Do I need a RAID system or just a larger external hard drive

Hi guys... I am working in my fathers company and running the media side of our small business. I do our website, print media and also our video production....
I have an iMac and it is running on 500gig of storage and 8meg of RAM.... I have almost filled up my hard drive and I am looking into to getting into to doing a lot more video work....
I need more storage, but I am not sure whether to invest in a RAID system or should I just get an external hard drive...
At what point is a RAID worth the investment ?
Thanks guys
Harrison

RAID provides a level of redundacy should one of the hard drives in the array fail.
I would only invest in RAID if you are able to support the RAID array and understand its limitations.
Remember RAID is not backup. Don't be complacent about backup.
A larger hard disk is simplier to manage than a RAID array.
As with any mission critical data, you need a robust backup strategy.

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I need to move my iTunes library to an external hard drive

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Sounds like you are OK. Be sure to open iTunes then preferences. Click on Advanced icon in toolbar. Set the path to your media folder in the field where you should see the path to the original location. Or, you can hold down the OPTION key while starting iTunes and choosing the library you wish to use.
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If it does contain data...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2474

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E

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Does an ipad have any storage? Basically looking to eliminate DVD's and just use the storage on my movies (in iTunes) could I just get an external hard drive or what is the basic purpose selling point on this apple tv?

i would ideally like to not use all my macbooks memory either and we have an xbox so all the streaming for like netflix we can do on this. I guess thats why I'm wondering if it is a better idea and if it is possible for us to just utilize an external hard drive. And if we do that will i have more space on my computer?

davidfrombillings wrote:
I thought I could just drag and drop my iTunes library to an external hard drive.
it'll work ... if done properly ☞
copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music or media folder) from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music on your Mac to the external, then launch iTunes while holding the option (⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder on the external.
if I already have my iTunes going to the incorrect files how is it going to find the correct files again.
you could try if this script helps:
iTunes Track CPR v1.3
This script attempts to locate the files of so-called "dead tracks"--iTunes tracks designated with (!)--that you assume are not actually missing but are still located in the iTunes Music folder in their "iTunes File Order" (Music -> Artist -> Album -> file.xxx)."
Eric Ross wrote:
When you moved the file back did you go back into iTunes in your preferences and select the advance tab and then selected the location again or where your files are
the iTunes media folder location in preferences > advanced tells iTunes where to put new additions to your library, not where your content currently is.

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There is no benefit to the multi-media feature on the first drive you mentioned. If you are going to look at differences between certain drives, I'd look at the differences in reliability first.

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Okay, so I had to re-install iTunes. My iTunes library is currently empty. I can make a new back up and the location of the songs not having changed, these will be available in my library?

Just Got an External Hard Drive

I bought an Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus, with 750GB of space. I pretty excited about having it, but I want to make sure that I'm doing things correctly, right from the go.
So far, I have:
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2) Reformatted it to Journaled HFS+ format
3) Installed the software that came with it. (Not that I need it, I assume.)
4) Created an archive of everything that came pre-loaded on it and put the archive on my desktop
5) Partitioned it into 7 volumes (Is this a bit too much?)
Volumes:
*System OS X 4.11:*
Capacity: 39.88 GB
Available: 39.84 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s10
Mount Point: /Volumes/System OS X 4.11
Home:
Capacity: 39.88 GB
Available: 39.84 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
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Mount Point: /Volumes/Home
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Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s14
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Writable: Yes
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Do the sizes of the volumes seem right?
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I know there's a lot of question here. Sorry!
I'd really appreciate a review and advise.
Thanks!

If there's a practical limit on the number of disk partitions, it's the number of drive icons cluttering up the Desktop (unless you set the Finder preferences to not show hard drives on the desktop). The correct size of disk partitions is whatever works for your personal use and preferences.
If you eject one partition on an external drive, all the partitions on that drive will also be ejected. You need to eject the drive before you physically disconnect it, or power it down separately from the computer; otherwise you risk damaging the drive by interrupting write activity (which includes system tasks beyond any overt copies or write that you command). It's OK to just leave the external drive powered up and connected to the computer. If you shut down the computer, the shutdown process will automatically dismount the external drive partitions; after the computer has shut down, you can power off the external drive. Turn the external on before starting the Mac. Restarts don't require dismounting or power cycling the external drive.
If you dismount the external drive, you can remount the drive partitions using Disk Utility, or unplug the external from the computer and then reconnect it. (Disk Utility obviously puts less wear on the connectors.)
A Finder drag-and-copy from the internal to the external drive will not capture invisible files (Unix systems quite literally have tens of thousands of invisible files), and copying the System and Library folders in particular will then yield unusable folders. Use SuperDuper or CCC. You can (probably) use the Finder to copy /Users if you like.
Non-support of SMART status is a pain if you ever need to troubleshoot the external drive but won't affect normal use.
Mounted disk images (which appear as drive icons on the Desktop) cannot be moved into a folder, only ejected from the desktop. If you're referring to the drive icons from the external drive partitions, those remain on the Desktop until the external drive is ejected. As mentioned, you can set the Finder preferences to hike all hard drive icons by unchecking the appropriate checkbox. If you're also referring to mounted disk images created after clciking on a disk image .dmg file, those also stay on the Desktop while mounted. You can move disk image files (the file icons, ending in .dmg) which when double-clicked create the disk images into a folder and copy that folder of .dmg files to where ever you have room to put it. Check that the copied .dmg disk image files will create a mounted disk image when double-clicked; you can then delete the original .dmg files to free room on the internal HD.

