Do you know about external hard drives?

I have an acer notebook and I would love to be able to play The Sims 2 PC games. And so, someone recommended that I get an external hard drive to play it.
I was wondering if I would be able to play any PC games on my acer if I had an external hard drive.
And if so what are my options on external hard drives would be best for me to get?

Bianca, I agree with starflyer. Playing visualy complex games like that isn't really a function of the size of your hard drive ( though an external HD for a notebook is always prudent investment ) but rather, its a function of the capability of the cpu, the amount of internal memory, and what your graphics platform you have. Most notebooks have "intigrated" graphics built into them and are very limiting when playing demanding games. Graphics cards are one solution, but, I don't know of any notebooks that actually use a separate card for graphics given the size constraints and the severe power and heat demands they can put on a system. I can recommend 3 things : by all means, get a good external hard drive, preferably one that is considered "portable" in your case. Find out how much internal memory you can install and have a knowlegable person install it. Finally, go to www.cpuid.com and download cpu-z, it will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about your system, useful if you want to upgrade.

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Advice about external hard drive recovery

Does anyone have experience or advice about external hard drive recovery?
I have a USB external drive that crashed during a power brownout, I couldn't mount the image at first but used Diskwarrior to rebuild it. Now I can see and navigate the drive but I am unable to pull many files off without the finder crashing. It would transfer about 130mb of 10gb then stay at that number and not progress past that amount.
Should I try a different recovery program or would removing the drive and placing it in another external drive enclosure solve something like this?
any help appreciated

When in DW there is a Preview to see the old and new volume.
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/harddrives/topic4557.html#d10aug2010
Data Rescue 3 demo will show you what it's scan finds, costs $99
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
you need to have another drive to recover your files to.
Yes I would try another case, maybe the power brick was all that is now half-dead also
And you really need a UPS - never be w/o
http://pondini.org/OSX/UPS.html
MacBook Pro:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro

A simple question about external hard drives.

hi. this may be a stupid question but i kinda need to know the answer.
can you use any external hard drive on a mac mini?
also does the mac mini come with a wireless card?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
can you use any external hard drive on a mac mini?
Nearly any, but not necessarily all. Some bus-powered hard drives will not function at all, or may function inconsistently, and not all external drives will satisfactorily daisy chain, but by and large any mains-powered USB or Firewire drive will work. If intended for use to boot an Intel-based Mac (or to be bootable for such a system in case of problems with the internal), it will need to be partitioned in the GUID scheme (achieved easily via Disk Utility).
Firewire is better than USB if you have the option, simply because FW is more consistent in data transfer performance. USB drives are typically cheaper if cost is a significant factor.
In some ways, choice of drive may be affected by intended use. For example, if you intend to boot the system with it, a fast (meaning 7200rpm) drive with Firewire interface would be a good choice, while if being used for storing an iTunes library, a slower 5400 rpm drive with USB2.0 interface would be perfectly adequate.
also does the mac mini come with a wireless card?
All current Mac minis come with 'Airport' wifi already installed, though the original entry-level mini did not have wifi as standard. If your mini is one of these earlier ones, wifi can be added in a number of ways. If it's a later model, an Airport icon is normally set to show on the menu bar. It looks like a fan and if switched off, the fan will be blank, in on but not connected to a network, it'll show 4 grey arcs, and if on and connected, the arcs will be black.

Can you unplug the external hard drive you are using for time machine

can you unplug the external hard drive you are using for time machine and then plug it back in and it work normals because i have a mac book and don't want to always be carrieing the external hard drive every where i go so can you ?

Yes, that will work fine. It will back up normally once you plug it in again. I do this with my MacBook.

HT201250 How do you add an external Hard drive to time machine and share on network?

