WD External Harddrive for Mac

I just bought a WD mac external harddrive.
I have a pc desktop.
I just got a macbook pro.
I want to move my files from the pc to the external harddrive, and be able to access them from the macbook.
will i be able to easily do this?
also, can I have an itunes library saved on the harddrive and be able to listen on the macbook and sync from the macbook?

There are two ways to do this ...
1 - format the external drive as FAT32. Then it can be used on both your PC and Mac. The only limitation will be that the maximum file size on a FAT32 drive is 4GB. That will be a problem if you are saving video files, as they are often larger than 4GB.
2 - format the external drive as +Mac OS Extended+ and install MacDrive on your PC. You will then be able to use the drive on both your PC and your Mac, no file size limit.
Regarding your iTunes library, yes you can move it to your external drive and use it from there. Just keep in mind that if the drive is FAT32 then you are facing a 4GB file size limit. And, of course if you disconnect your drive the iTunes library will not be available on your laptop

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External harddrive for Mac G5

Hi
I would like to get an external firewire harddrive for my mac G5 any sugestions out there.
Kindest Regards
Joe

This reply may not be very popular, but here goes...
I usually watch the Sunday paper for circulars from places like CompUSA, Staples, Office Max, ect. If you look at the sale section, you can normally find Firewire external cases. I have built five of these and the cost has been minimal. The nicest cases, in my opinion, are two Acom Data cases I found at CompUSA for $29.99. They came with Firewire (400) cables too! In these two cases, I mounted a Maxtor Diamondmax 10 300GB drive and a Maxtor Diamondmax 9 200GB drive. So, with these two drives I have almost 500GB of storage. I believe I paid $79.99 (after instant savings and mail-in rebates) for the 300GB drive (at Staples, I believe). So, for $110 I have a 300GB external Firewire drive. The drive is fast and I can boot my machine from it.
My daughter needed a drive for her iMac about 6 months ago. I bought a 40GB Maxtor mechanism for $20 on eBay. I found a Firewird case for $20, also on eBay. I think it cost me less than $5 to ship each item to me. So, for less than $50, she has a 40GB external Firewird drive.
Just last week, my son needed a new drive. Office Depot had a special in their circular on a 100GB Maxtor Diamondmax 10 drive. After all of the rebates, the drive mechanism's cost is $19.95. I found an old Firewire case in the garage and now he has a 100GB external Firewire drive.
If you don't forsee the need to boot from the drive, you could buy a case that only has a USB 2.0 interface. These are actually more readibly available and usually less expensive.
I don't know why more people don't put their own drives together. It's really easy and saves lots of money.

How to format external harddrive for mac use!

Should I use My new external hard drive right out of the box for back-ups, or re-format it? Its a 1 (TB) drive?

Unless the drive is specifically intended for usage with Macs, use the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to reformat it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If you’ll be using it with Time Machine, Time Machine will do that itself if needed.
(117075)

Is there is common format for an external harddrive for Mac and a PC?

I'm planning to have some 8mm film digitized, and would like the result to go on an external drive that could be used on both a PC and a Mac.
I think that FAT 32 would work, but that it has a file size limitation that might be a problem with video files.
My questions are:
First, is there a way of formatting an external hard drive which that it would work both both a Mac and a PC for transferring/working with video files?
And two, what codex should the film to video be saved in, to work with iMovie?
And three, does it matter now is the hard drive is USB, or must it be FW?
Thanks,
Hal

First, is there a way of formatting an external hard drive which that it would work both both a Mac and a PC for transferring/working with video files?
FAT32, unless the drive needs to contain files which are 4GB or larger, in which case, no.
And two, what codex should the film to video be saved in, to work with iMovie?
DV.
And three, does it matter now is the hard drive is USB, or must it be FW?
It doesn't matter.
(55447)

Can I back up my photos on my iphone directly to an external harddrive for safekeeping?My Mac laptop is full.

can I back up my photos on my iphone directly to an external harddrive for safekeeping?My iPhone is full and my Mac laptop is full. What is the best solution besides buying a new laptop?

