What is the best external hard drive for mac book air?

Hey,
I'm trying to decide on a hard drive for my air, I don't need a great deal of extra storage, and I also don't wanna break the bank. Any suggestions?
Thank You!!

I'm using a Western Digital "My Passport" (500GB). I think I paid around $70 for it a couple of years ago. It's very small (about the size of a pack of cigarettes, but thinner). An aluminum housing that looks similar to Mac casing.
I'm just in the process of installing my new MacAir 11 and I have the drive plugged in. Seems to be working fine. Google it for pricing. They also make a 320GB drive that is slightly cheaper.

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What is the BEST External Hard Drive for Mac Books?

What do you recommend?
First Hand Experience?

Whatever external HDD you get make sure that it has an Oxford firewire chipset. I have never had one fail, while I have had three other makes fail. The firewire bridge is the most likely element to fail in an external HDD.
Get a drive that is at least 1 GB. Not only is it more cost effective, it is amazing how useful that extra space becomes over time.
Finally, I have found the OWC Mercury Elite Series to be good buys as well as great performers.
cornelius

What's the best external hard drive for mac?

I recieved the email from Apple saying that my 1tb hard drive may fail becuase it was bought between October 09 and July 11. Anyways, im now looking for an external hard drive to back up all my stuff too. I know i should of thought about getting one a long time ago. I was just wondering what would you guys recomend as a good ehd. I was looking at the Seagate Backup plus 1tb one, and the Western Digital My passport for mac 1tb. Anybody have any bad experiences with those?

It's really just personal preference. I usually just recommend if you've got a 1TB drive in your Mac get a 1TB external drive for time machine. If you want to have a secondary drive after that for storing movies or anything you don't necessarily want to have backed up (you can also setup exclusions in Time Machine) or to save space on your iMac drive that works as well.
If you really want to get good backups a lot of people recommend the 3, 2, 1 model..... 3 backups on 2 different types of media with 1 of those being offsite.
I've got 1TB in my iMac, then I've got a 1TB external drive for Time Machine. Then I have two external 1TB drives I back my system up to (using an app called SuperDuper) that I rotate at a family members house. I'll periodically do a backup, drop it over at their house then bring the other drive back and repeat once a month or so. I've got another drive that I occasionally copy things I don't need access to or care to be backed up.

What is the best external hard drive for mac airbook

I require a external hard drive, i mainly require it to download my itunes and photos.
Any advice??

In general I recommend staying away from Western Digital external drives because they use proprietary chipsets that don't always play nice with the Mac - plus their customer support doesn't (support the customer). I strongly recommend anything that OWC sells. Prices aren't the lowest but they are competitive, the company stands behind its products, and customer support is stellar.

What is the best external hard drive for Mac Pro for photography

Hi,
Can anyone recommend a relatively inexpensive portable external hard drive that can transfer large photos between my laptop and the external drive?
I'm thinking something that has Firewire, around 500gb or more and is lightweight.
An absolute must is Dependable. Something that doesn't* break or disconnect on me continually after 6 months.
Any help would be much appreciated!!!
Thank you guys and gals!
Mari

I ALWAYS build my own drive (takes 5 mins). More storage and less money.
Use FireWire not USB.
USB is packet oriented and data transfer is managed by the CPU, Firewire is a streaming protocol and data transfer is managed by the CPU only to initiate transfer, after that, Firewire handles the rest dropping CPU load to nearly 0%.
Put the drive below, in the enclosure at the bottom. Note how the enclosure has a cooling fan, and that the drive is mounted on vibration mounts. I know of no other hard drive enclosure with those features.
A hard drive has three enemies 1) Heat, 2) Vibration, 3) A Windows 7 installation.
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Intellipower-Desktop-WD20EADS/dp/B001RB1TI S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258862242&sr=8-1
http://www.cooldrives.com/ox93saiihadr.html

I have a 2007 macbook and I am wondering what is the best external hard drive for my Mac?

What is the best external hard drive for a 2007 Macbook?

The Apple USB superdrive would be a great choice for you, ( http://store.apple.com/ca/product/MD564ZM/A/apple-usb-superdrive?fnode=5f ) I am not certain but I am pretty sure that it has the same form factor as the MacMini (Not thickness but all the other dimenetions) so it fits just under and looks like an extension of your mac.

What is the best external hard drive for the MAC Book Pro with Retina?

What is the best external hard drive for the MAC Book Pro with Retina?
I was looking at WD MY PASSPORT FOR MAC and Toshiba. I want something that will work best with time capsule! Suggestions on the best external hard drive would be greatly appreciated!!!

