Can I use a 3rd party external hard drive to backup my iMac?

I use my iMac to backup all our iOS devices, but I don't have a back up for the iMac. I have a 500MB harddrive but am only using about 200MB. Do I have to buy a Time Capsule or is there a smaller external hard drive that I could use instead? Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!

Some drive-combos seem to be more troublesome.  Western Digital "comination units" (the cases that come as a drive in a case that has its own interface card.  WD is reported by forum users to choose interface cards that go bad and tank your backups as they die.  Then you need to extract the drive and put it in your own enclosure and reformat.
LaCie seems to make good product.
You can also buy external enclousres at macsales.com (type "enclosures" in the search box) to get a good Firewire enclosure and then buy a WD "Black" drive to put in it.
Make sure your backup is self-powered and not USB-powered ... nothing worse during a disaster recovery than your Mac being unable to power the recovery disk,

Similar Messages

  • Can i use seagate goflex 3tb external hard drive for 2010 27" imac internal hard drive replacment if i take it out of the goflex case.do i need to format it before installation due to it allready having goflex software on it from manufacturer.

    i have 3tb seagate goflex external hard drive.its brand new in package.i took it out of case and deleted partitions that were created by manufacturer.so now i have 2800 gigs.its formatted ntfs.will it work for late 2010 27" imac internal hard drive replacement.i found a apple repair place that will charge me 50$ to swap drives for me assuming i have the drive.i will have to install leopard myself at this price.i dont want to have to pay for anything other than the swap.will this hard drive work with this format or do i need to format it differently.

    Hello
    formatted ntfs
    NTFS format not work on mac system , need to be formatted as Extended Mac os Journaled format and partition table need to be GUID
    how to do that in video
    HTH
    Pierre

  • I have an 2tb time capsule 802.11n Wi-Fi base station can I use this as an external hard drive and use a new airport extreme  802.11ac Wi-Fi for my wifi?

    I have an 2tb time capsule 802.11n Wi-Fi base station can I use this as an external hard drive and use a new airport extreme  802.11ac Wi-Fi for my wifi?

    You can use the 2 TB Time Capsule as a network drive. That means that it must connect to one of the Ethernet LAN <--> ports on the new AirPort Extreme, or connect to the network using wireless.

  • Can i use applications from an external hard drive?

    Can i use applications from an external hard drive?

    Photoshop itself needs to reside inside of it's Applications folder so that it has access to it's Libraries and plugins. So if you are going to attempt to store and run it from an external drive you need to copy the whole Application folder or install it directly to the external drive. Even still I am not 100% positive it will work as I know it still needs to access your Library/Application Support for additional files and licensing.
    Why do you want to run Photoshop from an external drive?
    George

  • Can time capsule back up an external hard drive attached to my imac and the iMac internal Harddrive

    Can time capsule back up an external hard drive attached to my imac and the iMac internal Harddrive

    In addition to Kappy's comments, the external drive must be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in order for Time Machine to be able to back it up.

  • HT4790 Can I use FileVault with and external hard drive?

    Can I use FileVault2 to secure an external hard drive?

    FileVault2 is really just a marketing name for encrypting the startup volume. You can right-click on any connected volume and encrypt it.

  • Confusion: Can I use my TC as external hard drive w/iMac G5 running 10.4.11

    HELP!
    I am using an iMac G5 with 10.4.11
    I have managed to set up my time capsule as an airport base station, but cannot seem to find any way to use it as a wireless hard drive on which to store my pics/music etc. Although I installed all the airport software etc when I started, I was presented with no options to backup my G5 hard drive at any point and can find no way to do this - I have read the forum responses that seem to relate to this theme that I can find but they dont make sense to me. Please help!

    If you have already installed AirPort Utility, go to Manual Setup->Disks->File Sharing->Enabled. You may enter a password. Now you can use your HDD in TC.
    You mentioned an option to back up your G5 hard drive. What do you mean by that? If you are talking about Time Machine, that is only available on Leopard. How are you backing up currently?

  • Can i use time capsule as external hard drive for both mac and windows

    I have a mac book pro, ipad and iphone and ipod and a windows pc
    Can i use time capsule as a external hard disk only for all of the above ( including windows ) without the back up activity for mac ?

    You cannot access the TC from iOS devices without a browser. eg filebrowser.
    Can i use time capsule as a external hard disk only for all of the above ( including windows ) without the back up activity for mac ?
    Yes, with the following proviso.. the TC is not able to back itself up.. so if you store files on the TC without backups one day you will discover all your files are gone because of a hard drive failure of the TC. TM also cannot backup TC.. so you will need to buy a proper backup software.
    It is also much slower than a real NAS..
    And windows can be a bit painful.. especially windows 8.. other versions should work if you spend the time getting everything set right.

  • Can I use Time Capsule as external hard drive?

