Suggested External Hard drives

I'm looking to get an external hard drive for my macbook pro. I am looking for something that I can run programs directly from. The biggest thing is that I'm running windows vista using bootcamp and I'd like to be able to install some applications such as Adobe Primiere Pro to the external harddrive and run it from there. What should I be looking for in hard drives so I could do this. I need somethng more than just storage i guess. Thanks.

I know it is weird, but definitely it is Apple's USB2 support which is much lower performance. At first I thought it was maybe my USB ports which were buggered (or those of the MBP)... but then I found those benchmarks on barefeats.com which were reflecting exactly what I was measuring - Firewire speeds are roughly the same on my PC (you'll need a decent chipset) and MBP... but usb2 speeds on PC are wayy faster than those on the MBP (and on a variety of apple machines according to barefeats.com). Of course you can't fully rely on figures from different benchmark apps, but as far as ball park figures go you can get a pretty good impression.
Maybe its because USB2 was developed as a competitor to FW400 and partly as a response to apple's plan to charge $1 per FW port in any machine across the globe (eventually brought down to $0.25) - I'm sure apple still hold that grudge
But it is very true that FW is a way better interface to use for performance critical devices - plus you can see which way to plug it in even in low lighting cos of the asymmetric plug!
MacBook Pro C2D 17" Mac OS X (10.4.8) Week 46 Build
MacBook Pro C2D 17" Mac OS X (10.4.8) Week 46 Build

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Suggested external hard drive for new lion OS

After all the problems everyone has been having with external hard drives not being able to connect when the system is upgraded to Lion, (myself included) I would like a suggestion as to which hard drive to buy to make sure to get one that works with Lion.
I probabably with just get one to back up files, something larger than 500 G. I don't need one to run programs or files from.
Previously I was using a Lacie hard drive to store itunes in and run itunes off of it but that drive is not longer compatible with Lion. I am hoping to reboot off the Leopard Disc to be able to read all the files on the Lacie and move them over to a new hard drive then reformat the Lacie on Lion, hoping that this will allow me to read the Lacie again. Don't know if it will work, otherwise I go back to Snow Leopard or get rid of the Lacie. If the Lacie won't work I will need another drive I can run itunes off of.

Can't help since all four of my ext HDs work w/Lion. One's from Seagate and the other three were built with enclosures. All are using FireWire. Tis better to figure out why your current ones don't work.

I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. suggestions to complete backup please?

I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. the same thing happens when just trying to save my pictures from iphoto to a flash drive. suggestions to complete backup please?

Sounds like you'll need to access that drive while it is not booted. You need to replace it anyway, so do that, then one way or another (ext enclusure, et), access it and copy files.
If you keep trying to boot it, you might kill it for good and not get your files, so just swap it out first.

Looking to purchased a external hard drive, any suggestions?????

Hello My name is john...
I got a powerbook G4(500 Mhz) 15-inch screen, 30GB internal hard drive. I`m looking for an external hard drive to store my files( and to add more storage space)I looking for external hard drive like no more than $69.99 dollars....Something else....could anybody tell me the difference in getting a USB 2.0 port & FireWire????
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-External-WDXMS600TN/dp/tech-data/ B000HZD2XK/ref=deasmtd/105-4949246-1849227?ie=UTF8&qid=1181576487&sr=8-6 Could anybody advised me If this is a good external HDD...pelase I would like it..If a lot of people could participate in this forum/discussion....to bring new ideas and suggestions and comments....
Cheers,
John

I know, that when it comes for asking the same questionnaire in all my forums all over again..its get a little bothersome, right???
Yes it does. Once is enough.
Your Tibook only has USB 1.1 ports, not USB 2 ports. You would be insane to buy a USB drive to use with it, unless you also buy a USB 2 adapter card for your CardBus slot. But we've already been all through that with you, in one of the dozen or more threads you've started while spinning your wheels and repeating yourself for the last three weeks.
If you can only find one drive for $69.99, and $69.99 is the most you're willing to spend, then your choice is already made, and you don't need any other recommendations.
There aren't a lot of people reading or responding to questions in the Tibook Discussions any more. If you look through the forums, you'll see that it's fairly unusual for more than three or four different people to post in any given thread lately. The likelihood that you will get a wide variety of responses to any question posted here is pretty small. That's too bad, perhaps, but that's the way it is.

Having trouble getting Time Machine to back up my external hard drive. Any suggestions?

