External HDD via eSATA or internal HDD - which is fastest?

I am thinking of putting a fifth HDD in the optical bay of my mac pro. It looks a little bit fiddly to install (brackets, routing cables etc). I also have a Sonnet Tempo E4P SATA card. Is aan external HDD connected vis eSATA as fast as an internal drive?
Also, if I have two external drives set up as RAID 0 and use these as a scratch disk for photoshop will they be faster than a single internal HDD?

I also have a Sonnet Tempo E4P SATA card. Is aan external HDD connected via eSATA as fast as an internal drive?
Yes - an external HD configured with the E4P is just as fast as an internally mounted hard disk. The advantage provided by the eSATA host adapter is that the HD attached to it is now hot swappable. The internal hard disk is not.
Hot swap is great for backup sets and adding storage as needed.

Similar Messages

[solved] Thinkpad x61 w/ /boot on external USB can't see internal hdd

Hi all,
EDIT: Fixed it. I had to boot the install media and re-run mkinitcpio -p linux. Not sure if I forgot to do that the first time or if something changed...
I have my /boot partition on an external USB key. I installed grub on that key. My main disk is supposed to be encrypted, and is internal in my Thinkpad x61. When I boot with this setup, grub can't find the system disk. I get dumped to a recovery console, and lsblk just shows the USB key.
If I plug the internal drive in via a USB-SATA converter, everything works as it is supposed to.
It seems like when the thinkpad boots from the USB key it isn't turning on the internal drive or making it available to linux. Has anyone seen something like this?
When I boot the arch installation media from USB I can see the internal drive right away. Is there a way to figure out what the installation boot is doing that I'm not on my regular system?
Thanks in advance,
Lefty
Last edited by LeftyAce (2014-01-05 05:06:43)

Yup, sudo makes all the difference.
[warnec@chakra-desktop ~]$ sudo lsusb
Hasło:
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 003: ID 1532:0109 Razer USA, Ltd Lycosa Keyboard
Bus 007 Device 002: ID 046d:c049 Logitech, Inc. G5 Laser Mouse
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 058f:6362 Alcor Micro Corp. Hi-Speed 21-in-1 Flash Card Reader/Writer (Internal/External)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0424:2504 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 03f0:2904 Hewlett-Packard
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
[warnec@chakra-desktop ~]$
My /etc/group:
root::0:root
bin::1:root,bin,daemon
daemon::2:root,bin,daemon
sys::3:root,bin
adm::4:root,daemon
tty::5:
disk::6:root
lp::7:daemon
mem::8:
kmem::9:
wheel::10:root
ftp::11:
mail::12:
uucp::14:
log::19:root,warnec
locate::21:warnec
smmsp::25:
http::33:
games::50:
network:x:90:warnec
video:x:91:warnec
audio::92:warnec
optical::93:hal,warnec
floppy:x:94:hal,warnec
storage:x:95:hal,warnec
scanner:x:96:warnec
power:x:98:warnec
nobody::99:
users::100:warnec
dbus:x:81:
hal:x:82:
policykit:x:102:
camera:x:97:warnec
avahi:x:84:
cdemu:x:103:
mysql:x:89:
I guess I should add "warnec" after "daemon"?

Prohibited sign at bootup after cloning internal hdd to external hdd and booting up from it

Good evening.
My specifications/environment: I have a Macbook Pro 17" 2009 model running Snow Leopard 10.6.8. The internal hdd had 2 partitions, one for Mac and one for Bootcamp.
Objective: I am trying to upgrade the internal 500GB to a Seagate 1TB external Harddrive and making it the primary internal. Then I want to upgrade to Mountain Lion.
Steps taken: Used a 2TB external to make a Time Machine backup of the current internal harddrive. I put it aside. I made a clone of the internal harddrive (only the mac partition) to another 1TB external, using Disk Rescue 3. I took external Seagate out of its external case and replaced the 500GB internal. I booted up with the new 1TB drive and got a prohibited sign with the spinning circle. I booted up again holding in the ALT key to select the boot drive.
I did notice though that the 1TB Seagate drive used, is a little bit fatter than the previous 500GB internal. I did manage to fit the drive in still, as it had the SATA connector and it did sort of fit in.
Since I couldnt get the drive loaded up, I put the original back in, started up and did a verify and repair on the new drive. It did say that there was a minor header error and it fixed it. Put the new 1TB back in as the internal, but still getting the prohibited sign at startup.
I booted up again without holding ALT and got the folder with the question mark flashing. I shut down again and used ALT and selected the Hard drive for start up and got the prohibited sign again.
i must mention that I also had difficulties deleting the Bootcamp partition and reclaiming the storage to the Mac HDD.
I have more details on the issue as I've tried so many different things.
Please guide me into what steps I should take to make this work.
Thank you in advance

