Best External Hard Drive with Mavericks Compatibility?

What is the best external hard that's compatible with Mavericks OS X 10.9? I've read about all the problems with the WD drive and am looking for a good alternative. Thanks

justineppie
Justin, your new HD needs to be formatted for Time Machine in Mac OSX Extended Journaled.
peter915
   Seagate backup plus all the way. It works on both Windows and Mavericks . Download Paragon NTFS driver
.....Peter, incorrect, Time Machine cannot communicate THRU Paragon, it has to be Mac OSX Ext. Journaled formatted,
1. There is no such entity as "backup plus", its just a mfg. name given to a HD, it doesnt designate anything.
Terms such as:    "WD Passport, Expansion drive, Seagate Backup Plus, PC hard drive, Mac hard drive, Free agent, backup drive, Passport plus, Elements, Toshiba Canvio, Slim, ultraslim, pocket drive, Touro" etc. etc. ........all these terms,...they dont designate or mean anything.
2. Any HD will work with PC or Mac
3. Paragon is for use with a NTFS drive for use with a Mac to communicate with a PC NTFS formatted HD....., not however for Time Machine to do a backup.
justineppie
For using your new HD for Time machine format it ..... >
Go to .... > Finder > Go > Utilities > DISK UTILITY
enter DISK UTILITY
Format (erase) it in "mac osx Extended journaled"
see from mine below, HD on left selected,   .......ERASE tab highlighted.... and middle right roughly, it says "MAC OSX EXTENDED JOURNALED"
thats the format, but yours may be different of course
bottom right ERASE tab lets you erase/ FORMAT your external as you like (remember this erases all data ON THE HD)
highlighted in RED   Erase.......format (middle) ...........erase ACTION to Erase/Format (bottom)
To show your HD on your desktop
go into FINDER at top then PREFERENCES then GENERAL tab
then check "hard disks" and "external disks"
FORMAT TYPES
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
Maximum file size: 4GB.
Maximum volume size: 2TB
You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
Maximum file size: 16 TB
Maximum volume size: 256TB
You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
HFS+ ((((MAC FORMAT)))) (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
Maximum file size: 8EiB
Maximum volume size: 8EiB
You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
EXFAT (FAT64)
Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
Not all Windows versions support exFAT.
exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
Maximum file size: 16 EiB
Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.

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I agree with Allan, and that link is also called OWC, their hard drives are great. Have three of their Mercury Pro Elite 2 TB quad interface drives. They will connect eSATA, Firewire 800 & 400, USB2, so broad reange of options. Drives seem to come Mac HFS formatted, but I always reformat and partition the drives. Service and quarantees are top notch.
They offer a wide range of drives/drive systems so like Allan said, spend some time seeing what the have.

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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

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I have an external hard drive with files I backed up manually over the past 2 years 1TB of memory.
I am finally taking the leap to use Time machine to back everything.
will I have to reformat that drive, thus wiping my previous back ups?
can I split it the drive in two partitions?
Also
as I have two separate Macbook Pro's- one older than the other.
OSX 10.68
the other is
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But do not delete Time Machines files with the Finder -- that can cause it to lose its place and lose everything.
With the cost of backup drives under US$100, it might be a better idea in the long run to get another drive. Best results from Time Machine is a drive about 3 times larger than the drive(s) you are backing up.

Best external hard drive

Hello everyone,
Please could people advise on the best external hard drive to use with my MacBook Pro? I want to plug it into a router so that I can back up wirelessly through Time Machine. On that, would people suggest getting a router with a USB connection - is that the best way to connect a HDD to a router?
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Nick

Ian,
I use an iomega 120GB firewire 400 desktop hard drive. It has been very good and low noise. However now that prices have dropped i think I would now go to 160GB+.
http://www.iomega-europe.com/eu/en/products/hdd/hddfamilyen.aspx
iomega new portable drives are now up to 120GB USB 2, a little expensive but interesting.
One product that is worth looking at is the 100GB AMACOM Flip 2 disk. I think this would be ideal for your Powerbook as it is portable. A little small and expensive but has a lot of features.
http://www.amacom-tech.com/flip2disk.html
Lacie also do a good range at a price. Whatever you get stick to firewire and second USB2 and only go for a known brand name. Inside the are probably from the same source Hitachi etc !
I use Switch Back to auto backup folders "only". This is safe to use, but think before using "Synchronize in Reverse". I do not like the idea of pressing one button to back up the entire drive and getting it wrong.
https://order.kagi.com/cgi-bin/store.cgi?storeID=UMK&&
Hope this is of help.

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I assume you are thinking in terms of FireWire still? In which case I'll 2nd the OWC Oxford cases. Though I buy FW800. I have not bought any which are 'built in RAID enabled' or dual. I do have one $68 dual bay SATA drive case though connected to Sonnet Tempo SATA controller ($79). Not bootable but great.
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See #4 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

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It comes formatted FAT32 (MSDOS) for reading by OS X and Windows PC's.
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I recently purchased a Mac Book Air and wanted to know what would be the best external hard drive to buy as far as the brand and GB or TB are concerned? I will basically just be storing music, papers, and a lot of pictures. Also, how should I go about charging my computer? Should I wait until it is close to dying and then charge it?

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Ciao.

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I cannot access a shared external hard drive with other mac accounts (all accounts are on the same macbook Pro). The shared external drive is shared via time capsule and is connected (of course) in USB. I see well this external hard drive as a shared disk with my main account. Yes shared option has been activated with the Airport Utility .. but when I open other account these othe accounts can see the external drive but cannot access to its content that is flagged with a no way sign. Strangely enough when I close my main account and start opening a new session with one of the other account then fine I can access the external hard drive and its content .. BUT then it is from my main account than I cannot access its content the no way sign showing ..
Looks like only one account at a time can access the content of this SHARED external hard drive .. any one as an idea on how to really make it a shared hard drive so that all accounts on the same mac can also access it ? I am at my wit ends on this case. THANKS ..

Results of my enquiries at Apple Genius Bar .. the guys found the problem interesting. They've been unable to provide a fix neither to give any explanation as to the reason why. To be fair I was not much impressed by the technical level demonstrated ..
In the mean time I have found that if account no.1 can see the shared external drive content and in such case account no.2 (same Mac computer) cannot see its content (only the external HD with a no way sign) this account no.2 can UNMOUNT (by ejecting) this external HD from account 1 and then remount it (just clicking on the TC shared part in a finder window) and .. see and access its content ; whilst account no.1 cannot see its content anylonger. Unless it unmounts the shared external HD and remount it .. then account no.2 can see its content anylonger. This can goes on an on.
So eventually YES the TC can allow to share a USB external drive between several accounts and a same Mac .. BUT this require to unmount and remount EACH time the external drive is accessed from a "no.2 account". So OK to share files with seldom access but not practical in case of frequent access needed.
I just I have now to figure how iTunes can automatically unmount and remount a shared external HD when it needs to access one of this shared HD content from on time account no.1 and then next time from account no.2. May be I am asking too much ..

Can this device be used as an external hard drive with a macbook pro laptop to use files on the airport?

can this device be used as an external hard drive with a macbook pro laptop and use files on the airport time capsule?

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(112309)

I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable. I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?

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Download the supplemental fix to 10.7.5
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1599

Best External Hard Drive with Mavericks Compatibility?

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