I'm running Mountain Lion on my iMac and I've been using Time Machine to back it up to my Time Capsule. Recently, the iMac's hard drive filled up, so I moved my iTunes library to a new Airport Time Capsule. But I can't seem to get Time Machine to include the new Airport Time Capsule in its back up.
The only suggestion I can find is to make sure it's not excluded in the Time Machine options, and I can see that nothing is excluded. However, when I go into Time Machine, the Airport Time Capsule is greyed out in the Finder window.
Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance, I'm a little nervous about having my iTunes library hanging out there without a back up...

Linc Davis wrote:
You can't back up the internal drive of the Time Capsule with Time Machine. It will only back up locally attached storage devices, not network devices. There's no way around it. You may be able to back up the TC with third-party software such as "Carbon Copy Cloner," but it will be very slow. The internal drive of the TC is only suitable for use as a backup device. It's not suited for storing original data.
yeah well you can use the external hard drive as a data extension to the time capsule internal hard drive. like a RAID in effect...

HT1751 My iTunes won't drag to my external hard drive...any suggestions?

When I attempt to drag my iTunes library to my external hard drive, it will not transfer the folder. I am using a Mac osx and a free agent external hard drive. Any suggestions?

See this migrate iTunes library post. Depending on the layout of the library you may simply need to copy the entire iTunes folder using Windows Explorer without ever firing up iTunes.
tt2

What external Hard drive can I get to use w/ my iMac and Macbook pro w/ Lion software? I have never used one. I need to back up my photos, iTunes, documenta, etc., Im a nursing student and very worried about losing my stuff. Any suggestions?

I have had my macbook pro and desktop since 2008 now. I have never had time to just sit down and learn about time machine and external hard drives. I am in nursing school and barely have time to breathe, so when I try to read the threads, all the tech terms run together. I have been referred to LaCIe, but I read some things saying problems with Lion (which I am highly disapointed in so far-but like I said, I have not had a lot of time to sit down and try to figure out out the kinks), Is there a good external harddrive anyone reccommends that will be easy/simple (not because I am lazy- I literally have no time w/ all my school work to figure out something complicated) , and go with my desk top and lap top?
My laptop started messing up in class the other day, and it has a lot of memory left, so I don't understand. It kept freezing up like a PC. Ever since I downloaded Lion, it seems my computers have gotten slower. ;( I have MacKeeper downloaded on both of them. I cleaned stuff off, it seems to be working better right now. But I am still soooo scared that something will happen and I will lose all of my info.
I would be grateful of any advice/suggestions that anyone can give me.
Thanks

the BEST that exists (fact, not opinion) are Hitachi
best options for the price, and high quality HD:
Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or $65 per TB on 2.5"
Perfect 1TB for $68
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba
Nice 500gig for $50. ultraslim perfect for use with a notebook
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb
BEST FOR THE COST, Toshiba "tiny giant" 15mm thick 2TB drive (have several of them, lots of storage in tiny package) $100
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379182740&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+toshiba
*This one is the BEST portable external HD available that money can buy:
HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive $88
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Mobile-Portable-External-0S03559/dp/B009GE6JI8/ref=sr _1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383238934&sr=8-1&keywords=HGST+Touro+Mobile+Pro+1TB+USB+3.0+7 2 00+RPM
Most storage experts agree on the Hitachi 2.5"
Hitachi is the winner in hard drive reliability survey:
Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the hundreds of Hitachi hard drives received, not a single one had failed due to manufacturing or design errors. Adding the highest average lifespans and the best relationship between failures and market share, Hitachi can be regarded as the winner.

External Hard Drives Suggestions

Any suggestions for good External Hard Drives to be used as backup?

Well... why don't you care about throughput, performace etc... that's very odd.
I'd rather have a back-up drive that was capable of doing the job... and with the price of harddrives these days it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
If you want to go out and buy a sub-standard, slower drive for back-up, then have to invest money AGAIN to replace a media drive thats gone down...
Why not have a fast reliable drive that can be used straight away... if you're in the middle of a job, you may as well be prepared... surely...?
Like i said... H drives are cheap cheap cheap these days... may as well get a good one...
I certainly don't buy this...'i don't care about throughput, performance, speed...'
You should.
Go and buy another LaCie.
J

HT1751 I had my library and playlists on an external hard drive. Now, I cannot get the playlists to come up in ITunes on my new computer. I recall doing something in properties but dk next step. Suggestions? Thanks

