Using external drive with iMac as startup

I have an iMac that the hard drive is failing thus I purchased an external drive to use as a startup up drive connected to the iMac. How reliable is this setup and what are the cons/pros in operating this way?

Assuming you bought a FW800 drive the performance should be OK, not as good as your old internal HD but useable. If you bought a USB drive the performance is going to be very slow. As far as reliability it should be fine assuming you bought a decent quality HD. However why not just get the internal HD replaced? If you decide to move forward with the external HD after you install OS X onto it don't forget to make sure it's set as your Startup drive in System Preferences.

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Can we use external drive with ipad air

can we use external drive with ipad air?

There are some wifi-enabled drives that allow you to stream content (music, films, tv programmes) to an iPad, but you can't directly connect one to an iPad.

Can i use external drive with pc and mac??? files be recognised by both??

hi
i have two external hard drives, with stuff from my pc on them.
can i plug them into my macbook? and just copy files?
usb hard drives.
one i think is one or the other, mac or pc, not both at same time, unless i partition and format i think. maybe the other one too.
i have a 8gb file on my pc, im trying to get into my macbook.
how can i???
i have a 160gb ipod, its only 30gb full, and pc says not enough space on it.
why is this???? the file is only 8gb......and theres over 100gb free on my ipod.
anyone help?
cheers

If your iPod is formatted FAT32 there is a 4 GB file size limit. Obviously an 8 GB file exceeds the limit.
In order to use any drive on both a Mac and a PC with full read/write capability the drive must be formatted MS-DOS (FAT16 or FAT32.) A drive formatted NTFS is read-only on a Mac unless you use third-party software such as MacFuse with NTFS-3G or Paragon NTFS.

Using external drives with OS X Server

Is it possible to use external firewire hard drives the same way that I would use an internal. I am asking this because we have 3 of them with 250Gb each. I would use them to increase the storage of a server, which would lower the cost of one and make it much more possible to buy. The drives wouldn't be removed and I would like to be able to apply security settings to control access to them. They can be easily formatted with the approperiate OS X file system.

It wasn't that I thought I couldn't use them I just need to know if I can put a user's home directory on there and have users save to them across the network. Can I in fact do this. A couple of people I have talked to about doing this had mixed thought so I figured I'd throw to you guys.

Using external drive with windows and osx 10.5

I have formated an external drive using disk utility as Fat 32. Mac osx sees it fine but windows does not. I used partition magic to format it as fat 32 and windows sees it fine, but osx still sees it by the old name and doesn't see the files I loaded on it. I did it twice from partition magic with the same result. the mac knows the right amount of free space but doesn't see the directory, it sees the old directory from the mac formatting? Why is partition magic not overwriting the mac formatting, and why won't windows see the mac formatting. HHHEEEELLLPP Please

I solved the problem by formatting the drive in OSX using mac extended which cleared the ms dos partition the mac created, then I used Partition Magic and created a fat 32 volume. Windows and Leopard see it fine now. Why the Fat 32 formatting from Leopard did not work I can not tell you. A bug maybe or maybe my install has a bug.

Old computer dying want to use external drive with new laptop ........... HOW ??

need to get laptop to run my iTunes library from old dying comp. Have a 500gb external drive but what do i do ??

okay, i had to collect my thoughts for a moment
... but I don't have an internal library of music on this machine.
is *this machine* the new Mac ?
How do I set up iTunes to play from an external library for the first time?
the files will have to be added to iTunes. however, with the correct settings, they can be put straight on the external.
in order to set up iTunes on the new Mac, you will have to launch it. with the external drive mounted on your new Mac's desktop, go iTunes > preferences > advanced and point +iTunes media folder location+ to the external. this will cause iTunes to put all newly added content in that location.
also on the advanced tab, check +keep iTunes media folder organized+ and +copy files to ... when adding to library+.
And how do I add my backed up music from my previous iTunes to that external drive's new music library?
did you back up the music to disk ? if so, you should probably authorize iTunes with your iTMS account details, then just pop in the disk(s) and add the content to your library.
if you have backed up to an external HD, use the +add to library+ command from the file menu and navigate to the folder containing your media files.
JGG
edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

Using External Drive with Itunes

I have a very large Music and Video collection on a MY BOOK 1TB drive (810GB file size) I want to use it as my primary I tunes Music library. I have followed the instructions on Itunes support and created a new file on the drive and redirected I tunes to that file but the content does not show up in I tunes on my macbook and the only way I seem to be able to get the them to show up is actually open the file and listen to each song the problem is there are 300,000 + songs any ideas???

