Most reliable external drive for booting and imaging

Hey everyone.
I'm looking for an external drive to boot from and create/distribute Mac Pro, Mac Mini, and maybe a couple iMac images. The hard drives range from 200-500GB maximum capacity. I'm assuming I need a firewire hard drive. The more reliable the better .

Im not sure i quite understand.
Are you saying you have external hard drives already or are they internal?
because basically my suggestion is this;
DIY. Get a firewire Sata enclosure, and obtain Sata drives for it.
heres what i recently got and it works marvels for me:
FW400 Case:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16817198004
very similar to the macpro drive sleds, a sled pops out screw in the drive slide it back in no cables to mess with plug it in and your good to go.
HDDS:
i picked up a 7500AAKS 750gb, a 5000AAKS 500Gb from newegg.com
they also have extremely cheap 250Gb drives for under 90$
thinking of doing that for a future project, cant go wrong there!
goodluck! andhope that helped!

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MBA (Gen 1) USB External Drive for Boot and Backup? Recomendations?

I just ordered a 1st generation MBA with the SSD. I want to order an external USB drive that I can use to back up and boot the MBA. I have read that the USB port on the MBA does not provide enough power to support some external drives(?).
I like the G-Technology drives, looking at the G-Drive Mini. Will the USB port on the MBA provide enough power to run that drive?
Any recommendations?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TQ571ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&mco=MTgzNTAwMg
http://store.apple.com/us/product/TR043ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&mco=MTg5NDg1NA
I've used both of those drives on a MacBook Air for storage and a Time Machine backup without fail. The LaCie rugged is a personal favorite with the triple interface (as I use on a MacBook Pro with FW 800).
My experience with the G-Drive Mini that I had was a bit "unique." Whenever I'd plug the drive in, the backlight would not come on unless the unit was connected to power. I later found out it was my drive, drawing excessive bus power and G-Technology replaced it under warranty. But I did notice, when hooking the drive up to various port testers that it was drawing significantly more power across the USB port than my LaCie.
Ironically, a co-worker has been using his G-Drive Mini with his MacBook Air since March with nothing but praise.

How to format an external drive for mac AND pc use

i want to format my external drive so i can use it on my mac and on pc's as well. i've gathered that the MS-DOS format is the way to go. my question is this: would this create any problems for my mac then?
can i partion one part for ms-dos and part for macos extended?
cheers
-j-

MS-DOS format (or FAT32) will be fine for both Mac and PC. However there is a 4GB file size limit with FAT32.
You could use a dual partition, however the HFS+ partition would not be readable by the PC unless you installed the third party MacDrive.
Look at this page for more information on a dual partition drive for Mac and Windows.
http://macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030613121738812
iFelix

Can i use my external drive for TM and files i don't want on my mac HD

my hard drive has a total of 232.57g which is not nearly enough space to save all my pictures, movies, etc. i've been using a 300g external drive to save my pictures, movies, etc. which is now full so i bought a maxtor one touch 4 750g to hopefully back up my computer using time machine, my 300g external drive, and whatever new pictures, movies, etc.
if i set up my new external drive for time machine can i still put the pictures, movies from my 300g external drive and whatever new pictures, movies, etc. on my new 750g external drive?
do i need to make a partition? if so can you tell me how?
should i not use time machine?
any information is appreciated

mac HD
capacity: 232.57g
available: 170.29g
iomega
capacity: 298.02g
available: 14.29g
one touch 4
capacity: 698.51g
available: 698.36g
thanks for the quick reply but i need to explain it better or ask, once all is backed up from my mac HD and my iomega external drive to my new one touch 4 i want to stop using the iomega since there isn't much room left on it
will i be able to add files directly to the one touch 4 without having those files saved to my mac HD like i do now?
or will TM remove my files the next time it backs up my mac HD since i won't have the iomega on anymore?

Use external drive for windows and mac

Hello,
I just bought a external 320Gb Western Digital Drive. I would like to use
the drive for windows and mac.I will not like to make partation on the drive
to use it on both operating systems. Is there any formating system with which i can use in both operating systems? I would like to use time machine feature on that drive also.
Thanx.

If you want to use a disk for both PC/Mac file storage and Time Machine, you will have to create two partitions. Partitioning is sort of like creating multiple virtual disks on the same physical disk. One partition should be formatted for PC (which the Mac can also use) and the other should be formatted for HFS+ (Mac only) which is what Time Machine requires. The Disk Utility application makes partitioning and formatting very easy.