After the two previous partition/format attempts (the first of which included Zero Data erase [around 5 hrs on the 500GB drive as recommended per Kappy's Extended Hard Drive Preparation]) I returned the drive to the retailer for an exchange with an identical WD Scorpio Blue 500GB (I wasn't sure that there was an issue with the drive but didn't want to take any chances on my brand new hard drive upgrade....).
I prepared the new replacement drive attached via USB 2.0 Bytec DriveMate (which has a separate power supply) using Disk Utility (running DU off the internal hard drive [Leopard ver 11.1}), partitioned as 1 partition, GUID, Mac OS Extended (Journaled); erased (but did not zero data); unchecked the "ignore ownership" check box of the external destination drive via Get Info after selecting the drive on the Desktop; and cloned the internal HD to the external drive using the Restore tab of DU, selecting "erase destination" check box.
The clone using Disk Utility Restore tab completed successfully in around 4 hours (83GB of data cloned to the 500GB drive...seems long...perhaps selecting "erase destination" under the Restore tab caused it to take longer?). I unchecked the "ignore ownership" box for the destination drive again after cloning. Rebooted to the external drive and ran a few apps....everything OK.
Not sure what the difference was in the successful clone - whether there was a problem with the original drive or whether "zeroing the data" during the first erase and partition may have created issues - but it worked fine with the new drive.

My disconnected external HDD is somehow writing itself to my internal HDD!

Ok, so the other night I got a notification from OS X that I was almost out of disk space, which I found very odd, because the last time this happened was when I had my external hard drive connected, and it was somehow writing itself onto my internal hard drive (it is formatted so that I can use it for both my MBP and the Windows machine at home). You can understand my puzzlement when I got the message, as I did not have my external connected at the time, and had not had it connected since the day before. I had, however, noticed some significant lagging in Safari and Adium, which I found very odd as being the only things affected. As of writing this, I will have cleaned off what has been written to my hard drive twice now (each time 50+ GB!), and I am starting to get very frustrated, with finals and projects coming due very fast now. It appears that the writing starts after I leave Safari/Adium idle for a while, which is very odd, as I can't imagine why either of these programs being idle would initiate this unexplained writing.
I have, however, noticed that there seems to be something invisible in the trash folder that will simply not delete, and has been there since I had the initial problem of my external writing to the internal drive. The Trash constantly tells me there is "1 item" in the trash, but nothing shows up. When I go to Secure Empty I get the little window that tells you the completion status on the emptying, and it always says "4 Items to delete." Even after showing all hidden files and folders, nothing shows up in the trash, despite there always being "1 Item" in there. My guess is that this could be what is causing the writes. What I don't understand is how in the world it managed to store my 100+ GB of stuff on my external in an invisible file that is taking up next to no space on my system, because when I do a scan using Grand Perspective, it doesn't show anything out of the ordinary files and folders that I know should be there. Certainly not 100+ GB of what I have on my external, as I know what I have where, and what are duplicates, and duplicates only show up after the external files have written themselves.
Some additional details for consideration:
Bootcamped hard drive, 15GB for my Windows partition, have only used it to play Roller Coaster Tycoon, and have only connected to the internet on Windows a total of 3 times, each time to download Firefox, iTunes, and Safari, no additional browsing.
External HDD is a LaCie Firewire 400 drive, 320GB formatted for both Windows and Mac (HFS+, right?), haven't connected it in at least two days. Last time this happened it was actually connected, but this time has not been connected when the files have magically appeared on my internal HDD.
There is an invisible file (or multiple files) somehow not showing up AT ALL that is hanging around in the trash. I believe this invisible file(s) to be the culprit, though I'm puzzled as to how. Each time the mysterious writes have happened, Safari/Adium have been idle and open.
If you're wondering how in the world this is happening, don't worry. The first time this happened when my drive was actually connected, I took my MBP to the Apple Store in Indianapolis and totally stumped three employees, including the store manager. If he thought that was odd, wait until I tell him its now writing to my HDD without being connected!