Do I need to back up my iMac on an external hard drive?

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Thanks,
Emshee

Well, if you throw something in the trash from an external hard drive, you do need to empty the trash while that drive is still attached - otherwise you do not regain the space.
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I need a step-by-step plan: my WD external hard drive is 'read only'

Hi,
I hope someone can help me, because i'm in quite a pickle. I bought a WD 500 GB external hard drive a couple of months ago. I have a MacBook Pro version OS X 10.8.5. The problem I have now is that I haven't used my external hard drive for a couple of weeks now, until today (note: I bought this hard drive and used it for the first time on my macbook pro, never on windows before or any other laptop/pc), and all of a sudden I can only 'read' my hard drive, it suddenly seemed to have changed it settings by itself to 'you can read only' whilst I never did anything to the permission settings....
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If you can see the hard drive in Finder, select it, do a Get Info (command - I) and see what permissions you have in Sharing and Permissions. It should be Read/Write. If it isn't, unlock the padlock, and change it. Then look towards the top to see how the drive is formatted. It normally should be Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
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I just bought a 60gig external hard drive and I wanted to know what files should I back up?

The easiest is to drag /Users/<yourhomefoldername> to the backup drive.
Only the files you've created can't be replaced. The rest is on CDs, DVDs, or can be purchased again if need be.
I don't bother with clones because there's always the possibility of trouble down the line if you have to restore from one. (Something could be wrong with the clone, or it could be altered if you have to boot from it.) Why take the chance, when the OS and apps are expendable? And, if you don't test that the clone is good (by restoring to a blank drive), you're just fooling yourself as to its viability.
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The main thing is that you've backed up your home folder.

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Hi Mr. Toad and others who have been answering questions in these forums:
Thank you very much for all your help so far. I have been using a mac for the last few years and LOVE IT! I was wondering if I could pick your brain for a moment. I have backed up my iphoto library onto my external hard drive...a few times...once or twice before I really knew what I was doing. There are a couple of folders that I fear have duplicates and I wasn't diligent about naming pics after having a baby (and now I know the errors of my ways). Now I have lots of folders like 01, 02, 03, etc and within each, there are the different days of the month. So, my question to you is do you know of a program that can seek on my external hard drive and show me duplicates and ask me if I want to remove them? I am trying a program right now called DupeGuru, but it has been running for abot 6 hours already and is only 1/4 done!!! It isn't even showing me that it's found any dupes yet. I've looked at iphoto diet and duplicate annihilator and both seem to only work with iphoto.
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ibook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

well PhillyPhan, I can't tell that you're better looking just by your iphoto icon, now can I? Although it is a lovely sunset you've got there.
Thanks for your response to my question, I see your point and will do that, however, I have another folder that was created before I had a Mac, which has all sorts of lovely titles and labels and some of those pictures I brought over to my ibook when I first started. So there are some duplicates in my iphoto library that I already have backed up in that other folder. I guess I shouldn't really obsess about those. I guess I am just nervous about deleting all my prior iphoto library, but I should have faith that it will all be there in my pictures library. Just trying to clean up the virtual mess.
I'll hold my breath and take the plunge.
Thanks!
ibook G4

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I read a few articles online but they are too technical for me. They mentioned something about FireWire adapter with 6 pins or 9 pins. Not sure what that means. I'm totally confused. So any help, advise or guidance will be much appreciated. In Layman's term would be better. Thanks.
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Thanks, Clinton and Alberto.
The below link is the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex portable external hard drive (product code STAA750302) that I have. It states that it features USB 2.0 or 3.0 plug–and–play connectivity and easily upgradeable to USB 3.0, FireWire 800 or eSATA. It only comes with a 18-inch USB 3.0 / 2.0 backward compatible cable.
http://www.seagate.com/au/en/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/standard/ goflex/
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https://www.lindy.com.au/online/arrshop.exe?anonymous=true&cat=b1

Needed some help transferring files from Mac to external hard drive

Hey guys, I just needed some urgent help.
My friend wanted some files to be transferred to his external hard drive from my Mac. As he is a Windows user, I guess his hard drive is formatted for Windows as well. As I plug in the hard disk in my Mac, I can't transfer the files. It says something like "the disk cannot be modified".
So, please help me on how can I transfer this files from my Mac and if I do format it to work with the Mac, will it work for Windows later?
Please help!
Cheers
Sam

The Windows drive is probably formatted NTFS which is not natively writable
by the Mac. It should be formatted as FAT32 to be usable on both.
Dave

Do I need a RAID system or just a larger external hard drive

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