Suggestions for new iMac, hard drive and Thunderbolt vs FW800 vs USB3?

Ordering a new iMac 27" and leaning toward fusion drive, and wondering if anyone has any suggestion or experiance with this drive? Any suggestions for drives would be welcome.
I am going to have to decide what to do as far as storage and I assume USB3 will be the best choice - been using FW800 and lots of new things coming.
Thanks for any input and suggestions.
Don

anybody have any comments on the use of Thunderbolt vs USB3? I am using FW800 not and will be changing my 2 external drives. I have to keep FW800 on them so I am able to daisey-chain them. My use is normal and wondering if I should stay with USB3 & FW800 for external or make the TM drive a Thunderbolt. Those seem to be priced higher just wanted some suggestions, recommendations.
Thanks,
Don

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SPECS FOR NEW MBP HARD DRIVE AND HOW TO INSTALL NEW OS AND USE TIME MACHINE

I need to replace the hard drive in my early-2006 1.83 MacBook Pro (15-inch), because the Genius at the Apple Store told me that I'm getting weird behavior on it due to the drive slowing down and that it won't last much longer.
I have 2 questions:
First, I want to order the drive online and have it installed locally. I will probably get a 320 to 500GB drive. What are the exact other specs I will need to find the right one?
Second, I am currently running 10.5.8 and backing up with Time Machine. I would like to install 10. 6 on the new drive, but don't know how to go about using the Time Machine backup to get all my apps and files running. Can someone describe this procedure for me?
Many thanks!

Hi Annie,
You need a 2.5" 9.5mm high SATA HD, either 5400 or 7200RPM. Check out macsales, newegg, amazon to name a few places.
How to restore from a TM backup: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Prepare your HD by formatting and partitioning it:
1. Boot from install disc (press power button, immediately insert install disc and hold down c key).
2. Select your language.
3. Open Disk Utility from Utilities menu.
4. Select the HD in the left pane (the manufacturer’s name and the HD model number).
5. Click on the Erase tab.
6. Choose the Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
NOTE: if you want to zero the HD (which I always think is a good idea, but does take time), click on Security Options, click the button for Zero Out Data, click OK. The larger the HD, the longer this will take, in some cases several hours.
7. Click on Erase and wait for the entire process to finish.
8. Click the Partition tab.
9. Click on Volume Scheme: and choose the number of partitions (normally just one unless you have other plans).
10. Click on the Options button (located underneath the Volume Scheme pane) and select GUID.
11. Click Apply.
12. Quit Disk Utility and continue with the installation process to install OSX or run Restore from a TM backup; when finished, repair permissions, run updates, repair permissions.
Message was edited by: tjk

I am trying to clean up my iMac hard drive and find a lot of space in 'Deleted Users'...what is this and can I delete that folder?

I am trying to clean up my iMac hard drive and find a lot of space in a folder named 'Deleted Users'...what is this and can I delete it to save space?

If a user account is deleted and the data for that account is not deleted, it is placed there. Yes, you can delete the files there.

I am not much of a computer technician. I bought a time capsule thinking I could use this for an external hard drive and keep my MAC hard drive free. Was I mistaken? One I back everthing up on the TC, can I delete everything off of my MAC?

I am not much of a computer technician. I bought a time capsule thinking I could use this for an external hard drive and keep my MAC hard drive free. Was I mistaken? Once I back everything up on the TC, can I delete everything off of my MAC and then use my TC as my hard drive??

Once I back everything up on the TC, can I delete everything off of my MAC and then use my TC as my hard drive??
TC was designed to backup your Mac. The TC literature is pretty clear about this:
If your Mac's hard drive has a problem....it will sooner or later....you can use your backup on the TC to rebuild your Mac.
But.....if you move all of your data to the TC from your Mac....you only have one version of that data now, and it is on the TC.
Have you thought about what will happen when....not if....the TC has a problem? Since the only version of your important data was on the TC, and the TC has failed......you lose all of your data.....because you have no backup.
A much better plan would be to add a USB or FireWire hard drive and connect it directly to your Mac. Move the data on your Mac over to the hard drive.
Then, the TC will backup both your Mac and the hard drive. So, you have original data on on one drive and backups on another drive.
That would be a minimum backup plan. Most of us have more than one set of backups.

How can I move (copy) my Time Capsule date to a new 2T hard drive and then wipe the TC and start as a new (clean) Time MACHINE backup?

