I use a firewire powered drive. I have tons of USB devices so it makes me feel better about the setup knowing my HD has its own juice

That, and it's 1 thing less that can break. Most external drive failures are because:
- the drive is moved/bumped roughly while in use
- the power supply is fried
- the drive sucks (e.g. Lacie)

Another advantage is that USB-powered drives are really small, less cable-mess and herefor more portable. I take my drive to work since it's so small, so I can listen to my music while working and add songs to crates if I hear something good.
Yes, 2.5" drives have less storage, but these days "less" is quite relative. Mine is 500Gb, and you can even get 2.5" drives of 1Tb. That's plenty of space for me, I don't need 2 Tb for a shitload of music I never listen to.

And don't worry about performance. I use AC3, ALAC and MP3 files and they load to teh deck in what... 0.5 seconds, less? It is almost instant. And I have no trouble while playing files, no stuttering because of drive-performance. I heard several people that claim that 3.5" drives are much better and faster... which is true, but for serato the difference is negligable. I don't care if my file loads in 400ms or 200ms. I don't switch songs every 2 seconds. They can have their performance, if I'm DJ'ing with a friend, my entire setup fits in my backpocket :o).

i happen to disagree with 2.5 inch drives

1.) they are USB powered which puts drag on the USB ports

2.) if you want to run Firewire or Esata with a 2.5 you still have to have a USB plugged in to power the drive - so that two ports taken up

3.) Less storage - not by much as mentioned by Evil Bananna

4.) Durability - the cases are pretty thin, i like sturdy

anyway - i run a WD My Book Elite 1TB - while i do have to plug it in, i dont have to worry about a USB port failing to power my drive and or problems with grounding/buring out a USB port.

i prefer to buy an External Enclousre and by the HD of my choice and install it myself - that way i have a more reliable drive and a sturdy case

not to say 2.5 inch drives aren't good, but if your going to eventually run video - i would say either upgrade your internal drive or buy a reliable external drive 3.5inch - esp with Esata

yet I don't agree with you either :o)

A proper PC/laptop should have no issue with that. There are specified limitations to the amount of power a USB-device can draw and how a USB-port is supposed to provide. a decent computer should honour those specs and have no issues.

Incorrect, 2.5" firewire drives are powered from the FW-port, no need for second USB-connector (like my triple-port WD Passport Studio)
As for esata I don't know, no experience with that. but if this is indeed a requirement I would just go with FW 800 (bus-powered). I don't think it will make that much difference over esata on external drives. Actually, I never even thought about using esata.

The big drive is heavier yes... but that doesn't necessarily make it sturdier. the plastic surrounding it is just a shell, the drive itself is just as sturdy for 2.5 as for 3.5. I even think 2.5 is an advantage there, since a 2.5" takes less place, so it's easier to put it in a decent location and secure it, rather than a bigger drive that can be bumped and more cables that can be yanked. Even better, since a 2.5" is so small, you can have 2 of them and still take up less space than 1 3.5". And there's nothing more secure than simply having a backup.

As I said before... a proper PC and proper equipment will never burn out a USB-port, and I've never heard of USB-grounding issues. Besides, your drive's PSU is a liability. the PSU is much more prone to burn out than a USB-port.
if you actually buy a high-quality one, than it's a good choice indeed, because lots of these enclosures don't take shock-absorption and heat too well into consideration. Which is why I prefer to buy enclosed drives since the're designed for the disc. Then again, if you're spending the extra dough on a quality enclosure, you might as well consider buying a high quality enclosed drive. Probably will end up with the same result (e.g. Glyph)

Now that's a different story. didn't consider that since Mick0880 didn't mention it. I have no experience on this matter but I assume that video needs the extra bandwidth and faster drives. Actually, would be intersting to hear if anybody already had some experience with video from a 2.5" bus-powered USB and/or FW400/800 disc. Just curious.

I don't completely disagree with you, but I think the things you mention are just as much advantages as disadvantages.

a dj that shows up with a big drive to a gig is wasting his time... unless he needs 2tb's of videos.. and nice solid portable 500gb drive should do the trick.

and FW800 is more then enough transfer speeds and such, also nice when its bus powered, no more of these dj's going... HOLD up, i can't switch i need to find an outlet, then knocked my tonearm off. LOL

I won't be running video. Just audio. Thanks for your input guys!

hmm i didnt know FW powered 2.5 inch drives, i thought with both FW400 and FW800 you would need additional usb port to power the drive

either way, not trying to hate on a 2.5 drive, but after seeing how video runs from USB to Esata - id never go with a 2.5usb and deff not a 2.5usb/esata combo cause it has to use both the USB port and a Esata port/card

i do feel the external enclosures wether it be a prebuilt model like WD passport or even a external enclosure with your own 2.5 drive lack some durability - theres not much surround them - however pretty much all enclosures lack in this department - unless you got a rack mount set up somewhere

bottom line and back to the OP - for just music - you should be fine wither either 2.5 or 3.5 inch drives - usb powered or AC powered

but i prefer AC powered

Is there any 1tb firewire powered external HD's out there right now? I need one for video. I only found usb powered ones. Kinda hoping to pick it up over the weekend.

beware of AC powered drives, if the power plug gets pulled then the drive is shut down...

www.lacie.com

Really depends on your computer, a lot of Laptop PC's don't come with powered FW ports, but Macs usually do....

i have a 1 terrabyte WD studio edition thats firewire with AC power...love it

i always use USB bus-powered because too many times the power gets yanked from the booth or something goes wrong. I can't have my drive failing/getting corrupted like that. With usb powered, it just hums right along on the laptop's battery.

