives and ATA ( not SATA) to Firewire enclosures:  Do  
not use a USB enclosure. they're not bootable.  Firewire only. Brew  
your own external  bootable backup drive. 20 minute job. Set jumpers  
to master.  Buy the proper Firewire cable - 400 or 800, depending on  
your model iMac and enclosure. Total outlay will be close to ready- 
made USB externals, but faster and bootable. All bare drives are pre- 
formatted in Windows OS, therefore you must reformat  it to Mac OS  
using disk format in utilities. Choose capacity at least the same as  
your internal Mac drive. Re: Drive brands.  Quality varies brand- to-  
brand  constantly. Lacie and Western Digital are not recommended at  
this time. Seagate is average. Good, medium priced.  Hitachi is  
premium quality and pricey. A few Maxtors are available, new old  
stock, some refurbs. Seagate bought them out, I think.  Contact me  
directly if you need more details.

Dan  KC4ZXD