Advice on external hard drives

hi
i am looking to buy an external hard drive of approx 250GB. I want something that will just plug and play. Ease of use and reliability are key!
i don't know where to begin - can anyone recommend one?
thanks
ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

OWC is where I bought mine. I got a 500GB model but the link is for a 250GB version since that was what you are looking for. The drive also has several USB2 and FireWire400 plugins for expansion.
The drive is ready to go as soon as you get it. I zeroed out my drive after I got it but that is up to you. It comes with some good software on disk. It also has some freebies on HD that you can burn off to CD.
As far as bootability you will need a good backup tool like SuperDuper.
The first time you copy to backup your hard drive it will take a little time. From then on smart backup will take only a fraction of the time as it only copies the changes that have occurred since the last backup.
Edit: They show the UK as a shipping destination.

Similar Messages

Advice about external hard drive recovery

Does anyone have experience or advice about external hard drive recovery?
I have a USB external drive that crashed during a power brownout, I couldn't mount the image at first but used Diskwarrior to rebuild it. Now I can see and navigate the drive but I am unable to pull many files off without the finder crashing. It would transfer about 130mb of 10gb then stay at that number and not progress past that amount.
Should I try a different recovery program or would removing the drive and placing it in another external drive enclosure solve something like this?
any help appreciated

When in DW there is a Preview to see the old and new volume.
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/harddrives/topic4557.html#d10aug2010
Data Rescue 3 demo will show you what it's scan finds, costs $99
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
you need to have another drive to recover your files to.
Yes I would try another case, maybe the power brick was all that is now half-dead also
And you really need a UPS - never be w/o
http://pondini.org/OSX/UPS.html
MacBook Pro:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro

Any advice on external hard drives and invaild node structure?

(Since I wrote a lot) The Basic summary:
What external hard drive would you recommend? How do I run/use safe mode to fix the "invalid node structure" error? Or the worst case scenario, how do I reinstall the OS?
The long version
I have an iMac PowerPC G5, OS X 10.4.11... When I last turned it on, it took 15 minutes to go through the startup process. I opened to Safari to try to find some answers but it was half working and slow. Firefox was fine.
I ran disk verify and found the invalid node structure error. I backed up some files onto DVDRs but I didn't get everything.
Going through forum threads it seems I have two options.
-One is to go into safe mode and type in commands to run disk repair repeatedly until no errors show.
-Second option is to start over and reinstall everything.
Obviously, I would like to avoid reinstalling. Can someone help me with what commands I need to type in when I start safe mode, make repairs and to get out of safe mode?
Also, before I begin to fix the error I need to finish backing up my files. Instead of dealing with CDs, I would like an external hard drive. Any recommendations?
I've read that USB is kind of slow and because I own a powerpc I can't boot from the external hard drive (via USB). I don't know if booting from the external hard drive is something I should worry about...? I found this Mercury quad that seems to cover all options but not sure if the brand is worth the price? Or is there something similar for less?
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/400+USB2/
Thank you in advance! I hope that wasn't too long of a post...

Hi baran1, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Going through forum threads it seems I have two options.
More actually...
DiskWarrior...
http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/details3.html
Drive Genius…
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
TechTool Pro…
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=83
One is to go into safe mode and type in commands to run disk repair repeatedly until no errors show.
To clear up some confusion, those are two different modes, Safe Boot, (Safe Mode), from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), tries to repair the HD while the Radian is going.
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.
Single User Mode is where you would type those commands in.
To use fsck, you must run it from the command line. Unlike using your mouse to open an application to do something, you'll need to type a text command at the prompt (#) to tell fsck what to do. The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) and single-user mode are two examples of command-line interfaces in which you can type such commands. To use fsck:
1. Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line. Hold CMD+s keys down at bootup. Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
2. At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
(SPACE between fsck AND -fy important)
3. Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found: 
The volume (nameofvolume) appears to be OK  If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message: *** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***   Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
4. When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), & use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, reboot once more.
Or is there something similar for less?
The FireWire 400 + USB 2.0 model is cheaper than the FireWire 800/400 + USB2, + eSATA 'Quad Interface' on that page.

