Buffalo Technology DriveStation Combo4 1.0 TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB 2.0/FireWire 800/400/eSATA HD-HS1.0TQ Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this drive for my iMac (2008 model) and used it with Time Machine and it worked fine until it failed 9 months later. Disk Utility could not repair it. Sigh.

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1TB - 7200rpm - USB 2.0 - USB, IEEE 1394b - FireWire, IEEE 1394a - FireWire, Serial ATA/300 - External SATA - External

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Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Upgrade Cable Powered eSATA - STAE103 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a good product provided you and your equipment can get by the gotchas.
1. The cable is NOT eSATA. It is eSATAp. eSATAp is a combo USB/eSATA port found on newer portables. Regular eSATA ports found on desktops are NOT powered. I use mine between my tower and notebook.
2. The cable is short.
3. You can buy a PCIe card with eSATAp port(s) but the cable will likely be too short.
4. You could opt for the USB 3.0 version if you have USB 3.0 ports. You can add a PCIe card with USB 3. port(s) but the cable may be too short. I went this route with WD Passports but the USB cable was too short and proprietary. If the USB 3.0 cable is standard and removable, you may be able to add a longer regular USB cable.
5. I have found and ordered after much searching an adapter cable that plugs into the both a vacant USB and eSATA and port and then combines the two into what I hope is a female eSATAp port. If it works, it will solve both the power and cable length issues. This puppy is called a BYTECC USB + eSATA to USB/eSATA Cable. Hope it works.
EDIT: 12/09/2010 - My BYTECC 18" USB + eSATA to USB/eSATA Cable Model USATA-118UE arrived today and it works. And it works well for me as my notebook has an eSATAp port so I have a one cable solution. I think this is the way to go other than adding a USB 3.0 PCIe expansion card..
I bought mine at opentip.com. An Amazon supplier, Zagall has it right here: USATA-118UE 18" USB + eSATA to USB/eSATA Cable NewEgg has it too.

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Macally G-S350SUA Hi-Speed eSATA/FireWire/USB2.0 Storage Enclosure for 3.5-Inch SATA HDD Review

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(More customer reviews)This first thing I noticed when I was installing a hard drive into this enclosure what how well everything fit together. I've tried something like 10 different types of enclosures and most of them always had something that didn't quite go together right without a little force. Not the case with this. The only plastic parts in this unit are the back plate and the power button. If those were metal and someone told me this was a product by Apple, I would believe them.
I purchased 10 of these for a media project, and there wasn't a single problem with any of them. That consistency really impressed me, and I plan on sticking with this model for future buys until I can no longer find it. They are definitely more expensive than the average enclosure, but the quality justifies it in my mind.
Take a look at the customer images I submitted to get a good idea of how this comes apart and goes back together.
UPDATE 12/8/2010: I've owned these enclosures for over 2 years now and I still love them. I haven't had a single issue with them yet. I was originally using them exclusively with firewire but now use several with eSATA and am extremely pleased with the speed difference. I still recommend them.

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Western Digital My Book Studio II - 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) USB 2.0/FireWire 800/400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been using the WD Studio II 2TB on my 2008 iMac OSX 10.5.6 for two weeks. Connection: firewire 800. Today, it did not mount when I booted the computer.
Checked the WD Website Knowledge Base.
Discovered two things:
1. Knowledge Base Answer 1697: "This issue is caused by the external hard drive's built in auto on/off functionality not correctly receiving a command from the computer system to wake from a power saver mode."
Why does the auto on/off functionality not correctly receive the command from the computer system? WD goes on to suggest installing their WD Drive Manager.
Well, WD Drive Manager is already installed, how else could a user have arrived at this impasse to begin with?
And then they suggest to dismount the drive. How do you dismount an unmounted drive?
2. Knowledge Base Answer 1680: "This is an technical limitation between the FireWire interfaces on the Macintosh computer and the external hard drive."
By "the external hard drive" WD means THEIR brand of external hard drive. I have never had this specific problem with any other brands of external hard drives connected to my Macintosh computer.
When is WD going to fix this "technical limitation" that they have built into their Studio II external hard drive? I would say, that is a pretty serious "technical limitation."
1680 goes on to explain the workaround solution, essentially a routine disconnecting the power cable and reconnecting. Nice.
My hope is that this entire situation is the result of following the apparently misleading instructions shown in the Studio II manual: chapter 7, "Turning Off/Disconnecting the Device."
Since "Auto-off" is the first entry in this chapter, it leads the user to believe that this is the preferred way to operate the drive. Guess not: as it turns out, the hidden "technical limitation" of the firewire connection will eventually cause the problem I have described. I suppose I can't rely on "Auto-off." Use "Safe Shutdown" only, even though the instructions in the manual differ from the instructions presented in WD Knowledge Base Answer 976!
And, speaking of conflicting instructions, compare WD Knowledge Base Answer 1386 with the Auto-off instructions in the manual.
Based on all of this information from WD, conflicting and otherwise, my guess is that the Auto-off feature is problematic (at least with Macintosh computers) because of firewire "technical limitations" caused by the WD external drive design. This fact, if it is a fact, should be expressed clearly in the manual.

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Thinkpad 135W Ac Adapter Review

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(More customer reviews)Stupid W510 requires a 135 watt power supply. It's genuine Lenovo... but it's gigantic and it weighs a ton.

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USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter Serial ATA, ATAPI/IDE 3.5" &2.5" Review

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(More customer reviews)I anticipated having to move data off 5 HDDs from an old WinXP SP3 tower to a new Dell Studio 15 Laptop. I'd researched several Universal USB HDD Adapter kits and choose the NewerTech kit. What arrived was a generic kit without the NewerTech "black block" with lights for power and data transfer confirmation. Instead, the power converter block had one green light that was not coming on. I plugged it in and tried to power up the first EIDE FAT32 HDD with no luck and a "burnt wire" smell soon filled the room. My Dell Laptop was PNP installing (2 drivers) and confirming USB Bridge connection to the adapter block with both IDE/EIDE and SATA connections with Win7 OS. After a couple of hours of frustration I called the seller and they eventually confirmed a replacement was coming with pre-paid return USPS shipping. The 2nd kit arrived 8 days later, this time the power converter was "green" and 4 of my 5 drives powered up and data was transferred fine at about 25-26MB per/sec. I think, but don't know this for sure, but the first drive I plugged into the kit was "killed" by the bad power converter block.
This is a generic kit, all parts made in China. I lost about 75GB of music and video downloads, a collection that was the envy of friends... gone. The seller did right by me, but I feel there was a "bait n' switch" as now, after notifying Amazon about the situation, the "featured" kit photo is NOW the generic kit not the NewerTech kit. I now have to contact the download sites, 4 or 5 and see if I can't get them to make my download history available to download once again, this will takes hours, patience and email... I wished I gotten the NewerTech kit first.
Finally, this is not a kit for "techies" who don't know what they are doing because there are NO instructions. You must follow standard HDD installation sequence by first having the USB cable connected, then connect the SATA/IDE cable and then last connect the power. Have the drive level or flat, don't move it around or even roughly handle the HDD when powered up, you can damage the drive or damage sectors. Good luck...

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