Each time the problem is in the /Volumes/LaCie folder, which is hidden. This leads me to believe its a ghost from my external HDD, rather than from my Bootcamp partition. The 50+ GB that it has written so far has not been duplicates of less than 10GB of information on my Windows partition, it is all files and folders from my approx. 130+GB of information on my external.
In talking with a friend on my floor last night, he thinks it might be a ghost image, as some people have evidently gotten this problem in their email accounts here at the school lately. This ghost image is on my OS X partition, and I'm almost 100% certain it isn't a problem with my Bootcamp partition, as nothing appears in my trash on the Windows side. I have also never used my external with my Windows partition. Like I said, everything being written is from my external hard drive.
Thanks for the link, checking it out now.

How can I partition internal HDD after installing Windows 7 Professional via Boot Camp 4.0?

I recently purchased MacBook Pro 13" (Late 2011) model with OS X v10.7.2 Lion installed. I've upgraded to OS X v10.7.3 Lion and updated all other software.
I require Windows 7 for some Windows based softwares that do not support Mac OS X. Therefore, used Boot Camp 4.0 to install Windows 7 and then tried partitioning single internal HDD to have 3 partitions (4 total including BOOTCAMP partition). Disk Utility created a 648.5MB partition and then I was able to create 3 other partitions of custom sizes. After applying these changes, I got an error message that said selected volume size is too small. I resized this 648.5MB partion to a custom size and had total 4 partitions, including BOOTCAMP.
After reapplying these changes, BOOTCAMP partition was removed and I was left with only 3 partitions and empty space.
I've tried several different ways to partition the disk, all in vein. Is there a way I can partition my single internal HDD after installing Windows 7 Professional via Boot Camp 4.0?

You can't do what you want with GUI utilities, which will only allow a total of 4 partitions due to the limitation of MBR needed to support Windows. Those four partitions: EFI System (hidden), Mac OS, Recovery HD (hidden), Windows. So with Lion, you only get two visible partitions if you're going to use Windows with BootCamp. You can't make anymore with the included graphical tools.
If you need more partitions you'll need to use something like GPT fdisk (gdisk) to create the partitions in the GPT first. Then add the Windows partition only to the MBR and flag it as bootable. gdisk can be googled and downloaded for Mac OS X off sourceforge. It is not a GUI tool.
You should read this:
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/
And this:
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html

I already partitioned my hdd via Bootcamp, supports downloaded, and windows is on an external USB. How can I start installing Windows now? at startup it doesnt show up as bootable device...

hi,
I am having a problem installing windows via bootcamp.
I already partitioned my hdd via Bootcamp, downloaded and copied all the supports for windows, and windows is on an external USB as well. I had to stop the process the other day, so i shut down the computer. Now I am trying to boot from the USB, but I cant get to that point where the computer should restart and windows would start installing.
. After restarting, holding command, it doesnt show up as bootable device.
How shall I move forward? My disk is already partitioned, and if i start the whole process from the beginning, it wants me to partition again - although I already made a 100GB partition for windows.
Please help me out.
best,
Zoltan

So, here is what happened when I tried to make it.(sorry for quality, i had to take them by phone)
At first when I opened it I saw that I could simply resolve it just by stretching the arrow at the bottom, giving the 100 GB back which I partitioned before via Bootcamp. At this point options was not available.
I didnt do it because you mentioned earlier that it might be not designed to install windows.
The second thing I tried I choose 1 Partition from Partition Layout. This time Options were available but I didnt see anything like GPT, the onces that are optionable are on the screenshot.
What do you think how shall I move on? I was thinking to give it a shot with option 1, just stretch it back and try everything from scratch.

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight as described here. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can also use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

Should I upgrade the internal hdd on my 2008 8.1 iMac or use an external drive?

I have an external hdd right now it is a 500gb go seagate goflex with a number of iTunes folders that I put on from my windows pc. I just received this 2008 2.4ghz core 2 duo 8.1 iMac and tried to import the files. The internal hdd is only 250gb so they would not fit, when I tried to get iTunes to run from the external drive it would but I would have to manually open each artist then album then song I wanted in the Finder for it to play. The songs do not show up automatically in iTunes, even though I think I followed all of the instructions for external hdd support. I was going to buy a new iMac and have the genius set it up, but now I think I am going to upgrade the RAM myself and am deciding wether or not I should also replace the internal hdd to 2TB or just get an external hdd so when I get a new iMac, maybe next year, I could still use it. However, I don't want to get another, larger external hdd if I'm going to have a hard time transferring all of my media to iTunes. Can I pay to have an apple genius do this at the store? I just upgraded the operating system to Snow Leopard and am waiting to upgrade RAM before moving to Mountain Lion. I just want my iTunes to sync up, at this point I will do just about anything, short of buying a new Mac. Thanks for any help.

