Compatible External DVD/CD Drives for use with MacBook Air

Hello all,
I'm after buying an external drive and was hoping we could put together a list of compatible drives as I've read on other forums that not all are compatible.
Please no links as they tend to expire but rather just list the make and model of the drives.
Thanks,
Jompet

Kappy wrote:
Apple sells an external USB optical drive specifically for use with the MBAs. That would be your best option. MBA SuperDrive.
Sorry, but that's not correct. I got the white version:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007595%2050001623 &IsNodeId=1&name=LG%20ELECTRONICS
Works perfect.

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Go to disk utility
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Unless you are using 64 bit version of MSWindows (64 bit XP/Vista), it won't be able to handle a disk with GUID partition table (GPT). Disks with Apple Partition Map (APM) or GUID partition table are the only ones that Time Machine will work with (not MBR disks). Note also that the MBR/APM/GPT are at the DISK level and not the partition level, so don't mix the format with partitioning scheme. Time Machine disks are meant to live in the Mac universe (for now, anyway) and sharing with the MSWindows 32-bit universe is not possible.
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using FAT32 as file system and MBR as partition table should work just fine with OSX and all Windows versions up to 7.
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Message was edited by: Fortuny

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Have a look here for the sizes and prices.
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Best hard drive for use with Time Machine

Hi,
Has anyone determined what the best external hard drive is for use with Time Machine? Is there a particular one that works exceptionally well with Time Machine, or is it much of a muchness?
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Hello and welcome to discussions,
These drives seem to be well regarded by many here...
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/
Should do what you want it to do and a wide choice of budgets to aim at!
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hey there Ryan, welcome to discussions!
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I recently purchase macbook air with OS 10.10.2. I want to use my Seagate external backup plus hard drive for time machine back up. How to partition my 1TB Seagate back up plus hard drive for use with mac and windows pc?

Hi All,
I recently purchased 13" Macbook Air with OS 10.10.2. I want to use my 1TB Seagate backup plus external hard drive as time machine and my windows 7 pc. Please suggest a method. Thanks in advance for your reply.

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OWC is a Mac specialist and a very trustworthy vendor. I have dealt with them and their technical stall on many occasions. Hence you may look at what they offer and be assured that they will stand behind what they sell:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Thunderbolt/
I suspect that for your needs, a 1 TB drive is going to be the minimum.
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Use Apple's Disk Utility in the Applications/Utilities folder to format the drive.
The programs on the drive given to you by the manufacturer is likely backup software (or malware) and essentially worthless, it will be wiped when you format the drive.
I do NOT advise you partition that drive for TimeMachine, rather I advise you not to use TimeMachine at all for your purposes because TM is just a backup, not a bootable drive.
Rather do this.
Get another hard drive that is equal to or slightly larger than your boot drive.
Format the drive in Disk Utiltiy > 1 Partition, option: GUID, Format: OS X Extended journaled, click Erase and move the slider one spot to the right and click Erase. This will take some time as it's going to map off any failing sectors it can BEFORE you lay data on the drive corrupting it.
Next, pay for and download Carbon Copy Cloner, use the default settings and simply clone internal drive to the external drive. this will also take some time the first time.
Next use Disk Utility to Repair Permisisons on both drive. Now reboot the machine and hold the option key down, you can select the external drive clone to boot from!!
You can update the clone the same way by using CCC, but it doesn't take as long, only copying changes.
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Use the first drive for storage and be very gentle with it while it running, like you should do for all hard drives as they are subjective to shock damage.
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Few questions related to Time Machine:
1- what external hard drive that would be good to use with Time Machine, that also runs relatively quietly? Since TM runs 24/7, am looking for one that is quieter than my current G-tech.
2- Please confirm what size is optimal relative to the size of the internal hard drive.
3- I currently use a separate external hard drive as my bootable disc. Is it possible/preferable to have these be on one and the same drive?
Thank you.

1. I like these (have three of them) - literally whisper quiet:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
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Compatible External DVD/CD Drives for use with MacBook Air

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