Not "directly" but you can use the MacBook to send the backup to the external HD.
iTunes > preverences > advanced
Use the function buttons to change the location of the Media Folder Location.

Best Raid 5 expandable external harddrives for video editing & storage.

Hi,
I'm hoping to get opinions and recommendations from the community concerning the best Raid 5 expandable external harddrives for HD video editing and storage. Initially, I'd like to start with an 8tb and have it expandable to 16tb, that will work with both Mac and PC. There seem to be a number of options, but it's difficult to find reviews from video editors. It would be nice to stay under $ 2,000.00.
Thanks for any input.
Heather

If the brief includes "fast enough for video editing", you are looking for an editing solution.
If you want it to be fast enough to edit video and be shared by two computers, you are looking at a server type system connected through a very fast network interface (fibre, dual channel iSCSI)
If this is the case, $2k is not going to do it.
What it comes down to is this - Basic backup can be had relatively inexpensively as can direct connect RAID systems. The complexity and cost comes from the shared network storage with enough bandwidth to support multiple systems.
What do you want for your $2000?
Regards,
x

Advice on External HDD for Mac & Windows

Hello
I am looking for advice regarding using a external HHD for Mac & Windows.
I searched the forum, but failed to find a updated thread on this subject matter.
I will be using the drive on both platforms regularly.
Should i use HFS+ with a small FAT32 partition to keep MacDrive on?
What is a good way to approach this?
Im not sure what would be optimal for both platforms.
Thanks in advance for your input.

Why just one?
Shopping list I can think of:
Vista: NTFS for backups and storage. Can be read by, but not written, Mac OS.
MacDrive 7: can access HFS+ from within Windows (but not x64 versions)
WinClone 1.5: to make backups of Windows from within Mac OS (requires disk image or partition to hold volume image)
SuperDuper: essential for OS X backups and bootable clone.
A drive that is used for emergency only and maybe backup partition, separate from your OS X and windows clone drive.
You can create large partitions with Disk Utility to be FAT32. Read and write in both, but not the best file system and limited to files less than 4GB.
FW800 would be fast and efficient interface. Also, eSATA if possible.

Formatted External drive for Mac OS extended

Hi,
I actually change from windows to Mac (no comparison...!!) but trying to transfer my photos (Pictures in finder) to an external hard disk i can`t drag and drop and i do not know why....i read in one forume that i have to formatted the external drive for Mac OS extended. First question: how could i do that? if my hard disk was originally formatted for windows, do i lose the info when i formatted?
Thanks!!

You will lose the files on the HD when you reformat it. So copy what you want off the drive to a folder on your Mac temporarily.
select the HD on the Desktop and launch Disk Utility.
select the HD in the left hand page of DU.
click on the Partiton button
select 1 Partition
select OS X Extended (journaled) in the drop down Format menu.
click on the Apply button
drag the folder of files onto the EHD to copy back and then delete from your Mac's drive after verifying that they all copied back successfully.
OT

I have an external hardrive for MAC, I needed to save something from my work computer so I can pass it on to my MAC, it requiered me to re-format my external HD and now when I connected to my MAC I only have "read only rights". How do I fix it?

I have an external hardrive for MAC, I needed to save something from my work computer so I can pass it on to my MAC, it requiered me to re-format my external HD and now when I connected to my MAC I only have "read only rights". How do I fix it? I run my Itnues from this external and now my library is gone. Luckily I have it saved somewhere else, which is not a problem, but I won't be able to write to this HD for right now. I can't see an option to give those permission back.

cptjuanjvarona wrote:
I have an external hardrive for MAC, I needed to save something from my work computer so I can pass it on to my MAC, it requiered me to re-format my external HD and now when I connected to my MAC I only have "read only rights". How do I fix it?...
Unless what you have to transfer is enormous, skip the external HD altogether and use a USB flash drive; you can get them with capacities to 128GB. Format the flash drive as FAT32 or ExFAT as LowLuster suggests so it can be read and written to on both PC's and your Mac.

Should I necessarily use an external hard "for mac" to get a backup from my macbook?