You can keep your iTunes collection on an external drive. You can also keep just bulky items that you may not want to see often such as movies and just keep smaller items on the internal drive. This split option is more tricky but there are several ways to do it.
If all you have is a modest music collection, you can manage with an internal drive. Most modern media collections with huge movies files fast outpace even larger internal hard drives and you will have to resort to an external drive. Your computer dating from 2008 is (according to Apple's coproration standards) on its way to becoming a museum piece (hey, I still use a 10 year old computer, but Apple gave up hope for me years ago). I would not upgrade the internal drive. That will cost you a lot and be tricky to take with you to your next computer. An external drive you can just plug into a new computer.
Some of the issues you are encountering are because you do not yet know how to properly manage and transfer iTunes files. We can help you, or you can pay somebody a lot of money to do this for you on a regular basis.
Your GoFlex drive was used with Windows. Macs and Windows use different drive formats. If you are now using Mac-only then you will need to reformat the drive (you will need to store all those files elsewhere while you are doing this).
Do not buy just one external drive. When that drive fails (oh, and believe me, it will) your whole collection will be lost. Some of it you may be able to download again from Apple, but Apple does not "store" your iTunes collection, it is up to you to ensure its safety.

How can i Move pic from internal hdd to an external hdd

hi everyone, i had a new Mac Book Air for a couple months ago, notice my internal hdd is getting full of pic, i would like to move them to an external HDD, how can i do that, i looked at the Iphoto library folder, nothing there, or i can not see them, any help will be appreciate it, and thank you in advance for your help...

If you have a large iPhoto library, you can save space by moving it to an external drive, yes. You will not be able to see the individual pictures in the library file - just move the entire IPhoto Library file to the other drive, then double-click it to open iPhoto and tell the application where your new library is.
If your image collection is not in iPhoto, where is it?
Matt

How to Make my Macbook Pro's internal HDD external, when I get a SSD?

Hey, I know there are other posts on what enclosure you can use and if it's a possibility, but I haven't seen any that tell me how I get OS X on the SSD without a disc? Can I download the installer on a flash drive somehow? Also, I am wondering if this really is a good idea, using my Macbook Pro's HDD for a backup HDD, instead of buying one? I have no use for it anyway, if and when I get a new SSD. BTW, the HDD is the upgraded factory 500gb 7200rpm. Also, do you think it's smarter to have a bigger backup drive than internal drive? In other words, I would like to get a 1TB Samsung 850 Pro SSD, and my current HDD is only 500GB.... I am a musician and need a lot of storage for musical purposes. I use Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro X, Ableton Live 9, Office, and Photoshop.... My Macbook Pro is a Late 2011 Macbook Pro 15.4' 2.2ghz quad core i7 8gb RAM. Oh yeah and a mother thing is, I think I should get an enclosure that has a thunderbolt port with usb, what are your thoughts?

How to Make my Macbook Pro's internal HDD external, when I get a SSD?
Get an externel enclosure at the same time.
You can order from OWC
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Put the SSD in the externel enclosure and use something like Carbon Copy Cloner, to clone the internal drive and all it content to the SSD. Then swap them out.
Always good to have more than one backup.

Dual Internal HDD in MacBook Pro? How? Which Models?

Alright well it's official; my logic board failed on my 2011 MBP, and now I need to replace it. I have been trying to research the mythical dual internal hard drive setup in the MacBook Pros but haven't found any specifics on which models can and which models can't.
The cheapest avenue which I can take is to simply adopt my older sister's laptop, but I wanted to figure out whether or not it's dual internal HDD capable.
Here are the specfications on that laptop:
And if this laptop is capable, can it handle 16GB RAM? I've heard conflicting anwers in regards to that, half stating that 16GB is possible but that Apple refuses to acknowledge the fact, and the other half stating to heed Apple's warning that 8GB is the max.
The second (much more expensive) route is that if laptop is indeed incapable, as I fear it might be, which models should I look at? Was this just a thing of the past that is no longer possible?
Thanks, and I appologize if this is a "dumb question"

PocketFool wrote:
So the 2012 MBP is capable of supporting a 2nd internal HDD? Can you link to the OWC website that you mentioned?
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/data+doubler
The MBP *can* accept the 16GB RAM but does this void any warranty since Apple technically says that you shouldn't/can't run that much?
Only on the RAM itself, not the rest of the MBP. The RAM vendor guarantee will cover that.
However installing the data doubler will void the Apple warranty.
Ciao.
Re: RAM: It is not that Apple prohibits the installation of 16 GB RAM, it is a case where they simply have not tested 16 GB of installed RAM.
Message was edited by: OGELTHORPE

HT5219 I have a macbook air and I connect it to an external HDD via thunderbolt and nothing happens....

