Was hoping some of you fellow AR15 folks could steer me toward the best external hard drive. I am looking for a fire wire compatable 200gb so I can store video for editing on it. any other advice would be appreciated

Thanks
Shawn

I have a WD 180GB 7200rpm

usb 2.0 or normal ..i have it plugged into a normal (not 2.0) and i edit pics and vids fast as hell.

i picked up a FireLite 80gb USB 2.0 drive for in the desert. No power cable needed, and abotu the size of a pack of swisher sweets. Fits entirely in a BDU shirt pocket.

I do beleive they make firewire versions.

I bought a Seagate 200G this summer when my no-name crashed on me.  I got it at Circuit City, and with the rebates it was around $150, I think.  It comes with both USB 2.0 and Firewire cables and ports.

It also has one-touch backup.  I'm happy with it so far.

Quoted: It also has one-touch backup.

you are god!

Until yesterday I was going to recommend LaCie, since I was happy with my 200GB USB2 drive.

Then it died last night.  I lost 175GB of photos, including "work" photos of several friend's weddings (I'd already burned their DVDs for them, these were just the "originals" being kept in case they pulled something stupid like leaving their DVD in the car) as well as almost all of my sports photography that I was getting ready to organize into an online portfolio in preparation of job hunting.  

Needless to say, I'm super pissed about it.

Given the sheer amount of data you can lose at once, and how they can die with absolutely NO warning, I've ruled out external HDs as backups and am returning to the more expensive but longer-lasting "burn DVDs and keep them in a fireproof media-safe" method.  

Just my $0.02.

Edit:  I know you're not looking at one for backup purposed, but its still something to consider.  When I was doing video editing (again, friend's weddings) the first thing I did was pull the video from the MiniDV camera I was using and then put the original tape in said safe, just in case something happened to the computer.  Likewise, when I was finished with the editing, I burned a finished video DVD and a set of "project" (computer) DVDs for the safe.

If you really need the data, there are a few places that will do the data recovery for you.  Price depends on amount of data pulled.

Quoted: Until yesterday I was going to recommend LaCie, since I was happy with my 200GB USB2 drive. Then it died last night.  I lost 175GB of photos, including "work" photos of several friend's weddings (I'd already burned their DVDs for them, these were just the "originals" being kept in case they pulled something stupid like leaving their DVD in the car) as well as almost all of my sports photography that I was getting ready to organize into an online portfolio in preparation of job hunting.   Needless to say, I'm super pissed about it. Given the sheer amount of data you can lose at once, and how they can die with absolutely NO warning, I've ruled out external HDs as backups and am returning to the more expensive but longer-lasting "burn DVDs and keep them in a fireproof media-safe" method.   Just my $0.02. Edit:  I know you're not looking at one for backup purposed, but its still something to consider.  When I was doing video editing (again, friend's weddings) the first thing I did was pull the video from the MiniDV camera I was using and then put the original tape in said safe, just in case something happened to the computer.  Likewise, when I was finished with the editing, I burned a finished video DVD and a set of "project" (computer) DVDs for the safe.

If you are halfway handy with a screwdriver you can build your own as I did. I have a 3.5" drive installed in a MacAlly enclosure that does USB 2.0 (I am partial to MacAlly). I also have a 2.5" 40 Gig drive installed in a tiny enclosure that easily fits into a shirt pocket.  I also have a DVD burner in yet another MacAlly (5.25") enclosure that has both USB 2.0 and Firewire.  They all work great and the 2.5" setup gets toted around a fair amount.  (BTW, I use all this hardware with Xp Pro.)

However, it sounds like hardware is only one aspect of the storage solution that you need.  IMO, you also need to consider backing-up your portable drive and security/encryption if you have sensitive data that you would not want others to have if the drive was lost/stolen.  My wife and I have a small biz and we keep our Quickbooks / TurboTax stuff on the portable drive.  That stuff must be encrypted.  For backups, the backup software built into Xp Pro is adequate for us. I suggest full backups once a week and differential backups EVERY evening.  There are other, better backup solutions than Xp's, but it works Ok for us.  Xp Home does not appear to have a built-in backup utility.  IIRC, Win2K does(?).

For encryption, you can use a program like PGPdisk or Cypherix. I started out using PGPdisk. Then switched to TurboCrypt (terrible for a portable drive, but nice otherwise), and finally have settled on Cypherix...which has been working quite well since I started using it about three weeks ago. You can download Cypherix LE  for free and that may suffice for your encryption needs.

As alluded to by previous posters on this thread, a portable drive can be susceptible to rough treatment.  2.5" drives, IMO, since they are usually intended for notepad PC's, are a robust and very portable solution.  I haul our 2.5 all over the place but my external 3.5's usually hang around and don't get moved much...they are just klutzy compared to the 2.5.

I picked up all this hardware from Newegg.  I'm sure you can easily build a drive yourself if you are so inclined. If I can help with more info, shoot me an IM.

Quoted: If you really need the data, there are a few places that will do the data recovery for you.  Price depends on amount of data pulled. Quoted: Until yesterday I was going to recommend LaCie, since I was happy with my 200GB USB2 drive. Then it died last night.  I lost 175GB of photos, including "work" photos of several friend's weddings (I'd already burned their DVDs for them, these were just the "originals" being kept in case they pulled something stupid like leaving their DVD in the car) as well as almost all of my sports photography that I was getting ready to organize into an online portfolio in preparation of job hunting.   Needless to say, I'm super pissed about it. Given the sheer amount of data you can lose at once, and how they can die with absolutely NO warning, I've ruled out external HDs as backups and am returning to the more expensive but longer-lasting "burn DVDs and keep them in a fireproof media-safe" method.   Just my $0.02. Edit:  I know you're not looking at one for backup purposed, but its still something to consider.  When I was doing video editing (again, friend's weddings) the first thing I did was pull the video from the MiniDV camera I was using and then put the original tape in said safe, just in case something happened to the computer.  Likewise, when I was finished with the editing, I burned a finished video DVD and a set of "project" (computer) DVDs for the safe.

Yeah, unfortunetly most of their minimum prices are more than my car cost me.  Eventually I might be able to afford recovery services (ie, IF I can find a "real" job soon and dump my "barely pays the bills" job)-- until then it's sitting in the safe under a pile of DVDs.

Quoted: Quoted: It also has one-touch backup. you are god!

I don't use it though...

Thanks  for  the responsees, and if anybody  else has more to offer I am all ears.
Shawn

I bought a Buffalo Technology 300gb network drive for my home/home office network.  works great!  about $300 from buy.com.