A Time Machine backup drive should be substantially larger than the system drive. If you have a 128 or 256 GB SSD then a 1 TB drive will suffice. If you have a 512 GB SSD then a 2 TB drive will suffice. As leroydouglas indicated any brand other than WD will do.
For 1 TB drives PlotinusVeritas gives some great suggestions here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5602141?tstart=0
A 2 TB drive sold by Apple:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/H9378ZM/A/lacie-2tb-usb-30-porsche-design-p923 3-desktop-hard-drive
$130
A 2 TB drive just as good for only $92.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-3-0-USB-2-TB-Portable-Hard-Drive-M odel-HDTB220XK3CA-/231162655273

What is the best External Hard Drive for a Macbook Leopard 10.5.8? I need more memory for documents, pictures, videos, and music. Thanks!

What is the best External Hard Drive for a Macbook Leopard 10.5.8? I need more memory for documents, pictures, videos, and music. Thanks!

Hi, does your MacBook have Firewire, or just USB?
FW is far faster if you have that.
Avoid Bus powered ones.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
USB only...
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/usb/eliteclassic

What's the best external hard drive for iMac?

I'm very close to purchasing a 21" iMac. I've read about the 27" model problems, but nothing negative about the 21" model. Frankly, in the space I have, the 21" model will work just fine. I'll be replacing my MacBookPro laptop, which I will move to my work station at work, replacing my PC laptop (making totally Mac driven).
So anyway, I'm going to take the external hard drive I currently have at home and bring it to work also, leaving me with a need to purchase a new external hard drive for the new iMac. My question is: which external hard drive do you think is best to get. I'm getting at least 1T, and perhaps as much as 1.5T.
I've been reading about the Western Digital My Book for Mac, but there appears to be some new issues with the software and Snow Leopard. Anyone know anythign about this?
Also, some of the online descriptions indicate some hard drives need to be reformatted to work with Macs. Anyone know have any input on that? What about Seagate? Anyone have any experience with those?
Any input is greatly appreciated.

Most any drive will work with Macs, and Time Machine.
Most drives come formatted for Windoze, but most of them can be re-formatted on your Mac to work with it. See item #5 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
Also note item #1 there for size considerations; and items #3 and/or 4 for using with other data and/or other Macs.
If you think you ever might want to put a "bootable clone" on it, be sure it's a bootable drive. Most PPC Macs can boot only from FireWire; most Intels can boot from F/W or USB. But some Western Digitals won't boot a Mac. Their list of which ones should and +should not+ boot: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1787. But note the disclaimer that they don't support it +*at all.+*.
In addition, many of them have a built-in sleep mode that cannot be disabled, and sometimes interferes with Time Machine backups: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1376
Depending on what ports you have, FireWire 800 is by far the fastest; FireWire 400 next, and USB slowest (F/W 400 and USB 2.0 are rated about the same for short bursts, but F/W is faster for sustained transfers. Also, your Mac's CPU has to do more of the work with USB, so actual throughput is usually less).
Many folks think USB is less reliable than FireWire. If you do get USB, be sure to connect it to a port on your Mac, not a keyboard (that may be only USB 1.0). Try to avoid hubs, too.
If you're using USB, it's usually best to get a drive with it's own power supply, as taking power from your Mac can be a marginal proposition. Portable FireWire drives without separate power supplies don't seem to have this problem.
Take any advice for or against particular makes or models with a grain of salt: all makers (of just about anything) can have a "run" of bad components, or a relatively few early failures. Plus, by the time any really good trends are noted, the model has probably been revised or replaced anyway!

What is the best external hard drive for backup on powerbook g4 17-inch?

i need to get a good external hard drive for backing up my files on my 2004 powerbook g4 17-inch. up till now ive been using thumbdrives, but i have way too much to backup now. i was thinking of getting the time capsule, but i don't have leopard version with time machine.
what would be an advisable backup to get without buying a new mactop yet?
please include model # if possible.
thanks in advance for anyone's input!

What I've done is buy the case and drive separately. The case I use is similar to this one: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW91UAL1K/ (looks like they don't offer this case with Firewire 800 anymore), and the hard drive is a Western Digital 3.5" Parallel ATA 320GB which Newegg carries at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136109. The reason I like a combination like this is that the enclosure uses the Oxford 911 chipset, and Oxford chipsets have a good track record working with our macs. The Western Digital drive comes with a 3 year warranty (many pre-packaged hard drives only have a one year warranty). It is very easy to install the drive ... you plug in the power and data connectors to the hard drive, and screw the hard drive to the case.
Whatever external hard drive you get, recommend one with a Firewire connection. Our Powerbooks can boot from a Firewire connection, however, cannot boot from a USB-only connection. Also, be aware that for a USB-only connection, if the external hard drive relies on power from it there may be a problem. This is due to the Powerbook putting minimal power out on USB. There are many people who have found that they've had to either get a dual USB cable, a USB powered hub, or an external power supply for their USB-powered external hard drive. The case I mentioned above has it's own external power supply. Firewire-powered drives don't have this problem.