How can I move (copy) my Time Capsule date to a new 2T hard drive and then wipe the TC and start as a new (clean) Time MACHINE backup?

Just use the archive utility on the disk page of the airport utility manual setup..
If you have lion and v6 airport utility.. it missed out. On lots of things.
Download and install the real.. UTILITY
5.6 http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

I installed a new bigger hard drive and now spotlight does not work with outlook to search for emails

My old hard drive was full so I went to an apple authorized provider to install a new bigger hard drive. They also moved the data and applications from my old drive to the new one. They did not use time capsule because their way was faster. After the installation I did have to reenter the product code key for Office 2011 for the Mac. However, now I find that I cannot do email spotlight searches in Outlook. When I put in the search - it comes up with no results. This is true no matter what the search. Any ideas of how to point spotlight to look in the email folders so I can do searches again. This is a feature I use daily - so I am concerned that I have lost this feature. Also, I am noticing that alot of the settings did not carry over to the new hard drive. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I would recommend starting over and migrate using your Time Capsule backup however DO NOT do it wirelessly, connect using an Ethernet Connection. If you upgraded to Lion from Snow Leopard then follow the instructions in this video, the kid is annoying but he knows what he's doing. Clean Install Of Snow Leopard video. Once you have installed and updated Snow Leopard then update using the 10.6.8 Update Combo, then log into the Mac App Store and re-install Lion and all it's updates. My guess this is an afternoons work.

Question: Installing a new extrenal hard drive and files for FCE

My Lacie 40GB drive is to small, and it contains my FCE files and that is where FCE is set to store & work off those file.
I wish to buy a much larger external hard drive, but what do I do?
Drag the files into the new external hard drive from the old external hard drive?
And then do I set FCE preferences or settings to choose the new ext hard drive as the place for storage,and it will recognize it without a glitch in the process or will it say files can't be loacted?
Thank you!

If you move the files to the new drive, you'll have to reassign the scratch disk. Unless you name the new drive the same as the old then no, FCE won't be able to find the files and you'll have to do through the reconnect process.

New iMac Hard drive age

I'm getting a new iMac 20" with a 250GB hard drive and Leopard on it. One question though, what about the hard drive. Is it known to fail? Or is it a goodin'. This might help me decide if I need to buy a backup HD, just in case.

I want a iMac!! wrote:
Applecare!!!!!!!!!!
I'll buy a backup HD and i'll bet you it will cost less than Applecare overtime
I dont belive in that extended warrenty crap
ROFL when the cost of a new LCD or logic board come your way, let me know how much it costs. For less than 200 bucks I get an extra 3yrs of safety knowing I can get things fixed at no cost to me, I'll take it.
To each his own. Let's put it this way, I bought home warranty for my house (house was already 10yrs old), 5yrs later my wife had same mentality that you just showed, and canceled it. End of that year BOTH our HVACS went out. Not one but BOTH. Now, let's see, less than $800 a year versus almost $10,000 for 2 Hvacs? not including the labor to install them. With home warranty 2 hvacs would have only costed me a grand total of less than $200.
Sorry, most things I don't buy extended warranty on, and some things it's just common sense to get it.

I am going to buy a new external hard drive and have some questions first

Although I asked this question several years ago, I would like to ask it again, just if in case technology in general or external hard drives in particular have changed in any significant ways.
I need to replace a 1 terabyte LaCie external hard drive that died on me after a few years.
1. I am afraid of buying another LaCie. What other brands are reliable? I heard that Western Digital is. Also another brand beginnibg with S (so helpful, I know).
2. Do I have to look for a drive that is MAC FORMATTED? I vaguely recall this term from years ago. I also remember another term that I was to look out for, but I don't remember what it was. Something like ”chronicled“ but obviously not that.
3. Should I get more than 1 terabyte? Right now I have an old, old 125 gigabyte LaCie that still lives, but it is so small that it is almost nothing
4. What do you think about buying external hard drives fron Costco as opposed to from the Apple Store?
~L

