External hard drive. Time to buy?

I've been looking for an inexpensive external hard drive, since the stock 60gb does not hold alot these days. I was looking on the best buy site and saw this Kaser External hard drive.
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10074958&catid=2023 8&logon=&langid=EN#
Just wondering if anyone has any comments about this or if they have used this model before. Also wondering if anyone knows if you can boot off of this.
Thanks

I would check out something like bhphotovideo.com if I were you. That HD does not look that great since you can only use USB. I have a western digital my book pro which has two fire wire and one usb. you could get a 250g for about 145.
just my 2 cents.

Similar Messages

Going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drive should I buy to back up computer using "time machine". Have 320 gb hard drive.

I am going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drives should I buy in order to use time machine. I have a 320 GB hard drive. Don't have too much on computer.

patmc102 wrote:
I am going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drives should I buy in order to use time machine. I have a 320 GB hard drive. Don't have too much on computer.
Buy an external drive 320G or larger (much larger is preferable). I do not recommend you use TM for this, instead download a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner and make a clone of your drive. Once this is done you have 2 choices, you can download and install Lion on your internal drive just as you planned or download and install Lion to the external clone, the 2nd method allows you to test the Lion install before committing to it. If the clone with Lion is to your liking then just clone it back to the internal.

Restore iPhotoLibrary specifically from EXTERNAL Hard drive Time Machine back up?

My laptop Photo Library is corrupted somehow. I tried to restore from a prior in Time Machine on laptop and made the mistake of not saying to keep BOTH copies, but after trying for 3 hours of telling me it was doing it through various windows, a little one popped open saying something about permissions and it opened an old iPhotoLibrary from 2 years ago! ... I do have that one now and am copying it off my laptop as fast as I can to FLICKR
cuz APPLE has become a PHOTO sinkhole... (We are talking 20,000 pics folks with scanned in family pics from 100 yrs ago!)
I think I have a good copy on my External Hard Drive Time Machine back up from about 3 weeks ago. How do I use that to Restore from
or should I just wait for this PHOTOS thing to come out?
NEXT Question is there a convenient way to split it into MULTIPLE ones..eg KEEP old stable photos in one or more.
and use another for all the new ones not editted or sorted yet? I do see there is a new Option under iPHOTO/File menu to just switch
libraries but, of course, you cant even see that if your Library wont open!

For TM help post in the forum for your OS - and see https://www.apple.com/support/timemachine/ and http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html and http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Depends on undisclosed information
With the current OS and iPhoto you switch library using the switch library command - with any version you can switch libraries by holding the option key down while you launch iPhoto which brings up the select library window
And generally it is not a smart idea to have multiple iPhoto libraries - it generally has no advantages and makes things much more difficult and complicated and often leads to user errors that cause major problems
If you want to anyway the most convent way to split libraries is to use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ -
LN

I have stored everything on my Macbook pro in a external hard drive (Time Machine) Now that we have "wiped the machine" I am told I can start it over and load ontent--apps, docs, etc from the hard drive, just plug it in, find the time machine and what?

I have stored everything on my Macbook pro in a external hard drive (Time Machine) Now that we have "wiped the machine" I am told I can start it over and load ontent--apps, docs, etc from the hard drive, just plug it in, find the time machine and what? I need to know what to highligh, what to click on.

hirogliffix,
take a look at this Apple page — in particular, the “Restoring data from Time Machine backups” section and its “Restoring your entire system from a backup” subsection.

External Hard drive/Time Machine backup error message

On a sidenote, I posted a question a week ago about what external hard drive would be compatible with my Macbook, and I so happened to get a WD My Passport Studio hard drive as an unsuspecting gift, so I didn't have to buy one.
Anyways, I started the backup on this hard drive and I had an error message: "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume." I searched this on the Apple Support Communities and found that I wasn't the only one who had this problem. So, I came upon one discussion that suggested downloading Time Machine Buddy (link:http://pondini.org/TM/A1.html) (link that prompted me to download: http://pondini.org/TM/C3.html). I downloaded it and found out that the error was occurring in my Library folder, specifically in the folder entitled "db" in the "Receipts" folder. There's one file in the "db" folder entitled "a.receiptdb" <----can someone please explain what the heck this is??? Lol. Anyways, I decided to exclude the whole "Receipts" folder from being backed up and now my external hard drive is backing up my files fine. My MAIN question is this: What is wrong with my receipts folder that is causing the error?
P.S. here are the error messages in the Time Machine Buddy log:
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:NO Copying /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb to /Volumes/My Passport Studio/Backups.backupdb/Josh Brew’s MacBook/2012-01-29-162450.inProgress/D9F83053-7FE1-4EBE-991A-F400C35D37CC/Macin tosh HD/Library/Receipts/db
Stopping backup.
Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb to /Volumes/My Passport Studio/Backups.backupdb/Josh Brew’s MacBook/2012-01-29-162450.inProgress/D9F83053-7FE1-4EBE-991A-F400C35D37CC/Macin tosh HD/Library/Receipts/db
Copied 246 files (277.4 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
As you can see, iy is located in the "db" folder. I have no idea what's wrong. Thank you for your time! It is MUCH appreciated.

