How large of an external Hard drive should I get

I shot 20 lecture, aprox 2 hours each, on Sony DVCAM 184 tape stock and need to digitize to edit in FCP. I'm limited to Firewire (400 & 800) on my IMAC 24". I've been using Lacie's and have been pleased. Is there a recommendation on the size and make to use? I heard not to go larger the 500GB.
TY FOR YOUR RESPONCES

HI:
FWIW I have an external 160Gig Lacie drive that have been working everyday from 4 years ago (I knock on wood !!!). I have heard about such exeprience with so old drives from them BUT not so happy experiences with the newer ones.
Alberto

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How big of an External Hard drive should I get?

I have a macbook pro, and I'm looking for an external HDD to back my system up to. Now, lets say that I have a 250 GB HDD in my Macbook, should I get a 250GB HDD external drive to back up to? Or will that fill up too quickly?
I guess my real question is, does Time Machine compound backups on top of eachother? If my 250GB drive is filled to 100 GB Capacity, will my 250GB external drive be full before three backups? Or does TimeMachine severely compress the backups?
Thanks!
Psych

Time machine doesn't do compression, but it does only save changes.
This means that your first backup will consume the same amount of space as your source data.
Then each subsequent backup copies the files that have changed since the last backup. Some applications may support backing up specific parts of files, otherwise TM will copy the entire file even if just one bit changes.
Therefore the amount of disk space you need depends on:
1) how much data you're backing up (bear in mind that most people don't TM their entire drive, just their personal data)
2) What percentage of those files change on an hourly/daily basis
3) How large those files are.
So if, for example, you work mainly with text documents and you have 50GB of data in 50,000 files (average of 1MB per file) and you change 100 files per day your backup will consume 50GB to start, and grow by 100MB per day. Under this model a 250GB TM drive will have about 200GB of space for incremental backups (250GB - 50GB initial copy), which is enough for about 2,000 days, or several years worth of changes.
On the other hand if you work with large video or graphics files, and have 50GB of data in 50 files and you change 3 files per day you'll still start with 50GB of backups but your backups will grow at 3GB per day. That way your 250GB drive will fill in about 2 months.
Only you can determine your data pattern to predict your needs. Personally I use a TM drive that's about 2x my internal drive. I have almost a year's worth of backups and it is still less than 1/4 full.

I want to move my music and photos to an external hard drive from my iMac. What external hard drive should I get?

I want to move my music and photos to an external hard drive from my iMac. What kind of hard drive should I get? Will it remove it from iMac and only be on external hard drive?

How to correctly move your media:
iTunes: How to move the library to an EHD
iPhoto: How to move the Library to an EHD
It is important that the External Hard Drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled).
And also make sure that all is working to your Satisfaction before Deleting anything Off your Mac.

What type of external hard drive should I get?

First, I'm not sure were I should have posted this question but here goes....
I am officially 100% an Apple home environment now. I have an iMac, a Macbook Pro, and an Airport Extreme. I want to add an external hard drive and I need suggestions for what to get. I know the Time Machine router is available but I'm looking for a less-expensive option.
I want to add an external hard drive but I want to make it available to the entire home network so that both the iMac and Macbook Pro can write and access files on one shared external drive. I also want the ability to have both computers to be able to use Time Machine to back up to the external drive. External file access (i.e. via a cloud option/app) for accessing files from my iPhone or iPad is not necessary but would be appreciated.
Also, is it just as easy as hooking the external hard drive up to the network by USB cable to the USB port on the Airport Extreme?

There is no such thing as a Time Machine Router, however I think you are referring to a Time Capsule. Time Machine is an application for backing up. Time Capsule is something else entirely different.
If you want to hook up an external HD to an Airport Extreme that will work just fine as a network drive however DO NOT use it to back up using Time Machine, at best it's unreliable for using Time Machine.
Finally if you are looking for a good quality EHD I strongly recommend using OWC (www.macsales.com) Mercury Elite Pro series.
If you want to back up multiple Macs to a single EHD then you need the Time Capsule. You can get them refurbished from Apple. For example:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD032LL/A/refurbished-time-capsule-2-tb

What external hard drive should I get?

