Any external hard drive?

Hi there
Just a quick question, can I use any external hard drive with my macbook pro to back up? And for it to work on time machine
Im looking to get about 1TB
Thanks

Any external USB drive will work with your MBP. I use WD 1TB disks on mine. The main question is whether to rely soley on USB to power the drive or to get drives that use an external power supply for critical backups. I play safe and use the latter though I do have a small form factor drive that uses USB power for portability.
I use both TM and SuperDuper for my backups.

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I have updated my software on my Mac to OS X v 10.9.5 and now my mac doesnt read any external hard drives? please help

HI, I updated my software of my Mac Pro to OS X v 10.9.5, after I installed it, my MAC doesn't read any external hard drives. Not sure what to do now. Please help? Is there a way of updated drivers

I have no idea where to change that
Finder/Preferences/Sidebar and General for the Desktop.
Do they show in Disk Utility?

Can I use any external hard drive to back up my Mac?

Hello,
I'm new to mac's but have seen Time Capsule. I'm a little confused...
Can I go to any shop and buy an external hard drive of say 500GB and then plug it in via USB and back my mac up with the Time Machine?
It doesn't have to be a 1TB Apple own product Time Capsule? Or, does it...?
Thank you,
David

wild-weasel wrote:
And time-maschine really doesn't care, what else is on that drive, (It is not a jealous maschine) aslong as you have enough space left.
That's true, as far as it goes, but it's much, much better to partition the external HD, so Time Machine has it's own, exlusive space. See #3 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
And just for clarity, Time Machine is the software built in to OSX that performs backups; a Time Capsule is a bit of Apple hardware that combines a wireless router and hard drive. Sometimes folks can get confused if you use the wrong term.

My G5 will no longer mount any external hard drive

I am running a G5 Power PC on OS10.4 and am recently unable to mount any of my 4 external hard drives via firewire 400, 800, usb on either front or rear buses. I have tried multiple cables, power supplies, and have run disk utility but still cannot see any of my external drives. I have disconnected everything and shut down my computer for 15 minutes, restarted with one drive at a time, and still nothing. Any other ideas before I lug my desktop in for repair?

I have disconnected everything and shut down my computer for 15 minutes....
Don't just shut it down, shut it down and disconnect it from wall power for 10-15 minutes.

Older G5 Mac Pro Is Unable To Transfer Files To Any External Hard Drives?

I have an older G5 (2003) & have several hardrives (1 extra interal) & 3 external hard drives connected to it.
Recently I have not been able to transfer any files to any of the hard drives even though there is lots of memory space available.
I receive a notice that there is not enough room (0 ) on the hard drives.
I even tried to move a couple of pics to a small thumb hard drive that was empty & I get the same message.
Any one else ever have this situation?
Any ideas how to correct it?
Thanks,
Sal

Hello & thank you "Hatter" for the response & info about the correct forum & thank you BD Aqua for the welcome & advice as well :-)
I apologize for the very late response as I have been traveling for work & didn't have a chance to focus on this computer & issue until recently.
It appears my main computer hard drive was the issue & I repaired it & started fresh with a new install of the operating system.
It appears to be working fine reading the external hard drives now.
Thanks again for the quick response & advice... it is appreciated & nice to have my Mac media network back in my life :-)
Sal

Can I use any external hard drive with Time Machine?

I have a 1TB external hard drive and also a 16GB flash drive. Is it possible to use either of these with Time Machine?

IMO Time Machine should be on its own Dedicated External Drive... one that is twice the size of the drive that it is backing up... the 16 GB Flash Drive is not appropiate for the task.
See Here
TM 101
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
You may also find this Link of Interest...
Time Machine vs. Clones and Archives

10.5.8 won't detect any external hard drives

I want to update my 10.5.8 Macbook Pro which I bought in 2008. It runs incredibly slow, and I want to reformat it before updating with Snow Leopard. The problem is that my computer won't detect any external disc drives, so I can't back up my important files. Is there any way to fix this, or is there something I'm missing?
I'm also wondering if I'll be able to reformat without my original OSX install disc that came with my computer, and if so, how? Thanks in advance.

If you are going to be upgrading to OS X Snow Leopard, the installer for that should be able to format your drive for you before you do the installation. I'm assuming that you have those CD's for your computer as you need discs to be able to ugrade to Snow Leopard. What happens when you plug in an external drive? Does it just not recognize the drive, or do you just not have it selected to show the drive on your desktop? With Finder being the top window, click on the Finder Menu and select preferences > select general in the tabs at the top and then make sure that External discs is checked.

Why won't my ibook (g3 800mhz, 640mb ram, OS X 10.4.11) recognize any external hard drives?

My ibook will power it but it will not recognize my hard drive in any way.