Advice on external hard drives for Macbook pro

I am looking to buy an external hard drive for my macbook pro urgently.
I was intending to purchase a time capsule but am really concerned with the reliability concerns of the time capsules where they stop working after 6 months to 18 months as posted on various forums.
I was considering purchasing a western digital external hard drive but they also receive a lot of negative feedback.
I have never used firewire previously but am interested in getting feedback as to how useful forum readers find this feature.
In terms of size am looking for 1TB approx.
Thanks in advance for your assistance as i need to purchase one immediately and i do not have time to research fully. Make, model number and approximate cost would be very helpful as well as where i could purchase hard drive in london. I am more concerned with quality rather than cost.

Opinions vary and people have different experiences ...
I'd recommend the LaCie 1TB Quadra drive at £134 it has eSATA, USB2 and FW400 and FW800 Interfaces (it comes with all four cables) and I've found them reliable and rugged.
http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=11158
http://www.lacie.com/uk/wheretobuy/index.htm

Need Advice on External Hard Drive Error

I just purchased the OWC 750g External Firewire HD for my Imac G4, plugged it in and it appeared in my Finder. The User Guide says that I need to use Disc Utility to repartition the drive, which I did, in 3 partitions - two to be bootable drives for my iBook and iMac (160g each) and the 3rd to hold data from both computers (the remaining 378g). However, after completing this and hitting "partition" I got the 'Partition failed - Could not unmount disk' message. Any clue ... I'm not extensively techno savvy but I do my best!
Thanks!
Sorry - I'm new at posting, so this appeared a few times in the wrong place

Probably something as simple as a restart of the iMac would be enough to remind the iMac that it's okay to unmount the drive.
Remember to use "Mac OS Extended ... (Journalled)" as the format for normal Mac use and as you have PowerPC Macs you should use "Apple Partition Map". Bear in mind you'd need to reformat for booting an Intel Mac.
cheers
mrtotes

Need advice on External Hard Drive

I have an old iMac (6+ years old) with 500GB which is essentially full and an old Time Capsule (5+ years old) with 1TB. (I also have 2 MBPs but I don't back these up). Now I am finally ready to do a "technology refresh" and am looking at the newest iMac 27" with 3TB Fusion disk and a new backup device. So I am considering one of the LaCie devices (either the LaCie 4TB Prosche Design or the LaCie 3TB (or 4TB) USB/Thunderbolt device. I am unsure which way to go with this. I am very open to suggestions on this particular choice.
I plan to move my many iPhoto libraries and iTunes library from the old iMac to the new iMac by just copying them using a Thunderbold cable as this is the only data I really want on the new system. I will re-install all Apple and Third Party apps. My husband will inherit my old iMac which will then have lots of free disk space after deleting the iPhoto Libraries. (He's stil a Windows guy so I'm using this approach to get him "converted" - he is not really a power user - mainly financial stuff and of course there is no Apple version of his perferred app - I will get to try either CrossOver or BootCamp).
I would then use the new EHD with TM to backup both iMacs. I would retire my old TC as I don't use it as a router and I find backing up via WiFi just too slow - TM also seems to slow down the whole system when running. Perhaps I could keep the old TC and use it to back up both MBPs but I consider the user data on them "transient" - i.e. I move important stuff to my iMac.
All feedback on my plans most welcome.

If you want to use Time Machine to backup all these computers, then you will likely need more than 2 TBs of storage. A TM backup drive should have at least twice the capacity of the drives it backs up. Therefore if you have 5 computers with total drive capacity of 2 TBs, then your TM backup drive will require a capacity of at least 4 TBs. Or you need to have more than one 2 TB backup drive. TM, however, can only backup to one drive at a time.
A centralized backup system for all the computers would suggest some type of wireless network storage solution. In order to get, say, 4 TBs of storage you would need a RAID enclosure that could support up to four 1 or 2 TB drives that could be configured into a striped RAID to provide the storage needs for a TM backup-based configuration. Preferably a box from Synology may work since they support Mac formatted drives and OS X which will be essential in order to use Time Machine. Synology is one of the few NAS developers that provide a TM based backup solution. Normally TM will not work with any NAS device except a Time Capsule.
iTunes and iPhoto libraries can be shared amongst all local network users as long as the computer with the libraries is online. Simply open iTunes' or iPhoto's preferences, click on the Sharing icon in the toolbar, then enable library sharing.

Need an external hard drive, advice?

