Hard drives, externals, enclosures,... help?

If anyone could lend me their experience and or advice regarding what works well with the MBP (Santa Rosa chip) I would greatly appreciate it. I've attempted to do as much research on this myself, as I understand what works best is subjective a great deal of the time to what you intend to use the space for, however, after much research and acronym discussions +like you wouldn't believe+, I'm fairly confident my brain at this point, is toast.
My primary focus with this drive will be regarding rather large RAW files, working with Aperture and Lightroom, and with any luck being able to do so while hopefully avoiding lagging the workflow process much, if at all. That being, I'm guessing firewire 800, possibly Sata via the expresscard solutions available is the route to take? As far as enclosures and self-built externals go, seagate barracuda's 7200.11 seem to be spot on from what I can find mixed with a lot of people talking up OWC's Mercury Elite.... In the opinion of those familiar with this setup and possibly having made and or used others, would you recommend this option more so than the next or if not, any set reason? Would firewire be fully sufficient for what I'm looking to do or is it worth the money to invest in sata considering progression of technology in that avenue or is this perpendicular recording all it's hyped up to be?
From what I can tell, it seems as though the OWC/Seagate option is the best investment (based on what I'm looking for) in relation to size, speed and overall reliability, but being that I personally have limited knowledge on this subject, I figured I would ask here for any additional insight you guys might be willing to offer.
Thanks for your time.

Hi, mcholley, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
I can't suggest any remedy for your optical drive not reading audio CDs but having no trouble with data CDs, except to say it's apparently a software problem, not hardware-based.
After replacing your hard drive, did you reinstall your operating system from scratch on it, or did you restore your OS from a backup you had made?
The disappearance of your external drives (are they USB or FireWire?) may be power-related. Are they externally powered, or are you powering them from the USB or FireWire bus? If they're bus-powered, are you connecting both of them at once? That won't work: together they demand more power from the bus than it can supply, and while they may spin, they won't mount. Connect only one of them at a time. Is either of them detected by Apple System Profiler when just one is connected to the Powerbook? Does it mount on the desktop then?
If you've been able to connect both drives to the Powerbook at the same time in the past, and both have mounted OK, then there's been some hardware change recently, other than your hard drive replacement, that has caused the loss of external drive detection. Is it possible that during your recent operations you've turned off one or both of the external drives, or disconnected it/them from the Powerbook, without dismounting it from the desktop first? Depending on what, if anything, the drive was doing at the time, that can make a FireWire drive unmountable and all the data on it inaccessible. In that case it may be necessary to erase and reformat the drive. I don't know whether the same is true of USB drives.
Do you have another Mac to which you can connect the drives, to see whether they show up on it? If they do, you might have to consider the possibility that the port(s) to which you've been connecting them on your Powerbook is bad.

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Do you have a complete bootable clone of your entire
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External Hard Drive and iTunes Help

iTunes
Here is my impossible question that many people keep giving me the wrong answer or at least differing answers. This involves "senior advisors" in apple.
Few things to note:
- I'm using iTunes 11.0.1
- I have the newest gen Apple TV
- I have the newest gen AirPort Extreme
- I'm using a western digital (for Mac) external hard drive
I don't consider myself extremely gifted when it comes to using computers but I understand things from trial and error.
I don't want to have any music on my internal SSD (MacBook air). I want to keep all of it on my external.
I downloaded all of my music from transmission and changed file location to my external HD.
I put my file location of iTunes media folder onto my external.
I also have my file location (opt+iTunes) to that media folder when I open iTunes.
All works great and works like it should. I can unplug this external - and my iTunes won't open of course cause my external isn't plugged in. I understand that. When I plug it back in it works again and I'm happy.
Here's where things get difficult.......
I unplugged my external and plugged it into my USB port into the back of my AirPort Extreme. Connected to the external via MacBook Air.
When I opened iTunes all my music was gone.
I quickly unplugged my external from the airport and plugged it back into my MBA and my iTunes library was gone again. Even when I directed it to my external.
I can transfer songs back but that's tiresome every time.
I want to be able to access my big iTunes library wirelessly through my AirPort Extreme and stream movies/music through iTunes/ATV Then when I travel I can unplug it and have that same library connected directly to my MBA and do the same thing.
Do I have to change my library location each time?
Please help!
I would appreciate detailed instructions on what to do?
Everyone gives me wrong answers and many people say this can't be done!
Hope everything was worded properly and makes a bit of sense!

