Two Macs-One External Hard Drive

I currently have an imacg5 and am thinking of getting another one so I don't have to move them between my two homes. (the wife doesn't like to use laptops). I also was thinking of getting an external HD and just bringing it.
Question: Will I have problems with duel-core unit and one without or should I partition it for each?
thanks
Stevena64

Welcome to the discussions!
Are you looking to use the drive just to transfer data between the two Macs, or are you looking to use the same drive to boot those two Macs?
If data transfer, then as long as you get a good quality drive with the Oxford 911 chipset and format/partition it on the Intel Mac, you can use the same drive for both without a problem. I have a 500B drive in an enclosure from OWC found HERE and have it partitioned for use with my G5 iMac and my BlackBook.
If you want to boot from the same drive on two machines, that is not possible as the OS is not a universal binary yet. There are separate PPC and Intel builds. If you want to partition it you can, but that kinda defeats the purpose of booting from the drive.

Similar Messages

Two Macs, one external boot drive (not at same time)

I'm in a weird situation where I travel b/t two cities during the week and am looking to have a computer in each. Have been doing the laptop thing, but it's too heavy to drag everyday and too slow for the video editing (I'm a filmmaker) I need to do now. So, I have a 1TB SSD and am looking to make it a boot drive (via USB 3 or Thunderbolt) for two different Macs. Right now I'm looking at two iMacs, but I might want to make one of them something else, possibly a new or older Mac Pro.
So, would I be able to run both Macs with one external drive? Also, would I have any issues if I go with two different kinds of Macs? Thought maybe there would be an advantage to having the same with connection issues of some sort.
Thanks for any help!

Let me ask: how are you getting your two OS's on the external drive?
For one thing, if I understand you correctly, you want one OS on the external and use it on both Macs? That, according to the licensing agreement, is not allowed (see excerpt below); you're allowed one backup copy officially. And, secondly, you cannot boot a Mac with an OS version earlier than what it came with, so it would depend on the build of your Macs (and the exact build version it came with). My initial thought was that you clone your internal hard drives to the two partitions on the external and run them separately.
For now, just a guess on your Q #1 - not sure, depends on where it originated (see above for not booting with an earlier version) and, I prefer cloning FROM the internal system TO the external (again, because of build versions/firmware).
Q #2: see above re. software licensing agreement.
Q #3: not sure at this point
As for the SLA - if the OS is preinstalled, the license is for that computer only:
Here is a link to the SLA:
http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/
And, FWIW: no, once you mark an answer, it cannot be undone - hopefully, that won't matter and someone else will pop in with a brilliant idea.....

Can I use one external hard drive for 3 of my Macs?

I have a 2007 white MacBook, a 2011 MacBook Pro, and a 2013 MacBook Air.
I want to be able to transfer all of my precious family photos off of my MacBook and Macbook Pro onto an external hard drive and then wipe those computers clean, and then I want to be able to backup and wipe clean my Macbook Air so that I can update it to Mavericks.
Can I use one external hard drive to do this for three of my Macs? Will it be compatible with all of them? And will I still be able to use the hard drive with my Air once it is updated to Mavericks?
Which hard drive do you recommend?

1. Yes. Note that anything you want to keep should be on at least two drives in case one of them fails.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.
(110959)

HT201250 I have two macbooks. Can I backup both machines using timemachine on one external hard drive?

I have two MacBooks, both operating on different OS - Leopard and Snow Leopard. Can they both be backed upusing time machine onto one external hard drive?

J D McIninch wrote:
Actually, it does both. However, if you use two machines with the same name, it can pose a problem. If you mount the Time Machine drive and open the backup db directory, you'll note that the subdirectories are arranged by system name. The information about the ethernet MAC ID is in hidden files.
Yes, as posted, to the user it's confusing (and accessing your backups via the Finder is not recommended).
Time Machine knows which is which, and will back up each Mac to the proper folder. When/if you want to use the "Star Wars" display to view or restore from either Mac's backups, it will show the backups for the Mac you're on.

Two computers to one external hard drive problem, pram reset...