How do you add an external Hard drive to time capsule and share it on local network?
Lee

Ensure it's formatted as Mac OS Extended, FAT16, or FAT32, connect it to a self-powered hub, and plug it into the Time Capsule's USB port. If the drive is Ethernet and not USB, ignore everything else and just plug it in.
(71787)

Can you use a external hard drive to keep all your iTunes info on it

Can you use a external hard drive to keep all your iTunes info on it

Yes.
The easiest way is to copy the whole iTunes folder out to the external drive, then press and hold down shift as you click the icon to start iTunes. Keep holding shift until asked to "Create or choose a library". Choose the library on the external drive.
tt2

HT1766 Can you use an external hard drive to back up my movies in iTunes but still be able to access them or is there a device so I don't have to use a pc ??

Can you use an external hard drive to back up my movies in iTunes but still be able to access them or is there a device so I don't have to use a pc ??

You can store them on a separate hard drive, you don't need to keep them on your laptop's hard drive. On your computer's iTunes on the Advanced tab in Edit > Preferences there is a 'copy files to iTunes media file when adding to library' tickbox - if you untick that, you should be able to copy the films to a separate drive and add them back to your iTunes library (File > Add To Library) and it should then point to them on that separate drive and not copy them to your hard drive. When you are happy that it is what is happening and that they are safely on your external drive you can delete the films from your laptop's hard drive.
If you plug the external drive into a different USB port next time (assuming that your laptop has more than one) then it might get a different drive letter, so you might need to always use it with the same port.

Need help reinstalling Yosemite/Question about external hard drive

I have an early MacBook Pro and I have to reinstall Yosemite because I've been getting nothing but spinning beach balls, slow loading, lag in type showing up, and wi-fi issues. I took the laptop to the Genius Bar at the Apple store last week and they ran diagnostics on everything and all was perfectly OK. No hardware issues, no memory issue and he said my laptop was very clean. He saw the spinning beach ball many times while he was working on my laptop and suggested that I turn off File Vault as that could be causing the slowdown. He said if that didn't work (it didn't) to buy an external hard drive (which I received today) and to back up everything through Time Machine then reinstall Yosemite. I specifically bought an external HD that says "for Mac" and as soon as I connected it Time Machine opened and did the backup.
Now these are my questions. Are all my photos on iPhoto, and my Word for Mac documents backed up so that when I reinstall Yosemite, everything is going to be right where I left it? Will I lose Word for Mac and have to reinstall it? Isn't Word for Mac a one time use/install and will I have trouble and have to call Microsoft to input my authentication key in again and will they let me? I know silly questions but I'm really worried about losing stuff.
Also step-by-step detailed instruction on how to reinstall Yosemite would really be appreciated. Thank you!

YoJoLo wrote:
Are all my photos on iPhoto, and my Word for Mac documents backed up so that when I reinstall Yosemite, everything is going to be right where I left it?
If you have taken the backup using the Time machine then there is nothing to worry as all your photos from iPhotos and Word for mac documents are backup safely by your time machine.
Only keep one thing in mind that the external HDD which you use for the time machine backup should have the capacity size of about 3-4 times that of your backup data size. Or else, the time machine external drive will start deleting the files if the external drive is about to be full.
YoJoLo wrote:
Will I lose Word for Mac and have to reinstall it? Isn't Word for Mac a one time use/install and will I have trouble and have to call Microsoft to input my authentication key in again and will they let me?
You absolutely don’t have to reinstall the Word for mac if its install in the first place because Time machine will backup the system installed files of your MS Word which you had installed.
Word for mac is a one time install and you don’t have to call Microsoft for any authentication key after you have restored your Word backup files from the time machine drive. As I said before the time machine will backup your Word system installed files leaving you no chance to reinstall it again.
YoJoLo wrote:
Also step-by-step detailed instruction on how to reinstall Yosemite would really be appreciated. Thank you!
Here, Yosemite reinstall procedure......
Important: To reinstall OS X, you must be connected to the Internet. Make sure your power adapter is plugged in. Reinstall OS X using the built-in recovery disk.
In the menu bar, choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears), hold down the Command and R keys.
Select Disk Utility, then click Continue.
Select your startup disk on the left, then click the Erase tab.
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format menu, enter a name, then click Erase.
Important: Erasing the disk removes all the information from the disk. Be sure to back up the information you want to keep to an external device.
After the disk is erased, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.
Select Reinstall OS X, click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Hope this helps.....