First off, I hope I'm asking this in the right place; apologies otherwise.
So, I need a new external hard drive for my machine, but there are some constraints that are making it difficult for me.
- I'm on a G5 mac (power PC)
- I'm using OS X 10.4.11
- I'd like a firewire connection (800 preferably).
I've been all over town shopping and all over the net, and everything is either USB, or requires OS 10.5+. Does anyone have any good suggestions? Thanks!

On some issues such as chipset incompatibility it is a given that a problem will occur. On others such as the power source with LaCie, it's a matter of chance. I have a LaCie backup drive. Read the reviews from other owners and they are about 5/10. Personally I never had a problem with it in 5 years of using it. I took the WD drive out of it about a year ago and put it into my computer and it runs fine. With some it's a matter of chance and you can get a winner or lemon with any brand.
Another thing is, drive ratings change a lot. As I said before, Seagate used to be tops. I have several seagate drives >10 years old. 2 years ago I went shopping for new drives and people were warning against seagate at all costs. I'm not talking their enclosures but the drives themselves. Complete reversal.
Best thing to do is, spot a few models that interest you, then check online reviews from other owners. Read them to get a feel for the issues. All drives can have problems so don't let one or two lemon reviews sway you, nor people giving bad ratings because the vendor is not so great (go to a different vendor with good ratings). What are the issues? A drive may be rated as slow but if you aren't using it to boot then that's not an issue for you, especially if it is an archive drive (one you unplug and don't use for weeks at a time).
Post on the hardware forum too. Some knowledgeable people frequent there who never go to an OS forum. I bought my WDs based largely upon initial recommendations I read on the PowerMac forum and then substantiated with reading reviews on big online vendors (but bought from OWC in the end).

How do i transfer external hard drive content to macbook pro?

How do i transfer external hard drive content back to my macbook pro?
I do not see the hard drive icon or a back up icon, where should it be?

What kind of drive is it - a large drive with a power cord, or a portable drive? Can you tell if the drive itself is actually on? (Is there a light, or a power switch, etc, can you hear it?)
How is it attached to the Mac?
On your Mac, click on the desktop, then go to the Finder menu (top left), click Preferences, then under the General tab, make sure that everything is ticked.
If that works, you should then get the external HD icon appearing on your desktop.
Hope that helps.
Matt

New MacBook pro how do I add external hard drive which has my entire iTunes library on it. Do I just drag external drive icon into iTunes preference box that shows where new itunes library is now located ie. On the MacBook pro.

how do I add external hard drive which contains my entire iTunes library to new MacBook Pro. i want to keep iTunes library on external hard drive. But I want all my iTunes information: artist, songs, albums, playlists on my new MacBook Pro. I know about going to iTunes preferences- advanced-itunes media folder location. At this point I don't know what to do Do I drag external icon into iTunes media folder location box. I want to keep music files on external hard drive. I don't want to use macbook pro memory for my very large music files.

I will request that your query be relocated to the iPhoto forum where knowledgeable iPhoto users will be able to assist you.
Ciao.

Going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drive should I buy to back up computer using "time machine". Have 320 gb hard drive.

I am going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drives should I buy in order to use time machine. I have a 320 GB hard drive. Don't have too much on computer.

patmc102 wrote:
I am going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drives should I buy in order to use time machine. I have a 320 GB hard drive. Don't have too much on computer.
Buy an external drive 320G or larger (much larger is preferable). I do not recommend you use TM for this, instead download a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner and make a clone of your drive. Once this is done you have 2 choices, you can download and install Lion on your internal drive just as you planned or download and install Lion to the external clone, the 2nd method allows you to test the Lion install before committing to it. If the clone with Lion is to your liking then just clone it back to the internal.

HT201250 which external hard drive should I choose/use as I am setting up Time Machine on my MacBook Pro 15 for the very first time?

Which external hard drive should I use/choose as I am setting up Time Machine on my MacBook Pro 15 for the very first time?

Any of these SATA HDDs that are at least the same size as your internal HDD (preferably larger capacity). In addition you will need an enclosure, preferably one with a Firewire as well as a USB connection.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Ciao.