I have a Powerbook 15" 1.0 Ghz and recently I made the mistake of connecting one external hard drive to two computers. My OWC External hard drive was connected to my powerbook via firewire 800 and my PC via firewire 400 with both on. There is a tiny little blurb on the external hard drive's instructions that says do not connect to more than one computer at a time but of course I didn't see that until after the fact. My powerbook was painfully slow so I restarted but it wouldn't come back on. I was instructed to reset the pram, which I succesfully did but now the powerbook is so slow it is unuseable. The pc works fine. Did I do any permanent damage? Do I need to reinstall OSX or what? I will kill myself if I fried something on my powerbook. Please help!!

Disconnect all devices from your PowerBook as well as power and the battery for about 30 seconds. Put the battery and power back in/on and then reset both PRAM (3 consecutive times) and the PMU. Hopefull this'll bring it back to life.
Otherwise, create a new user account and see if things are better there. It is possible that you have damaged software rather than hardware so a clean instal may do the trick.

Two very mobile laptops, one external hard drive, and iTunes?

I'm very sorry if this has been answered, but I've searched a lot and haven't quite found the precise question I'm asking...
My household has two iBooks (G3 and G4) wirelessly networked through an original Airport. Our music is completely digital, and we have no stereo. Each iBook has a different iTunes library. When we want to play the G3's music, we connect the G3 to a good set of speakers (pretending to be a stereo) through the mini jack. Same for the G4. This would be fine, except we're both running out of internal hard drive space.
So, what we want to do is buy one external hard drive, both store our music files on it, and play music. A new drive in the mid-range should tide us both over till we can afford new computers.
But this has raised a whole host of questions:
1. How do we share a hard drive when we both have laptops that move about the house all the time? Sometimes the G3 sits on the desk playing music while the G4 sits on the couch checking email, and vice versa.
2. Can we set up just one iTunes library on the hard drive that is fully accessible to whichever computer is connected to it, both in terms of playing and in terms of updating?
3. But wouldn't that be terrible, anyway, because I couldn't sit on the couch and download new music into my iTunes folder automatically?
4. And this leads to what I really, really, want, which is an external hard drive that is independently wirelessly accessible by both computers.
5. Which in turn leads to the true wishlist, which is to be able to use AirTunes too. Then I could sit anywhere, access a shared library on either computer, and then stream it to my stereo.
Is any of this possible? Am I missing the forest for the trees? Is there some big picture that I am just not seeing? I just want both computers to be mobile, to each have more space to store music, and each still be able to play that music without the other one having to be involved.
Thanks a bunch -- Discussions is one of my favorite places to lurk for hours.
- Kendra
(BTW, I'd upgrade my Airport if it helped, or buy an Express. And I've seen a lot on Sharepoints, but am not sure if that's what I'm looking for.)

Well to answer several questions at once, there are Ethernet (aka Network) Hard drives you can buy that hook up via ethernet. you could plug it in near your router and then plug the ethernet cable into one of the Router's ethernet ports and set up a network drive. It doesn't have to be connected directly to a computer. Here are two examples (shop around for price, size and features)...
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5031245?site=sr:SEARCH:MAINRSLTPG
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3945658?site=sr:SEARCH:MAINRSLTPG
Patrick

Protection of backups of two machines on one external hard drive

I have one external hard drive which I intended to use to back up two MacBooks owned by different family members. However, it seems that I can access all files on the other person´s backup on the external drive and vice versa, even if our data are protected with user accounts and passwords on our separate machines. Is there any solution to this problem?

You need to partition the drive and each of you should backup to your respective partitions from your computers. You should both be using different usernames and passwords.

Can i back up 2 macs on one external hard drive?

can i back up 2 macs on one external hard drive?

If the external drive is large enough, yes.
Recent versions of Time Machine will do this across a properly set up and Shared network connection or to a drive on a Server. But you may be unhappy with the amount of Wireless traffic generated to perform the backups, especially the initial full backup.
Utilities like Carbon Copy Cloner will do this ONLY when performing a file-by-file backup. A "Disk Image" backup reproduces the Source disk, including blank space, and fills the entire Destination drive with the Source Disk image.