I can understand why you'd want to attempt this if you didn't want to drag your laptop all over your house, porting the external HD along, but do you really need full iTunes access in every room on the laptop? If not—if you basically use your laptop in one area, forget ever seving media from the base station; just connect your external HD to the laptop and turn on Home Sharing for ATV, streaming with AirPlay, etc... I have three computers connected to three externals, all serving via home sharing to three sepaprate ATVs. This works well.
If you really need to hook up this drive to your AEBS via USB, first know that this option could be slow, depending on your drive (7200RPM is better) and connection (USB 3 may make this more acceptable, IDK). My only guess is that this may be possible by creating two libraries on the MBA. One, which you will set to keep your music organized and be the one you use to manage the library (however you want to do that—corded will be faster), and the other that will leave files as they are found. You will have to re-add your media to the secondary library, but it won't faff around with your file locations. This is only a test scenario, as I have no idea if this solution would work. You may find it useful to try out if your other options are exhausted.

Getting a new hard drive! Need HELP!

Okay, so I know how to switch out a hard drive in a Macbook Pro...no big deal. My question is if there is an easy way to get al your personal info, files, iphoto library, music...off the laptop onto one external hard drive. I figure I can hunt around and move it all, but had no idea whether or not the OS had a way of boxing up all your stuff within a user account and porting all over ot an external hard drive as one file. That way, when you got OS X re-installed, you could just port that user back onto it. Does that exist?
-Cratin

You could put the new drive in an external firewire enclosure (they're cheap) & clone your current hard drive files to it. Then boot to the new drive to ensure it's working OK. Then install the new drive in your laptop. You can use your old drive as a backup, installed in the firewire enclosure.
To clone, you can use the freeware CarbonCopy Cloner @ http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html , or the freeware SuperDuper @ http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html , or the freeware IBackup @ http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/index.html , or the Restore function of Disk Utility included in OS X.
Here's some helpful laptop sites.
Fix It Guides for Mac Laptops & Mini
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/
The guides can be viewed on-line or you can download a PDF file.
How to Upgrade, Repair, Disassemble an Apple/Macintosh Laptop or Notebook
http://repair4laptop.org/disassembly_apple.html
PowerBookTech
http://www.powerbooktech.com/
(Note - PowerBookTech has some good info, however, some Mac users in other forums were having difficulty getting delivery on parts from them.)
How to Upgrade, Repair, Disassemble an Apple/Macintosh Laptop or Notebook
http://repair4laptop.org/disassembly_apple.html
Laptop Repair Guides
http://www.applerepairmanuals.com/#portables
MicroDock
http://www.microdocusa.com/
 Cheers, Tom

Older iMac hard drive in enclosure won't boot long to new iMac?

I have just received my new iMac i7 with the THIN case.....it is pretty awesome! I removed the hard drive from my previous iMac (2006 Intel core 2 duo) and put it into an enclosure hoping to retreive my old files. Here is the problem.....the old hard drive (250GB) will not stay booted long enough to transfer my files. The enclosure is a Sabrent 3.5" SATA hard drive USB 3.0 enclosure. It will appear for approx. 20-30 seconds, and then the message:
"The disk was not ejected properly. If possible, always eject a disk before unplugging it or turning it off. To eject a disk, select it in the Finder and choose File > Eject. The next time you connect the disk, Mac OS X will attempt to repair any damage to the information on the disk."
It will disappear from the desktop and I am unable to access it any longer. I am able to open the older hard drive and can open older folders, etc. while it is mounted on the desktop.
A little background on the older iMac.....it quit working completely, would not turn on, no fan noise, no hard drive spinning, NOTHING. I ordered a replacement power supply and installed it......but still nothing. I can only assume the logic board is dead. Since it was what the genious at the Apple store called "vintage", we deicided to upgrade, hence the new iMac. (And it was 7 years old after all!!)
What can I do to get the info I need from the older hard drive? Like I said, it's 7 years old and has a LOT of info. I WAS able to backup pictures, music, and some misc. work to an external hard drive before it died....but I need the "little" things like my address book, calendar, old emails, bookmarks, etc.
Thanks in advance for any help in this matter!

If this is an enclosure that is USB powered that may be the problem. Mac are notorious for not putting out enough power from the USB port to properly power these USB powered drives. I suggest you get a SATA to USB Adapter that has it own AC power supply to power the drive.

Hard Drive Dead? Help!

Hi, so I recently bought an enclosure for my old HD that died out on me, I suppose? My mac was asleep, then I pressed any button on the computer to wake it up, then I clicked on Mail right away, and it froze for a while.. so I held the power down to restart it. When it restarted, it gave me a white screen with a folder with a question mark on it. I was told my HD was bad. So I changed it, now my mac is up and running. BUT... i need my old files from my old HD. I bought an enclosure, plugged and played.. nothing comes up. How can I get my old files? Please help!!!!