When you moved your music did you move the whole iTunes folder or just the iTunes Music folder? If you moved the whole folder including the library files hold down the Option key on your keyboard when opening iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. Navigate to the external drive where you placed the copy of the library file and open it up: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file
You might also find this article useful: iLounge - Managing your iTunes Library on an External Hard Drive

Using external drive with store

Hi,
I have run out of room on my computer for my itunes library, so I am now storing it on an external hard drive. The problem is, now that I am trying to order tv shows from the store, it seems to be taking A LOT longer (estimated download time = 9 hours!!!) Is there anyway to keep most of my files on the external hard drive, but when downloading, download first to my laptop, then transfer to external drive later.
Also, unrelated, when I sync my ipod in this situation, will it know to look to the external hard drive's information?
Thank you.

All my songs, movies, music videos and TV shows are stored on an external hard drive. And my Mac mini and MBP are accessing these contents.
The external hardrive is hooked up to my Mac mini. My MBP is accessing the external hard drive wirelessly. If I download from iTunes on my MBP, it goes straight to the external hard drive wirelessly.
I only have an iPod shuffle. If I wanna sync it with any of the two Macs I have, it will pull the files from the external hard drive. Of course, it will be so much slower doing with the MBP.
Anyhow, the trick is to set the iTunes Music folder location at Preferences... > Advanced > General tab
If you forget to mount your external hard drive when you launch iTunes, iTunes will set the iTunes Music folder location to default which is in your Home > Music folder. All you have to do is to reselect the iTunes Music folder location to your external hard drive.
If you have not done it before, you could get iTunes to copy all your stuff to the desired location on your external hard drive.
Hope this helps.

Using External Drive with a Macbook

My iTunes library is on my desktop ( iMac G5 ) but I want to listen to it on my Macbook. So I have copied my complete iTunes folder ( including the iTunes Music Library ) to an external drive and attached it to my Macbook. There is no music on my Macbook iTunes so I thought it would be easy to get the Macbook to 'see' the iTunes library on the external drive. I followed the Apple support article and checked the Keep Folders Organised and Copy Music files boxes in Preferences. Then I changed the location of my iTunes library in Preferences to the location on the external drive. Then I pressed OK, expecting to see my library in iTunes but...nothing.
The actions I HAVEN'T taken referred to in the support article are to create a new folder ( as the folder already exists on my external drive ) or to consolidate my library as I understand this to mean 'copy files to the new location' - a) the files are already in the new location and b) I'm not moving any files FROM the laptop, as there are none to move.
There's obviously some step I haven't taken or something but I can't work out what.
Can someone help? Many thanks in anticipation.

If you moved the whole iTunes folder to the external drive then your library file should be there as well. Hold down the Option key when opening iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. Go to the iTunes folder on your external drive and choose open: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file

Using External Drives with MacBook Pro - General - Freezing

I keep my music on an external drive and also have a drive hooked up for Time Machine. My macbook pro frequently crashes... especially when I first open the computer. I then have to reboot. In general, what are the best type of drives and best type of connections to use when there will always be two external drives hooked to this machine. Would increasing RAM help? I have 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 2 gigs of RAM.

I keep my music on an external drive and also have a drive hooked up for Time Machine. My macbook pro frequently crashes... especially when I first open the computer. I then have to reboot. In general, what are the best type of drives and best type of connections to use when there will always be two external drives hooked to this machine. Would increasing RAM help? I have 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 2 gigs of RAM.

Problem using external drive with hdiutil

Hello,
I use hdiutil to produce CDR masters for our educational software. Works great if I only use my built in CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive on my 15" AL PowerBook. But it won't recognize my external LaCie 1394 CDRW firewire 400 drive. The -anydevice option has no effect. But if I insert a blank CDR, the Finder recognizes it and asks what to do. I've tried the -device option with the device name and still no joy. This is on 10.3.9, so I repeated the tests on 10.4.6 with no luck. The 10.4 Finder also regnizes the device. I've tried hdiutil burn -list and the firewire drive shows up as DRDeviceSupportLevelAppleSupported.
Any ideas?
Cole

It seems you need to include "IOService:" in front of the OF path.
On my iMac (10.4):
imac$ hdiutil burn -list
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K06 via ATAPI (DRDeviceSupportLevelAppleShipping)
IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PATA@1F,1/AppleIntelPIIX ATARoot/PRID@0/AppleIntelPIIXPATA/ATADeviceNub@0/IOATAPIProtocolTransport/IOSCSI PeripheralDeviceNub/IOSCSIPeripheralDeviceType05/IODVDServices
and the following seems to work:
imac$ hdiutil burn test.dmg -device IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PATA@1F,1/AppleIntelPIIX ATARoot/PRID@0/AppleIntelPIIXPATA/ATADeviceNub@0/IOATAPIProtocolTransport/IOSCSI PeripheralDeviceNub/IOSCSIPeripheralDeviceType05/IODVDServices -sizequery
On 10.3 you may need to add "-anydrive" option.

