27" iMac ext hdd

ubersonic

ubersonic

ubersonic

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Im looking at buying a 27" iMac and have noticed the difference between the SSD and the SSD+1tb versions is £80. I was thinking that it would be a cheaper/more versatile option to get the SSD one and run an external hdd too. This would (in theory) let the iMac run cooler and thus improve its lifespan.

As the iMac has no USB 3.0 or E-sata and nobody seems to have made a thunderbolt enclosure yet it seems the only option is the Firewire 800 port. I have no experience with Firewire, how fast is it? would a HDD connected via Firewire 800 be as fast as one running off an internal SATA port? if not how much slower are we talking?

Thank you.
 
FireWire 800 speed is around 500-800Mbit/s. Internal SATA ii would be max 3000Mbit/s.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Doubt you would notice the difference if you are just using it for storage.
 
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So if im reading it right FW800 does 800 Mb/s which would be 100MB/s, so im guessing a HDD that can do >100MB/s would choke on it?

That sucks :( so unless I want to wait until somebody starts making external thunderbolt enclosures (not 4 disk raid ones) or until Apple starts selling iMacs with either eSata or USB 3.0 then ill have to just buy one with the 1TB HDD you can't upgrade, oh well... :(
 
Depending on what you want to do mate Firewire 800 is perfectly fine for high data transfers, at least until Thunderbolt is more widely accommodated by people.

Personally I don't find the difference to be that much of an impact. I use a FW800 drive to work on in Photoshop/After Effects etc... and there aren't any issues for me. What will you be using it for?

If you are dead set on getting something eSata based, Sonnet are planning on releasing a Thunderbolt based adapter soon to allow TB equipped Macs to use E34 cards, meaning you could get eSATA that way.
 
Well I was looking at getting one with the 256GB SSD option which im guessing will be around 240GB formatted, I plan on running a duel boot with OSX and Vista (pref the vista UI to the 7 one). Im not sure much of the drive it would be best to give each O/S but I would be using windows mostly. In addition to the O/S's I would have WoW on there but my Steam folder prob wouldn't fit so I would need that on another drive.
 
From what I've heard from friends that play WoW is around 40GB now isn't it? With more expansions on the way too.

The heat issue shouldn't/wouldn't cause a problem in my opinion really, having another HDD sat in there wouldn't be sufficient to cause additional problems, and if you went down that route it means you don't have to worry about buying external storage now.

In terms of the split.. that is ofc up to you, but including the OS, it's updates and WoW you're looking at about 50GB gone already. Will you be installing additional Pro Apps etc... as well? If so are they on the Mac or Windows side?
 
Oh I have plenty of copies of 7 I just prefer Vista, is it really that bad? the ability to dual boot it was kind of what sold me on the idea of a mac :(
 
ubersonic said:
Oh I have plenty of copies of 7 I just prefer Vista, is it really that bad? the ability to dual boot it was kind of what sold me on the idea of a mac :(
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No no dual booting is fine, it's a great feature of the Mac, I just prefer 7 in terms of the driver support between Vista and 7, I have found that I can download updated and fully functional versions of the drivers specific to the type of Mac I have. Back when I was using Vista it seemed like you had to download a bundled version of Bootcamp drivers, some of which didn't seem to work too well.

The resource issue isn't a problem either, Vista uses more than 7 does, but if you're going all out on an iMac then you won't have a problem.

What apps are you using on the Windows side?
 
Aside from WoW and Steam the Apps I usually use are Chrome, Office, Calculator, WMP, UTorrent (would be replaced by Transmission as I have that on my Linux box and prefer it) and that's about it really.
 
Run the drive internally it will be fine??? They designed the thing to be sold with internal drives so it would be expected to work for ages with them in there...

Oh and current mac's have sata3 so I really dont see the point in running most your stuff from a drive on your desk (and if you were do it via thunderbolt when they sort out some sort of single tb drive setup as thats stupidly fast)
 
ubersonic said:
Aside from WoW and Steam the Apps I usually use are Chrome, Office, Calculator, WMP, UTorrent (would be replaced by Transmission as I have that on my Linux box and prefer it) and that's about it really.
Click to expand...

No problem then dude, if you're using WoW and Steam on the Mac side, make the Windows one as small as you can, means you can wait until there are more TB options available. Lacie are releasing a small dual drive RAID shortly... if they ever get the stock sorted -_-
 
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