Questions about external hard drive

I'm running out of space on my macbook and am going to get an external hard drive, at least 500Gb. I see all kinds of different prices here and at places like circuit city, best buy, etc. I was wondering if just any external drive that uses USB will be fine, in which case I'd look for the best deal. But I play a lot of video files on my macbook, which is what the new drive will mostly hold. Will accessing/playing video files on the external drive be slower than it is on the macbook itself?

Any external drive would likely be OK. Firewire would be faster than USB, so preferable. You can also make your own external drive.
Although you can buy a complete FireWire or USB 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 (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.

Similar Messages

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    YoJoLo wrote:
    Are all my photos on iPhoto, and my Word for Mac documents backed up so that when I reinstall Yosemite, everything is going to be right where I left it? 
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    YoJoLo wrote:
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    YoJoLo wrote:
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  • A simple question about external hard drives.

    hi. this may be a stupid question but i kinda need to know the answer.
    can you use any external hard drive on a mac mini?
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    Welcome to Apple Discussions!
    can you use any external hard drive on a mac mini?
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  • Yet Another Question About External Hard Drives

    Hi,
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    Does anyone have experience or advice about external hard drive recovery?
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    When in DW there is a Preview to see the old and new volume.
    http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/harddrives/topic4557.html#d10aug2010
    Data Rescue 3 demo will show you what it's scan finds, costs $99
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    Yes I would try another case, maybe the power brick was all that is now half-dead also
    And you really need a UPS - never be w/o
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    MacBook Pro:
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  • Do you know about external hard drives?

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  • Question about Ext Hard Drive with Time Machine

    Hello
    Here is the case
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    Hello ADAMB
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  • Question about swapping Hard-Drive​s/Creating Recovery Discs

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    Satellite C655-S5082 
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    scottrf8 wrote:
    As far as a new hard drive, will any 2.5 laptop hard drive work? I read it needs to be 9.5mm thick. Is that correct?
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    Ciao.

  • Question about swapping hard drives...

    Hi there,
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  • A Cautionary Tale + Question about ibook hard drive

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    Regards,
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    May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
    I am a volunteer, and not a paid staff of Lenovo or Microsoft

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