HT201250 which external hard drive should I choose/use as I am setting up Time Machine on my MacBook Pro 15 for the very first time?

Which external hard drive should I use/choose as I am setting up Time Machine on my MacBook Pro 15 for the very first time?

Any of these SATA HDDs that are at least the same size as your internal HDD (preferably larger capacity).  In addition you will need an enclosure, preferably one with a Firewire as well as a USB connection.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Ciao.

Similar Messages

  • Which external hard drive should I use to save my iTunes library?

    Hi,
    So I have collected so much music and movies in iTunes that my internal HD is practically full.  (Library is over 500GB of 1TB and the rest is taken up with my apps and programs.)  It's time to purchase an external hard drive to transfer my library to.  Furthermore, I currently have a 2TB WD My Book for Mac that I am currently using for backup.  The My Book is also full and Time Machine is deleting the oldest backups to make room for the current ones.
    Here is where I need everyones advice.  I am planning on purchasing a 3TB WD My Book for Mac.  I am planning on purchasing more movies for iTunes.  Which external hard drive should I use for what?  Option A or B
    Option A:  Put my iTunes library on the 2TB external hard drive and use the 3TB for backup
    Option B:  Put my iTunes library on the 3TB external hard drive and continue to use the 2TB for backup
    Also please give me your reasoning.
    Thanks everyone for your responses!

    Limnos,
    So, let's go one step further with this.  I read your reply to moving iTunes library to an external hard drive: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4594518?tstart=0  However, if I move the iTunes library, will this include all the movies and apps that I have purchased?
    Thanks!!!!

  • 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...

  • I have just synced my ipad for the very first time to my pc and it has cost me 4 GB of my hard drive. Hw is that?

    Hello People,
    I have been setting up my new I-pad 2 with my windows PC and I have noticed my hard drive disk space is down by something like 10GB, six GB the first sync and four the most recent. What is going on?

    Backups of your iPad are stored on your computer. That could explain the loss of disk space.

  • Which external hard drive should I buy for data back up?  Thanks

    emac g4   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  
    emac g4   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

    Hello Seventree and welcome to discussions,
    If I can assume that the title of your post is your entire question....
    Make sure its Firewire - That way, you can boot up the eMac in the, unlikely, event of an internal drive failure / problem. You cannot boot PPC Macs from a USB drive.
    Get the biggest you can afford. The external may well outlive the eMac! Many machines now " ship " with 500 Gig drives. That amount is only likely to increase.
    Maxtor is one brand that seems to be well regarded among many here. I am sure there will be other suggestions for you.
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    Ian

  • I'm installing Firefox for the very first time on my MAC which has the latest Lion OS X. After clicking on Download, nothing happened, then I tried again and same thing. Is there a bug with LION OS X?

    Has anyone had a problem downloading Firefox 7.0 for the first time on a MAC that runs using Lion OS X?

    Do you mean the install button stays on install, or do you notice a loading bar under your Launchpad icon?
    This may help...
    http://asia.cnet.com/having-problems-installing-os-x-mavericks-look-here-6222279 2.htm

  • Just got Prosoft drive genius 3 software, and it's telling me that the external hard drive that i am using for my time machine back up drive needs to be defragmented.  is it wise to do this or should i not??

    just got Prosoft drive genius 3 software, and it's telling me that the external hard drive that i am using for my time machine back up drive needs to be defragmented.  is it wise to do this or should i not??

    Let's hope a couple things: that you have bootable clones of your drives also; that the backup drive for TimeMachine has over 3x capacity of the data you plan and are storing. I would also switch TM backup drives so you have a 2nd.
    Fragmented free space affecting performance happens when the drive is too full which may mean there isn't enough free space for a full backup set.
    1.5TB for backing up 500GB, while WD Green 3TB is $140 and WD Black 1.5TB is, about the same price.
    I'd be worried about the integrity and directory, and whether you can afford to lose that drive. Defragging is also a very slow operation. the ideal: to just clone a drive, or start over with another drive and wait. cloning TM volumes has not been done or has it? SuperDuper hoped to but I don't think they or Bombich's CCC made it there.
    Trouble with highly fragged is when free space gets to 20% normally, 1/3 or so though for TM volumes, and finding where and a chunk of space for the file being written. Does TM use large spare image files of like 2GB?
    Best would be to ask in the TimeMachine section Snow Leopard
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.6_snow_leopard?view= discussions#/?tagSet=1009
    where there are some good FAQ and tutorials, and people that know the ins-and-outs and shortcomings.