Hi Ronda,
I got my External to work shortly after posting my original post. I figured I would post my solution in case anyone else is facing the same thing.
I could not find any trace of the hard drive on my mac but i figured out the problem was lack of power. I upgraded my external's enclosure from one that used one plug (data and power on one usb port) to one that used two plugs on one cable (data on one plug, power on another) and it properly powered my drive and I was then able to find it in Disk Utility and format it to work. It is formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled). It has functioned properly since then. As far as using firewire vs. USB, I (at this moment, at least) have no need to boot from the external, so i don't see the need in using it. However, firewire is pretty new to me and I have never used it before so if there are other benefits to using it over usb, i would love to know. Especially since my external currently takes up both of my USB ports unless I use a hub or plug the power part of the cable into a USB wall charger or something like that to free the other port up.
Thanks,
Geoffery

My iMac suddenly does not see any external hard drives

1 x external HD (USB2), 3 x USB2 flash drives - all previously used without any problems.
I have checked DiskUtility, and they do not appear.
I have checked Finder/Preferences/General and the external HD box is checked.
I have run every diagnostic available with MacKeeper and there are no issues detected (all duplicate files, wasted space files, cache files, etc have been "repaired". Still nada.

Thanks baltwo,
This solved it for me...well, mostly. Two of the flash drives are working, as well as the ext HD (though the cable I was using also needed replacing, but it works fine, thankfully). The third flash drive still not working, but I think it's the drive itself - had to use it at work a few months back on a PC and I'm pretty sure it got corrupted. Ah well!
Cheers

Is there a way to get back all my purchased music if my hard drive crashed and I did not back it up on any external hard drive?

My computer crashed a couple of weeks ago and I have just redownloaded iTunes. I was hoping someone would be able to answer the question I have posted and give me instructions as to how to redownload if at all possible the music that I purchased.
Thanks!

Yes. Sign in to the iTunes store, click below Quick Links where it says Purchased and start downloading your previous purchases.
If you have content on an iPod then this is an alternative approach:
Recover media from iPod
See this post from forum regular Zevoneer for options on moving your iPod data back to your computer.
tt2

I can no longer use any of my external hard drives or my phone

Hi,
I have a macbook pro and everything was fine 4 days ago. Now when I plug in any external hard drives, or even my phone, they do not show up anywhere. the phone is the only thing that even shows up in the system information. It was fine 4 days ago....I transfered a bunch of files to a hard drive, ejected it properly and now nothing...please help

here is a copy of the disc utility log....laila is the name of the extrenal hd i was able to use successfully last.
2012-07-04 08:10:34 -0400: Disk Utility started.
2012-07-04 08:17:58 -0400: Preparing to erase : “LAILA”
2012-07-04 08:17:58 -0400:           Partition Scheme: Master Boot Record
2012-07-04 08:17:58 -0400:           1 volume will be created
2012-07-04 08:17:58 -0400:                     Name                    : “LAILA”
2012-07-04 08:17:58 -0400:                     Size                    : 160.04 GB
2012-07-04 08:17:58 -0400:                     File system          : MS-DOS (FAT)
2012-07-04 08:17:59 -0400: Unmounting disk
2012-07-04 08:18:02 -0400: Creating the partition map
2012-07-04 08:18:03 -0400: Waiting for the disks to reappear
2012-07-04 08:18:03 -0400: Formatting disk3s1 as MS-DOS (FAT) with name LAILA
2012-07-04 08:18:04 -0400: 512 bytes per physical sector
/dev/rdisk3s1: 312505472 sectors in 4882898 FAT32 clusters (32768 bytes/cluster)
bps=512 spc=64 res=32 nft=2 mid=0xf8 spt=32 hds=255 hid=2 drv=0x80 bsec=312581806 bspf=38148 rdcl=2 infs=1 bkbs=6
2012-07-04 08:18:04 -0400: Mounting disk
2012-07-04 08:18:06 -0400: Erase complete.
2012-07-04 08:18:06 -0400:
2012-07-11 15:48:08 -0400: Disk Utility started.
2012-07-11 15:48:42 -0400: Eject of “Unattached Disk Image” succeeded
2012-07-11 15:48:42 -0400: Eject of “Flash Player” failed
2012-07-11 15:59:10 -0400: Disk Utility started.
2012-07-11 16:00:51 -0400: Disk Utility started.
2012-07-11 16:02:19 -0400: Disk Utility started.
2012-07-12 23:22:04 -0400: Disk Utility started.
2012-07-13 09:13:52 -0400: Disk Utility started.
2012-07-13 09:20:22 -0400: Disk Utility started.
2012-07-13 09:45:11 -0400: Disk Utility started.
===== Friday, July 13, 2012 9:47:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time =====

Any recommendations on external hard drive for making bootable backup?

