Help - clueless about new external hard drive

Sorry I am a bit clueless. I Have an iMac G5 and just purchased a Western Digital elements external HD to store my music and photos on. I plugged it in and see the icon -now what? do I just start dragging things over? Once I drag thing over should I keep a copy on my Hard drive? Do I unplug this thing when it is not in use?
Any info would be great! Sorry I lack the knowledge and I hope someone can help me out!
K

Use the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to erase it in the Mac OS Extended format, and then follow the instructions here and here. Drag the disk to the Trash or push the eject button to the right of it in the sidebar before unplugging it.
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Help purchasing a new external hard drive

i need some info/help on choosing the feature set for a new external HD. the current one i'm using is only 5400 rpm with a 8 mb cache, connected via USB 2.0. i'm looking to replace it because when i play large video files off of the drive it drops frames left and right. Specifically 720p MKV files and 4 GB DVD ISO files. These files play just great when they're on the main internal HD. i do know i should be using 7200 rpm drive, in general really. should i be looking for a larger cache as well, 16 MB, 32 MB? should i get one with firewire 400 (it's all my machine has) or will usb 2.0 still be ok. i know usb 2.0 relies on the processor a bit for the transfer so i'm thinking firewire would be a better bet, especially with those processor eating full HD files? Am an idiot in this train of thought? I will be using the drive heavily, my mini is a media center so the drive holds all my music, movies and pics.
any info or suggestions for a hard drive are much appreciated, i'm looking for around 500 GB - 1 TB, and am hoping to spend around $100, if possible.
thanks all.

I agree with that for sure... I just want to make sure that someone here on the board does not get the idea that you can purchase the ministack so that they can kill two bird with one stone. In other words I don't recommend purchasing the ministack for the purpose of having extra USB and Firewire ports thru the ministacks posts.
Now the mini stack works great as a firewire or USB hub, but only one or the other.
For those reading that are unclear, the hub on the mini stack allows you to keep you ministack plugged in either USB or Firewire and then you can plug external devices such as other HDD's, thumb drives, mice or printers.
Just to clarify for those searching for an external enclose, I love my mini stack.

I move all photos to a new external hard drive. Now all folders have a question mark in them. How do I find ALL PHOTOS at one time instead of having to find each picture. I have about 30,000 photos. Using Mac. LR5

I have set up a new external hard drive and Im trying redirect LR to the new hard drive. I have over 30,000 photos and Im trying to see to see if there is a way to all photos located without having to go thru each folder at a time

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm
See Figure 4

I have moved all my songs onto a new external hard drive but it has wiped my iPod clean. Although when I connect my iPod it's starts teh process of sync'ing - so many songs in I get a pop up advising the siong could not be read or written to?

I have moved all my itunes onto a new external hard drive to free up space. It has wiped my ipod clean! I can still see the itunes on the new hard drive so I restored my iPod and tried to sync. Although when I connect my iPod it's in the process of syncing, so many songs in I get a pop up saying could not copy to my iPod as xyz song title could not be read or written. I click ok for this pop up to dissapear and then another pop up appears saying could not coyp to iPod because of unknown error.!!! Help I'm going crazy.

Did you go into iTunes to change the location of your media files? if not you will need to go into iTunes and click on preference and select the advance tab then click the iTunes Media folder location. Select the location of your on external hard drive.

I am going to buy a new external hard drive and have some questions first

Although I asked this question several years ago, I would like to ask it again, just if in case technology in general or external hard drives in particular have changed in any significant ways.
I need to replace a 1 terabyte LaCie external hard drive that died on me after a few years.
1. I am afraid of buying another LaCie. What other brands are reliable? I heard that Western Digital is. Also another brand beginnibg with S (so helpful, I know).
2. Do I have to look for a drive that is MAC FORMATTED? I vaguely recall this term from years ago. I also remember another term that I was to look out for, but I don't remember what it was. Something like ”chronicled“ but obviously not that.
3. Should I get more than 1 terabyte? Right now I have an old, old 125 gigabyte LaCie that still lives, but it is so small that it is almost nothing
4. What do you think about buying external hard drives fron Costco as opposed to from the Apple Store?
~L

