IPods for file backup: hard drives v. flash memory

Is a flash memory iPod just as good (i.e., reliable, etc.) as a hard drive iPod for backing up files?
Thanks.

It's actually my understanding that flash memory is slower, but i agree with you that its nice that there are no moving parts, no noise etc. The other thing to be aware of with flash is that the estimated erase/writes over it's lifetime is estimated to be around 100,000. I don't know how long that means it will last, but it does tell us that it has a finite life.

Similar Messages

When restoring iPod, what files on hard drive are erased?

I have an ! mark and a folder shown on face of my iPod(mini). When I reset, I get an apple showing for a second or two, then it goes back to !/folder. I think my only choice is to try to restore. Does restoring wipe out the entire computer hard drive or just all iPod and related music files?

You can send an email here and see what they say.
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/musicstore/lostmusic/
If/when you get the music back, go here to see how to backup your music.
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/musicstore/backup/

Recommendations for external backup hard drive...mirrored

My external hard drive that I used with Time Machine to backup my MacBook has bit the dust.
Ideally, I would like to get one that has hardware mirroring. At least 1gb. and Firewire 400 compatible.
It's the mirroring feature that I'm having trouble finding. Anyone have a drive they are happy with? Or can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks

My favorite mirroring or cloning application is SuperDuper! which can be downloaded [Here|http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html].
As far as an external drive is concerned, I've had tremendous success with Western Digital drives. I've used several desktop models but recently purchased a portable (2.5") 750Gb Passport Essential SE because of it's size and portability. After formatting it for Mac, I remember that I needed assistance from the Internet for instructions to remove the pesky windows only WD backup software from the disk. It was simple to remove but it involved an update in order to get rid of it.

Choice for a Backup Hard Drive

Is paying a 50% premium for a Seagate or Lacie HD (200gig for around $140, as opposed to $90 for Fantom, lower priced brands, etc.) worth it for a backup HD? No audio recording involved, but dependable backup obviously important.
Opinions?
Dual 1.8 G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I bought a couple of Western Digital 250GB that work great. I am using one as my main audio drive and the other for my OS. Right now they are only 72.80 with free shipping at:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101220

HT1353 how can i put music in an ipod nano with no hard drive only flash drive

i have an ipod nano with flash drive and i dont know how to put music

Do you have iTunes installed on your computer? Does the iPod nano come up in iTunes when you connect it?

Backup hard drive..

Hello. I'm looking for a backup hard drive to keep everything on my macbook pro safe etc. My hard drive's capaciy is 250Gb and the cheapest hard drive i found was for £28. It was also 250Gb. I was going to use time machine etc so is 250GB enough?
Thank you,
Thomas.

Time Machine's backup drive should be at least twice the size of your hard drive - 500 GBs or larger.
Basic Backup
Get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
Carbon Copy Cloner
Deja Vu
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.

I have a video that I created for my daughter's first birthday. The hard drive on my computer crashed and I lost the video file. The only place I have it is on my iPod Classic. How can I transfer the video from my iPod to my new hard drive?

I have a video that I created for my daughter's first birthday. The hard drive on my computer crashed and I lost the video file. The only place I have it is on my iPod Classic. How can I transfer the video from my iPod to my new hard drive?

You are in luck, Refer to this recent post by tt2, on recovering media using 3rd Party Software.
He has made a comprehensive list, browse through them and decide which suits your requirements.
Have a nice day!

Is there a way to use an ipod touch 3rd generation as a hard drive or flash drive?

I have an ipod touch 3rd gen thats all cracked and tourn up, it still will boot up but it wont respond to touch and the headphone jack doesnt work. it still shows up in itunes and i can restore it and put music on it and everything, but sinse the touch doesnt work, i cant do anything with it. its also missing the top black part of the screen so you can see all the hardware and stuff. Is there any way to use it as just a hard drive or flash drive so that when i plug it in, it mounts to my desktop?