The connection to 10.6.7 may just be a coincidence. I had a similar problem with a disk and was about to throw it out but decided to try a different USB cable. That fixed the problem and the drive is still in use.
Try a new cable if you have not already done so.
Dave

Wireless Router with USB + External Hard Drive = Time Capsule?

So I bought a TP-Link WR710N wireless router http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/?model=TL-WR710N which seems to support external storage in its USB port. I tried with various storage media and it kinda works. The bad thing is that it only sees NTFS drives. I tried an external hard drive formated for Windows and a USB stick, also formated for Windows and it discovered them. But when I tried my external hard drive which is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), which I was using for Time Machine, it couldn't see it. Neither the TP-Link software, nor the Time Machine software.
Is there any way I could use this router with this hard drive for wireless backing up with Time Machine NOT buying extra equipment (NAS, AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule) ?
Thanks.

m3adi3c wrote:
Is there any way I could use this router with this hard drive for wireless backing up with Time Machine NOT buying extra equipment (NAS, AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule) ?
Thanks.
No
Take it back and get a Time Capsule or keep it and buy a regular external drive and connect it to the Mac directly.

External Hard Drive/Time Machine 101

I was using a 500 GB external hard drive with my MacBook Pro. I cloned my hard drive to the external hard drive, then used the remaining space to store videos, images, etc. When my aging MacBook Pro finally crashed, I was able to boot up the cloned drive and work with it.
I now have a new MacBook Pro with a bigger hard drive (750 GB, I think). I also bought a 2 terabyte external hard drive (My Book for Mac), planning on doing the same thing - cloning my hard drive, then using the remaining free space to store extra stuff.
However, I discovered that my new external hard drive is much more sophisticated than the last one. It gives me the option of using Time Machine or automatically copying all my files to the external drive. So I'd like to go back to square one, find out what my options are and figure out the best strategy.
First, if I use Time Machine to back up my files, will they effectively create a clone that I can boot up? (I've never used Time Machine before.) If so, then I'm thinking I might not partition my new hard drive. Instead, I would just let Time Machine back up my files. If it creates a 1,200 GB clone, then I could copy videos and images to the remaining 800 GB of hard drive space.
If Time Machine doesn't create a bootable clone, then I'll probably just do what I've been doing - use a program like Carbon Copy Cloner to clone my hard drive, then use the remaining space to store graphics. However, I wonder if I could still get by without partitioning my new hard drive. With two terabytes, it seems like it might be more efficient to just leave it unpartitioned and copy things into it as needed.
Any tips?
Thanks.

Time Machine does not create bootable clones. It does not even create a bootable backup. If that's what you prefer then do not use Time Machine.
If you use Time Machine then you must allocate at least twice as much space for the backups than the capacity of the drive you are backing up. A 2 TB backup drive would be suitable for a 1 TB main drive or smaller.
If you plan to create a bootable backup, then partition the backup drive with one partition the size required for the clone. Then use the other partition for you additional storage neeeds.

External hard drive time machine backups not mounting

I have used Seagate 500.11 external hard drive as a backup location for the time machine for over two years. I just got a message that it had not updated in over thirty days. It is not listed on FInder, but it is listed on the disc utility. The Time machine backups are grayed out on the disc utility screen and cannot be mounted, even after the repair and verification tests said that their volumes were ok. What should I do?

Time Machine does not create bootable clones. It does not even create a bootable backup. If that's what you prefer then do not use Time Machine.
If you use Time Machine then you must allocate at least twice as much space for the backups than the capacity of the drive you are backing up. A 2 TB backup drive would be suitable for a 1 TB main drive or smaller.
If you plan to create a bootable backup, then partition the backup drive with one partition the size required for the clone. Then use the other partition for you additional storage neeeds.

What brand portable external hard drive should I buy?

Can anyone suggest what brand of portable external hard drive would be a good one to buy for storing my iTunes music and maybe photos on. My Macbook is now getting stuffed full of music and as I have an 80gig iPod I will need to move my iTunes on to a larger drive to make the most use of it and I probably need at least 100gig. I can get hold of the Lacie Porshe design ones from a local apple retailer, or order something else from the Apple store...Crossfire maybe? I want it to be really plug and go, be ready formatted for Mac, and be bus powered and fully portable.
I would be grateful for any advice.

