FreeAgent Pro vs OWC Mercury Elite-Al Pro

[iGrooveLA]

hi all...with Leopard looming, i am looking to finally get an external HD to back up using SuperDuper! as well as do a Copy, Erase, Install (not sure of the actual terms but basically doing a fresh install of leopard on my PowerBook G4) by copying/moving tiger into an external...

does anyone have experience with the Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB HD? i'm debating between that ($199) and the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 500GB ($229)...i just want to make sure that I am able to boot from the FreeAgent Pro...anyone have suggestions? Should i go for the more expensive OWC Mercury Elite w/the smaller drive? i hear for sure that that will boot from a clone.

thank you for your help/insight.

[timlance]

Are you sure you even want to boot from the external? Do you plan a separate partition as a boot volume? I just bought the Seagate and am very pleased so far - nice and quiet, great price for value (good reviews). The light on it is a bit much, though you can shield that. I use a sparse image. As long as you have another way to boot the machine (the factory DVDs) an image is flexible. In my case I slapped an old laptop drive into a USB2 case that is bootable for my primary BU.

[iGrooveLA]

Are you sure you even want to boot from the external? Do you plan a separate partition as a boot volume? I just bought the Seagate and am very pleased so far - nice and quiet, great price for value (good reviews). The light on it is a bit much, though you can shield that. I use a sparse image. As long as you have another way to boot the machine (the factory DVDs) an image is flexible. In my case I slapped an old laptop drive into a USB2 case that is bootable for my primary BU.

oh, i dont want to always boot from the external. i just want to be able to boot from it should i need to in an emergency, to restore my system if there are any problems. i do plan to have at least 2 partitions: one 100GB partition to match my my PB's internal HD to put the clone in.

so are you able to boot OK from the Seagate AgentPro?

[timlance]

Sorry; can't answer that as I don't have it set up for that. But back to your plan: Are you planning to have the clone a true clone? That is, will it mirror your PB's drive? If so, is that drive very full? I ask because you may be "wasting" a lot of space on the backup.

[davebarnes]

You need to have a FireWire connection in order to boot from the drive.
You can not boot using USB.
I think you will find that the Seagate model (750GB, $199) you referenced is not FireWire. The model you want is "Seagate FreeAgent Pro ST307504FPA1E3-RK" and the "E3" is very important. NewEgg wants $245 USD.
If it is, then great.

What I can attest to is that OWC makes Mac products that work. Not doubts, no questions, no concerns. I have had excellent experience with OWC and their support. MacSales.com has the "OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 'Quad Interface'
FireWire 800/400 + USB2 2.0 + eSATA" 750GB drive for $320 USD.

Me, personally, I would spend the extra $75.

[iGrooveLA]

Sorry; can't answer that as I don't have it set up for that. But back to your plan: Are you planning to have the clone a true clone? That is, will it mirror your PB's drive? If so, is that drive very full? I ask because you may be "wasting" a lot of space on the backup.

oh yah, it's very full...i think have like 4 Gigs left...i have like 30 gigs of music on there which i'm planning to move my itunes library into the external which i will connect to my airport extreme base station.

[iGrooveLA]

You need to have a FireWire connection in order to boot from the drive.
You can not boot using USB.
I think you will find that the Seagate model (750GB, $199) you referenced is not FireWire. The model you want is "Seagate FreeAgent Pro ST307504FPA1E3-RK" and the "E3" is very important. NewEgg wants $245 USD.
If it is, then great.

What I can attest to is that OWC makes Mac products that work. Not doubts, no questions, no concerns. I have had excellent experience with OWC and their support. MacSales.com has the "OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 'Quad Interface'
FireWire 800/400 + USB2 2.0 + eSATA" 750GB drive for $320 USD.

Me, personally, I would spend the extra $75.

the price diff is actually $121! the AgentPro im thinking about is the the one with usb/esata and firewire connections...it's available at costco now for $199. i'd prefer the OWC but the price diference is $121! if i go w/the OWC route, i'll probably just the 500 gig for $229...hmm...what to do what to do...

i'm leaning on picking up the agentpro at costco later and try it see...see if i like it..it has been getting really good reviews tho...just hop i can boot from it if needed.