Hi,
For awhile now I've been wanting an external hard drive but no nothing about them. I have a 160 GB 17" iMac 2GHz and I'm always running out of space. Right now I have 20GB free.
Anywho the big question is USB or Firewire? Now, I can get USB ones pretty cheap at a local store here and Future Shop has this 500GB USB one on sale right now.
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10089693&catid=2 3795&logon=&langid=EN
or I could go much bigger and order this 1 TB one online too:
http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10299356&search=externa%20hard%2 0drives&Mo=4&cmre=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-CA&Nr=P_CatalogName:BCCA&Sp=S&N=0&wh se=BCCA&Dx=modematchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=PCatalogName:BCCA&Ne=4000000&D=externa%20hard%20drives&Ntt=externa%20hard%20drive s&No=0&Ntx=modematchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1
I"ve been told that Firewire is great for things like using iMovie or if you use your video camera for videos etc.
Down the road I want a video camera and may use iMovie more in the future. So how important is Firewire and how big should I go? I'm thinking bigger is better and know I need at least 500GB as I want to back up my whole system and have room for movies, TV shows etc. Also want something that isn't too loud.
Here are two other Canadian stores I've looked at briefly to see what they have,
http://www.tigerdirect.ca and http://www.canadacomputers.com
Any advice would be appreciated,
S.

There are dozens of posts that say basically this:
Bought a MyBook. (USB or FW) - it won't work anymore, period.
After you see 8 or 10 of those you take the MyBook off the list. If all it is, is a backup to a reliable drive then the risk is you lose the drive and need to buy a better one and redo the backups. I would not use a drive with a known failure problem as a backup ever. Certainly not the only media drive on my system.
The LaCie D2 cases do not use fans and I have 4TB of them working for years so that is not the reason the MyBooks fail - they fail because they are not well made. The LaCie cases are about 6 pounds of cast aluminum so they act as huge heat sinks. Even then I use a small desktop fan to blow air over them so they stay cooler.
I suspect the WD bridges are poor and the interface between the drive and the USB/FW port becomes unusable. This is why I don't buy the $10 Tiger Direct cases and put good quality drives in them . Rotten bridges.
One reason to buy them is if the sale price becomes cheaper than the raw drive price then you can open the case and get a new drive for less than buying one but then you wind up with a lot of trash.
Get a LaCie, OWC or G-Tech.
Message was edited by: Cannibals

FCPX external hard drive advice needed

I have on order the following iMac which will be used for video editing with FCPX.
3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM-2X8GB (upping to 32mb when it arrives)
3TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIAGeFrc GTX 680MX 2G GDDR5
I'm coming from an older Mac Pro with internal hard drives, so I need some advice from the video editing experts on a quality external hard drive for the new iMac. Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

You've waited a long time...
Here's the deal: Thunderbolt has a bandwidth of 10Gb/s... TB2 a bandwidth of 20Gb/s. The G Raid uses 2 disk drives with 7200 RPM platters. These drives are the bottleneck and about the fastest transfers you can expect are in the 250MB/s range... I get that (and better) with a single SSD in a USB 3 enclosure. Three or more drives would get better transfer rates; you would need a larger enclosure.
You have to ask yourself: Do I want storage or do I want speed?
To make the best use of Thunderbolt speed, you can build your own RAID with an enclosure and buy the drives (matched) separately. A Thunderbolt enclosure with SSD drives will make the best use of the bandwidth provided by TB. You can find 4-bay enclosures and SSDs up to 960GB. You can expect transfer rates of over a gigabyte/second (I'm looking an an Akitio 4-bay enclosure with an advertised speed of 1375MB/s... [ customer reviews ] -- I am not affiliated with this product in any way... I think you'll get even more info here. )
Hope you find the info useful.

Advice needed RE: External hard drives?

Hey Everyone,
I'm relatively new to the world of Macs and Final Cut, i've been editng on an iMac for about a year now and have never invested in any external media storage.
I've just got quite e big job that will require me to capture a lot more media than I have ever done before, so think I need to invest in an external hard drive.
I was speaking to a lad I know and he was saying when I do get one I should connect it via a usb 2.0 connection, yet i've read in a book I have that I should connect via the firewire connection. I'm a bit confused so thought i'd put it to you guys, what do you think is best?
Also any recommendations on a decent/reliable hard drive (preferably the cheaper the better as i'm fairly skint).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
Scott

Purchase a 7200rpm Firewire drive. It's OK if it also has USB connections, you just won't be using that method. Once the drive is connected to your Mac with a Firewire cable, start up your Mac. Go to Applications->Utilities->Disk Utility. When Disk Utility has opened, locate the drive on the left side and highlight it. Select the Erase tab and then select Mac OS Extended as the formatting for the drive. You do not need to have Journaling turned on. Give the drive a name if you wish. Once the drive has been formatted it will be ready for use with your Mac.
Open FCE and in preferences, set the new drive as the Capture/Scratch volume for FCE. See the FCE help files for details.
-DH