How do you erase an external hard drive which will not show up on your computer?

I bought a LaCie porsche design 2TB external hard drive from the Apple Store to use with time machine on my MAC 2 months ago. It will no longer show up on my desktopn. After speaking with LaCie, they sent me a replacement. However, I have to send the brooken one back to them and since we could not erase it or anything on my Mac is there anyway to erase the hard drive before sending it back to them with all my information on there?
Message was edited by: carolsh

I know. But after Yahoo, Target , Neimans and others. But I agree. They even sent me a more expensive replacement as they did not have my model in stock and is backordered. So, a win win situation. I was impressed that the tech person spent about an hour on the phone with me trying a variety of options. At first, they were going to charge me shipping- but then she changed her mind and shipped the replacement 1 day fed ex. I guess that is why I always buy LaCie vs others. My older LaCie which I still had but was smaller- I plugged in and did a back-up and I had just enough room on it so I have that for safe keepings now as well.
Thanks again for your pleasant response. I guess I need to limit my profile to "registered members" only. I hope Apple monitors these discussions and people's responses periodically.

Can you recommend an external hard drive for me?

I have a white macbook- nothing special. the cd burner is broken for the zillionth time so apple will be mailing it away for repairs. they suggested i back everything up before turning it over to them. there isnt much on it except my itunes library, some pictures, and a few word/excel docs. here are my questions:
1- what size external hard drive do i need?
2- is there a cheaper/easier way to do this?
3- is there a recommended brand for macs? i heard western digital was good, but several mac users gave it terrible reviews.
thanks so much!!

If you aren't sure how big your computer's drive is, select the hard drive icon on the desktop and Get Info from the File menu. At the top of the Get Info window you'll see the icon and below that some disclosure triangles - the second one pointing to General. If the triangle isn't pointing down, click on it and you'll see information about your drive. Look for Capacity and that is the formatted capacity.
You'll want a drive that is at least as big as your computer's drive so you can back up everything. Some people only back up their data but that, in my opinion, is silly. Look for a drive that is slightly larger that your drive's capacity. For example, you might see your capacity is 78.7 GB so get at least an 80GB drive. I say at least since you might want to consider using this new external drive with TimeMachine so you can always have an up to date backup. With TimeMachine you should get a drive that is at least twice as large as the data you are backing up.
The cheapest way to do it is to run down to your local discount store and pick up whatever they are selling. That's the cheapest but not necessarily the best. I strongly recommend that you buy a drive that includes FireWire - getting one with FireWire and USB ports will provide a good deal of flexibility. I also strongly recommend that you buy a drive with an external power supply. I recommend drives that derive their power from the computer only when the drive needs to be portable too. A backup drive isn't usually portable.
Name brands such as Seagate, Iomega, and Western Digital are all easy to find and okay. I think everyone has been burned by one brand or another so just about every manufacturer will get slammed with a particular horror story.

Yet Another Question About External Hard Drives

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone could recommend any good external hard drives. I'm confused on what to get considering there never seems to ever be a good one from reviews I've read! Western Digital and Lacie being probably the main culprits.
I'm looking for at least a 500gb with a fire wire connection (as I'll probably do some editing with it too).
Cheers!

Let's demystify external hard drives. It consist of two parts- hard drive itself, which is called internal hard drive- either 2.5 (available for laptops as an internal ) or 3.5 inch. There some other for factor, but these 2 are most common. 2.5 inch (external hard drive) usually doesn't require power source (draws power from usb), so it is very good for using on the go. However they are available only till 320GB (there will be 500GB version soon on a market). 3.5 on the other hand are less portable, but available in bigger sizes- 1TB so far (correct me if I am wrong and there is bigger internal HD than 1TB). If you put in enclosure more than one internal hard drive, then you get more than 1TB. There are some enclosures with fan and without. Ones with fan inside tends to run more loud, because you hear not only spinning hard drive, but also fan. Advantage is that your fan is cooler and supposedly you get better performance. There are only one commonly used internal connection inside external hard drive- SATA( others are less common because they tend to cost more and hd cost more too). There are much more connections to a computer FROM a HD. Firewire 400/800, usb, e-sata. There are hd enclosures with one or two or even all connections on them. Most common is usb, but it is the slowest.
Things to consider are these- buy brand name enclosure or assemble one by yourself. Brand name external hard drives might be cheaper, but carry only 1-(2?) year warranty. Also you don't know WHAT brand hard drive is inside. Especially it is notable for no brand hard drives (seagate, western digital, maxtor probably would shoot themselves before they will put some other brand hard drive).
When you assemble enclosure yourself you know what you get- what components you used and what warranty you will get. There is bigger choice of external enclosures than external hard drives. I used brand name external hard drives and assembled myself and can say that there is no difference in performance- hard drives doesn't last because they are brand name or they don't fail if you assembled yourself (assuming that you used antistatic band and assembled correctly).