Well you actually can use it to hold all kinds of files.
If you don't like the itunes interface there are a whole lot of apps that will wired or wirelessly swap files back and forth with your iPod.
a few come to mind are/
phonedisk dropbox
shovebox
filemagnet
USBDISK
Air sharing
photoshare
amd these are just the ones I use on a weeklly basis, most were cheap or even free, check them out at the itunes store or from appshopper or something like that.
OR goto ifixit and order a new sceen and put it on yourself for cheap
HOpe this help.

Moving Garageband Music Files to MyBook for Mac External Hard Drive on OSX 10.5.8 I'm a musician and need to make space on my mac hd. Is it safe to move music files there and delete them on the mac? Thanks!

use a MyBook for Mac external hard drive.
I need space on garageband or the entire hard drive, since I am getting the "need space on the hard drive" messages.
It's scary to move my precious music files!
How should I move them to the external and feel safe about doing so?
Or are there other methods besides the obvious, clearing caches, deleting the trash and downloads, etc., that are recommended?
I am doing music now and producers are waiting for the new vocals!
Help!
Thanks!

The process is as simple as just copying your Garageband project to the external drive and deleting from the macs hard drive. But before you delete anything you really need to back them up to someplace else also. Having just one copy is not safe. Get another external drive, DVDs or even flash drives, you absolutely need anything important in more then one place.

How do I retrieve files from a backup hard drive (was backed up using Time Machine) on a different computer

how do I retrieve files from a backup hard drive (was backed up using Time Machine) on a different computer?

Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

Which Backup Hard Drive for Time Machine?

I ordered a new iMac from Apple. I need to order my backup hard drive and someone from here on the boards recommended http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/400+USB2/. I was going to get the 750 GB backup drive (I got the iMac with 640 GB), but I see there's a 1,000 GB backup drive that's basically the same price ($2 cheaper) but has half the cache (16 MB vs. 32 MB). I'm guessing that the cache stores information as it transfers from the main hard drive before the backup records it, so that the bigger the cache, the more it can store, and probably the faster the backup goes from the perspective of the main computer (i.e. the backup slows the computer less). Do you think that having twice the size of cache outweighs have 3/4 the size of hard drive? Would you go for the 750 GB with 32 MB cache, or the 1000 GB with 16 MG cache?

The only one I really care about is AOL 10.3.7. It allows me to store emails, as emails, in any folder on my hard drive. The newer versions of AOL, called AOL Desktop (which are still in beta as AOL ignored Macs for about 5 years), do not allow you to access files on the hard drive other than files within the application itself. So if I can't use AOL 10.3.7 I'll lose 15 years of email. Right now I forward all my email from the two colleges where I teach to AOL and used 10.3.7 to download them to my hard drive. That way when a student writes about an issue I can look back at her previous emails and see both what she and I said. (Or when some administrator promises something, I go back and read what he actually said at he time. :-D) I routinely look back at older email, especially for work. So it's very important that I be able to continue to access my older email files, and store new emails on my hard drive in my current file hierarchy. I mean Office and other applications allow you to store what you want where you want, so I don't see why email programs no longer do.
As for the rest, I do want to keep all my Safari and Firefox settings, but as I'm using the current versions, there's not problem with them. I'd prefer not to have to take the time to reinstall everything of course. As for Office, I am using 2004 for Mac, but I've ordered 2008 for the Mac with my iMac because Apple and Microsoft have a 50% off deal for back to school, which cuts about another $35 off the usual 40% educational discount that Microsoft offers. (Apple used to offer those big discounts too, back in the 1990s, when I got my G4, but these days they offer only $50 or $100 off as an educational discount, which is one reason I haven't bought a new computer in 9-10 years!) I have the latest Acrobat too, as Adobe also had a good educational discount.
A buddy of mine who does programming for the federal government said that it's a real testament to Apple's quality that my 10-year-old G4 still performs. He said that a PC would have died about half way through. I did get the top-of-the-line model thanks to both the educational discounts of the day and to the Apple student loan program (I was in my first Ph.D. program then), and expanded the RAM, so that 10 years later I'm still able to use the G4. I do all my teaching at two colleges online now, and the computer has gradually gotten slower as it encounters more and more information it was never designed to handle. Ten years ago every website didn't have fifty dancing babies or whatever. Now every website seem to have an embedded video or three all insisting on playing at the same time. I'm looking forward to that sort of thing not bringing my computer to a halt.

