Verbatim's SureFire FireWire 800 external HDD does all it can to cater to new MacBook Pro owners

There's no question in our minds that Verbatim had brand new Macbook Pro owners in mind when it developed this addition to the SureFire external hard drive lineup. Let's run through the features: it comes HFS+ formatted for OS X, it's got touted support for Time Machine, and it features a FireWire 800 port, which is once again useful for Apple consumers, along with USB 2.0. It's even got a fingerprint resistant matte finish, which might just make you a bit envious given your own lack of matte options at present. Just a little bit larger and heavier than your iPhone, it comes with a leather case, all the necessary cables, and 250GB / 320GB / 500GB capacities, all 5400RPM, with prices ranging from $110 to $180.

[Via Yahoo! Tech]

[Paranoidmarvin Posted Jul 16th 2009 5:05AM]

Hey, my Powerbook G4 has a firewire 800 port too

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2009 5:10AM]

And my aluminum MacBook doesn't. :(

[Adamgs Posted Jul 16th 2009 5:18AM]

It just goes to show the lack of any real development.

Firewire 800 was available in 2003 and yet we are still stuck with it, and the even worse USB 2.0 standard.

Whats the point of making external drives larger and larger if it takes an age to tranfer data over.

Bring out USB 3.0 already ffs Intel!

[Wiigee Posted Jul 16th 2009 5:31AM]

@adderz ever hear of e-sata?

[Adamgs Posted Jul 16th 2009 6:04AM]

Esata is hardly mainstream

[nanowoodward Posted Jul 16th 2009 12:55PM]

question: I am not too familiar with drive speed vs rpm. with an FW800 connection, would the drive be limited by the 5400rpm?

[NikAmi Posted Jul 16th 2009 5:29PM]

And firewire is?

[Michael Scrip Posted Jul 16th 2009 5:18AM]

How fast do you think this drive is? Would Firewire 800 be much faster than USB 2.0... or is the 2.5" drive the bottleneck?

If it's fast... I'd get one of these for my Windows machine... and get a Firewire 800 card too.

Fast backups at home... USB 2.0 compatibility and portability on the road.

[Gonzie Posted Jul 16th 2009 5:47AM]

firewire is better tailored to sustained data transfer (designed for straight video transfer basically) where usb isn't so much so around 800Mbs Vs. 480 it's fast in theory.

all depends on that internal bus circuitry

[Augmented Insanity Posted Jul 16th 2009 6:54AM]

USB requires the CPU to watch over transfers. Firewire is DMA, you get lower CPU usage but its also a weakness as demonstrated by a hacker reading/writing directly to memory from a custom Firewire device.

[barCODE Posted Jul 16th 2009 8:57AM]

Add gigabit and e-SATA to the USB/firewire and we'll call it a winner.

[Wiigee Posted Jul 16th 2009 5:44AM]

wow, someone makes a mac friendly hard drive and its engadget worthy? this is why you guys get made fun of for being a big tool for apple. you kinda are.

[ChrisAre Posted Jul 16th 2009 12:25PM]

Perhaps they're reporting on it because some readers would like to purchase it... They don't lick Verbatim's balls in the article about how awesome it is. All they're doing is reporting on a new external HD that is catered to the MBP.

[Surrealchemist Posted Jul 16th 2009 6:02AM]

Now just add an expresscard slot to it.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2009 6:33AM]

This is the reason why all External HDDs should use E-Sata.

[zomg0t Posted Jul 16th 2009 7:28AM]

I don't have an e-sata port... ='(

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2009 7:35AM]

I like FW drives for the reasons stated above (faster than USB, etc.) but have never embraced eSATA as a contender for portable drives because they aren't/can't be bus powered. That's a deal-breaker for portable users, regardless of OS.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2009 7:21AM]

So what was wrong with Seagate's FreeAgent Go mac hard drives?

[Professor Kaos Posted Jul 16th 2009 7:36AM]

Wait, no white version? Blashphemy! I prefer compatibility where ever I travel, and yes I know the benifits of Firewire, but when I travel I want a device I can take anywhere, and dont spam me with comments about adapters and this and that, its not the same, firewire should die, especially with USB spec. 3.0 to be out soon.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2009 7:53AM]

Firewire 800: check.

5400rpm: FAIL

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2009 8:01AM]

The finish kind of reminds me of the pre-titanium PowerBooks.

[Scotty1 Posted Jul 16th 2009 10:03AM]

Too bad at 5400 RPM you don't really notice the difference between FW400 and FW800. I have a 2.5" 7200 drive in an enclosure with 800 though, and that thing flies.

[Jeff Kibuule Posted Jul 16th 2009 11:01AM]

I wonder when USB 3.0 will get around. I won't be buying a new laptop until it's available (which seems like early-2010). =/

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 17th 2009 11:43AM]

Just an FYI. I recently purchased this product as a result of this review. Surefire may be closer to the fact than Verbatim wanted. When using it for the first time, I noticed the drive getting uncomfortably hot. I measured the temperature of the unit at 110 degrees (it may have been warmer - I was using a fever thermometer that maxed out at 110). A call to Verbatim got me the information that the drive shouldn't get warmer than 95 degrees. Although the unit appeared to operate normally, I returned it for a refund. Heat and electronics is usually a bad mix.