How to format external drive for mac AND pc use

hi
i want to format my external drive so i can use it on my mac and on pc's as well. i've gathered that the MS-DOS format is the way to go. my question is this: would this create any problems for my mac then?
can i partion one part for ms-dos and part for macos extended?
cheers
-j-

There are a couple of disadvantages with formatting a
disk as FAT32. Firstly, there is a limit on the file
size for FAT32. I think it like 2 GB so if you
capturing video the results will probably not fit
into this file limit. Secondly FAT32 will not be
bootable. I alway clone my system to a backup disk as
bootable. That way if anything goes wrong with my
system, I can just boot from my backup disk and fix
it.
The problem with doing this though is that the drive will not be usable with Windows (which was in the original posting) unless you use the third party MacDrive software on the PC.
iFelix

Format external drive for Mac and PC?

Can I format an external Drive to have 1 partition for OS X and another for my wife to use with her PC?
thanks!
ray

Yes, just use Disk Utility under OS X to create two volumes on it, one Mac OS Ext, the other FAT. Use a Master Boot Record partition scheme (also known as “fdisk”).

External Drive For Windows And OSX

Hello!
I'm using an external USB/FW drive for back up. It's formatted as "OSX Extended".
1) If I copy the data off this drive, what format would I need to re-format it in, so as to be able to back up from both OSX and Windows?
2) Will I be able to reload the first set of data, once I re-format it in the other format?
Thanx!

I don't recall either of those being mentioned in the OP's question, Niel. Only "backup" which does not necessarily mean Time Machine.
You might mention how much it will cost to buy MacDrive: Standard is $50 and Pro is $70.00.
BTW, I know you can't use FAT for Time Machine nor bootable backups. But FAT is not limited for use as a backup drive using other utilities that haven't the limitations or reliability issues of Time Machine.

New external drive for mac and windows

Hello,
I am looking to buy a 500gb maxtor external drive. Partition it 250gb for winxp and 250gb for my imac. I am really looking to make these drives as backup drives. I currently have an old 250gb (not all used) formatted as os x entended. I use it for all my itunes, photos, movies... photoshop, you get the picture... I just want to drag and drop to that drive. The same for my windows.
Does this sound correct? Has anyone done it this way?
Another way, would be to have it formatted for windows and drop and drag into two different folders : win and imac. But then I will be losing the naming conventions from the os x? isn't that why and want to use os x extended?
Thanks for all ideas,
Charlie

Piece of cake!
For those who want to know:
usb connection to imac first. I started disk utility. Split the partition to two parts and formated only one partition as OS X extended. After done, copied my directories as a bkup.
usb connection to windows. I started computer management and saw that the usb disk had two partitions: the first was healthy but unknown. That was ok, I wanted the second partition to be NTFS and formated. Then copied my directories to that drive as well.
Connected back the imac and saw both partitions, imacbkup and winbkup. I forgot, just like what I do with the imac and winxp, I can see the c: drive via the mac.
Very cool and easy. Maxtor drives are very reliable and easy to use.
Thanks,
Charlie Cooperman
If anyone wants more detail info, you can email me at [email protected]

External Drive for ITunes and IPhoto

I'm out of space on hard drive and would like to use an external hd for all Itunes and Iphotos. Can someone help me in moving these to the external and to make this external the default drive for all things new to both ITunes and IPhoto? I'm a novice!

You post in a workstation forum, Mac Pro has 4 internal drive bays and easy to expand and upgrade.
But yes you can have any media library and folder on add'l drives.
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
Transferring iTunes Library
Moving your iTunes Music folder
Transferring your iTunes Library iLounge

How to use an external drive for windows and mac

I recently got an external hard drive (2 TB seagate expansion) and I need to be able to use it with both my mac and my windows computer. I have read numerous forums and tried downloading various third party programs but nothing seems to work! One of the things i have read was to create a partition on the drive, this is easy enough and i did try it so i do have one side i can add stuff from from windows and one side i can add stuff to from my mac but then i cant access the other side. So say i need to get a file from my mac to my windows. I add a file to the mac side of the partition from my mac but then when i plug it into windows i cant retrieve that because its on the mac side of the partition (and vis versa). Is there some sort of easy way around this? or some way in which i can format the drive where i can move files back and forth from windows to mac without any expensive third party programs?
Thanks!
Bryan
PS. I did notice when i originally got the hard drive i had a bunch of files on it that were added from windows. When i plugged it into my mac i could see and copy these files but i could not add new files. Is there anyway to get around this "read only" type formate if i were to reset my drive back to its factory settings?

Three ways to go;
Repartiton the drive (1 partition) as MBR and with FAT32 file system. This is readable and writable by both Mac and Windows, but has a file size limit (which I think is 4GB).
The alternative is to leave the drive formatted as NTFS for Windows (this is not normally writeable from Mac) and employ a third-party software application which can write to NTFS. NTFS-3G, Paragons NTFS for Mac and Tuxera NTFS have all been recommended elsewhere.
Or you can repartition as GUID with HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Journalled) file system. This would not normally be accesible to the Windows machine, but once again there is 3rd-party softwsre available to enable Windows to read and write to it. MacDrive is the only one I'm aware of, but there are probably others.