I like my Acomdata too. It's 320GB and in this aluminum case...I call it "the ingot" because it's big and heavy and metal. However, it's not a treat to take places because it's so big and heavy. I'm thinking about getting an OWC Firewire drive based on a 2.5" drive because of the need for an external drive that's highly portable.
However, don't go the USB2 route unless you have Firewire on the external drive too. USB2 requires a lot of intervention from the CPU that Firewire doesn't. You will NOT be able to vidcap to a USB2 drive. However, no probs vidcapping to a Firewire drive. I don't know why Apple is moving away from Firewire...it's a superior system. If they moved to eSATA I would understand, but that's not where they are going. It's probably a cost thing, darn it.
Message was edited by: S. Michelle Klein-Hass

How big an external hard drive should I buy?

I am being told (by my computer) that I need to backup all my files - that there is a problem with the computer's internal hard disk. I thinkn I should run out and buy an external hard drive (What? you don't ALREADY have one? I think I head you all saying ...)
If the internal hard drive is 999 GB, I heard (?) that I should have at least 3 TB for the external hard drive.
Havign an external hard drive would be a great idea anyway, not just for backing up files but to allow the drive in the computer to run more smoothly.
I am making "statements" here - but they are really "questions." Am I making sense? Can anyone confirm the truth of what I am saying here?

Just to get a backup of your system any disk larger than your present usage would work, however you may as well look to later requirements. 3TB should be good enough for a while unless you have lots of HD video.
As to making your system run more smoothly, that depends on what you will use the drive for, generally speaking I would not use a backup drive to store data that is "in use" and the backup, if the drive fails you lose both data and backup. Have a seperate drive for backups and if you want to off load "in use" data to an external drive buy a drive for that purpose and do not forget to also backup that drive.

Which External Hard Drive Should I buy?

What brand of external hard drives for the macbook do you guys recommend? Where should I buy it from?
I will be using it to boot from, so I want something fast. As for size, 250+ GB is plenty. I am more interested in how fast I can run OS X on it.
Thanks,
KANE

Depending on what interface you want, you have a variety of choices from Other World Computing. I bought one of the basic OWC Neptune FW400 drives mainly for backup, but it is also bootable on my older machine. The newer Intel machines can boot via USB 2, so that might be a good faster option for your MacBook, but they have some OWC Mercury drives that offer multiple interface options, so you have the flexibility of FW400/800 USB2/1.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEU7500G16/
http://eshop.macsales.com/
Get two of them, so you can make a regularly scheduled backup, using DejaVu, Retrospect, or CarbonCopyCloner, etc...

External Hard Drive/Time Machine Questions

The hard drive on my four-year-old-plus MacBook Pro is apparently failing, and I can't afford a new MacBook Pro yet. So I bought an external hard drive, hoping to clone my hard drive and run my computer off the external hard drive if the main drive crashes.
At the moment I can't afford an Apple external hard drive, so I bought a non-Apple model. So I was surprised when it asked if I wanted to use Time Machine to back up my data while I was setting it up. I chose yes, though I'm not even sure if I've set it up correctly.
OK, let me start from square one...
My external hard drive has 1 TB of storage space, and I initially formatted it in one big block - no partitions. If I want to boot off a cloned hard drive, will I have to partition it, so I'm booting off a particular partition?
If I do have to partition it, I understand I can use Apple's Disc Utilities to do the job. Can anyone tell me if there are any special steps or conventions I need to follow? I'd probably create a partition of about 200 GB for my cloned hard drive. (I'm currently using about 120GB on my internal hard drive.)
In fact, I might make two separate 200-GB partitions, cloning my hard drive to one partition, then cloning it to the second partition a few weeks later, just for security.
My first Time Machine backup is scheduled to begin in just half an hour or so. Will it merely copy all my files to the external hard drive, or will it create an operable clone? Approximately how long do you think this initial backup will take, using firewire?
Also, once I get my hard drive cloned, I'm thinking of booting up with the clone and upgrading to Snow Leopard. If everything works fine, then I'll upgrade my main (internal) hard drive to Snow Leopard as well.
Sorry for all the questions. I think I understand the basics; there are just a surprising number of details to figure out.
When I can afford it, I hope to upgrade to a new MacBook Pro 13" or 15" and an iPad, which I'd like to take to work with me.
Thanks for any tips.