This one has an outside chance of working. But if it doesn't work, _be warned_, might make the data completely unrecoverable through a professional data rescue service. I've only heard about this and never done it myself. You put it in the freezer. Not sure why this is supposed to work, but it might.
_Much safer to try Data Rescue first. I would try this only as a last resort._
For others, try googling hard drive dead freezer and see what you think.
http://hacknmod.com/hack/how-to-recover-dead-hard-drive-data/
I can tell you from experience that it in fact DOES work…most of the time. I have managed to recover data 3 times from dead drives, and have also not managed to recover data about the same amount of time. So, it is fair to say that for me, it worked 50% of the time.
I placed the drive in two zip lock bags expelling as much as air as possible before zip locking both bags. I left it in the freezer for approx. 12 hours with no luck, but after freezing it for extended periods of time, it worked like a charm. It is also important to note that this is generally a one shot deal, if it works, you’re in luck, but you must get as much data as possible from the drive because once it dies, it is rare that you will gain access a second time.
The 3 times I did manage to get the data back, I exhumed only the data that I absolutely required. In other words, only the data I created or files that I placed on the drive.
I too, found it hard to believe when I first heard it, but after losing 3 years of tax returns I HAD to try it. Fortunately for me, it worked like a charm.

Can't put hard drive into enclosure

I rencently took out my hard drive (Bay A) out of my 1.6 Ghz G5 tower and when I tried to put the hard drive into the enclosure there are big black screws that are blocking the way. I bought many Phillips Screwdriver, trying to unscrew those 4 black screws and was unsuccessful! What am I suppose to do now?! The harddrive is still connected to the enclosure but I can't put it in!

I can only go by the drive screws that I have unscrewed in the past. The Drive Screws are shown in Figure 6 here
http://www.info.apple.com/usen/cip/pdf/g5/073-0851.pdf
There is a better picture here
http://www.mac-pro.com/922-6253?sc=2&category=408
I found that the centre of the screw with the cross-head is metal, but the outer curved dome-shaped piece is plastic. If you insert a small flat-bladed screwdriver or blunt knife, carefully, under the outer edge of the plastic collar, where it touches the drive, it can be lifted up and off, exposing the flat side of the central metal screw - which can then be gripped with needle-nosed pliers, or similar, and turned in the same direction as you would to unscrew it with a screwdriver, anti-clockwise.
If your drive screws are solid metal, including the outer curved collar, then you will have to get someone to help you.
Be of Good Cheer - every screw comes out in the end! (one way or another) Good Luck.

New hard drive and enclosure for the old one

Hi all,
I'm looking at putting a larger hard drive into my Ally PB. I checked OWC and they're so ridiculously cheap I'm gonna put a 160GB into it. I intend to buy a F/Wire 800 enclosure the old 2.5" hard drive. Now, here is my question: If I remove the existing hard drive and drop into a FW enclosure will I have to reformat the drive or will I be able to use it as a start up disc as is with all the current data and apps on it?

Hey Silly Rabbit! We meet again. I didn't even realize who the original poster was. I thought it was odd that the person responding was you but it didn't match the thread I remember you from. Then I noticed that this was a different thread but you were the one asking for help!
Silly me!
That's perfect! The only interface you're missing there is eSATA. Then you'd be set for life, with all current interfaces supported.
There's one for that too, if you're interested:
FireWire 400/800, USB 2.0, eSATA Combo Enclosure
You can find them on eBay too.

Hard Drive dimensions & enclosures

I've been looking through previous messages and replies regarding replacing hard drives. One response said that the internal drive is 2.5". My Toshiba HDD2182 40 GB drive measures 2.75 inches. Is this the actual measurement for what is identified as a 2.5" drive? My PowerBook was dropped and is no longer usable; however, I'd like to see if I can salvage information from the hard drive by using an enclosure for it. I'm concerned about accurate dimensions and I'm curious about what kind of external enclosure to buy. I have another PowerBook G4 and a desktop G4. Thanks for help to me and for all these many responses in the various categories of topics. All have been helpful to me over the years. . . .

Hi, Lee. Hard drive dimensions are standardized across the industry. All modern 2.5" drives will fit in any current 2.5" enclosure, and all modern 3.5" drives will fit in any current 3.5" enclosure.
I've always assumed that 2.5" or 3.5" is the diameter of the platter(s) inside the case, not the case itself. I don't know that for certain, but it doesn't matter: all drives of the same nominal size are interchangeable.
EDIT: Physically interchangeable, that is. There are different connection protocols: ATA and SATA. Those aren't interchangeable.

Hard drives, externals, enclosures,... help?

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