    I've been getting "your startup disk is almost full" message, so I bought myself a Time Capsule on the advice of a friend.  My question is...can I store stuff on my Time Capsule instead of my laptop?  And if so, can my computer access the info in the Time Capsule?  Specifically....if I don't have my music library stored on my computer, will iTunes still be able to access my library if I want to play some music, AND would my Sonos system be able to access it?
    If I've just wasted 400 bucks on something I didn't really want....what SHOULD I get to store stuff on but that I can still access via iTunes, or my Apple TV, etc?
    Thanks for any help, everybody!

    1. You can, but are better off putting it on a regular external drive and using the Time Capsule for backups and as a router.
    2. Yes.
    3. Launch iTunes with the Option key held down and choose a library on it.
    4. Noting #1, a regular external drive. You can generally use any USB one, but ones not specifically intended for Macs will need to be reformatted first.
    (112894)

  • Can iPhoto use files on an external hard drive?

    I am nearly out of space on my iBook hard drive, and would like to move all my photos to an external USB hard drive. Of course, I would then like iPhoto to be able to use the files just on the external drive. Yes, it's a bit slow, but until I get a new laptop, I'm hoping that will do. It seems, though, that when I import anything to iPhoto, iPhoto wants to put it on the iBook hard drive. All help/ideas appreciated. Thanks.

    Hi, lllapides. First, make sure the USB drive is formatted Mac OS Extended. iPhoto definitely won't use it unless it is. Then copy your entire iPhoto Library folder, intact, from your internal to the external drive. Open iPhoto while holding down the Option key, and when invited to find your library, navigate to the external drive and do so. If you aren't allowed to choose that library folder, or the library fails to open after you've done it, or the internal-drive copy of the library opens instead, there may be a problem with using a USB drive. This procedure would work fine with a FireWire drive.
    If the library opens up normally from the USB drive, you're all set. Wait to trash the library folder that's on the internal drive until you're absolutely sure everything is OK.
    It should go without saying, but if you don't have room to keep a copy of the library on your internal drive, you'd better have a third drive on which to keep a backup copy. Working without a backup is an invitation to disaster — and sooner or later, disaster will accept the invitation.

  • Can you use time capsule as a hard drive

    Can i use timecapsule as a external hard drive to store pictures and access them but not as a back up

    Yes it can be mounted as an external HDD in finder and you can drag and drop on and off.

  • Can anyone boot Leopard from an external hard drive on  an iMacPPC?

    Can anyone boot Leopard from an external hard drive on a G5 iMac PowerPC? How?

    Allan's answer is irrelevant as he refers to Snow Leopard. He must have isread your post!
    Yes, you can and I do. The proviso is that the external hard drive is connected by firewire, as a PPC Mac cannot boot via USB.

  • How can I use a 3rd party XML parser such as xerces with OC4J ?

    Hi all tech experts,
    I am using Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) and i have
    installed Portal and Wireless and OracleAS Infrastructure on the same
    computer.
    i tried all the solutions on this thread
    Use of Xerces Parser in out application with Oracle App Server 9.0.4
    but still fighting.
    I have also posted this query on OTN on following thread
    How can I use a 3rd party XML parser such as xerces with OC4J?
    but no reply....
    Please help me on this issue.
    Since OC4J is preconfigured to use the Oracle XML parser which is xmlparserv2.jar.
    i have read the following article which states that
    OC4J is preconfigured to use the Oracle XML parser. The Oracle XML parser is fully JAXP 1.1 compatible and will serve the needs of applications which require JAXP functionality. This approach does not require the download, installation, and configuration of additional XML parsers.
    The Oracle XML parser (xmlparserv2.jar) is configured to load as a system level library of OC4J through it's inclusion as an entry in the Class-Path entry of the oc4j.jar Manifest.mf file. This results in the Oracle XML parser being used for all common deployment and packaging situations. You are not permitted to modify the Manifest.mf file of oc4j.jar.
    It must be noted that configuring OC4J to run with any additional XML parser or JDBC library is not a supported configuration. We do know customers who have managed to successfully replace the system level XML parser and the Oracle JDBC drivers that ship with the product, but we do not support this type of configuration due to the possibility of unexpected system behavior and system errors that might occur from replacing the tested and certified libraries.
    If you absolutely must use an additional XML parser such as xerces, then you have to start OC4J such that the xerces.jar file is loaded at a level above the OC4J system classpath. This can be accomplished using the -Xbootclasspath flag of the JRE.
    i have also run the following command
    java -Xbootclasspath/a:d:\xerces\xerces.jar -jar oc4j.jar
    but no success.
    How could i utilize my jar's like xerces.jar and xalan.jar for parsing instead of OC4J in-built parser ?
    All reply will be highly appreciated.
    Thnx in advance to all.
    Neeraj Sidhaye
    try_catch_finally @ Y !

