Hi all. I am thinking of buying an external HD but can not decide which to get, an IDE or an SATA. The drive would be powered via Firewire. Which is best and why? Regards Thinking hurts my head that's why I live in West Australia

sata is the now generation of harddrives...it offers faster access times of (in most cases) 3.0 gbs. But to me the best determination for this is to determine what computer this will be used on.....if it is a laptop then it really doesn't matter unless you are purchasing a 2.5" drive for the external enclosure. For a regular desktop then I would use something that is the same as the computer it will be used with... 1) if your present computer uses an IDE/EIDE (PATA) type harddrive then I would choose the same. 2) If it uses a SATA drive then I would choose that one. Simple reasoning behind this: External enclosures have been known to fail. If it does fail then it is much easier to remove the drive and slave it to the main computer INTERNALLY so that data can be retrieved.... Some computers use BOTH types of connections (SATA and EIDE) so this would not be an issue so much. **************************************** FYI.... 1) choose an exclosure that has an external power supply as these work much better than just being powered by a firewire/usb connection. 2) save wear and tear on the drive by keeping the unit turned off untill you require it....a lot of people plug them in and leave them on with their computers 24/7 which causes the units to burnout much quicker than they should. Operating Costs = the cost of operating a business Profits = revenues over and above the operating costs. Taxes = operating costs mandated by gov. TaxPayer = what you are called by the gov.

Hi lurkswithin. Thanks for the information. To be up-front, this post is not intended for use on my XP. (guilty grin) it is for my newly acquired second hand eMac computer. I am learning the machine as I am writing this reply. This machine is running Leopard X OS and this eMac does not have capacity for an internal slave as does my PC. One of the functions of Leopard OS X is that it has "Time Machine" which is in fact a continuous running back up program, much like the Ghost program, but on super steroids with the main difference that I can actually view and access backup programs and files in a "visual" mode. Good Stuff! Now I figured that if I I have to shell out for an external HD I would like to get the most effective/future proof device that I can get, and this eMac does have Firewire. And there you have it. Regards Thinking hurts my head that's why I live in West Australia

Good advice by lurkswithin. After reading your #2 response I would go one step further and make sure you get an external drive with AC power AND good cooling. You might even consider a 5 1/4" enclosure. They will have better circulation when used with a 3 1/2" Hard drive. Don't choose one of super fast 10,000 RPM units as even a fire wire connection is slower than the capabilities of a 5400 or 7200RPM drive. Access speed is not critical with a backup drive. One last item. Be sure there is a power shutoff switch on the enclosure. Some don't come equipped with one.

Hi OtheHill. Some more good advice worth noting. Every thing helps. I have since noted that there is a Mac segment within Computing Net. I will use that for the next post...Sorry. But please, all advice welcome. Regards Thinking hurts my head that's why I live in West Australia