Basic elementary probaby obvious enquiry about archiving my hard drive

Hello
I've bought myself an Iomega portable hard drive (160GB) to create a back up for my hard drive, I've been incredibly slack about backing stuff up and I'm keen to make sure my work, music etc. is archived.
What's the easiest way to create a back up of my HD?
I think the drive is USB or Firewire, is one preferable?
I know this will sound dumb, but is it as easy as draggin' and droppin' my HD icon from my desktop or is there a programme/procedure that's surefire problem free?
Thanks and best wishes

Hi! If you want a backup system that will allow you to connect and boot right up then you'll have to make sure it's firewire not usb. Then you'll have to "clone" the drive to the external drive. SUPERDUPER is the easiest app to use for cloning. It's free but the 27 buck upgrade version is worth the money because it can automatically keep your drive backed up. Tom

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Hi,
*About to format hard drive. How do I preserve I-Tunes*
Apologies if this has been asked before, but I need reassurance that I will not make an expensive mistake.
I have iTunes installed on my PC, but the library and any original music files are stored on a NAS external device.
What do I need to do in iTunes (or anything else) before I reformat my PC drive?
In addition, I am guessing, but I figure that that afterwards I reinstall iTunes and reenter some settings and I can make connection with my Library again? Is that correct?
Thanks in advance
flobbyblob

Are you certain that the iTunes folder containing you library databases is on the external drive?
If you have the iTunes folder containing your current iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml in My Music on the C: drive, then you need to back that up.
If you are certain everything is on the external drive then all you need to do with your PC is deauthorise it before reinstalling Windows.
You asked something else:
Yes after reinstalling Windows and iTunes, you redo the settings you used to connect to your library on the external drive. You will also need to reauthorise your PC.
Message was edited by: polydorus

Thinking about an Ethernet Hard Drive

This is also posted in the expansion topics.
I'm thinking about an external Ethernet hard drive for my iMac.
Have any of you tried one and if so what do you think about them?
Where will I get higher transfer rate Ethernet or USB 2?
Last question, will I be able to boot up from an Ethernet hard drive for running DiskWarrior on internal hard drive or for emergencies(cross fingers)?
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I'm going with a FW400 external hard drive as a primary backup for my iMac (speed), but I'm thinking about trying out the D-Link DSM-G600 Wireless Network Storage Enclosure as a third backup on a different power supply. Basically the DSM-G600 is a hard disk enclosure with gigabit ethernet (like the new iMac and PowerBooks), wifi and a USB port to expand the storage capability. I figure its a good cheap start to check out network-attached storage at home, and if its good I may either stick to it and add additional ones as my needs grow, or move up to that one NAS 4-drive unit that everyone raves about (lost on the make and model at the moment). There are lots of NAS enclosures out there, but the DSM-G600 is the only one I've seen under $200 with gigabit ethernet.
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How would I go about formatting my hard drive if my macbook is no longer working? Will I be able to do it on an older macbook?

My macbook became gradually increasingly unresponsive a few days ago, and at the moment, when I try to start up I get to type in the password, but nothing further happens.
I took it today to a laptop repair shop. He said the hard drive seems OK, but would like to wipe it and re-install the system. I believe this would indicate a software error. Would there be a way of doing this operation myself? What do I need to do it?
This Macbook was purchased about a year and 8 months ago.
I also have a macbook that was purchased 7 years ago, but are still working. Could I interchange the hard drives and do the job from there?
Any advice is much appreciated!
Kind regards,
Oystein

Formatting a HDD will delete all user data on the drive. Yes you can do it on an older MBP by connecting to it via USB, but do you really want to? If the repair shop says the HDD is functional, there is no need to wipe it and reinstall the OSX. The problem then is something else.
It would be helpful if you indicated the EXACT model/year MBP that you have.
Ciao.

Questions about iomega external hard drive.

Hi guys, I own an iomega 1TB external hard drive. Till now I've been happy with it despite its fan tends to be noisy, but I'm facing a lack of space issue. Elgato's EyeTV pretty much took up most of it. Rather than buying a second hard drive I was thinking on replacing its internal disks. I opened it up and saw two 500GB with a connector I had never seen before. My question here is, if I bought two 1TB disks with the same connectors, could I just swap them? Would they work? Said new disks actually would come from a Sun's storage rack. Are disks compatible? I mean, would I be able to re-format it/them to be used with Leopard easily (like using the Disk Utility)? Would the iomega box recognize them and be able to handle them?
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Sorry if you think this post shouldn't be here. iomega won't help at all and I believe this Mac brotherhood can enlighten me through this odyssey.
If you need more info from both current and new disks I can email you pictures of the labels of both. Email me directly at [email protected]
Thanks in advance.
George...