    Hi Neeraj Sidhaye,
    I am trying to deploy a sample xform application to the Oracle Application Server (10.1.3). However, I encountered the class loader issue that is similar to your stuation. I tried all the three solutions but the application is still use the Oracle xml paser class. I am wondering if you have any insight about this?
    Thanks for your help.
    Xingsheng Qian
    iPass Inc.
    Here is the error message I got.
    Message:
    java.lang.ClassCastException: oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement
    Stack Trace:
    org.chiba.xml.xforms.exception.XFormsException: java.lang.ClassCastException: oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.Container.dispatch(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.Container.dispatch(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.Container.initModels(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.Container.init(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.ChibaBean.init(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.adapter.servlet.ServletAdapter.init(ServletAdapter.java:153)
         at org.chiba.adapter.servlet.ChibaServlet.doGet(ChibaServlet.java:303)
         at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:743)
         at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:856)
         at com.evermind.server.http.ServletRequestDispatcher.invoke(ServletRequestDispatcher.java:719)
         at com.evermind.server.http.ServletRequestDispatcher.forwardInternal(ServletRequestDispatcher.java:376)
         at com.evermind.server.http.HttpRequestHandler.doProcessRequest(HttpRequestHandler.java:870)
         at com.evermind.server.http.HttpRequestHandler.processRequest(HttpRequestHandler.java:451)
         at com.evermind.server.http.AJPRequestHandler.run(AJPRequestHandler.java:299)
         at com.evermind.server.http.AJPRequestHandler.run(AJPRequestHandler.java:187)
         at oracle.oc4j.network.ServerSocketReadHandler$SafeRunnable.run(ServerSocketReadHandler.java:260)
         at com.evermind.util.ReleasableResourcePooledExecutor$MyWorker.run(ReleasableResourcePooledExecutor.java:303)
         at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595)
    Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: oracle.xml.parser.v2.XMLElement
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.Instance.iterateModelItems(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.Bind.initializeModelItems(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.Bind.init(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.Initializer.initializeBindElements(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.Model.modelConstruct(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.Model.performDefault(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.XFormsDocument.performDefault(Unknown Source)
         at org.chiba.xml.xforms.XFormsDocument.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
         at org.apache.xerces.dom.NodeImpl.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
         ... 18 more

  • Trying to use a new, larger external hard drive for my Time Machine backup.  However, every time I start the backup, it gets started then fails.  And, I can't delete the few files that did save on the external.  Sort of a catch 22.  Any ideas?

    Trying to use a new, larger external hard drive for my Time Machine backup.  However, every time I start the backup, it gets started then fails.  And, I can't delete the few files that did save on the external.  Sort of a catch 22.  Any ideas?

    Is it a USB hard drive?  USB hard drives have the problem of not giving full speed if they are hooked up on the same bus as keyboards and mice.  Double check your profiler to make sure that is not a problem.  If it is Firewire, make sure there aren't other firewire devices in use at the same time.  I recommend not only keeping a Time Machine backup, but also a clone, and if you do use Time Machine, to make sure the Time Machine drive or partition is at least twice the size of the original drive.

  • Can i use a 3rd party superdrive with my Macbook Air?

    Hi,
    As my title says, Can i use a 3rd party superdrive with my Macbook Air rather than the Apple drive?
    Thanks.

    Mark Thornton wrote:
    Hi,
    As my title says, Can i use a 3rd party superdrive with my Macbook Air rather than the Apple drive?
    Thanks.
    This one works just awesome:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136201&cmre=external_dvd_burner_usb-_-27-136-201--Product

Maybe you are looking for

  • What is initial value of an empty drop-down?

    I have written a script to populate the items in a drop-down list but only if there is no entry already existing. The problem I have is recognizing that the list is empty. I have tried to test for null (if dropdown.isNull = true) and testing the rawV

  • Sleep of Death?!?   Please Help!

    Hi guys i have this strange behavior of my Macbook Pro...  its there since some weeks. (Latest Apple Update?!?) When i put it to sleep by command (applesymbol topleft) it will nearly instantly crash to a grey screen with crash warning on it.. Thers a

  • How to do a two-page form field?

    I'm trying to build a two page letterhead with two fields, but I need to make the text continue from one field to the next (similar to a Word doc automatically continuing onto the next page). Is there a way to do this? Thanks, B Miller

  • Airport Extreme network with Ubuntu Linux (7.10), Windows (XP) and MacBook

    Hi all. My problem is that I cannot get Ubuntu to connect to Airport Extreme, see the hard disk(s) connected on it and print through it. Airport extreme is connected to my adsl modem and I have an Ubuntu PC, Windows PC and a MacBook connected to airp

  • Photoshop CS3 Tablet problems

    Hi. I have a Laptop (HP PAVILION DV6000, Dual-core at 2 ghz with 2 ghz of ram) and Windows Vista Home Premium Pre-Installed. The thing is...i get myself a digital tablet NGS CADBOY ULTRA, it has 1024 pressing levels. Windows Vista has its own drivers