External drive for iMac 600mhz

hello,
I am planning to replace the hard drive in my iMac and would like to backup the data onto an external drive using the firewire port.
Can you tell me what kind of drive I should be looking for, and maybe an idea of what it would cost?
Also, I've never used the firewire port before, will there be anything else I need to do other than plug in the external drive.
cheers,
arlene

http://www.macsales.com/ and http://www.lacie.com make getting a Firewire 400 drive pretty painless. They include backup software with their drives that is fairly easy to use. I've used both Retrospect Express (included with Macsales drives), and Silverkeeper (included with LaCie drives, or downloadable from http://www.lacie.com ) if you have any questions once you get them. The price varies on how much data you need to backup. I do believe all their current hard drives are bigger than the one that came installed in your iMac originally. So unless you already replaced that one, an 80 GB or higher should be more than sufficient.

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Trying to format an external drive for imac

Hi I am new to this and have just bought an external drive to back up my imac, 9,1 via time machine. I have followed the instructions in disk utility to erase and reformat, but it is coming back with an error message " could not unmount disk" - can anyone help me get round this please?

An iMac running OS 9.1.x? If so, post to http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=99. If not, since you're mentioning Time Machine, correct your profile information. From Finder->Help->Mac Help: *erase a disk*, returns:
*+To erase a disk:+*
+Open Disk Utility, in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.+
+Open Disk Utility+
+Select the disk in the list at left, and then click Erase.+
+For more information about erasing, click the Help button (looks like a question mark).+

Make use of Seagate 120gb SATA as external drive for imac

I have a nice seagate barracuda 120gb drive in my PC, which I virtually don't use. I was wondering whether there is a way I could use the drice as external firewire drive for my iMac g4 1ghz. Can you actually leave it in the PC and connect to it via a Firewire card in the PC or do you need to take it out, put it into a case with Firewire adapter and use it that way? If so, can you recommend a decent case at good price?
Thanks,
Matthias
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Hello and Welcome to Apple Discussions. I believe your choices are:
Network the two machines such that you can share the storage space.
iFelix's Tech Pages provides details of the set-ups required, you can network over Ethernet, Firewire or Wirelessely.
Or get a SATA to FW/USB2 enclosure. It should be firewire as you need FW to boot a PowerPC OS X Mac from an external drive.
I don't believe a PC can do Target Mode so that rules out that option.
mrtotes

External Drives for iMac

I've an older Mac Pro with 4, 3TB internal disks. I am buying an iMac. Is there a way I can use the internal disks off the Mac Pro with the newest iMac? Are there such things as external drive enclosures for multiple discs? Recommendations, considerations?
Thank you.

Just keep in mind that SATA1 = ~1.5Gbps and SATA2 = ~3.0 Gbps. Both Thunderbolt and USB3 are way faster than this, so the drive's own bus speed (SATA1 or SATA2) is a limiting factor. imho it would be a waste of your hard earned $$ to buy Thunderbolt or USB3 enclosures for these drives.
Further, hard drive data transfer rates generally top out in the range of 1.0 - 1.4 Gbps (120-190 MB/s) when you factor in the internal buffer-to-platter transfer rate. The drive inside is much slower than the external bus interface. Marketers love to tout the speed of the external bus for obvious reasons, and most people don't know the difference.
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Suggestion on a good external drive for imac

I just got to the point of having no memory space. I am looking for the best approach to picking a solid, cost efficient external hard drive. Any suggestion on where to get or possible prices.
TX-Nobya

Robert and BDAqua gave some links to OtherWorldComputing (OWC) a reputable vendor of Mac-compatible accessories and upgrades. I don't represent them, just another satisfied customer over the years.
I think FW drives are in general better performance than USB drives, but there are many variables like how many other devices you have connected, etc... I think most folks would recommend FW drives over USB.
Your model info still doesn't quite narrow down the potential list enough to know if you have FW 400 or FW 800 ports, I think it depends on the display size, only the 24" had the FW800, I'm not really sure.
In your Apple Menu Bar, select the About This Mac, then in the little window that pops up, click the More info button. This will launch System Profiler. You will see a window with lots of info about your computer hardware, click on the FireWire triangle and see the info displayed about the Maximum Speed of the channel.
So for example if you have FW 400, this means the max theoretical speed is 400Mb/sec, if you have FW 800 then your max speed is 800Mb/sec. Neither of which you will probably ever attain this quoted Max speed, but why spend more on a FW800 drive if you only have FW400 ports on that iMac, unless maybe you plan to use it with a future machine.
You definitely need to free up space on your primary internal disk, free space is needed for temporary files and virtual memory as you use your computer, it can lock up if you lack sufficient free space.
http://www.otherworldcomputing.com/
FW 400 Neptune drives
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/Neptune
FW 800 drives
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/FW800
Striped RAID-0 dual drives, enclosures
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/RAID+0
Basically, if you have questions, call Other World Computing, they are also very helpful in making your selection if you aren't totally sure the best fit to your needs.