New to MacBook Pro - External hard drive advice

I just ordered a MacBook Pro last night which will be my first mac computer and would appreciate any insight on external hard drives. Here are the specs for the MacBook:
2.6Ghz Quad-core Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1 GB GDDR5 memory
8 GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
750 GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
Right now, for my PC I have a WD My Passport Essential SE 1 TB Ultra Portable external hard drive. This drive works but I've had a few hiccups with it (although I can't tell if its the drive or the PC) and figured I should just start fresh with a new external hard drive for the new MacBook. In terms of my use, here's what I'm looking to be able to do with the hard drive:
would prefer something portable (although doesn't have to be)
would like to be able to insert old hard drive into mac, insert new hard drive, and transfer all files from old hard drive onto new hard drive without having to temporarily store on mac
i don't really use the hard drive to back up the computer, i use it more to store all my files (pics, videos, movies, word/excel/pdf, etc.) and only keep certain files on computer (i use another hard drive to back up this hard drive)
i'd also like something fast that would work well with the MacBook's specs
price wise, would defintely like to be under $300 if possible
Again, just looking for any advice anyone might have that would help me out in making a decision! Thanks!

Any brand name external drive will work.

I am using a WD My Passport Studio external hard drive as a Time Machine. I get the error that a back up folder could not be created when my iMac has been asleep, any advice.

I am using a WD My Passport Studio external hard drive as a Time Machine. I get the error that a back up folder could not be created when my iMac has been asleep, any advice. The hard drive is set set not to go to sleep.

Were you not plugged in via USB to begin with?
I would recommend performing some resets just to be on the safe side. Unplug the external HD, and try these steps:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

I want to purchase a two terabyte external hard drive to utilise Time Machine on my new iMac....but which one? Western Digital, Time Capsule, Seagate? Any advice would be most welcome please.

I want to purchase a two terabyte external hard drive to utilise Time Machine on my new iMac....but which one? Western Digital, Time Capsule, Seagate? Any advice would be most welcome please. Thanks Phil

If you are looking for high quality drives and enclosures I'd recommend these 3:
http://g-technology.com/products/g-drive.cfm
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10330
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
I use the LaCie's, I've got three connected to my system and a 4th acting as my TM drive on my MacBook Air. Any of the above would be welcome on my desk though.

Need advice on purchasing an external hard drive for video editing

Hi,
I looking for advice on which external hard drive to get. The main purpose for the hard drive will be storing video files on for use with Final Cut Pro. I have the 12 inch powerbook G4 so I plan to use the FireWire (400) port to connect the drive. I'm interested in getting comment from others who use their external hard drives for video editing.
Thanks!

Firstly your decision to use FireWire is a good one, as not only will it free up the USB it performs much better on sustained transfers.
That said you're still limited by the FireWire interface, so opt for a drive with a big cache (16MB would be good) and fast spindle speed (7200rpm+).
Some of the newer enclosures are compatible with SATA drives. While these are easier to install and theoretically will perform better, I'm not sure that the performance would justify the extra cost.
Matt

Advice on best way to set up 500 GB external hard-drive - scratch & back-up

Hi all -
I would like to get some advice on how to best set up my new 500GB external hard drive. I do lots of video editing, so my primary use for it is as a scratch disc. However, i like to have a back-up clone for emergencies so in the past I have always had a partitioned external. One for back up, one for media. Now that Leopard has the time machine feature, i have read that some people like to use one volume on their external for TM and the other for a bootable clone (using Carbon Copy cloner). Doing this will take up a lot of space on my hard drive and I really need it for media storage. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to set this up? If I had a clone on one volume, could i then put Time Machine on my Media volume and call it a day?
Thanks so much for any feedback!
Karen

You've essentially said that you're concerned about not having enough disk space for everything you do. I suggest a 2nd drive, as there is no partitioning scheme that's going to create more space for you. I'd set up one drive with 2 partitions - a bootable partition and a partition for TM. I'd dedicate the second drive to media. I wouldn't put TM and media on the same partition; in time <grin>, Time Machine will fill the partition.
And by the way, imho you should turn TM off anytime you are capturing, rendering or exporting; you don't want it using system resources (CPU, RAM or I/O) while you're doing those tasks.

