My MacBook Pro is quickly running out of hard drive space, so I decided I'd upgrade the internal 80GB hard drive. After a lengthy search, I settled on the Seagate Momentus 2.5" 7200.2 160GB drive with freefall protection (ST9160823ASG). I'll be doubling my current space, getting a faster drive compared to the built-in 5400RPM drive, and I get added protection for my hard drive in case I drop my laptop (which I have no plan on doing, but better safe than sorry). I scoured the 'net today, but alas, couldn't find it for sale anywhere. I finally called Seagate Presales Support and found out that the drive has been delayed a bit, but should be shipping in June or July. Strike one.
While searching for a new drive, I realized that I'd run into trouble transferring my data between my old drive and my new drive. After some research, I decided I'd go with an external hard drive enclosure. I sometimes do computer tech support for friends, family, and people at my church and I find myself doing a lot of hard drive shuffling. I figured an enclosure that works with 3.5" drives would come in handy there, so why not pick up an enclosure that works with both 2.5" and 3.5" drives? Well, no one makes them, that's why. Icy Dock is considering making a tray that will fit 2.5" drives into their 3.5" enclosure. I gave them a call and the tray is still on the drawing board. Strike two.
Finally, I've been searching for a good backup solution. Our household has six computers* and we all really should be backing up our hard drives. The most obvious solution to me is some form of network storage. I'd like something that does RAID 1 for added protection. There are a couple candidates. First, there's the 1TB Western Digital My Book World Edition II. Not happening: horrible reviews, plus it's Windows-only. Second, there's the Netgear SC101. Not happening: horrible reviews, plus it's Windows-only. When will a reputable manufacturer come out with a decent network storage solution that offers redundancy, is cross-platform, and ideally doesn't require me to install software on each client computer? Strike three.
I'm just not having any luck.
* Yes, six. I have two: my MacBook Pro for work and my Windows XP desktop (which stays off most of the time); Michael, Emily, and Ellen have Windows XP laptops; and there's one Windows XP desktop for general use. Rebekah and Dale are the ones that use it most frequently.