All the commands remain grayed out when I click on various partitions. Maybe it's because I'm actually booted up on my external hard drive. I deleted several GB of files from my internal hard drive, but it still won't boot up. So it looks like I have a technical problem, and I'll have to visit my local Apple store. After I get it fixed, I'll take another look at re-partitioning my external hard drive.
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Is there a 'how-to' anywhere about upgrading the hard drive?

Hi Guys,
I'd quite like to upgrade the hard drive in my 24 inch 3.06GHz iMac to 2TB. Is there a step-by-step 'how to' available anywhere or has anyone done it successfully?
I've done laptops on many occasions but the iMac has a difficult looking case to crack!
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Hi mate,
Haha, no I have no preconceptions about firewire! My iMac has a 400 and an 800. The 800 is connected to a Sony DV video deck and the 400 is connected to a RAID drive that is then daisy-chained to another external firewire and a Wiebetech bare hard drive device that I just swap out various hard drives to for clients.
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Question about a second hard drive..

13" MacBook Pro, Mid 2012 (Non-Retina)
Hello, in early December when in the Apple store, I was torn between a MacBook Air and Pro. After talking it over and hearing the basics from the Apple store guy, he mentioned how many people use the DVD Drive space in their Pros to fit a second hard drive! Now I'm all set up with my Pro, I'm wondering what kind of benefits this could have, so I have two questions...
1. How do I do this? Is there a spare HDD cable inside the machine? :S
2. When I fit a new HDD in the DVD Drive space can I use it as a 'seperate backup' for the other? E.g. When on the system open Time Machine and select the other internal drive as backup.
Also, I'm considering buying an OCZ 240GB SSD drive for my main and maxing ram to 8GB!
Thanks for taking the time to read and potential answers!

Others on here have done this, you can search in the box with the blue Search button towards the upper right of the page. But it is involved. You should also check the impact on your warranty and AppleCare if you bought that...Apple only permits installation of ram and replacement of the hard drive under the warranty.
There are advnatages to keeping the optical drive, such as burning disks, loading software, files, etc. An external hard drive is a good solution to the extra storage issue, and so easy to just plug in and partition and format how you want them to work.
I like having the option of the optical drive plus the external drive, which is why I have external drives for all of my Macs.

Uber-Noob Question about automounting USB hard drives

First, let me say I'm not just new to Arch, but new to Linux as well. Been playing with it off & on for years, but mostly 'off'. In the last 3 weeks I've installed 10-12 different distros between my 2 home PC's and VMware on my laptop. I've installed Arch probably 5 times now, and have got the process down pretty good. I've probably learned more about linux from installing and configuring Arch than any other distro, book, web site, etc. So now I've got it up and running again in VMware on an Ubuntu 7.10 install on my old pc. I've got gnome working, sound is fine, samba is fine, really no problems. Except mounting USB drives. I've read several posts here and the wiki, but nothing seems to be clear really.
I think it may be a problem in the VM environment, but I want to be sure. I'm planning to replace my Sidux install on my main PC with Arch later today or tomorrow. Assuming I get it installed, and get gnome installed, will the gnome volume manager work like it does in other distros? I don't mind doing the config by hand, but I do a lot with USB flash drives and USB hard drives, and it seems like it just doesn't work very well in Arch. I actually replaced my ubuntu install last week with Arch, but got tired of trying to access my music on my USB drive, never could get it to mount. So I just re-installed Ubuntu (shame on me, I know).
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it's all working fine now, the problem was in the VM. I installed Arch on my main PC, and except for being an idiot, all went well. My USB drives automount in gnome, as does my CD. Haven't tried the ipods yet, but I'm sure there won't be a problem. Key for me: add my user to the storage group and reboot (logging off would of done the trick too I'm guessing). Had the same problem with setting up X, needed to reboot and all was well. Great distro, a helluva lot of fun to install and configure, and I've only done so little:)

About to replace hard drive for the first time

Hello,
I am about to help my grandson replace a hard drive (and upgrade the RAM) on an iBook G4 800mHz
laptop. The current HD is certified dead by our Apple Genius Bar genius, and with any luck, that's all. (I am able to boot the machine from an external drive OK)
He has purchased a Fujitsu 120GB HD from OWC (likewise a 1GB RAM chip) after careful research into compatibility with this particular iBook model. We have been studying the IFixit and powerbookmedic manuals and are thoroughly intimidated by fears of ripping connectors from logic boards (well, I'M intimidated at least!). Bought the right and proper tools, torx and philips drivers and spudgers and all. Right.
My question is this: the HD arrived with a tiny blue part taped to the package....looked like it may be a jumper (I remember this from when friend helped me replace my G4 power pc HD). Does this drive require the placement of a jumper? Also, is it always necessary to format the HD before installation of the OS? Is it really as simple as taking the old drive out and putting the new one in exactly the same way? The instructions look very straightforward, tedious, but straight forward?
Any wisdom before we start to pry open those fragile bits? thanks a bunch!
Dave

