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.

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External backup hard drive recommendations

I'm ashamed to say, but all that I have for a backup is a pocket portable USB 500G drive. Now it does 'do the job', although very slowy. I'm looking for recommendations for a new hard drive. I currently have 1 PC desktop(ethernet) and two MBP (wireless) connected via network through an AEBS. All of the machines are physically in different rooms and currently between all three machines, I'm at about 300GB of data, This is strictly for home use. I hope I've given enough background information. So, should I go for a network backup drive? It seems the simplest choice, but having never used one, wasn't certain. How about brands/style, which RAID? I don't want to spend above $1000 and would prefer to keep it @ about $500-700.
Thanks for the input
Message was edited by: paulyman

Have you considered an Apple Time Capsule?? It will wirelessly backup any MACs you have on the network. PCs can also browse to it.
If not you need a good External hard disk drive with a USB interface so that you can connect it to the back of your AEBS and use it as a shared drive on the network. This is what I plan to do when I get my TC. This external drive must have hardware RAID built in so you never have to worry about losing data. You could keep it as a backup and storage area that all other clients can access.
I would recommend a My Book Studio Edition 2. This has RAID and will mirror one disk to the other automatically, so if a disk dies you can easily replace it (WD give a 5 year warranty as well!). It also has a FireWire800 port so if you want to connect it directly to a MBP, you can use the faster connection.
Here is a video I created of the drive...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbBdAuzxXk
Although I have the 4TB version, you can also get a 2TB version, which has 2x1TB discs inside.
If this is too much and you dont want the Firewire ports, you can also get this same drive in Black which is USB only - called the My Book Mirror Edition. Its also a bit cheaper since it doesnt have the other ports.

I have a Free Agent external backup hard drive connected to my iMac Intel desktop via USB. Why do I get an error message, from time to time, upon startup stating: "disk was disconnected improperly, always eject disk before disconnecting"?

I have a Free Agent external backup hard drive connected to my iMac Intel desktop via USB, I never unplug it. Why do I get an error message, from time to time, upon startup stating, "Disk was disconnected improperly. Always eject disk before disconnecting."?

I never unplug the external harddrive, and the error message comes up only occassionaly upon startup. Maybe the USB connection gets disrupted enough to cause the computer to see it as disconnected and then reconnected while the iMac is powered.

Backing up Itunes library to external backup hard drive

May have missed this... but I just bought an external hard drive for use as a backup. It didn't come with backup software. For now, I just copy and paste personal folders. What do I copy to backup my itunes library? Itunes internal backup apparently only backs up to CD or DVD. Can I not back up some weird voodoo protected version of my music to an external hard drive wthout having to copy to DVD? I mean, that would go through a lot of DVDs over a year wouldn it?
Mike

Hi, Mike.
Assuming you haven't changed any of iTunes' default settings, everything you need to back-up - the iTunes Music folder, the Album Artwork and the iTunes Library files - is found in the iTunes folder at C:\Documents and Settings\ user name \My Documents\My Music\iTunes .
So, again assuming you haven't changed the defaults, all you have to do is copy the iTunes folder to your external.
If you've changed the defaults, it can be a bit more complicated.

Recommend an external firewire hard drive

i need an external fire wire hard drive to use for audio storage that is both FAST and QUIET.
any recommendations?

Those people with LaCie drives...
As soon as you can, get some other brand drive and back up your data !
Search the web for how many many many people have had LaCie units go
bad due to Heat, Bad Firewire componenets, Known Cheap-O drive
mechanisms inside, Power Supply short-out / failure, etc etc.
I had a LaCie drive go dead, luckily it was only the power supply but then
I checked all the other LaCie drives I had and they were not only a brand of
drive mechanism not having favor in the market but also running at super
high temperature inside the no-fan case. Heat is the worst enemy of electonics.
I realize this does not answer the original question but it is my direct experience
that LaCie is a bad choice.
You have been warned.
Also if you have any problem with your LaCie drive, do not expect any support
from LaCie, they will send you a form letter email saying that they consider
HardDrives to now be consummable level devices (like disposable lighters)
and they will try to convince you that it's easier and better to just buy more drives
than to repair a drive and then they'll suggest that you buy more of their drives.
PowerBook G4 1GHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Need recommendation for external DVD burner drive!

