Buffalo Extenal HD

Tina · Apr 02, 2011, 17:35:16

I went ahead and bought the HD.. said it supported Mac, and was plug and play.. sounds simple. But no the HD wouldn't mount. Couldn't find it even in disk utility. After a lot of reading it turns out it doesn't work on 10.6.7.. something about firmware.. so it's going back.. blah

Rik · Apr 02, 2011, 17:59:29

Don't you just hate loose claims by manufacturers.

Lona · Apr 02, 2011, 18:54:05

I prefer WD external HDs Tina

wdforte · Apr 02, 2011, 19:11:22

WD, along with Seagate have a VERY chequered past re reliability. Maybe they have got their act together but I have personal experience of their poor products over the years and would never ever consider their HD products.

Read Alan Sugar's book re these companies and all will be revealed, they have sailed very close to the wind for a long time and should be treated with extreme caution when considering HD products.

Lona · Apr 03, 2011, 03:14:30

I have two WD external HD which I've had for over 4 years and they have never let me down.

I also have a seagate passport 500mg HD and it's over a year and going strong.

My HD WD media player is also excellent so I can't knock WD or Seagate.

Gary · Apr 03, 2011, 08:21:10

Lacie work well on Macs Tina, I use one like http://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-Quadra-1TB-Hard-Disk/dp/B0030BJEUS/ref=pd_cp_computers_2 and its runs fine.

Gary · Apr 03, 2011, 08:23:32

Quote from: wdforte on Apr 02, 2011, 19:11:22
WD, along with Seagate have a VERY chequered past re reliability. Maybe they have got their act together but I have personal experience of their poor products over the years and would never ever consider their HD products.

Read Alan Sugar's book re these companies and all will be revealed, they have sailed very close to the wind for a long time and should be treated with extreme caution when considering HD products.

Used a 1TB internal Seagate and WD in the last couple of years, both drives behaved well. Seagate had a firmware issue with a batch of drives a while back, that has not been repeated since.

Tacitus · Apr 03, 2011, 08:27:50

Quote from: Gary on Apr 03, 2011, 08:21:10
Lacie work well on Macs Tina, I use one like http://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-Quadra-1TB-Hard-Disk/dp/B0030BJEUS/ref=pd_cp_computers_2 and its runs fine.

I've also used LaCie hard drives with no problems with Macs. The direct attached (FireWire/USB2) ones are OK, but avoid the LaCie NAS drives as they are desperately slow.

Steve · Apr 03, 2011, 08:53:08

I've a couple of Lacie d2 Quadra's and a couple of WD Mybooks never had an issue with any of them with a Mac.

Ray · Apr 03, 2011, 08:59:10

I've had 6 Seagate drives in use for a number of years with no problem except for a couple with the firmware issue that were replaced under warranty and they have been fine since.

wdforte · Apr 03, 2011, 09:01:22

Does seem that they have got their act together over recent years. My problems and Alan Sugar's problems do go back a fair time. Sugar actually proved (huge payout) that Seagate were knowingly selling duff HD's to all and sundry in huge numbers.

Once bitten, twice shy I'm afraid

Gary · Apr 03, 2011, 09:26:37

Quote from: wdforte on Apr 03, 2011, 09:01:22
Does seem that they have got their act together over recent years. My problems and Alan Sugar's problems do go back a fair time. Sugar actually proved (huge payout) that Seagate were knowingly selling duff HD's to all and sundry in huge numbers. Once bitten, twice shy I'm afraid

Fair comment, but I doubt Sugar is beyond blind siding the public

Glenn · Apr 03, 2011, 09:37:45

As Buffalo do not make hard drives (they may brand them), it could contain any of the above manufacturers drives.

Ray · Apr 03, 2011, 09:49:49

Indeed, Glenn, the Buffalo Terrastation NAS I bought a few months ago has Samsung drives in it.

Gary · Apr 03, 2011, 10:13:12

Quote from: Glenn on Apr 03, 2011, 09:37:45
As Buffalo do not make hard drives (they may brand them), it could contain any of the above manufacturers drives.

Same as Lacie, inside mine is a Samsung spinpoint,

Rik · Apr 03, 2011, 10:59:15

I've had very good results from Samsung drives, I'd recommend them without hesitation.

Niall · Apr 03, 2011, 11:23:44

I used to swear by Seagate drives about 9-10 years ago, then they became extremely unreliable. I have only used 1 since, and that only lasted about a year and it was only used as a backup drive, so I'm still a bit weary of them, although I've recently risked an external 500gb drive with them which is only USB 2 but seems okay. It seems to have a hard time detecting large folders or files though. Backup files of passwords, documents, etc are immediately visible but my photography backup takes about 4-5 seconds to appear. I'm wondering though if that's due to it containing some corrupt files that I pulled off my damaged hard drive. It's hard to say as they're RAW files, so I'd have to open up every single one to check

It's a similar story for Western Digital, I had used them for a few years after I switched from Seagate and they all had very short life spans.

Hitachi which were/are the deskstar series, were absolutely AWFUL. They ALL failed within a couple of months. Terrible drives, and as such I've stayed well clear of anything they make.

Samsung are the company that get ALL my money for internal SATA drives. I've never been let down by a single drive I've bought off them. I had one break, but that's because I snapped the sata controller off when I installed it. That pleased me

JB · Apr 03, 2011, 13:52:54

Quote from: Niall on Apr 03, 2011, 11:23:44
Hitachi which were/are the deskstar series, were absolutely AWFUL.

Ah! The infamous 'deathstar'. Dreadful drives.

I'm also a supporter of Samsung drives for as long as they continue making a good product. Not always the fastest drives but very reliable IMHO. Must have about five or six of them spread about from 250Gb to 1.5Tb.