Using same External drive for iMac and iBook

Hello all,
I have a 15" FP iMac 10.2.8 and iBook 10.3.9 and a wireless Linksys router which is about 4-5 years old. All work on the Linksys network. Currently my LaCie external is hooked to the iMac.
I want to have my external LaCie accessible to both computers for storing Final Cut video files. Is this as simple as connecting the LaCie to the router? I can connect to the LaCie via the ibook through the wireless network now but for accessing video files I assume this is not sufficient; need a physical connection.
Thanks,
Al

You'd get problems. The ports are equal though.
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/firewire/topic2199.html
You could connect an Ethernet-based Hard Disk to the router but it's going to be pretty slow compared to the Firewire connection you're accustomed to. If I were you I'd just hot-swap the Firewire drive between the two Macs.
mrtotes

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What is the best external hard drive for iMac time machine?

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I've been happy with my silver FW Western Digital drives, I use two daisy chainned together (1TB, 2TB). These were the ones sold for mac's so they have a aluminum look to them. Only a bit more expensive than their black USB brothers.

Do you need a special external hard drive for iMac?

Do you need a special external hard drive for iMac?

Any external hard drive that will connect via Firewire 800, USB, or Thunderbolt will work.
I have a 750GB Western Digital Scorpio drive in an OWC case, sitting on a Backpack, which connects via Firewire. Western Digital Scorpio drives have 5 year warranties, the OWC (macsales.com) cases usually use the Oxford chipset which works well with macs, and the Backpack is a slick way to mount a backup drive without taking up desk space.
After you hook up whatever external drive you end up with, you'll partition and initialize it for OS X, then begin using it.
My opinion, I would not get a Western Digital pre-packaged external drive/case. While the hard drives are OK, there have been a number of people that have had issues with the electronics.

Brand new iMac 23.GHz Intel Core i5. Mounts external drive for time machine, then dismounts after backup is complete.

brand new iMac 23.GHz Intel Core i5. Mounts external drive for time machine, then dismounts after backup is complete.

The warranty entitles you to complimentary phone support for the first 90 days of ownership.
If you bought the product in the U.S. directly from Apple (not from a reseller), you have 14 days from the date of delivery in which to exchange or return it for a refund. In other countries, the return policy may be different. If you bought from a reseller, its return policy applies.

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Any external optical drive will work, so you can purchase the one you most like. Have a look at OWC to see some optical drives > http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/

How to best partition an external drive for my purposes?

Hello, please help,
I've just bought a Western Digital 'My Passport' 320Gb USB (no firewire) portable external harddrive for backing up my data prior to iMac repair.
I also plan to totally wipe my PPC iMac and reinstall it with Leopard.
I erased the external HD, zeroing out the data from it's previous owner, and reformatted it as Mac OS Extended (not journaled).
Now I realise that it might be even more useful than I'd imagined.
I'd now like to partition it so I can use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable copy of my entire iMac while using the rest of the drive as a separate partition for just backing up data.
Ideally I want to be able to use the drive on both Intel and PPC Macs and even PCs, is this possible? How should I format the drive to achieve this?
I've heard I should format it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) HFS+, what ever that is
I'm currently running OS 10.4.11 but plan to buy Leopard and install that after the wipe.