I didn't see that one. Not a big fan of lacie tho.



I might have to do that. read some reviews about some smartware shit that was popping up when you first connect it. not sure if it just happened with specific WD hard drives.

smartware can be disabled, i literally just got a WD my book elite two days ago - just make sure it updates firmware and turn it off

The cheaper drives from lacie are the no-good, the more pricey ones like this one are top notch. I have the same experiences as you, but had no trouble with their higher end products.

I also have great experience with g-tech drives, they cost more, but quality and speed is excellent. Have a look at the FW bus powered 1 tb g-raid mini -> www.g-technology.com
(tripple interface: FW800, Esata & USB2.0)

I use the 1tb g drive and it's been the best drive yet... My last was a 1tb seagate which overheated and the power supply burnt out mid gig last summer. I needed 1tb for videos and wanted fw800 to keep up with the file transfer speed. The g drive is built like a tank and keeps cool (although I do now angle a massive fan at both my drive and mac to avoid an experience like last year's!!).

For me, running my vids on an external and music on the internal has worked best for me, it keeps me better organised and if my external dies, I won't lose my music collection.. I've always used ac powered externals as I thought they had better performance due to a steadier electricity supply?

I've got three 3.5" extenal drives (AMS Venus enclosure w/fan + Hitachi, formally IBM drives)... regarding powered FW400 (not sure it's the same on FW800), power is provided when using a 6pin to 6 pin cable. However, when I use a 4pin (from PC) to 6pin cable, I do need to use the provided power supply.

Excactly also to add to this, my experience is that FireWire disks are more dependable on MAC's and USB (at least the bus-powered ones) are more dependable on PC...

Damn! The g-tech looks dope! That's a little out of my price range tho. I was taking a look at something more like this...
www.amazon.com

I need the HD to work with a pc too. I wonder if a simple format would do the trick. It says it has a password protect on their too. I had my dj bag stolen awhile ago and along with my laptop, those bastards also got 1 of my 720GB HD's. Probably sold it on craigslist after he raped it.

www.mediafour.com

Nice! Thanks

**places order on HD**

I'm going to try the trial version with mediafour. i'll let you know!

does RPM or cache matter on this? cuz i found both bus powered, firewire externals. check it
1. 1Tb, 5400 RPM, cache 8MB, $259.00
2. 500GB, 7200 RPM, cache 16MB, $169.99

which is better to get? heres the link for better detail on these.

eshop.macsales.com

i got a question for anyone running the 1TB WD studio edition, theres a power button on it, do you ever use that?? When i plug it into my computer it turns on then i eject it (in the software) then unplug the usb then unplug the AC power....should i be using the power button?

i just got the western digital 1 tb usb powered external hard drive and i love it!

hi guys just got in from a gig....my 1tb hd just sopped playing the videos after a few hours and would just play the sound?.....id put it down to heat whats the best drive that will remain cool tho out the night...the problem arises after approx 2-3 hours of use....cheers

I think most of us could agree with AC Powered...I think this forum needs "poll feature" or maybe one day have a better forum layout where we could add hyperlinks and images...still love this forum though

+1

Went to Staples(WOW NO LOW PRICES) and Office Cheapo to pick up a external HD.
Staples had barely anything I wanted to use. Most of them were USB-Powered only. Office Cheapo had the same and less than products than Staples. I'm looking for HD thats AC Powered and Firewire...

my book studio (western D) @ Compusa or amazon or newegg

+1

I have always been a fan of bus powered FIREWIRE drives, especially on a Mac. Main reason is that Serato (SL1, SL3, 57, etc) is a USB device along with the laptop keyboard and trackpad.

That is a minimum of 3 USB devices that have to compete on the USB chain with the hard drive, Firewire drives are there alone on a separate Bus and the ONLY function is to read and serve files to Serato,

Serato takes some USB power to work, why also add the wear and tear of a USB hard drive when the Firewire port is the empty.

Most guys here use USB because it is cheaper, sometimes larger, and don't think/know about Firewire as an alternative.



That's the brand I usually recommend but you know you can get a empty 2.5 drive and roll your own cheaper:

(Combo) eshop.macsales.com $38
(Triple) eshop.macsales.com $70