Same external drive for iTunes and Zune?

Hi all,
I have an external drive that holds all of my music, which is for iTunes and my iPods. I used to have Zune players, and recently found them in a box. I tried to set up Zune on my brothers PC, but it doesn't read my external drive. I just saw that my external is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Is there a format I can use that would work on both a Mac an a PC?
If not, I can format another drive I have so it would work on the PC. I would then like to transfer my music from my Mac OS Extended (Journaled ) to the other drive. Will it work, or will the music files also still be M OE E (Journaled)?
Thanks for any help...

Figured it out. I just formated a seperate external drive to DOS Fat and copied the music from the Mac OS Extened external drive. I was able to put the music on my Zunes and it worked, even as MP4's.

Best External Drive for MacPro and iMovie

In using iMovie, I find my existing main drives filling up, and need to get a fast external drive which works well with the Mac Pro and the snow leopard operating system. I note that there is a new usb 3.0 standard, but my understanding is that it does not work with os10.6 without additional third party hardware. Any suggestions on best mass storage (external) for iMovie which is fast enough so that the video is not negatively impacted when preparing a movie?

geo.adi wrote:
Are you saying that MacBook Pro 15" has slot that is not good for eSATA connection?
on this site (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/apple-macbook-pro-2007/4507-3121_7-32465635.html ?tag=mncolBtm;rnav)
it says "*Expansion Slots Total (Free) 1.0 ( 1.0 ) x ExpressCard/34 - SO DIMM 200-pin*"
and looks like you've said that what one need for eSATA is ExpressCard/34 slot.
I'm confused...
Perhaps you should ask your question in the Computing Hardware > Macbook Pro section of this forum.
Type 'Express Card' in the search box and you will find plenty of reading material.
Useful links?:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12671141&#12671141
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/seritek2sm2e.html

Using SSD Drives for Booting and Apps

If I installed a fairly small SSD drive to boot from, would I be able to move my main Applications folder over to this drive as well? Would this improve an app's loading time as much as it improves the computer's booting time?
Thanks,
Adam

This is a constant question with new threads all the time about SSD, moving or leaving home folder, and applications.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=13181608
SSDs do better if they aren't so small that the lack of TRIM (made up for by background garbage collection) and over-provisioning, as well as handling write amplification.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_amplification
Sometimes the boot drive is going to be used, and needs that 20GB of free space. Some try to limit writing to SSD.
Smaller units don't always have the same specs, and some can be darn-right slow when it comes to writes. And especially true of some of the newest generation SSDs that are barely shipping now.
Pull your old drive and keep it off line as backup.
Copy your media and data folders and libraries.
Some leave their home folder with just home library ~/Library
Which is where your prefs, email, etc are kept and gets a lot of high I/O, but also where web browser abuse disk drives, generally doesn't get much beyond 1GB storage.
Boot time is over rated sign of performance. And for some reason can be slower. Not everyone is happy with apps launching, others find it makes a huge difference. Some SSDs I read where OS X wouldn't install so they had to clone their system using CCC or SuperDuper. CCC lets you copy just what you need.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2729621
SSD and RAID
http://discussions.apple.com/messageview.jspa?messageID=11668255
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12866414
Writing zeroes is not a good idea as it is still just 'writing'.
Any Sand Force (such as OWC that now switched to using SF controller) have BGC. The newer units have even more aggressive garbage collection.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=679&Itemid =60&limit=1&limitstart=3
Inside an SSD's DNA (the how and engineering side)
http://www.diskeeper.com/blog/post/2010/12/31/Inside-SSDs.aspx
Windows 7, also gives a good idea of OS compatibility
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/05/05/support-and-q-a-for-solid-state-dr ives-and.aspx
Asking about TRIM support in 10.6 (has showed in System Profile but never showing as Enabled or Yes.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/2010MacBookPro_SSDreports.html#storytop
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/
http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-SSD-Overview.html

External drive for MAC and PC?

My client wants to be able to view all the .mov files I've shot for them and due to file sizes, I need to deliver them all on a hard drive.
Is there any easy fix on my end or their end to facilitate this?
Thanks!

I was assuming that with Quicktime they'd be able to view full size .mov files
QuickTime .mov is a container, the video inside could have been made with any one of a number of codecs. If they do not have that particular codec, they won't be able to play the video. Not even all Macs have the same codecs, many are installed by FCP and unavailable elsewhere.
Also - do you know someone that has had success with MacDrive 8 on a PC?
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Most reliable external drive for booting and imaging

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