17" 1.9Ghz iMac G5 (iSight)
I've just bought a Western Digital 'My Passport' 320Gb USB (no firewire)
I'd now like to partition it so I can use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable copy of my entire iMac while using the rest of the drive as a separate partition for just backing up data.
Ideally I want to be able to use the drive on both Intel and PPC Macs and even PCs, is this possible? How should I format the drive to achieve this?
For what you want to do, there is a mismatch between your PPC computer and the external drive that you bought.
With a few exceptions, a PPC Mac requires a firewire external drive for booting and will not boot from a USB drive, regardless of which OS is installed and regardless of the partition scheme and volume format on the drive. I also have an iMac G5, and mine will not boot from USB.
If you do exchange your drive for a firewire drive, do not get another Western Digital model to use with your G5 - many external WD firewire drives will not boot a PPC mac. See [this page|http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1787]
If you want to keep your present USB drive, you can still partition it with one partition for a backup clone and another for "other stuff". With respect to immediate use for recovering your stuff after a clean Leopard install on the HD, I think that Migration Assistant will still work, though I haven't tried this. As for the future, the problems with a clone not being bootable are 1) You can't test it to see if it works OK, and 2) If you do need to restore from it you'd need to boot from "somewhere else" - I think you could boot from an install disk and use Disk Utility's Restore feature to clone it back.
With regard to PC access, a PPC mac normally requires an Apple Partition Map partition scheme on the drive for booting, and such a scheme does not allow for the FAT32 volume format that is readable by PCs. However in this case since your PPC mac can't boot from it anyway, you could partition the drive as GUID. This would allow the main volume to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for the nonbootable clone, and would allow the extra volume to be formatted as FAT32. If you eventually got an Intel Mac, a clone from it to the main volume would also then be bootable.
But what I would do, if feasible, is exchange the USB drive and get a non-WD firewire drive instead.
Message was edited by: jsd2

Which external drive for backups?

My brand new 21.5" iMac is on its way here today, and I've been told to buy an external drive for backups. Which I think is a great idea. However, my head's starting to hurt from all the info I'm reading here on the forum about WHICH one, Firewire cables, etc etc. The Rocstor 500GB has been recommended to me personally, but I've read about Lacie and a few other brands. I'm thinking it'd be best to get a 1T size. But WHICH HARD DRIVE SHOULD I GET? I don't wanna spend a lot of bucks!!!
Plus I have a Firewire cable but how do I know if it's a 2 or a 4? I bought it when I migrated data from my Silver edition iMac to my G4 iMac back in 2004 or 2005.
Thanks!

Congratulations Sheryl on the new iMac.
I recently replaced a G-4 tower with an iMac. The G-4 had a port for Firewire 400. The iMac came equipped with one Firewire 800 port a firewire cable and 4USB ports. I suspect that also applies to your new machine. In order to transfer files from one machine to the other using Firewire 400/800 I had to buy an adapter from the Apple store. Your help menu will explain how to set up the iMac as a target for the transfer.
As to backup: I use Super Duper and over 8 years had backed up religiously to a Lacie external HD. About the time I needed to use it as a file transfer source to the iMac it quit.
After much study and considering how Time Machine can eat up space I settled on the external hard drives described below - all were partitioned. The Drobo uses firewire 800 and 4 multiple internal hard drives. It is the place where time machine is backed up. The setup was about $600.
The two lacie hard drives are USB 2.0 driven.
I have learned the hard way that it pays to backup the backups.
If I could only have one external hard drive and with all things considered I would opt for the 1TB Lacie Stark (about $125) that is USB driven.
Sure hope this helps a bit. To help further we need to know more specifics about your need.
Mcthomas

Using both internal and external drives for iTunes

Hi
I know this is a basic question . I did a few searches and my head started spinning .
I've been using an external drive for my music but it only has 3GB left .
My internal drive has 12GB so I would like to start to use it for storage of music along with the external . (I'll be getting a new mac soon)
In Importing I have >Create file names with track number
Advanced>Keep iTunes Music folder organized
This is on my Panther eMac with iTunes 4.7.1
thanks in advance for any help
----------bob
Powerbook Mac OS X (10.4.6) Panther eMac

The only thing you have to do is to click the 'Reset' button in Preferences>Advanced>General.
Your 'iTunes Music folder location' will be reset to the default location on the internal disk.
All new imported music will be stored there.
New added music will be stored there if you have the checked 'copy files to iTunes Music folder location when adding to library' in Preferences>Advanced>General.
When your new Mac arrives and you want to transfer the library, first copy the entire 'iTunes' folder (in ./Users/YourUsername/Music) from your eMac to the exact same location on the new Mac.
To transfer the iTunes folder, you can burn it on CD or DVD, but a lot easier is to put the eMac in Firewire target mode.
This article tells you how to do that:
How to use FireWire target disk mode
After the transfer of the iTunes folder is completed, connect your external drive and run iTunes.
The new Mac will have a newer iTunes version and it will take some time to convert the old library format to the new format.
Once all works OK and If you want all your music on your new Mac, use the 'Consolidate Library...' command from the Advanced menu in the menubar.
All music from the external disk will be copied to the internal disk.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

