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External Hard Drive Search Frustration. Help

Finally i am set up with a Mac Mini and am in the end days of a trial with Pure Music. I am really enjoying Pure Music and since realizing how much it brings sonically to the table i decided i better get an external hard drive and start burning discs so i can take advantage of this. Well my oh my, just when i think i have found a drive that it seems it may be suitable i end up finding reviews that keep me from pulling the trigger on it. Think i am going to pull what's left of my hair out as well.... ; O

I am looking for a 1TB drive that is Firewire 800 compatible. Also in searching through searches i had read that perhaps 5400 drives are quieter than 7200's? Also that it may not be necessary to have the higher speed of the 7200 drive's for audio, which is what i am primarily wanting this drive for. Want to pick up two drives and have the other for a back up.

Any suggestions and help are greatly appreciated!
seekburk
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
I would think that you could temporarily connect the USB drive and the new firewire drive to the Mac simultaneously, copy the files from one drive to the other, and set up the copied files on the firewire drive in the iTunes library.

What might be behind your understanding that "there is no way to use those files in iTunes" (on the Mac) is that if the USB drive is formatted with the NTFS file system (as opposed to FAT32), Mac's wouldn't be able to write to that drive (without using certain third party software programs). However, as I understand it Mac's are completely able to read files from NTFS-formatted drives, which would allow you to copy them to the new drive using your Mac.

Regards,
-- Al
seekburk OP
126 posts
 
Thank you Al!!!
Will definitely investigate this. This would save a ton of time re-burning my discs if this in fact is a viable solution. I have about 700gigs of WAV files on the USB drive.
richard_stacy
686 posts
 
Jax2's advice is important, whatever you decide, make sure you duplicate one way or another.

I also use OWC enclosures, specifically the Mercury Pro Elite. From what I read on Computeraudiophile.com, the chipset used in this enclosure is ideal for music playback. I did not do any comparisons but given all the choices out there it helped me narrow it down.

I understand your confusion, it's pretty overwhelming. Way too many options!
seekburk OP
126 posts
 
Thank You Richard! I will look into that drive for certain
seekburk OP
126 posts
 
Just looked at this one below. I read that 5400 drives spin slower so produce less noise? Also this drive is "Raid" capable and since i have no prior knowledge of how to set a Raid system up should i be using the "mirror" setting for this drive? Thanks!

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEQMHS5S15TB/
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