What's the best external hard drive for back-ups?

I have a Powerbook G4 and would like to buy an external hard drive for back-up purposes. It seems impossible to choose one because drives made by every company occasionally fail and only then do people write reviews on them. Every time I hear that LaCie, Maxtor and Seagate make the best hard drives, an equal amount of people say they suck and fail on a regular basis.
My question is:
Who makes a good, most consistently reliable hard drive that I can easily do back-ups with?

The problem with review sites is that your average Joe buys a drive, it dies, so he throws mud at the company without giving any thought to the fact that no factory can attain perfection. And of course this average joe wants the best possible price (in other words cheap as dirt) so the company's tech support is staffed by under payed workers in Bangalore.
Where I work part time we are selling a lot of Maxtor One Touch and Western Digital My Book drives and haven't had a single complaint. Its the kind of store where we get to know our customers (you know, the one where the prices aren't dirt cheap but the service is fantastic) so we'd hear about it if our customers weren't happy. I've had several Maxtor One Touch drives running 24/7 for about 2 years without any failures and I have no complaints about the WD drive either although I've had it for just a couple months.
I've also been very pleased with the items I've gotten from macsales.com. They also aren't dirt cheap (though good) and they have super support. No, make that stellar support.

What is the best 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.

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What is the best External Hard Drive for video edition?

Hi guys, I'm looking for a good firewire external hard drive for video edition.
I have 2 HD already but the bigest is a Seagate and is a trouble cause this one have an auto sleep system that is impossible to put out and when I'm printing to tape this one fall to sleep and the video that I'm transfering get a delay horrible!!
I'm looking for a 1 tb or 2 tb external HD.
Can you recomend me something??
thanks a lot!

Gufa wrote:
Thanks Jouu, great prices but I need to know if those discs doesnt have the autosleep function!
Thanks
That was why I mentioned the 24/7 live Chat support, they (should) know the products they sell.
8^)
Joe

What is the best external hard drive for iMac?

The two external hard drives I am looking at are the Seagate GoFlex 500 G for Mac and the Seagate 500G formatted for Windows, but can reformat for Mac.
The first one is formatted for Mac at the factory and has both USB and firewire connectors, is upgradeable plus it is ready to use with Time Machine. ($139). The second is very similar, but does not say anything about firewire and would have to be reformatted to work with Time Machine/iMac. ($59, Costco). I want the external hard drive mainly to back up my iMac program data and to store photos and other media. I have put off getting an external hard drive, but feel I need one to keep things backed up. One that would automatically back up would be great. Other suggestions than the above two would be fine, too. I know so little and am looking to this group for some knowledgeable feedback. Thank you.

Just setup a USB GoFlex with my Son-in-Law's new iMac and it seems like a fairly sturdy drive. However it is hard to tell at this point how reliable both the drive and enclosure hardware will be long term.
I use both FireWire and USB drives and while USB drives are slower, they will work just find for both Time Machine and bootable clone backups
Personally I suggest using 2 External HD's, one for Time Machine (if you like using Time Machine) and one or both for cloning with either CarbonCloner or SuperDuper.
In addition see > The no-worry backup plan | Business Center | Working Mac | Macworld
Other highly recommended External HD's here in the forum's are, OWC's and LaCie's

The best external hard drives for macs

Can anyone recommend a good external hard drive for a mac computer; preferably the IMac OS 10.5.6 desktop. Thanks!

Personal Experience with the One Touch Series:
Keep a VERY CLOSE EYE on that Maxtor One Touch!
I had two of the 1TB Firewire 800 models at one point. Hard drives failed on one of them within a month. Warranty replaced the unit but not the data. After a year, the tiny fans died and the drives overheated, resulting in total loss of both enclosures and all the data on them (within a week of each other).
Those things are not meant for continuous use. If you only use them for periodic backup purposes, and then shut them off, they may be fine.
Maxtor's setup software for the Mac was a PITA, too. The version included on the disc was worthless. Disk label indicated one version, actual version on the disc was an older, incompatible version. Maxtor sent a replacement disc. It was the same disc with the same problem. Finally located the correct installer on their website. That was a few years ago.
I'll never touch the touch series again as a result.
On the other hand, I've had a SmartDisk FireLite 60 GB (FireWire model) for my Powerbook for 5 years now with excellent performance. I have no problem recommending SmartDisk drives.
-mt

What is the best external hard drive for mac book air?

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