Formatting external drive for storage/backup/video files

Hi,
I just purchased a 500mb My Book Pro external drive for use with my imac duo which runs Windows XP via bootcamp. This computer is shared by three family with very different skills and needs. My dilemma. I want to format the drive so that the imac can be backed up easily three users. It is formated Fat32 and is supplied with Restrospect Express 7.5 backup software. It would be nice to backup the modestly used windows sector, but that's a secondary consideration. My problem is that one user has a lot of larger than 4 gb video files which are too large the Fat 32 format. My notion is to segment the backup drive so that I leave 300 mb in fat 32 to facilitate backup with supplied software, and segment a second 200 gb drive using mac os extended so that the user can manually move her video files for storage/backup on the backup drive. Is there a simpler solution? For example, if I formatted the entire 500gb as mac os extended, could I still run the retrospect backup software? If not, is there a reasonably priced alternative software? And finally, with either Fat32 or Mac OS extended, can I move files from the Windows platform? Would I be better off just biting the bullet and telling my daughter to make her own arrangements to compress and backup her video files or get her own hard drive, thus leaving the backup drive to the simple factory supplied software solution?
G-4 and iMac core duo Mac OS X (10.4.9) use emacs and imacs at work location

Hi,
I just purchased a 500mb My Book Pro external drive
for use with my imac duo which runs Windows XP via
bootcamp. This computer is shared by three family
with very different skills and needs. My dilemma. I
want to format the drive so that the imac can be
backed up easily three users. It is formated Fat32
and is supplied with Restrospect Express 7.5 backup
software. It would be nice to backup the modestly
used windows sector, but that's a secondary
consideration. My problem is that one user has a lot
of larger than 4 gb video files which are too large
the Fat 32 format. My notion is to segment the backup
drive so that I leave 300 mb in fat 32 to facilitate
backup with supplied software, and segment a second
200 gb drive using mac os extended so that the user
can manually move her video files for storage/backup
on the backup drive. Is there a simpler solution? For
example, if I formatted the entire 500gb as mac os
extended, could I still run the retrospect backup
software? If not, is there a reasonably priced
alternative software? And finally, with either Fat32
or Mac OS extended, can I move files from the Windows
platform? Would I be better off just biting the
bullet and telling my daughter to make her own
arrangements to compress and backup her video files
or get her own hard drive, thus leaving the backup
drive to the simple factory supplied software
solution?
G-4 and iMac
core duo Mac OS X (10.4.9) use emacs
and imacs at work location
Hello,
You're indeed in a pickle. If you use Bootcamp and want the HD accessible via the Mac and WinXP, then you don't want to format it as Mac HFS because WInXP wouldn't be able to access it. If you go FAT32 then both WInXP and Mac OS can access it, but you face the dilemma of the 4GB threshold.
If you format as NTFS, then you eliminate the 4GB threshold but then Mac OS cannot access it.
I have a similar dilemma, which is why i use Parallels more than Bootcamp. I have 2 external FW HD's (160GB/250GB), both formatted to Mac HFS. The 160GB i have partitioned as 50GB and 100GB. I have a bootable backup of Mac OS residing on the 100GB partition (yay to SuperDuper!) and some other stuff on the remaining 50GB. The 250GB is exclusive for movies (cough..cough..bittorrent) and for streaming via Orb 2.0 to my Treo. I have WinXP running in Parallels, and Vista Ultimate via Bootcamp. In Parallels, i can access my external HD's via Parallel's Shared Folders but in Vista (Bootcamp) since the HD's are in a non-Windows recognised formatting, they're not accessible (which is a bummer, as i'm loving Win media center).
What you can do is partition the HD the way you're thinking and format (one part Mac HFS and the other NTFS), but my best recommendation is that with the falling prices of HD's nowadays, why not just get a seperate HD do what you want with it. I spied a WD MyBook 500GB USB HD at CompUSA for $129.99 (no mail-in rebate nonsense) and similar good prices at Bestbuy and Newegg.com.
iMac 17" 2GHZ C2Duo 2GB RAM 160GB HD Mac OS X (10.4.9)

External drive for iMac 600mhz

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