Need advice in setting up a portable external hard drive

Since I travel and am away from home for 4-6 months of the year, I would like to to set up an external drive which I can carry with me and will hopefully contain everything I could possibly need to back up and troubleshoot the iBook while away from home. Toward that end, I have purchased a registered copy of Super Duper, a 250 GB Western Digital notebook drive, and a firewire enclosure from OWC with the Oxford 911+. I have also read the X Lab's Backup and Recovery FAQs and a number of discussion threads. But I have never done anything like this before, and would welcome any advice I could get on specifically how to set up and partition the drive in the best possible way.
Because the internal drive is rapidly filling up with music and photos, I am thinking that the partition for the bootable clone should match the size of the internal drive, which is 120GB.
There are a lot of system discs which came with the iBook, which is the very first iBook G4 that came after the ibook G3. I upgraded the OS to Tiger from Panther, so I don't think I would need to worry about the original 3 Panther discs that contained the OS. But there is a separate disc for the AHT and 8 Software Restore discs as well as iLife 06. I know I can burn safety copies to carry around, but if there is a way to do it, I would like to have the safety copies on the external hard drive. At least if that would be OK with Apple's licensing agreement.
Also, my only diagnostic tools right now are the Apple Hardware Test and the Tech Tool Deluxe disc that came with Applecare. But in the future I might need to acquire others such as Tech Tool Pro, Disc Warrior, Data Rescue II, and possibly something else, so I would want to have my drive set up so that I would be able to boot from any of these.
Part of the drive will just be for extra storage space, in case the internal drive starts to get too full, and some media files will need to be archived to the external drive.
Any help, suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance!

Thanks to both of you for your responses!
It sounds like there may be a consensus on making one partition the size of the iBook's internal hard drive, but I am still not at all certain whether the rest of the drive should be one partition or more than one partition. I probably didn't make myself very clear when I posed the question because I'm not sure I know enough to ask an intelligent question. But I think I need to ask a lot of questions because there is so much that I don't know.
One thing I should mention--I have never in my life partitioned a drive so I really have no idea what's desirable, what's not, or really where to start. So perhaps I should try to describe my concerns a bit better.
Because of a highly unpredictable travel schedule, there is a real possibility of being stuck away from home for an extended period of time. For that reason, I want to be prepared for any possible computer disaster. So that means I want to be able to do on the road the exact same things I can do at home where I have all my system discs and diagnostic tools.
I don't really want to carry the originals around--I'd rather leave them at home locked up in my fire proof safe. I could burn copies to CD's and DVD's, but that would result in a pretty big pile of discs to carry around. Also, sometimes the CD's and DVD's just turn into little gold frisbees over time, and I would hate to need one and find out it had gone south and was unusable. So I had the idea of incorporating everything onto the external hard drive so that if it came to it, I could even do an erase and install.
This may be overkill, but I am very paranoid. I am a fair klutz when it comes to computers. I managed to corrupt my OS twice last year. The first time I was trying to reset my password on the iBook and got completely locked out. The second time I was trying to do an Archive and Install on the MBP and made a real hash of it. So I have a real fear of somehow corrupting the software on the iBook and possibly on the clone as well. So I would like to be prepared for the worst possible disaster.
I like the idea of a separate partition for the Tiger OS, the AHT and Tech Tool Deluxe and any others I may acquire. And the Tiger OS would just be what is on the Tiger retail DVD that I have. One question--the DVD just says Version 10.4. Should I update it to 10.4.11 or just leave it as is?
I'm also wondering about a partition for the software that originally came bundled with the iBook and iLife 06? If I ever had to do an erase and install, I would really want to have this. Hopefully I won't--now that there is actually data on the iBook other than the address book and bookmarks, I am beginning to realize why it's only something to do as a last resort. But I would feel better if I had the option far from home. But if it makes no sense to install these on the external drive, would it be possible to burn a DVD of them on the MBP instead of all those CD's?
Also, how do the partitions show up in Disk Utility? Do you give the partitions names? I really don't have a very good idea how all of this works. As I understand it, I have to partition using the Apple Partition Map and I have to get it right the first time, as you can't change the partitions later without having to erase everything.
Oh yes, I did order the power supply for the drive--thanks to reading about that in another post.
Really, I have been trying to research all this, but so often I don't really understand everything I read. I very much appreciate both of you taking the time to help me with this project.
Many thanks!

Advice on external hard drives

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