Ziatron, you wrote ”All you do is open the enclosure and the hard drive plugs in. (done.)“ What enclosure?
This is the enclosure I like, it needs a hard drive to work : http://www.cooldrives.com/ox93saiihadr.html
But there are many others.
looking at my two dead laCie ext. hard drives and they don't have ”enclosures.“ Just holes in the back to receive the cables.
A hard drive enclosure is a box or case the actual hard drive goes into. Look at the images in the link above. You can see what is inside.
This hard drive goes inside the above cool drive enclosure: http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Intellipower-Desktop-WD20EADS/dp/B001RB1TI S/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258862242&sr=8-1
You recommended getting a hard drive with a Firewire connection, but most of the hard drives have USB.
Well maybe, the better drives are Firewire.
Should that matter to me?
Yes, Firewire is "isochronous", basically meaning that you can pump "clocked" data though it in real time. USB works more like TCPIP, with the data chopped up into packets and later reassembled. (Thus, at a minimum, you have latency, that is, the wait for the data to be "put back together".) Second, the Firewire protocol allows more direct address to memory (including mass storage) with minimal intervention of the CPU.
Is USB a whole lot slower than Firewire if I am transferring materials?
Firewire is faster and _more reliable._
Take a look at the link below, "Build Your Own External Hard Drive". The enclosure I like is easier to use.
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/tips/hard_drive/
http://macs.about.com/od/diyguidesprojects/ss/externalhdcase.htm
Also you need a Mac Pro to use eSATA, with a iMac use the Firewire port.

New Internal Hard Drive and Clean Install: Errors, Frustration and Hopelessness

First Off:
Macbook 13" (late 2009) ... It was running Mountain Lion 10.8.5 with 2 gigs of memory and 160gig stock hard drive.
I started this process almost a week ago and despite numerous attempts every night I have had no luck. I appologize if the details here are fuzzy, my head is spinning after reading dozens of threads and attempting multiple solutions to each error I've received and i cant remember everything I've tried so far...
I got my new memory in the mail first, upgraded to 4 gigs and everything works fine with that..
Next came my new Seagate Momentus 750 gb 7200 rpm SATA 3gb/s 16Mb Internal Hard Drive.
Using this guide: http://osxdaily.com/2012/02/17/make-bootable-os-x-10-8-mountain-lion-usb-install -drive/ (and cross checking other guides) I ended up creating a bootable external drive using my 160gb External Firewire drive for my clean install to my new hard drive. So far so good.
I then shut down the computer, removed the old internal hard drive, installed the new, restarted the computer holding option key and booted up using the External Hard Drive, and the install software started fine. Note: I have attempted to re-erase the drive so many times without luck that I cant remember if I actually successfully erased the drive originally to begin with the installation, but either way I started the OSX reinstall and it got almost all the way finished before it gave me the error message:
"Install failed. Mac OS X Lion couldn’t be installed, because the disk (volume name) is damaged and can’t be repaired. Click restart to restart your computer and try installing again."
restarting of course did nothing, it repeatedly gave me error messages and made me quit installation...
Disk Utility isnt getting me anywhere, im either getting errors like:
"POSIX reports: the operation couldnt be completed. device no configured"
it wont allow me to erase the drive or partition the drive
"Disk Erase failed with the error: File System Formatter Failed"
and everytime the drive fails to erase or partition, it disappears from the list of drives on the left of the disk utility screen and i have to restart the computer for it to reappear for a second try. Typically the volume under the drive is greyed out and says that it is unmounted.
Ive zapped the PRAM.... and Ive done other things that I cant quite remember right now because my brain is boiling from reading too many **** threads on multiple devices....
halp.
halp me plase.

So funny story...
While writing this discussion I had to come to the computer and try to erase the drive so I could see the error code for reference. The erase didnt work as usual but I wrote the error code down here.
I also could not remember the error code for partitioning the drive so I attempted that as well so I could write down the code, and this time it magically partitioned successfully! The only thing I did differently was that I didn't rename the partition because i figured it wouldn't matter anyway. Since the partition was successful, I attempted the Reinstall of ML and it magically worked!!
I dont know what the **** happened but ive been attempting this install every night for like 3 hours since Monday and this is the first time it went through... for no apparent reason?
Ghosts? Magic? Full Moon?
we may never know...
Thanks anyways guys!

New interal Hard drive and Lion

I have a Mac Pro early 2008 which is working just fine except that the original hard drive is starting to show it's age. To mitigate the potential problem I have a new clean,empty internal hard drive and wonder if installing Lion on it would be a wise thing to do? I really like the way Snow Leopard is working and do subscribe to if it aint broke why fix it. I have been following the Lion discussions and at this point see no reason to go there. I am curious though. I do not have airport, or a touch pad, or a camera in the monitor, I don't use this machine for any of that. I work primarily with audio visual programs and actually work with and like ilife/iwork programs, Quicktime, along with Photoshop CS4. So is Lion worth the effort? All of your opinions would be very helpful. Thanks.