I have a macbook air and I connect it to an external HDD via thunderbolt and nothing happens....

If a PRAM reset fails to help, an appointment at the Apple store genius bar would be the next option.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Ciao.

Can't see my External HDD via Airport Extreme & powered hub

I have Windows 7 laptop and it just can't seem to detect my HDD via the Airport Extreme wired through a powered hub. If I connect HDD directly to my laptop it can see the files.
First I had problems with seeing my printer and found out that I had to install Bonjour and that worked. Is there some kind of program to make my HDD accessible?

Mekhaiia wrote:
is there a easy way to format my external hdd.
of course there is an easy way, however, it entails erasing all data on the drive. do you have access to a spare, "temporary", drive ?

How to retrieve files on external HDD via Time Capsule?

I have external HDDs connected to Time Capsule but when I access those HDDs, they don't show the files that were stored in them. However, when I check the "Get Info" on those HDDs, it shows how much capacity is used and how much is available. How can I retrieve my files on those external HDDs via Time Capsule? Many thanks for your help!!

How is the drive formatted?
Does it show up in the airport utility?
TC has very restricted ability to read HFS+ (ie standard Mac format) or Fat32.

Can I run a Sawtooth without an internal HDD?

Hey all,
I recently started seeing my S.M.A.R.T. staus on my non-factory internal HDD as "failing" once in a while. Having some experience with this in the past, I decided to immediately dump the entirety of my 100GB WD internal ATA onto my maxtor firewire external. I then went to buy a replacement internal.
I decided on a Seagate 300GB, finding out at home, of course, that the Sawtooth doesn't recognize (natively at least) more than 128. OK, well, so that one goes back.
In the meantime, during the long and drawn-out process of figuring that out, My computer stopped starting up. I.e., there is of course no OS on the new HDD, (nor the original 30GB that was also in there as a slave to my WD that went bad) so I was trying to boot up off of the Tiger install disk via my lacie firewire optical drive. After the gray "apple" screen I'd get a kernel panic... every time.
I started up the sawtooth via target disk mode, hooked up to my MacBook. I could see the new drive in there (I'd totally unhooked the 30GB original by this point trying to isolate the panic issues) and that it was 'only' 127GB large. I formated it. Still, none of this seemed to matter. Kernel panic everytime I tried to start up from the external.
So, as to the title of this thread...
Can I just remove all of the internal HDDs? Is there a performance hit for running an OS off of an external firewire (or USB2 via a PCI card) compared to the ATA bus on the Sawtooth?
I know this computer is running out of life. It's been an awsome workhorse for years now. I do plan on getting a new desktop before too awful long, but I'd like to get a little more out of this one.
Thanks for any input.
, Josh
BlackBook and G4 Sawtooth w 1GHz upgrade. 5G60GB iPod [white] Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hi, iDVD -
well first off you cannot boot OS X from usb firewire of course.
Not exactly true.
First, it is either USB or firewire, not 'USB Firewire' - they are two separate and distinct buses.
All G4s except the G4 (PCI) model can boot to either a firewire or a USB drive using OS 9.
OSX can indeed boot from an external firewire drive. Older versions of OSX can not boot from a USB drive; not sure about Tiger.
the reason you were having problems booting from the stock drive is because you had plugged into the Slave cord. you cannot boot from a slave drive
Incorrect.
It makes no difference on a G4 (AGP) model whether a drive is jumpered as Single, Master, or Slave, provided that the jumpering is correct for the number of drives - all internal drives are bootable for all OS's valid for the machine (depending upon some size restrictions being adhered to).
It also makes no difference which connector on the ATA bus the drive is connected to - except that if there is but one drive on the bus, the end connector should probably be used.
Power Macintosh G3 and G4: IDE Master and Slave Support and Configuration

External HDD via eSATA or internal HDD - which is fastest?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for