David,
As Adrian says use the same tape. Actually the service manual say the same thing, i.e. to remove it carefully so it can be reused.
It's called Kapton tape ( from 3M of course but apparently developed by DuPont ) and I've been interested in it for a long time since it works so well. So I Googled it ( Google is your friend ) and came up with tons of sources. This one was very informative:
http://www.technicaldevices.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=361516
"PRESSURE SENSITIVE SILICONE ADHESIVE SYSTEM ; TRANSPARENT AMBER COLOR ; USED FOR FLAME RESISTANT ELECTRICAL INSULATION, WIRE AND CABLE WRAP, WIRE BUNDLING TERMINATION, SPLICING OF HI-TEMP REFLECTIVE THERMAL INSULATING FILM ; EXCELLENT SOLDER MASK FOR CIRCUIT BOARDS ; RELEASE SURFACE FOR HEATED PLATENS IN HEAT SEALING / LAMINATION ; RESISTS HIGH HEAT OF MOLTEN SOLDER TEMPERATURES OF 100ºF - 500ºF"
Oooh now that IS some nice tape. Might have to get some of that and there are a lot of places where it's real cheap. I had assumed it was real expensive and according to Electronic Goldmine it was:
"Most distributors sell this roll for $50 to $60." They're selling theirs for $24 but that other place $1.00 for what looks like the same stuff. Wait check that, if I'm reading that right it's 6" for $1 and the other place has 36' but it's only 1/8" wide.
Crap.
Richard
Message was edited by: spudnuty

I am thinking about replacing my hard drive with one with more cap because at 160 GB, it's almost full.Any particular brand I should pick?

Also thinking about upgrading my RAM, from 2GB to 4GB. Should I go with mechanical or solid state for the hard drive or both?

SSDs will bring you a better performance than normal hard drives. If you can afford one and you think that you will use your computer for some years more, go for one. If not, a 7200 rpm HDD will also improve performance.
You can buy a hard drive in OWC > http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/ HGST drives have a good reputation and they are cheap

Archiving raided hard drives

I recently swapped out two hard drives that were set up as a raid 0. The data is still on there. Can I access them as independent drives if need be or do I need to put them back in the same bays?
I'm wondering how functional an archive this data really is and whether or not I need to save my back up of this data.
Thank you.

Upon further research, I believe that the only way to use striped raid volumes is to in fact reinsert them back into the machine. Not so convenient but an okay archive. It may be important to place the drives in their original bays, though.
I think housing externally and attaching via pci slot would register as the new controller and not the original stripe and may not work. I'm not sure on this.
Ideally I would house the drives in an external encasement and connect via firewire or some sort of pci slot connection and have my internal raid card read it for me. But I don't think this is possible. If it is, and someone knows, please share the set-up.
Thanks.

About getting a hard drive

Hi i have a compaq presario CQ50-228CA laptop. I was told by HB to get this hard drive: Hewlett-Packard (HP) 613070-001 - 250GB 7.2K RPM SATA Hard Disk Drive (HDD). This hard drive is expensive at a certain online site. I want to get a cheaper hard drive at another site with this info: 250GB Hard Drive RPM 5400 SATA for Compaq Presario CQ50-228CA CQ56-219WM CQ60-420US and I want to know if this hard drive will work on my laptop?.It mentions my model but HB give me the impression that i must get the first hard drive that i just mentioned. I never bought a hard drive before. I want to trasfer all data including windows vista from old hard drive to new hard drive with a USB adaptor but i don't know which USB adaptor i'm suppose to buy?. Thanks
This question was solved.
View Solution.

You can buy any 2.5 inch wide 9.5 mm thick SATA hard drive and there are some really good deals out there right now. I suggest you go to newegg.com and order one (you will have it in like 3 days). and also get a "drive upgrade kit" which will have cloning software and the cables you need.
My humble recommendation:
320 gig 7200 rpm drive at 65 bucks shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W014P4564
Upgrade kit with external caddy and also cloning software:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817155602
With the rebates this is $100 total and your laptop will run faster, to boot.
This Manual (page 10) shows how to do the installation:
Drive Manual
Repeat: You do NOT have to buy from HP or use an HP Part Number hard drive. They are industry-standard generic items.
If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it.

Help - clueless about new external hard drive

Sorry I am a bit clueless. I Have an iMac G5 and just purchased a Western Digital elements external HD to store my music and photos on. I plugged it in and see the icon -now what? do I just start dragging things over? Once I drag thing over should I keep a copy on my Hard drive? Do I unplug this thing when it is not in use?
Any info would be great! Sorry I lack the knowledge and I hope someone can help me out!
K

Use the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to erase it in the Mac OS Extended format, and then follow the instructions here and here. Drag the disk to the Trash or push the eject button to the right of it in the sidebar before unplugging it.
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How do I go about backing my hard drive?

I want to back up my hard drive in case anything should happen, what would be the best way of doing this?

Hi cgaff;
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Allan

Basic elementary probaby obvious enquiry about archiving my hard drive

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