External Backup Hard Drive Help

Hello all,
I bought a Western Digital 320gb External Hard Drive for my Power Mac G3 and it is both 2.0 usb and firewire. I was thinking of using firewire instead of usb. A coworker told me that the WD HD is not good and several people told him that they crash alot. I have an 80 gb internal Western Digital hard drive and I've had no problems w/it. I have 3 questions, 1. is it true what they've said about the WD external HD? 2. If I use firewire, do I need 2 add/install anything along w/the HD? 3. I understand Seagate is really good, should I return the WD E HD (it's unopened) and get the Seagate instead?
Thank u all 4 your help.

I've never used a WD HD, so I can't comment on the reliability. I have 2 Maxtor HDs.
However, on your choice of Firewire or USB. Do you have a USB 2.0 PCI card in your Mac? If you plan on using the built-in USB port which is USB 1.1, data transfer will be r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w.
USB 2.0 has approximately the same top rated speed as Firewire. However, in reality, The Firewire speed is the sustained speed while USB 2.0 speed is the maximum & you will get probably half that. USB 1.1 is much, much slower. You don't have to install anything to use Firewire. See USB: Transfer Speed Compared to Other Technologies
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=24531
 Cheers, Tom

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Message was edited by: paulyman

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbBdAuzxXk
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My favorite mirroring or cloning application is SuperDuper! which can be downloaded [Here|http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html].
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See #C6 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

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Hmmm,
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Z.
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Toshiba 1TB USB 3.5" External Desktop Hard Drive I need help

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