Ziatron, you wrote ”All you do is open the enclosure and the hard drive plugs in. (done.)“ What enclosure?
This is the enclosure I like, it needs a hard drive to work : http://www.cooldrives.com/ox93saiihadr.html
But there are many others.
looking at my two dead laCie ext. hard drives and they don't have ”enclosures.“ Just holes in the back to receive the cables.
A hard drive enclosure is a box or case the actual hard drive goes into. Look at the images in the link above. You can see what is inside.
This hard drive goes inside the above cool drive enclosure: http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Intellipower-Desktop-WD20EADS/dp/B001RB1TI S/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258862242&sr=8-1
You recommended getting a hard drive with a Firewire connection, but most of the hard drives have USB.
Well maybe, the better drives are Firewire.
Should that matter to me?
Yes, Firewire is "isochronous", basically meaning that you can pump "clocked" data though it in real time. USB works more like TCPIP, with the data chopped up into packets and later reassembled. (Thus, at a minimum, you have latency, that is, the wait for the data to be "put back together".) Second, the Firewire protocol allows more direct address to memory (including mass storage) with minimal intervention of the CPU.
Is USB a whole lot slower than Firewire if I am transferring materials?
Firewire is faster and _more reliable._
Take a look at the link below, "Build Your Own External Hard Drive". The enclosure I like is easier to use.
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/tips/hard_drive/
http://macs.about.com/od/diyguidesprojects/ss/externalhdcase.htm
Also you need a Mac Pro to use eSATA, with a iMac use the Firewire port.

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up. I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?

I bought a new external hard drive for backups, but time machine won't do a full back up.
I think it is remembering backing up onto previous external hard drives, which I don't own anymore. How do I do a new full backup?
When I bought the new (used) iMac, I also bought an external hard drive for backups. It worked fine, but my husband stole it.
Then I bought a new external hard drive (Seagate) and it worked fine for three weeks, then died.
So I just got a new external hard drive, which was put together from an internal hard drive and a hard drive enclosure.
Time machine did the first backup today, and it should have taken 9 hours like it did on the previous first time full back up. Instead, it took 30 minutes. That can't be right. I want to start over and do a full backup to make sure everything gets onto my new external hard drive, but I can't figure out how to do that. Please help.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below to select it:
tmutil compare -E
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
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).
The command will take at least a few minutes to run. Eventually some lines of output will appear below what you entered.
Each line that begins with a plus sign (“+”) represents a file that has been added to the source volume since the last snapshot was taken. These files have not been backed up yet.
Each line that begins with an exclamation point (“!”) represents a file that has changed on the source volume. These files have been backed up, but not in their present state.
Each line that begins with a minus sign (“-“) represents a file that has been removed from the source volume.
At the end of the output, you’ll get some lines like the following:
Added:
Removed:
Changed:
These lines show the total amount of data added, removed, or changed on the source(s) since the last snapshot.

I want to buy a new external hard drive.

I want to buy a new external hard drive, I have an iMac now, I most likely will buy a mac pro this winter. I want to buy a hard drive that will be able to handle the highest quality video, AND work with my iMac now. Thanks
Andrew

And finally:
Make SURE you format the drive as Mac OS Extended, journalling optional but recommended.
Disk Utility Help: Erasing a disk or volume
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=DiskUtility/10.5/en/duh1009.html
In step 4, DO choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
WARNING: All your currect files will be erased.

HT1391 I had all of my music on an external hard drive that failed. I have iTunes Match so all of my music was synced with the "cloud". How do I now download and save all of my music back down on a new external hard drive?

I had all of my music on an external hard drive that crashed. I have iTunes Match so all of my music was synced in the cloud. How do I now re-load my music back down onto a new external hard drive?

Hey Rbe58!
I believe this question can be answered by the information in the following article:
iTunes 11 for Windows: Access all your music anytime, anywhere with iTunes Match
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph12492
Play or download songs from iCloud
You can play songs directly from iCloud, or you can download songs so you can play them when you’re not connected to the Internet.
If a song is available in iCloud, it has a Download button next to it.
To play the song, double-click it.
To download the song, click the Download button.
After you download a song to a computer, it remains in the computer’s iTunes library, even if you turn off iTunes Match.
To only display downloaded songs in your iTunes library, choose View > Hide Music in the Cloud. This also hides any previous iTunes Store purchases you haven’t downloaded.
For information about downloading and playing songs on an iOS device, see the documentation for the device.
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!
Cheers,
Braden

I need to split my iPhoto. I have a new external hard drive - can I just drag Photo events into the drive?