So you CAN or CANNOT use external drive with Time Capsule...

I was posting earlier and was told you CAN'T plug an external HDD into a Time Capsule and have it be recognized (some said you had to plug it into a USB hug first.)
Then I find this - http://www.brighthub.com/computing/mac-platform/articles/48709.aspx
Then before posting this I find others that say you CAN. So what's the deal? Can I or can I not plug in a USB external HDD and have access to it?

The link that you posted is a bit out of date, but the information in the article is correct.
You can connect an external USB drive to a Time Capsule (or AirPort Extreme) if the following conditions are met:
The drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Most store bought drives are pre-formatted for Windows in a format called NTFS which will not work the Time Capsule. You have to use Disk Utility on your Mac to re-format the drive to work correctly with the Time Capsule.
Use a powered USB hub as the USB port on the Time Capsule is a bit under powered and it will not supply enough current for some drives. As a general rule....use a powered USB hub....even if the hard drive has its own power supply.
At times, I have had 3 drives from differerent manufactures all hooked up simultaneously into a powered USB hub which in turns connects to the USB port on the Time Capsule. No problems at all.
There are never any guarantees, but if you follow the guidelines, chances are good that your drive will work just fine.

Using external drive with cloned 10.4.11

I'm thinking about getting a G4 Powerbook that has 10.5.8 installed.
I have a bootable cloned copy of my G4 Gigabit Ethernet start up drive on an external firewire drive. Would I be able to boot from and run 10.4 as well as Classic applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) on the Powerbook?

Welcome to the forums!
That should work just fine. It’s usually impossible to run a Mac with an OS earlier than the one with with which it shipped, so with a G4 you ought to have no problem.
Andreas

Using external mic with iMac 27 i7 under bootcamp with Windows 7

Hi,
I've recently got myself an iMac 27" with the i7 upgrade. I'm running Windows 7 Professional 32bit for gaming (Snow Leopard for everything else). I have a headset with two 3.5mm plugs, one for the headphones, one for the mic. I can't get the mic to work (headphones work fine though). I plug it into the line in port (as it's the only other port when the headphones are plugged in) but this doesn't work.
Does anyone know how to get this to work?
I read somewhere that the headphone port on the iMac is a "triband" port, so would work with the headphones provided with the iphone that have 3 bands on it (stereo sound and mic) or something similar...

Two things to try, first make sure your Win7 disk is spotlessly clean, my superdrive regularly spits out even slight smudges. then if that doesn't clear it up here is a maintenance tip with the reset:
As old as your iMac is, have you cleaned out the dust? Dust buildup can lead to over heating issues. Remove any and all things plugged into it including the power cord, Remove the RAM access grille. Vacuum all openings starting with the RAM access area (air intake). Vacuum all ports and plugs, DVD slot and the opening across the top of the rear of the body. Blow compressed air through all your openings and vacuum again to remove any dust you loosend. Reinstall the RAM grille. Plug in the keyboard and mouse if not blue tooth. Insert power cord...
You are now in a perfect position to do a
SMC RESET
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
It is the 5 second timing that initiates the reset.
Here is a link to a Widget to monitor your temps and other operations:
http://islayer.com/apps/istatpro/

Using external drives that were used with a windows laptop/pc

im interested in getting a mac book pro.
and im just a little scared of not being able to use my external drives with it.
all my drives were being accessed with a windows based laptop or pc.
will i have to do anything to make the drives work with apple's OS?
also is there a way to find out by looking at the mac book pro box in best buy to see if the mack book is the latest model? i would much prefer to buy the mac book from a store rather then online, and leave buying online as a last resort.

There's another issue to take care of besides the FAT32/HFS+ volume format. Do you want to be able to boot off your external drive once you put a bootable clone (i.e., SuperDuper or CCC) on it?
If you do, you have to change the partitioning scheme first. Windows/DOS drives come partitioned using the Master Boot Record (MBR) scheme, but Intel Macs need the drive to be partitioned using the GUID scheme to boot from it. Changing the partition scheme requires a complete erasure of all information on the drive.
To do this, open Disk Utility, select the external device (not the volume, which is indented below the device identifier), click on the Partition tab, click on each partition on the drive (under Volume Scheme:) and remove it by clicking on the - button and confirming the erasure, after which the Options... button will enable. Click on it and select the GUID scheme, click Ok. Then create as many new partitions as needed, which you can use them to create and use bootable clones as desired.
You can have multiple bootable clones on a (large enough) drive, and select which one to boot from by holding down the Option key before the startup sound. If you have an older PowerPC Mac, you need to use the Macintosh Partition Scheme instead of GUID.

Using external drive with iMac as startup

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