I have a new computer. My old Mac had my playlist synced to an external hard drive. (I have an IPod Classic) The playlists will not come up in ITunes now. As I recall, I had to do something with properties but that is all I remember. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to syn the library playlists tofrom the external hard drive to the computer? Thank you

chevalierdurufle wrote:
My itunes library used to be on a PC - but shortly before the PC went to PC heaven I transferred the library onto an external hard drive
You mean you transferred the media, not the library...
Now I have a laptop - but I can't get itunes to pick up the library location
The library location is in your /Music/ oflder.
Your media files (not yet in your new iTunes library ) is on the external drive.
I have changed in advance preferences, but the library does not display.
Because you have not yet added anything to your library.
Quit iTunes.
On the external, create a new folder named My iTunes library (or something).
Hold Shift and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select My iTunes library on the external.
Go into Windows Explorer and move all the media files on the external into /My iTunes Llibrary/iTunes media/Automatically add to iTunes/ folder.

I want to edit Pictures that are on my External Hard Drive Using iPhoto without having to import them every time, it was suggested to me to use Aperture. any advise is appreciated

I want to edit Pictures that are on my External Hard Drive Using iPhoto without having to import them every time, it was suggested to me to use Aperture. any advise is appreciated

Aperture is a nice program, I use it myself for it's adjustment and light editing capabiities.
You can save a vault on another drive.

HT1751 I have followed the steps to back up my itunes library to an external hard drive but when I try to drag my library to the hard drive it does not work. Any suggestions?

I have followed th steps to back up my itunes library to an external hard drive but when I try to drag the itunes folder to the hard drive it does not let me. Any suggestions?

Go through the below forum with similar issue and follow the process mentioned by "Macjack" in the beginning.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4499820

I need to move the iTunes library to an External Hard Drive to free up space on iMac. Need suggestions on type of External Hard Drive to use. A Multimedia Hard Drive like LaCie LaCinema Classic HD Multimedia Hard Drive OR a Large Desktop Hard Drive?

I need to move an iTunes library to an External Hard Drive to free up space on iMac. I Need suggestions on type of External Hard Drive to use. Should you use a Multimedia Hard Drive like LaCie LaCinema Classic HD Multimedia Hard Drive OR a standard Large Desktop Hard Drive like Western Digital/Seagate/LaCie?

There is no benefit to the multi-media feature on the first drive you mentioned. If you are going to look at differences between certain drives, I'd look at the differences in reliability first.

External Hard Drive Storage suggestions

Hi
I have an Imac and want to buy some media storage device. I am using it for video editing etc so transfer speed is pretty important. This machine does not have thunderbolt from what I can see. looks like I am stuck with an expensive machine with only USB2.0 and I know nothing about firewire.
is there a external hard drive you can recommend that will give me fast transfer?
some suggestions would be great and thank you very much

If your machine has Firewire 800 that is substantially faster than USB 2. In that case what I'd recommend is OWC Mercury Elite Pro (www.macsales.com), if you are not aware of OWC they specialize in Macs and what they sell is well supported, thoroughly tested and high quality. They are also well thought of in general on these forums.
Other good drives are Lacie and G-Tech, however of the 3 I tend to like the OWC due to their build quality and support.

I have recently updated my OS from Leopard to Snow Leopard but now my external hard drive and even my iPhone are not recognized by my Macbook Pro! Anyone have a suggestion??

I have recently updated my OS from Leopard to Snow Leopard but now my external hard drive and even my iPhone are not recognized by my Macbook Pro! Anyone have a suggestion??

Zap the PRAM and Reset the SMC, then try again. If the problem remains, update to 10.6.8 and repeat.

External hard drive suddenly became "unreadable" and the disk utility offers not repair options. The drive is visible in disk utility but may not be mounted... any suggestions?

I have a WD My Passport 070A Media 2.0 TB external hard drive that has suddenly become unreadable on my laptop (MacBook Pro circa 2006 with 10.4.11) and I have tried on a MacBook Pro 2011 running 10.6.8 with the same results. I had tried opening disk utility to repair the drive, but on both machines the drive is visible in the left column, with no indentation below the drive. When I select the drive in the first aid portion the only options highlighted are info and eject... I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to repair the drive. I am currently in Belize and am not home for 3 weeks yet. I'm hoping for a fix while I am down here, otherwise I may have to wait... I appreciate any assistance!
-Christina

Hi Christina,
It's quite possible the AC PSU has given out, if It's only Bus powered as it appears, that's the worst idea ever & asking for eventual problems.
What Format is it?
Did you install any WD SW?
Your best bet is DiskWarrio...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
But others that may work…
Drive Genius…
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
TechTool Pro…
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=83

Suggested External Hard drives

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