Transferring LR catalog to backup hard drive for travel?

I plan on taking a photo vacation and want to take along a laptop with Lightroom for processing on the road.
I currently use and process my images on my desktop. LR and the images are all on desktop.
What is the best way to transfer my catalog (with all keyword and collection data) to my backup hard drive for the trip?
Images are not really a problem transferring just takes time.
Do I use the "backup" mode in LR? or, drag and drop the LR folders from my desktop to my backup hard drive?
thanks,

Please note:
When we talk of the "catalog" in Lightroom, it means the database where Lr stores everything. It does not mean your photos.
The catalog (i.e. the database, i.e. the file with the ending < .lrcat>) does not have to be on the same drive where the photos(the image files) are.
So you can move your photos to an external hard drive and leave the catalog where it is now. Where is it? Go >Edit >Catalog Settings ? General tab. It tells you the name and location of the catalog.
Before you do any moving of your photos, please note: Lr stores - among the many other things - in its catalog also the location of each one of your image files. This has the consequence that if you move the image files in Win Explorer / Mac Finder Lr does not find the photos in the location stored in the catalog and sends you the much feared "?". How to solve this, see here: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/lightroom/using/WS3BC0B0A1-D48C-4271-891D-DA04EF388E29.html
So, there are two ways to move your photos to an external drive:
a) do it within Lr and Lr will keep on top of the moved files;
b) If you want to move the image files in Win Explorer / Mac Finder it is best you create one (1) parent folder that contains - in various sub-folders - all of your images. Do this in Lr.
Then - in Win Explorer / Mac Finder - you move the parent folder with all its sub-folders to the external drive. When you open Lr again it will show - in the folders panel - a question mark besides each folder. You then have to do the <Find missing folder> routine:
Locate missing folders
If a folder is moved in the operating system instead of in Lightroom, the link between the catalog and the folder breaks, and a question-mark icon appears on the folder in the Folders panel.
To restore the link, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) on the folder and choose Find Missing Folder from the context menu.
Navigate to the file path of the moved folder and click Choose.

Why are the files I migrated over from a backup hard drive locked and inaccessible on my new used Mac Book pro? I used the migration assistant. Running Snow Leopard on a core duo.

My laptop got pinched and I bought a used Mac Book Pro, put a larger hard drive in it and performed a clean install of Snow Leopard on the new drive, after which I used the Migration Assistant to bring over my applications, settings, documents, etc., from my backup hard drive. This hard drivekis not a Ti e Machine drive, it's one I use to clone my computer to regularly with Carbon Copy Cloner. When the migration was complete all my documents, the desktop,and other folders are locked and won't allow me to access them. What to do? Thanks for the help.

Graham Giles wrote:
Have you seen this type of problem before? I think it could be a serious issue for anyone in a similar position.
No; but then, I've not had occasion to use TDM. I've been using firerwire drives for over 10 years, both FW400 and FW800, with no issues except a bit of instability using a B&W G3 machine.
TDM should be safe. Using cautious, manual copying of files from the Target machine to the Host machine should not result in unexpected loss of files or damage to the Target drive's directories. It should behave exactly the same as if it were an external (to the Host) firewire drive.
• I don't suppose there is anything I can do to 'put back' lost items from a separate Time Machine drive which has an up to date backup on it.
There is probably a way to do that - seems to me that's one of the reasons for a Time Machine volume.
On the other hand, if the Time Machine volume is rigidly linked to the now-absent OS on the original drive, there may be no way to effectively access the files in the TM archive.
I know that using a cloned drive would work well in this instance.
I have no experience with Time Machine, so perhaps someone who has will chime in with suggestions.
With the machine in TDM with the other machine, have you tried running Disk Utility to see if you can effect repairs to the drive?