I'm one of the officers for a film club at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Recently, I discovered that we had, in our offices, a fully-functional, if not somewhat dated, iMac G4. After getting the neccessary OS X upgrades (it's now running the latest version, 10.4.8), I need to upgrade the CD drive, which is currently just a CD burner drive. It can't even play DVDs, much less burn them, both things we need to have working if we want people in our organization to be able to use this computer.
Since I don't want to physically remove the drive and replace it with an internal DVD burner drive, I'd like a recommendation for a good external one. I noticed that there's only one option on the Apple Store, the LaCie d2 DVD+/-RW Drive, and that doesn't look like it's been getting very good reviews. Does anyone have any other options I could choose from?
iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Good point Keith.
I have no experience of this model but this one from OWC (a company who get very good press on these boards) promises iDVD 5 and 6 support. It's somewhat cheaper than the Lacie in the Apple store but doesn't have Lightscribe.
mrtotes

External Backup Hard Drive Help

Hello all,
I bought a Western Digital 320gb External Hard Drive for my Power Mac G3 and it is both 2.0 usb and firewire. I was thinking of using firewire instead of usb. A coworker told me that the WD HD is not good and several people told him that they crash alot. I have an 80 gb internal Western Digital hard drive and I've had no problems w/it. I have 3 questions, 1. is it true what they've said about the WD external HD? 2. If I use firewire, do I need 2 add/install anything along w/the HD? 3. I understand Seagate is really good, should I return the WD E HD (it's unopened) and get the Seagate instead?
Thank u all 4 your help.

I've never used a WD HD, so I can't comment on the reliability. I have 2 Maxtor HDs.
However, on your choice of Firewire or USB. Do you have a USB 2.0 PCI card in your Mac? If you plan on using the built-in USB port which is USB 1.1, data transfer will be r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w.
USB 2.0 has approximately the same top rated speed as Firewire. However, in reality, The Firewire speed is the sustained speed while USB 2.0 speed is the maximum & you will get probably half that. USB 1.1 is much, much slower. You don't have to install anything to use Firewire. See USB: Transfer Speed Compared to Other Technologies
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=24531
 Cheers, Tom

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

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.

External backup hard drive recommendations/advice?

I've been backing up files one CD-R at a time and it's getting ridiculous. I'd like to buy an external drive which I would update monthly and then disconnect & put on a shelf. I don't need a ridiculous amount of space -- just at least double-digit gigs.
Any insights into the most reliable, easiest to use, most compact/lightweight and best-priced drives would be greatly appreciated.
He who laughs last has a backup disk,
--Christine

I Have been using a LaCie 160GB drive for the last couple of years. I use it in conjunction with SuperDuper!, which has made a clone of my system, and then it performs regularly scheduled incremental backups, so I am always up-to-date.
It's easy and painless, save your CDs for better things,
Miriam

Error says my External backup hard drive is read only

I have a WD External drive that I use for my Time Machine backup. I turned on the computer today and it says it cannot backup because the drive is read only. It appears on the desktop and in the Finder window. When I open Time Machine preferences, it's identified as the backup disk. But when I choose "backup now", I get that message (it's read only).
Do I have to partition this again using Disk Utility or is there a simpler solution? Thank you,

See #C6 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

External backup hard drive???

I need an external drive to back up photos. I noticed some models eg WD passport have 2 versions of the same drive. The one "for Mac" more expensive for the same model and space.Do I have to buy for Mac??

I would not recommend WD.
They offer proprietery software on their Mac version. You don't need it.
First thing to do if you get the WD is reformat it, and get rid of all their back up software anyway.

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.

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.

Easiest Way to Backup Main Hard Drive to External USB Hard Drive

I was wondering what the easiest way is to backup my main internal hard drive to an external usb hard drive on a regular basis?
Thanks for the help

Carbon Copy Cloner is NOT "freeware":
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
The trouble with CCC and a USB drive, is that if you ever have trouble with your iBook's hard drive, you won't be able to boot from a USB drive to copy everything back with Carbon Copy Cloner.
I would recommend booting from the Mac OS X install DVD that came with your computer and opening the Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. There you can make a "restore" from your iBook's hard drive to the USB drive. If necessary, you can do the reverse as well.
-Doug

Recommendations for external backup hard drive...mirrored

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