Hello,
I wish to make a bootable backup of my MBP before upgrading to Mavericks.
Are there any external hard drives that are better suited for making bootable backups? I use a WD for making Time Machine backups but I have read that WD is not ideal for making a bootable back up - is this correct...?
Thanks,
pinkguava

your WD will of course,..work fine as a boot clone
Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or $65 per TB on 2.5"
1TB for $68
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba
best for cost:
2.5" USB portable High quality BEST FOR THE COST, Toshiba "tiny giant" 2TB drive (have several of them, LOT of storage in a SMALL package) $100
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379182740&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+toshiba
*This one is the BEST portable external HD available that money can buy:
HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Mobile-Portable-External-0S03559/dp/B009GE6JI8/ref=sr _1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383238934&sr=8-1&keywords=HGST+Touro+Mobile+Pro+1TB+USB+3.0+7 2 00+RPM

Any opinions on Oyen external hard drive for Macbook Pro 13 inch 10.5.8

I have a new 13 inch macbook pro 10.5.8....
I need an external hard drive and was thinking of getting
Oyen 3.5-inch FireWire 800/400, eSATA, USB External Hard Drive......Anyone have experience with this
company or proucts?
Any recommendations for a a different company? Any external hard drive that should be avoided?
Thanks

eww wrote:
Any external hard drive that should be avoided?
Yes: I would avoid Western Digital external drives — all of them. The hard drives themselves are fine, but the hardware in WD's enclosures produces no end of problems.
Thanks for the quick response......One of the detals given on the Oyen website regading the external hard dive is *Internal Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS*
I am not very computer literate.....Does this mean this is basically a Western Digital Product that should be avoided? Or is there a distinction between the "+company name"+ of the external hard drive and the producer of the internal drive? i.e. Is Western Digital producing products under a different name?
Thanks
Thanks

Seagate external hard drives don't work after installing Mavericks 10.9

I have a 3 year old MacBook Pro. I upgraded the system to OSX Mavericks 10.9. Since then my computer does not recognize any external hard drives. I have a 1 TB Seagate external drive and a Seagate Free Agent 750 GB hard drive and my mac does not recognize either of them. Prior to the upgrade my Mac could read and write to the drives. Below is the message I receive when I plug in the 1TB hard drive.
The NTFS volume that you're trying to mount (/dev/rdisk3s1) has not been unmounted properly.
This may mean that the volume is in an inconsistent state, and mounting it with NTFS-3G could lead to data loss. You are recommended to attach the drive to a Windows computer and unmount it properly with the "Safe remove hardware" feature to guarantee the safety of your NTFS volume.
Please help.

Have you tried the recommended steps? If the Windoze machine won't allow you to safely eject, restart the computer and try ejecting again.

Which external hard drive do i need to transfer my files from my G4 with OS 10.3 to my new iMac?

I have a Mac G4 PowerPC (with: processor speed of 1GHz, 1 MB L3 cache) running OS 10.3.9. I want to transfer my files from the G4 to my iMac (.21.5/2.5QC/2X2GB/500GB/6750M) which is still in the box, for the last 3 years. I believe it is running OS Mountain Lion. All the Mac-compatible external Hard drives i have looked at are for OS 10.5 or 10.7 and above. Are there any external hard drives for sale that will work with my OS 10.3.9 to transfer files to my iMac? If not, how can i do this transfer of files?

An external hard disk drive enclosure with FireWire400/800 ports, with others
may be able to be used; but not as an adapter from one kind of port to another.
The old iMac uses USB, perhaps as slow as 1.1; that won't work with newer
USB3.0; but both the newer and older computers could use FireWire; or maybe
ethernet for computer to computer.
Newest models have Thunderbolt data ports, so adapter cables are needed.
And then you'll need cables to match whatever combination you end up with.
{You may have tried something or another, but not posted back to say if you did.
And this thread is nearly two weeks old, now. I just happened to find it here.}
For what you suggest, you may be able to find a suitable cable, perhaps FireWire
or Ethernet, depending on the ports available and cables still applicable to both.
Does newer iMac have FireWire ports? You could buy a FW400 to FW800 cable where
the ends are different, if the newer machine has FireWire800. [The old one has FW400.]
This would have to be equipped with the protruding connectors so each could make
the connection between each computer's built-in ports. Not all cable sets do this.
This would be the fastest way to copy content between machines, if FW 800 in newer mac.
Port-powered external hard drives may be under-powered and fail to work, so that is why
I suggest enclosed HDD with its own AC power adapter that will not rely on FW or USB
for the power to run the drive and the electronics inside the enclosure.
example of external enclosures with multiple ports and its own power adapter:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
This is an image of the lesser model series with fewer ports. The FW800 and USB3.0
are both backward compatible to their older counterparts, FW400 & USB2.0. But even
so the old 1GHz iMac G4 with USB1.1, would not be able to use newer USB3.0; yet
should be able to connect via FireWire400 to FireWire800 by special cable.
If the iMac G4 is still working, that's a plus. Attempting to remove the old IDE/ATA HDD
and access it outside the PowerPC iMacG4, is really a troublesome effort, one to avoid.
But the PPC iMacG4 can be started in Target Disk Mode and accessed as a hard drive
via FireWire cable, too. Then files can be seen as though the old Mac is an external HD.
In any event...
Good luck & happy computing!

Any external hard drive?

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