I need to move events from my iPhoto to a new external hard drive. Can I just drag events into the hard drive?

No.
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
Now you have two full versions of the Library.
3. On the Internal library, trash the Events you don't want there
Now you have a full copy of the Library on the External and a smaller subset on the Internal
Some Notes:
As a general rule: when deleting photos do them in batches of about 100 at a time. iPhoto can baulk at trashing large numbers at one go.
You can choose which Library to open: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
You can keep the Library on the external updated with new imports using iPhoto Library Manager

New external hard drive doesn't back up

Hi All,
So I had an email from Apple stating my hard drive might be faulty and they will replace it free of charge. So, I went out and purchased a brand new external hard drive to use as my time machine back up.
I formatted my hard drive to use only as a time machine backup. Half way thorugh my first backup, something interuppted it and it didn't finish the backup.
So, I've tried many times since to back up my machine and everytime i get this message............
[IMG]http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad67/Deano1903/Backup.png[/IMG]
I am using OS - Mountain Lion 10.8.2

Hello:
It is not helpful to you, but I have never seen anything like that before.
Did you install any Seagate software when you got your new drive?
Did you buy the "Seagate plus for Mac OS?"
Since I do not have a Seagate drive, I think it would be best if you went to the Seagate web site (http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/) and have them shoot the problem. If that does not help, come back and I will try to guess my way through the problem.
Barry

Got a new external hard drive. Transferred all files from old hard drive to new hard drive. Connected hard drive to macbook. How do I get all my files to be recognized by iTunes and my already made playlists??

Got a new external hard drive. Transferred all files from old hard drive to new hard drive. Connected hard drive to macbook. How do I get all my files to be recognized by iTunes and my already made playlists??

Trying to download photos from IPHONE, IPAD to IPHOTO in IMAC after installing new hard drive.
How did you import the photos to iPad and iPhone?
If the photos have been synced to the iPhone and iPad using iTunes, you cannot sync them back.
See this document: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4236
You can't reimport pictures synced from your computer to your device back to your computer. You can only import pictures in the Camera Roll or Saved Photos from your device to your computer. If you need to retrieve synced photos from your device:
If your photos are not in the Camera Roll on your devices, save them to the Camera Roll, share them to the Photo Stream, mail the photos, or, if you have iPhoto on the devices, use iTunes Photo Sharing.
http://help.apple.com/iphoto/iphone/2.0/?handbuch#blnkee26bc1
Save photos to your computer using iTunes
Connect your iOS device to your computer.
Tap a photo, album, event, web journal, or slideshow and tap Share> iTunes.
Tap Selected, or change the photos you want to save (if you are saving a slideshow skip to step 4):
Select different photos: Tap Choose Photos, tap one or more photos, and tap Next.
Select a range of photos: Tap Choose Photos, tap Range, tap the first and last photos in the range, and tap Next.
Select all the photos in an album or event: Tap All.
In iTunes, click the button for your device and click Apps at the top of the window.
Below File Sharing, select iPhoto (in Apps).
Select the Shared Photos folder under iPhoto Documents.
Click Save To and select the location on your computer where you want to save the items.
To view your photos, go to the Finder and look in the location you selected above.

New Computer and New External Hard Drive - why do folders and photos not show up?

I replaced my desktop with a new laptop and external hard drive. I transferred photos from the desktop to the external hard drive. Lightroom 2 only shows the mapped hard drive, but does not show any folders or photos. Can Lightroom be set up to house all the photos on an external hard drive rather than using space on the internal laptop hard drive? Do the photos and folders need to be imported again into LR2? The photos are available for viewing when you search folders, but they open up in Photoshop not LR2.
What should I do to configure imports to be housed on the external hard drive? Is this wise? I will not be able to hold all the photos on the laptop internal hard drive. Photos used to be JPEG and DNG from D700. I am starting to see NEF. Does this replace DNG? Besides RAW I also need to have JPEG for other family members to access photos on other computers connected to the network. I am watching a tutorial DVD and slowly picking up how this all works. Let me know if I am not using the correct terms.
Hardware: HP laptop w/64bit, Buffalo 1TB RAID hard drive.