My iMac suddenly can't read the backup hard drive I've been using for Time Machine. I did NOT just upgrade the OS or anything. The external HD is an OWC Mercury Elite All Pro. It's worked fine since I got the iMac 4 years ago.`

My iMac suddenly can't read the backup hard drive I've been using for Time Machine. I tried unplugging the cord that connects the HD to the iMac and plugging it back in, but I still get "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" below which are buttons for Initialize, Ignore and Eject. I was using a cord that went from larger square plug to larger square plug. So then I tried one that went from smaller square plug to what I think is USB (thin rectangular plug) of the sort that connects the keyboard and mouse. It's the type that my printers and scanners use to connect to the iMac. I did NOT just upgrade the OS or anything. The external HD is an OWC Mercury Elite All Pro. It's worked fine since I got the iMac 4 years ago. What else can I try before just trying to initialize and

Thanks, Michael! I do hear it at times spooling up and running. Just after I bumped the thread I looked for troubleshooting for this drive online and found the manual which suggested using Disk Utility which I've seen before accidentally (if I hit Command Shift U instead of Shift U to type "Unit" on a new folder for a student's homework ) but had never really noticed. Disk Utility does see it and also a sub-something (directory?) which might be the Time Machine archives on the disk, called disk1s2), sort of the way that my iMac's hard drive shows up as 640.14 GB Nitachi HDT7... and has a sub-something titled DB iMac, which is what I named my iMac's hard drive.
Anyway the owner's manual just shows the image under the formatting section, not the troubleshooting section, but as soon as I saw it in the manual I remembered seeing it accidentally a few times, went to it, and am now verifying the disk. Right now it's telling me that it will take 2 hours to complete the verification, so I guess I have a bigt of a wait. :-)
Does that fact that Disk Utilities can see it mean it's not failed, or just that it hasn't completely failed?
I can see the virtue in having multiple redundant backups, or at least two backups. What do you suggest? Two external hard drives? I had this one linked by ethernet, and but I also have a cord that could link it by USB (like a printer), so if this one is reparable I could get a second one and link it by USB. If this one is not reparable I could get two and do the same thing. I do have an Airport so I suppose it's possible to get some sort of Wi-Fi hard drive (my new printer/scanner uses only the network and not a cable, although it has a cable that I used for the initial installation), but I'd suspect a Wi-Fi hard drive might have a higher price.
What hard drives, if any, do you recommend? I seem to recall that when I was looking at external hard drives 4 years ago, Apple's were substantially more expensive, which is why I got the OWC Mercury Elite All Pro.

How do I change the desktop Icon for an external hard drive? I have gone to "Get Info" and tried dragging and dropping several formats of pictures and the icon changes to the generic image of that file type.

how can I change the desktop icon for an external hard drive. Using LaCies and Dimple hard drives.

One of the things I've found with OS X (at least with Snow Leopard, which is my first excursion into OS X), is that all too often the thumbnail displayed on a file, whether a file created or one downloaded, is a false thumbnail. That is, when you do a Get Info on the file the icon in the upper left is the generic icon for that file type, rather than the thumbnail displayed in Finder. Makes it a bit difficult to copy.
Apparently Finder uses Preview in the background to generate the displayed thumbnail without actually creating one.
What I've resorted to doing, particularly with graphic images, is to process them with GraphicConverter - I have its prefs set to automatially add thumbnails and previews. With an individual file this means opening it in GC and doing a Save As. However, a much easier and faster way is when there are two or more such files; I put them in a common folder and drop the folder onto GC. GC then opens them in a catalog view, in the process adding real thumbnails and previews to each automatically. Doesn't take long to do several hundred files that way.

IPods for file backup: hard drives v. flash memory

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for