Tom
I have a Mini 2010 that I have been happily running SL on with my migrated data from the previous older mini, out of curiosity I created two partitions using disk utility and installed Lion to its own partition, that way I can dual boot into either version.
Using the app migration I was able to bring over to Lion from the SL partition my applications and settings that I wanted to try out in Lion without damaging my SL partition.
This way you get a clean install of Lion that seems to work fine, certainly none of the problems cropping up on the discussions about upgrading from SL.
However I can state without doubt that Photoshop CS4 does NOT work with Lion so keep a bootable copy of SL to operate from when you need to, there are a few adobe programs that didn't migrate over, along with quicken.....
You can find quite a few threads giving details on what does and doesn't play nicely with Lion.
Ref Airdrop, it only works with an another Airdrop compatible Mac when you have the other Lion machine nearby, if you only have one machine, it doesn't do anything for you....
Mark.

New style hard drives and Windows XP

According to this article, new style hard drives will cause problems for XP due to sector size
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/03/why-new-hard-disks-might-not-be-much-fun-for -xp-users.ars

That is correct. However, WD being the first to use these large sectors, has included a utility to adress the problem with the LBA 63 sector, which is no longer adressable with the 4096 byte sectors. I have not yet seen reports on reliability and stability with this utility.

How do i reformat imac hard drive and restore time machine backup?

How do I reformat my iMac internal hard drive and restore from a Time Machine backup?
I have an iMac 20" Mid 2007 with a problematic hard drive.
IntelCore 2 Duo, Processor speed 2 Ghz
800 Mhz Bus speed
4 GB RAM
250 GB Western Digital Hard Drive
10.6.3
Was getting a question mark upon booting up, so I booted from a 10.6.3 Snow Leopard CD and ran disk utility. Repair disk was interrupted with an error message. 'Disk utility can't repair disk. Backup files, reformat disk and restore backed up files.'
1. Should I select Erase, Mac OS Extended Journaled, Erase?
2. If I do this, won't I lose my networkability, and therefore lose access to Time Machine backups?
3. If it were you, would you go ahead and replace the hard drive? Not sure I should trust this hard drive!
4. If I need to replace the hard drive, can you send instructions?
Thanks!

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you have your Time Machine backup drive connected, then you can use Setup Assistant to migrate your Home folder, application support files, and third-party applications and system preference files. I recommend doing this via the Setup Assistant when the option appears.

How do I move files, photo's and itunes to new imac hard drive permanently?

Hi, just bought (on route) new iMac and want to know how to move all files, photos and itunes to it hard drive permanently from my MacBook.
MacBook being given to daughter after so want to transfer everything and then wipe clean. I am ok with computers wbut not the best. I am running a network through my time machine if that helps?
Many thanks

Follow the steps in Setup new Mac.

New internal hard drive and now cannot migrate from back up

Took my MacBook Pro in yesterday to have it looked and found out hard drive was failing. Had already backed up via Time Machine onto my iomega external drive before I took my laptop to Apple store. I have been backing up for several years to the iomega drive. Got my MacBook Pro back today, and brought it home--awesome work by Apple store, even had it done yesterday before I made it back home from dropping it off.
So, here is the deal, turned it on, went through the steps required and got to the migration part. It recognizes that my iomega drive is connected to the laptop as the icon is on my desktop. However, the migration assistance cannot find the drive and just keeps spinning. Any suggestions before I set up another genius bar appointment?
Thanks
Michael

William Beede wrote:
In my case I backed up my old internal hd to my new external 1 TB hd.
Surely you mean you used +Setup Assistant+ or +Migration Assistant+ to transfer the data? Or a "clone" via CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper, or Disk Utility?
Now it appears TM wants to ADD the contents of my new internal hd to those already backed up(another 220 gb).
Yes. As posted, to TM it's a new, different drive. TM will back it up. You cannot prevent it.
I wonder if I need to format the new drive and start over??
Yes, that's probably your best bet.

Suggestions for new iMac, hard drive and Thunderbolt vs FW800 vs USB3?

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