How do you dump a external hard drive from PC to mac

How do i dump my external hard drive from a PC to my Mac

If you don't see the external HD when you connect it to the Mac, then you need to use Disk Utility to format the XHD to a FAT32 drive. Once done it will read on the Mac and PC without any problems.

Can you share an external hard drive over a network when your Apple Airport Extreme is in bridge mode?

Hello, is it possible to share an external hard drive over a network when I have my Airport Extreme in bridge mode? I can't use my AE as my main router at the moment but still want to be able to use the hard drive on the network, and the router I am using isn't capable of adding an external hard drive. I use Windows 7 and the other router is a Netgear. I have searched the communities and have not come across an answer to this question. I have tried several configurations within windows to try and see the hard drive but none have worked. I can see the hard drive when I run Airport utlities, but it cannot be seen on the network. Thanks to anyone who can help!

I think there is some confusion in this thread..
If you are sharing on a local LAN port forwarding is not required.
is it possible to share an external hard drive over a network when I have my Airport Extreme in bridge mode?
Answer is yes.. no port forwarding, mapping whatever term is used.. is needed. Port mapping is required when you cross over a NAT router.. as long as all the devices are inside a single LAN.. then no port mapping.
I assign to my Airport Extreme, do I do so with the settings of:
Service: SMB
Type: TCP
Server IP: xx.x.x.x
Port Start: 445
Port End: 445
This would not work even from WAN.. SMB is blocked by all responsible ISP.. there is simply too many unprotected windows machines out there. If they allowed SMB .. the world would be flooded with hijacked bots. And stolen data like bank accounts. SMB is not a secure protocol.
But this is not necessary on a LAN.
The problem can be Mavericks which does a terrible job presenting network drives.. The usual recommendations are to use AFP or force the connection to CIFS (ie SMB1 not 2).
If you use airport,, then use AFP.
In finder.. Go, Connect to server.
AFP://AEname or AEIPaddress. (replace with the network name of the AE or its actual IP address).
When asked for password.. type public if you did not change it or use whatever password you put.
Store the password in the keychain.

Can you use an external hard drive (G-Tech 1 TB) as both a time machine and for storing extra files?

I just got a new external hard drive and will be getting my macbook pro next week. I was wondering if the external hard drive could be used as both a time machine and to have extra files on it? And if so how would you do that?

Time Machine requires a drive that is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), so you will need to check to make sure that this requirement is met.
A drive that the manufacturer says will work with both Mac and Windows will not work with Time Machine.

Can you use an external hard drive on ipad 2

i'm going away in a few weeks and have a 14 hour trip and need to know if i can use an external hard drive with films on it on my ipad 2 if not does anyone know a cheep ish way to power my macbook for that long
cheers guys

I tried that earlier this month: https://discussions.apple.com/message/15867558#15867558
The camera connection kit only copies content into the Photos app and not into the Videos app, and I could copy a personal video (MP4) via the kit and play it in Photos there, but a film that I'd bought from iTunes (M4V) would copy into Photos but wouldn't play.
Also Photos expects content from the kit to be in a particular format : DCIM directory off the root of the card, with the photos/videos underneath it with filenames exactly 8 characters long (no spaces) plus their file extension i.e. in the same format as if a digital camera had written them to the card.

Do you know about external hard drives?

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