How to use carbon copy cloner to back up two computer in one external hard drive

Hello,
I have only one external hard drive which is already used for backing up my old macbook. Recently, i bought a macbook air. Is it possible to use carbon copy cloner to backup my data from macbook air to same external hard drive? If yes, is there anything I should be caucious? If not, could you suggest any other software of other method to backup my macbook air? Thanks!!

Yes, provided you have the space. You will need to create another partition on the drive to use as the backup volume for the new computer.
To resize the drive do the following:
1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After the main menu appears select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the hard drive's main entry then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
2. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. A portion may appear as a blue rectangle representing the used space on a partition.
3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired new volume's size. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed. (Note: You can only make a partition smaller in order to create new free space.)
4. Click on the [+] button below the sizing window to add a new partition in the gray space you freed up. Give the new volume a name, if you wish, then click on the Apply button. Wait until the process has completed.
You should now have a new volume on the drive.
It would be wise to have a backup of your current system as resizing is not necessarily free of risk for data loss. Your drive must have sufficient contiguous free space for this process to work.

2 Different Partition Map Scheme's for one external hard drive

Is it possible to have one external hard drive with 2 different Partition Map Scheme's?
One of them will be used to externally boot tiger on a powerpc, and the other for use on my macbook pro?

And this drive is currently not partitioned I take it ?
You need to make a backup of the data on the drive then partition it, the first partition must be set under Disc Utility / Partition / Options as Mac GUI Bootable so it installs the drivers, then install Tiger onto the first partition and move your current data back onto the second one.
You will then be able to Boot Tiger on the older PowerBook by holding down 'option' at start up, if you just have it connected to the MacBook Pro and start up normally then it will appear as two volumes on your Desktop, the Tiger Boot Volume and your Data Volume.

Which one external hard drive is better for my G5's FW800 port?

Hi,
I use a late G5 under 10.4.11. Last two weeks I used two different Western Digital disks, My Book Studio & My Book Studio Edition II but both of them don't operate well with the FW 800. They conflict with my audio interfaces (FW 400 devices). Only at FW 800. At FW 400 and Usb 2.0 they operate fine.
Because of this I have to replace the WD disk and unfortunatelly I have two options from the store I bought it. And here is that I want your help please.
Which one external hard drive from these two is better for my G5's FW800 port?
Lacie Quadra 1TB External HDD by Neil Poulton or Verbatim Quad Interface External Hard Drive 1TB. Formatted HFS+ for Mac OS?
I'll very appreciate any answer. Spyros

Hi-
I think that looking at your other devices is needed.
Check out the Mackie troubleshooting guide for one:
http://www.mackie.com/support/documents/TechFAQno.1.pdf
Page 8 has specific suggestions regarding firewire and chipsets.
The same for the Presonus:
The firewire ports on a Mac (FW400 and FW800) run off the main logic board and share system resources. PreSonus interfaces are designed to be run in series with other firewire peripherals. If you are experiencing erratic performance or pops, clicks, and dropouts, daisy-chain your FW400 peripheral from the secondary firewire port on your PreSonus interface. If you must use a FW800 device, it is recommended to purchase a firewire expansion card for your Mac.
http://support.presonus.com/entries/119100-optimizing-your-computer-for-audio-ma c-osx
It appears to me that both devices require enough resources that the firewire controller of the G5 may be unable to properly support both FW400 and FW800 transfer rates.
It appears that the bandwidth requirements of the devices are forcing the machine to drop FW800 in lieu of supporting FW400.
Both makers suggest use of third party PCI cards for Firewire 800, and it may be that you need additional power to the firewire card to keep up with the I/O and bandwidth demands being placed on the machines by you audio devices.
You mention that someone told you to not use the Oxford chipset, but the best external drives are all those that have the Oxford chipset.
It is important to note that not all WD MyBook drives have the same chipset, and few of the WD drives have the Oxford chipset.
Asrock and VIA are other chipsets for the WD drives.
VIA is notoriously poor as far as Mac compatibility goes.

I get error 8062 when trying to copy files from one external hard drive to another. It starts out copying files, but after 10 minutes or so it stops and I get the error 8062. The hard drive tech support says the problem is in my Macbook Air.