  • HT1751 when i have moved all of my data to an external hard drive should i delete all of the library files on my laptop/PC

    i have moved all of my data to an external hard drive should i then delete the copies on my laptop

    What are you actually trying to accomplish? Backing up the library, or moving it?
    If backing up don't delete anything.
    If moving did you move the library files as well? Ideally you would copy the entire iTunes folder out to the external drive then shift-start iTunes to connect to the relocated library. This method makes it easier to move the library to a new drive or computer later and keeps everything together for backing up. Rather than delete everything rename the iTunes or iTunes Media folder first (depending on which approach you took) and make sure the library still works before deleting.
    tt2

  • What size external hard drive should I purchase

    What size external hard drive should I purchase?  I'm not tech savvy, so please speak slowly.  I'm looking at OWC Mini Stack Classic to match my  older Mac Mini.  Do I need 500 GB, 1 TB or more?      Plus, I have to add memory to upgrade to Snow Leopard.  How much memory do I need and should I have an expert install it ?
    Mac OSX version 10.5.8
    Mac mini 3.1
    Processor 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
    Memory  2GB 1067 MHz DDR3
    1 Processor
    2 Cores
    L2 Cache 3MB
    Memory 2GB
    BUS Speed 1.07 GHz
    Boot ROM Version MM3.1.0081.B06
    SMC version 1.35f0
    Hard Drive
    Format MAC OS Extended
    Capacity 297.77 GB
    Available 238.69 GB
    Used 59.08 GB on disk

    Good points raised by all.
    In my mini configs - both older and newer flatter model - I have kept their ministack external drive on top of the mini; with 3 or 4 little rubber feet added to the mini's base to give it a bit more elevation from the surface they are sitting on and a bit better chance to breathe. I'm not impressed by the very small air intakes on the bottom and the hot air that often comes out the back or how warm the case feels. Especially in the heat of summer.
    I do turn the ministacks on/off as needed (primarily for backups once a week) as they're not entirely quiet and sometimes seem to have a low hum vibration. Nothing crazy. I just like it as dead quiet as possible sometimes. Plus the fan does not turn off even if the mini and ministack drive have shut down.  The newer wide & slim model does seem a bit quieter than the older model.
    Check through system profiler to see if your system has 2x1GB or 1x2GB. Most likely it is 2x1GB and you'd need to remove both to double your ram. On the off chance it has a free slot; a single 2GB stick would get you to 4GB. Check on the cost difference between the 2x2GB kit and a 2x4GB kit.  I have an older core duo mini that functions fine with 2x2GB of RAM and 10.6.8. But, if you plan to continue to use the mini for several more years as a primary machine including upgrading the OS to Yosemite; it might not be a bad idea to just max it to 2x4 8GB. Yosemite really likes RAM to maximize performance.
    Along the lines of keeping the same mini and doing upgrades. The biggest speed improvements are made by replacing the original internal hard drive with a flash drive. Of course this is a more technical upgrade, you really need to take the mini apart more and you have to weigh the cost of the upgrades and possibly paying somebody to do them; vs the cost of a newer system which would have a significantly faster processor and other improvements.

  • What format i should use for my external hard drive that can be used interchangeably between mac and pc?

    What format i should use for my external hard drive that can be used interchangeably between mac and pc?

    Usually Fat32/MS-DOS as mentioned, but that has several limitatiuns, like 4GB filesize limit.
    One option is MacDrive for you PCs... allows them to Read/Write HFS+...
    http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/
    More options...
    NTFS-3G Stable Read/Write Driver...
    http://www.ntfs-3g.org/
    MacFUSE: Full Read-Write NTFS for Mac OS X, Among Others...
    http://www.osnews.com/story/16930

  • 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.

  • What external Hard drive should I use for Final Cut Pro?

    Hi:
    I have a Mac Pro and I'm planning to work with HD. What external hard drive should I use?
    PD: I have a NVIDIA on a PCI Express graphic slot.
    Thanks,
    Cabezon

    You'll need to be much more specific; there are 20 or 60 different kinds of high definition. Some require nothing, some require superfast RAID, some require specialized hardware support.
    bogiesan

  • When adding an external hard drive, should you hook it up to your iMac or your Apple Extreme router?

    When adding an external hard drive, should you connect it directly to your iMac or to your Apple Extreme router?

    That depends on what you are using it for. The advantage of connecting it to the router is that you can share the drive over your home network and/or over the Internet. That can be convenient but drive access is performed at network speed - slower than when connected directly to the computer. If you need/want to share the drive, connect it to the router, otherwise connect it directly to the computer.

  • Which external hard drive will work on Quicksilver?

    Which external hard drive will work on Quicksilver?

    Hi Janet, you want one with FW400, NOT Bus powered, & under 2.2TB in size, like these...
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB

  • HT201250 Do I need to partition my external hard drive if I'm using Time Machine and other storage?

    I never used Time Machine before.  I was storing select files on my external hard drive as well as using my libraries (IPhoto, ITune, IMovies) directly off of the external hard drive.  That hard drive is giving me problems, so I bought a new one.  I want to set up Time Machine on this one, but I also want to keep my active libraries on it.  Do I need to partition the external hard drive?

    You can partition the new drive, just don't make one of the partitons a TimeMachine drive, save a TM for a entire drive with more space than the boot drive as it saves "states" thus requires more room than most people expect.
    I highly advise one drive to one drive for backups, and not placing too many backup eggs in one vulnerable hardware basket basically.
    Drives are cheap, data is not. Hardware can fail just as often as software, so you need a multiple backup and storage stragedy to protect even against theft and fire.
    Most commonly used backup methods

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