External Hard Drive/enclosure Choice Options

[keybie]

I've decided to get a 15" Powerbook and am awaiting to see if Apple will be releasing an updated version next week in case I'll probably get a better machine for the same price as now

The machine will be used for everyday stuff like email, web etc. but also for video editing (iMovie, Final cut express or whatever I find to be usable for editing home videos in a respectable manner). And since I'm a serious hobby musician I'd like to use it for audio/MIDI as well, with internal soft-samplers (possibly also some soft-synths even though I suffice with my external MIDI gear), effects etc. Haven't decided what kind of software to settle for as I'm very new to all of this, but have been suggested to try out the various demo versions when I finally get my Mac.

But getting to the point of this posting: I most likely need a large and fast external hard drive for this, so I need to figure out:

1) Which hard drive should I buy?
and
2) Which external enclosure should I buy?

I don't know anything about which specs I should be looking for, but I do definitely want a silent running drive, that's for sure! I've had computers in the past which sould like vacuum cleaners, and I assure you: it's not much fun trying to be creative with that sort of environment!

As for the enclosure. Apart from ventilating the drive well enough (I've read that some enclosures have no fan, even though they claim that their design is uniquely made and do give sufficent cooling I'm a little sceptical, though still open to the idea if it proves to be correct) it should look good.

Having searched around the web almost in vain (most enclosures look pretty cheesy, tacky and geeky in my opinion. I'm looking for something that looks a little more stylish and "pro") I believe I've found something that is usable:

Macpower 'Pleiades' drive enclosure

Anyone know of other "pro looking" drive enclosures?


Although I'll probably buy the "Superdrive" version of the Powerbook I might actually get an external DVD-writer later on, to save on tear and wear, and possibly higher specs as well, so getting an enclosure for the hard drive that'll match one for the DVD writer would be great!
Perhaps there's an enclosure style that is delivered for both devices?
If possible, I'd like to stack them on top of each other.

As for interfacing, what should I go for? Firewire 400? 800? USB?
What about for the external DVD-writer?

A practial issue: it would be nice not to have an external power supply ("wall wart"), but a built-in power supply in the enclosure itself, but this seems not to be the trend, so I might have to give in here.

Suggestions, comments?

[Narayan]

Hi,
I recently bought a 17"powerbook G4 1.6Gig. I am also a very new customer to this Mac business and have been a serious music composer for the past 13 years only with PCs using softwares like Cakewalk and Sonar.
Now to your questions. I would rather buy a mac with a built in DVD writer than go for an external one, as it already takes hell of a time to write a movie file to a DVD (even when inbuilt). What ever External HDD or enclosue you buy, go only for fire wire devices (6 pin or 9pin), as, USB drives may be painfully slow.

The bundled software comes with a decent composer software called Garrageband, but not for serious or professional composers. For more flexibility and creativity, you may use Logic express (the toned down version) or Logic pro (the full version) depending on your budget. But really speaking, Mac does not have much software for creating MIDI music.
The bundled video capture/editing software (i-movie) is also a fairly decent editing software and would be more than sufficient for home movies. BUt again, it all depends on what you really want to do with your computer. Hope this information has been useful. Narayanan