I cannot copy my doc and photos and videos from one external hard drive to a second external hard drive -- both plugged in to my MacBook Air -- I get Error 8062 and the copying (which seemed to be going on for 10 minutes) stops and nothing gets copied.
As any Macbook Air owner knows, there is SO LITTLE storage capacity on the computer that you have to back up big files onto an external hard drive to avoid getting the other annoying error that says you have no more memory/storage capacity/whatever the proper term is, and you cannot use the computer.
Backstory: Before this error cropped up, I had backed up lots of files to an external drive and then removed them from my computer. But then the external hard drive got corrupted and I could not access my entire photo library. Had to pay $850 to Kroll Ontrack to recover those files. I have now bought 2 new external 1 Terrabyte hard drives as protection against another such disaster. BUT I cannot copy the files from the first hard drive where all my reovered files now sit, to another backup hard drive.
Feeling vulnerable. Please help.
SusaninNY

From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Energy Saver ▹ Power Adapter
and uncheck the box labeled Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible, if it's checked.
If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
Start up in Safe Mode and test.
If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, and if another drive does work with the same Mac, then the drive has failed. You may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

Can't get LR3 to import photos from one external hard drive to another?

I'm wanting to move thousands of raw photos from a folder in one external hard drive to another folder in a different external hard drive so all my photos are in one photo folder instead of two. I've gone through the importing routine inside of lightroom to move the folder over to the new hard drive. However, the photos don't move because they still show up on the old hard drive and not the new one. What's weird is when I try to import it again, the grid view shows all the photos I'm wanting to import and when I move my cursor over any of the photos they are faded out and it says the photos are already imported. However, if this is true why aren't they showing up in the new folder on my new external hard drive? I know the new external hard drive works fine because I've successfully been putting all my newer photos there since I started using LR about one year ago. The one's I'm trying to move over are older photos I shot try to using LR.
I'm stumped and need some help. Thanks in advance.

You wrote
"Are you saying while I'm in LR just grab the folder I want to move and drop it into the new hard drive"
Yes, that's the way to move photos & folders from within LR.
LR will then update its catalog with the new location and everything should be fine.
Importing is not a good way for moving photos / folders. Since the photos are already in the catalog you had to uncheck <Don't import suspected duplicates> or all the photos will be greyed-out in the import dialog. If you did that LR would import the photos from drive A and put it on drive B. But they would still be on drive A, so you'd have the photos on both drives and would have to delete them on drive A.
But more important: By default LR saves all edits in the catalog, they are not saved with the images themselves. That means by doing an import instead of a drag-and-drop move you'd lose your edits.
You can save your edits to xmp, a side-car file that is stored together with the image file, and the xmps would be imported. But LR does not store everything as xmp. For instance Virtual Copies, Collections, Stacking are saved only in the catalog, so by doing an import you'd lose these things.
Unless you know LR very well, it's best to use the Import Feature only for images that are NOT yet in LR.
And another thing: Before doing major operations like moving big amounts of photos, it's best to backup your catalog first.
WW

Can I download music and pictures from 2 different MacBooks onto one external hard drive?

I have looked around for the community, but have not found an answer here. Both my wife and I have 2 seperate MacBooks, but we wanted to put all of my pictures and music and all of her music and pictures onto one external hard drive. I read on another board that we can, but only if we purchase a Mini. Is it possible to do that without having to purchase a Mini? Or is purchasing a Mini the only way to be able to do that? Thanks in advance for any replies!

There is no reason that you cannot use a common external HDD for your communal data. Naturally you would have to disconnect it from one MBP and then connect it to the other when you wish to access the data or perform a download.
Any compatible external HDD will do, but make certain that you format it in Disk Utility to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Ciao.

I transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another and added more music on the same day. How do I get rid of my duplicate files without going through them one by one which would take forever?

Please help. I have transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another plus added additional music now I have duplicates of the same music in many albums. How do I delete the duplicates without going through them one by one which would take forever? I understand how to get the "show exact duplicate" feature up on iTunes but, because they were added to the library on the exact day I can't seperate them I'm that manner. So each duplicate is right next to eachother in the exact duplicate screen.

My DeDuper script is designed to help clean up. See this thread for background.
tt2

Two Macs-One External Hard Drive

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