Lot's of questions here. I'll do a few.
Yes Lightroom can work with images on external drives. As many drives as you want.
I assume from what you said in your original post that you have had lightroom installed on the old desktop and now wish to transfer your catalogue and all files to the external drive and work from that.
So what you would do would be to transfer the entire contents of the lightroom folder on your old computer, except for any images, to the same location on your new laptop. This would include the catalogue files and any folders containing previews. Then you would copy all your image files to the new external hard drive. When you open lightroom you can then select the catalogue you copied from the old computer and open it. In the the folder pane in the library module you can then right click on one of the folders and select "locate missing files". Then you just need to point light room to the new location of your images. You may or may not need to regenerate all your previews.
I store all my images on external hard drives and I even run the catalogue and previews from the same external drives. I have backups of all my images of course. I have light room make backups of the catalogue to the C drive on my laptop so that the original and the backup are stored in different locations.
NEF is the proprietary file system for raw images used on Nikon cameras. DNG is a universal raw file format developed by Adobe. You can convert your files from NEF to DNG on import, but as Lightroom can read both types of files it is not necessary. At this point in time if you are using lightroom you should get similar results from either type of file.
To store imports on the new external drive you can you tell light room to copy the files to the new drive or you can manually copy the files to the new location and have light room import From the current location.
Hope this helps
Gordon

Help me choose an external hard drive

I'm clueless on what external hard drive to buy. All I need it for is my music and pictures. I need one with a reasonable price for the storage and something that will last long.

I am again going to cite my own *PERSONAL EXPERIENCE*. I have never had a Western Digital hard drive, internal or external, last more than about 12 months. Not a single one! They run hot, and almost all of them I have owned have been quite noisy.
I have had the best experiences with Seagate. I have only had one segate drive fail on me, and it was replaced by Seagate even though it was long out of warranty. I have Seagate drives that are in NAS boxes that run 24/7/365, and have been for several years.
I have had mixed results with Samsung drives. There smaller capacity drives seem to be very good, but their high capacity drives tend to die young.
I have also had very bad luck with Hitachi drives.
From years of my own personal experience, I would recommend Seagate above all other brands.
If you find my post useful or informative, please click the icon below with the plus sign and star to give kudos. Thank you!

Hello! Help please! Best external hard drive preferably 1TB for macbook pro 2011. thank you!!!

Hello! Help please! Best external hard drive preferably 1TB for macbook pro 2011. thank you!!!

You can pickup any 1TB USB powered drive for about $100 at just about any local office supply store.
It comes formatted FAT32 (MSDOS) for reading by OS X and Windows PC's.
However if your files sizes are going to be larger than 4GB in size (like video tends to be) then your going to need to select the drive in OS X's Disk utility (in the Applicaitons > Utilities folder) and format the drive exFAT instead.
exFAT is a drive format that 10.6.5 and later Mac's, Windows Vista and 7 machines can read just fine. XP machines need a free exFAT drive install from Microsoft.
Do backup the 1TB to another 1TB drive using Carbon Copy Cloner or another backkup utility because 1TB is a lot of data to lose on a $100 drive.
I don't advise the "port powered" USB drive as these tend to have power issues and with 1TB of data on it, very risky. Use a powered drive if you can all help it.

How to Properly Utilize Elements 5 with New External Hard Drive?

Hello,
I just bought a new external hard drive, and want to use it the most effective way. Should I leave Elements on my internal drive, then open the folder/photo I want to edit from my external drive? Or, I guess the only other option is to copy Elements onto the External drive. Lastly, another option might be to have a copy of Elements on both drives, but I suspect that this would not be a very feasible way, for sure.
Thanks for any help,
Les

My suggestions are:
1- keep Photoshop elements installed on the internal hard drive as it is now
If you have photo files cataloged in the Elements Organizer
2- determine which drive letter you want to assign to this external drive. Use Windows Administrative Tasks to set that drive letter so it remains the same. (some people use a letter further in to the alphabet to make it easier to avoid conflicts)
3- look at this FAQ which will point you to an Adobe techdoc on moving the photo files to a different hard drive using the PSE 5 Organizer -
http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bc254a8
4- I would keep the Elements Catalog and related files in their default location - which is probably their current location. If you wish that can be changed later.

Help - clueless about new external hard drive

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