What size external hard drive should I purchase

What size external hard drive should I purchase? I'm not tech savvy, so please speak slowly. I'm looking at OWC Mini Stack Classic to match my older Mac Mini. Do I need 500 GB, 1 TB or more? Plus, I have to add memory to upgrade to Snow Leopard. How much memory do I need and should I have an expert install it ?
Mac OSX version 10.5.8
Mac mini 3.1
Processor 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 2GB 1067 MHz DDR3
1 Processor
2 Cores
L2 Cache 3MB
Memory 2GB
BUS Speed 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version MM3.1.0081.B06
SMC version 1.35f0
Hard Drive
Format MAC OS Extended
Capacity 297.77 GB
Available 238.69 GB
Used 59.08 GB on disk

Good points raised by all.
In my mini configs - both older and newer flatter model - I have kept their ministack external drive on top of the mini; with 3 or 4 little rubber feet added to the mini's base to give it a bit more elevation from the surface they are sitting on and a bit better chance to breathe. I'm not impressed by the very small air intakes on the bottom and the hot air that often comes out the back or how warm the case feels. Especially in the heat of summer.
I do turn the ministacks on/off as needed (primarily for backups once a week) as they're not entirely quiet and sometimes seem to have a low hum vibration. Nothing crazy. I just like it as dead quiet as possible sometimes. Plus the fan does not turn off even if the mini and ministack drive have shut down. The newer wide & slim model does seem a bit quieter than the older model.
Check through system profiler to see if your system has 2x1GB or 1x2GB. Most likely it is 2x1GB and you'd need to remove both to double your ram. On the off chance it has a free slot; a single 2GB stick would get you to 4GB. Check on the cost difference between the 2x2GB kit and a 2x4GB kit. I have an older core duo mini that functions fine with 2x2GB of RAM and 10.6.8. But, if you plan to continue to use the mini for several more years as a primary machine including upgrading the OS to Yosemite; it might not be a bad idea to just max it to 2x4 8GB. Yosemite really likes RAM to maximize performance.
Along the lines of keeping the same mini and doing upgrades. The biggest speed improvements are made by replacing the original internal hard drive with a flash drive. Of course this is a more technical upgrade, you really need to take the mini apart more and you have to weigh the cost of the upgrades and possibly paying somebody to do them; vs the cost of a newer system which would have a significantly faster processor and other improvements.

I am looking to back up my MAC, and I need to know how big of an external hard drive I need

I am looking to back up my MAC, and I need to know how big of an external hard drive I need. How do I determine this?

Well, they recommend at least 2 - 3 times the size of your hard drive if you are using Time Machine because that keeps making backups until it runs out of space (and then deletes the oldest to make room for the newest).
However, if you prefer to have a bootable clone as a backup, you need about the same size as your hard drive since it is a perfect copy of your system (unless you want to partition and keep an older clone separately).
So, check to see how large your hard drive is and go from there.

How to connect an external hard drive and monitor a single port thuderbolt

how to connect an external hard drive and monitor a single port thuderbolt

Yu connect the HDD to your Mac and then the monitor to the HDD.
The HDD should have TWO T-Bird ports on the enclosure.
Its called daisy chaining and up to five devices can be connected in this fashion.

HT201250 how do i add external hard drive to my time machine back up

how do i add external hard drive to my time machine back up so that I may view the files independently on apple tv please?

To elaborate on above. I am looking to add about 300gig of photos on an external hard drive to TC.
Once I do this I believe I can then have itunes source its photos from TC without having them stored directly on my iMac?
Then I am assuming once I keep itunes on with home sharing I can stream these photos through Apple TV?
My inital problem is getting the photos onto TC in an individual folder not just a backup folder....is that possible or what would you suggest please?

How do I access external hard drive connected to AirPort Extreme via iPad

Hello,
How do I access external hard drive connected to AirPort Extreme via iPad / windows laptop.
I donot have a Mac and I use windows laptop.

For your iPad, you will need an app, like FileBrowser, to access the external drive.
For your Windows laptop, you would access the drive like any other network share. The basic format is: \\<servername>\<sharename>, where, in this case, the servername is the base station name and the sharename is the name of the external drive.

How do I use external hard drive

how do I use external hard drive and Photos? I keep getting a msg that there is not enough free space on your photo library volume - i even bought 500Gb of space on iCloud.... that didn't even work please help

1. Drag the library to a volume formatted as Mac OS Extended, launch Photos with the Option key held down, select Other Library, and choose it. Alternatively, drag it to the Photos icon in the Dock.
2. iCloud storage space is separate from that on the computer.
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How large of an external Hard drive should I get

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