David Blomstrom wrote:
If I want to boot off a cloned hard drive, will I have to partition it, so I'm booting off a particular partition?
yes.
you would need to partition it and use one partition for cloning and the other for TM backups.
i don't recommend such a setup, however. it's like putting all eggs in one basket - if (not when) the external fails, you'd have lost both backups @ the same time !
If I do have to partition it, I understand I can use Apple's Disc Utilities to do the job. Can anyone tell me if there are any special steps or conventions I need to follow?
yes.
you can use the instructions in [this|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html] user tip.
I'd probably create a partition of about 200 GB for my cloned hard drive. (I'm currently using about 120GB on my internal hard drive.)
the partition for the clone needs to be just a big as your startup disk (e.g. 120 GB). the partition for TM backups, otoh, would ideally be 2-3 times the size of your startup disk.
more information [here_|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/1.html].
Will it merely copy all my files to the external hard drive
it will back up everything on your startup disk unless you specifically exclude files from backups.
or will it create an operable clone?
no.
use software such as _*Carbon Copy Cloner*_ to clone your system.
Approximately how long do you think this initial backup will take, using firewire?
the initial backup could take overnight - depending on how much data is to be backed up.
Also, once I get my hard drive cloned, I'm thinking of booting up with the clone and upgrading to Snow Leopard. If everything works fine, then I'll upgrade my main (internal) hard drive to Snow Leopard as well.
yes, that will work just fine. in fact, some users recommend this technique even if the internal drive is not about to fail - better muck up a clone than the regular startup disk.
JGG

External hard drive + time capsule

I recently purchased an iMac and connected a LaCie ext. hard drive. Time Machine kicked in and started using this as a backup location. Since then I purchased Time Capsule for backups. The Lacie hard drive is still sitting on my desktop labelled Time Machine Backups. Can I just delete the old backup files and use it as an extra hard drive for digital photos etc.? I'm just a little confused as a long time pc user. I had expected that the extra hard drive would show up as "external hard drive" or "Lacie hard drive"

you can remove that external hard drive, if you have it currently connected to TC then use Airport Utility to go to disk/shared and disconnect it then remove the power then remove usb cable. If you want then connect to your Mac and partition it then add your software . You can connect it to the TC power on first then usb to TC then to device. Open your boot hard drive and on left side will be Tc. Select it and you'll see your external hard drive.

I am trying to move my old external hard drive (time machine ) to a new one

I have tried to move my old external drive time machine to a new external drive:
1. have formated the new time external hard drive
2. I have unlocked and ignored the drives ownership
3. I have turn of the new hard drive and them tried dragging the file (backups.backupdp) to my new external hard drive
when I do that a message come up that says "this volume has that wrong case sensitivity for a backup"
What does this mean and how do I fix it?
Thanks
Denise

Although the documentation says you can copy Time Machine backups in the Finder, it's very slow and sometimes doesn't work at all.
Launch Disk Utility, open the built-in help, and search for the term "Duplicate." Follow the instructions. All existing data on the destination volume will be erased. That shouldn't be a problem, because you don't want to mix backup and non-backup data on the same drive anyway. Turn Time Machine OFF in its preference pane while copying the volume.

How to migrate only some photos from external hard drive/Time Machine to new Mac?

I just bought a new MacBook Air, after my old Macbook died. Luckily I had everything from the old computer backed up on an external hard drive through time machine. However, when I tried to migrate everything to my new computer, I found I do not have enough room for all of the files. I would like to import just some of the photos/albums from my old Iphoto Library but it looks like I can only migrate the entire library, or else nothing at all? Since I don't have enough space on the new computer, it's not allowing me to import any photos. Is there a way around this?

With iPhoto it's all or nothing. Therefore get a second EHD to restore the library to. Then you can duplicate the library, open the duplicated and delete all of the photos you don't want in it. When that library is small enough to fit on your MBA copy it to the Pictures folder.
Then you can use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager to copy new events from your MBA library to the library on the 2nd EHD to keep it up to date with all of your photo. There are portable EHDs that are not much bigger than a mouse (the computer kind ) that would work fine for this.

Huge iPhoto Library - 2 External Hard Drive + Time Machine

I have a massive iPhoto library on my macbook pro and am adding about 10GB in photos per year. I currently have an external hard drive used as a backup only for Time Machine.
Is it best to purchase an additional hard drive and run iPhoto directly from the external drive? Would this enable me to delete the iPhoto library from my macbook and then do a daily time machine backup for the macbook and for the external drive? Is this possible, or is their a better way to go about this?
Thanks,

I bought a new MacBook Pro in late august this year, and since then I`ve had some serious problems backing up my iPhoto library. I have searched severals forums in both english and norwegian, with no luck. But today, I found this... http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4116
Thank you so much, Pondini. You made my day
Kind regards, Erlend.

External hard drive. Time to buy?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for