I want to get a backup from my macbook pro using the time machine. Should I necessarily use an external hard "for mac" to get a backup from my macbook? Because I have an external hard, but its not for mac. Is there any way I can use this one?

You can use the external drive you want with your Mac. However, the "for Mac" external drives come prepared to connect them and start using them, and probably you will have to do some additional steps with your external drive.
First, you will have to format the external drive with "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", the only filesystem compatible with OS X. If you have got files on the external drive, you have to copy them to your Mac before erasing the drive. Then, follow these steps to format the external drive with "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" > http://pondini.org/TM/5.html
Then, to use Time Machine, open System Preferences > Time Machine > Select Disk, and choose your external drive, so your Mac will start making backups to your external drive

I just bought a Macbook Air. I also have an external harddrive for which to transfer and save all my existing music from my PC. Will I have any troubles with iTunes recognizing where my music is located if I keep it on the external harddrive?

I just bought a Macbook Air. I also have an external harddrive for which to transfer and save all my existing music from my PC. Will I have any troubles with iTunes recognizing where my music is located if I keep it on the external harddrive and not save it on the computer's harddrive?

Just be sure to Follow the steps here to transfer your iTunes to an External Drive...
Backup iTunes to an External Drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

How to format an external drive for mac AND pc use

i want to format my external drive so i can use it on my mac and on pc's as well. i've gathered that the MS-DOS format is the way to go. my question is this: would this create any problems for my mac then?
can i partion one part for ms-dos and part for macos extended?
cheers
-j-

MS-DOS format (or FAT32) will be fine for both Mac and PC. However there is a 4GB file size limit with FAT32.
You could use a dual partition, however the HFS+ partition would not be readable by the PC unless you installed the third party MacDrive.
Look at this page for more information on a dual partition drive for Mac and Windows.
http://macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030613121738812
iFelix

Itunes library on external hdd for mac and pc

I want to store my my iTunes library on an external hdd and use it with a Mac and a PC. All changes made on the Mac should be recognised on the PC and all changes made on the PC should although be recognised on the Mac - one library for both.
I already tried to store my library from my PC on an external HDD and then started iTunes on the Mac, pressing "alt". But I wasn't able to open the library. When I choose library.itl, the Mac just opens iTunes without opening my iTunes library.
Any ideas, how I can put all my music, videos and podcasts on the external and then use it on Mac and PC?
Kind regards,
Matthias

The only format drive that will work with both a Mac and a PC without you using additional drivers is an older format called FAT. Disk Utility can create this. Otherwise if you use Windows' NTFS you need something like NTFS3G or MacFuse, and if you use OSX's HFS format you will need MacDrive on Windows (others may also work for both PC and Mac -- those are just the ones I could remember).
Theoretically the Mac should have been able to read the .itl on the Windows NTFS drive but maybe since it found it could not write to it, it reverted to default.
Note, if anything happens to the FAT32 drive you will need to repair it using Windows. I also assume you aren't usign this drive for huge files because FAT32 has a 4GB filesize limit.
You will have to completely erase the drive to partition and re-format it.
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.
Macworld - How to transfer iTunes libraries between PC and Mac - http://www.macworld.com/article/46248/2005/08/shiftitunes.html

Apple physically replaced the HD on my Imac. I backed up everything on a Seagate Go Flex Desk for Mac external drive for Mac. I went through the motions to restore my Iphoto Library back to my computer. Can't find them!!!!!

Apple replaced my hard drive on my Imac. I'm lucky I backed up everything on a Seagate Go Flex Desk for Mac external drive via Time Machine . I followed directions in order to restore my iphoto library , but I can't seem to find it on my computer. Are the files locked?

No reason to assume they are locked. The library will be restored to the location it was backed up from, unless you specified somewhere else. Have you looked in your Pictures Folder?

I need an external harddrive for my ipad

My ipad is running out of harddrive space for my music. I need an compatible external harddrive to store my music. I want to have my music stored on an external harddrive and be able to play it wirelessly on my ipad as needed. I was looking at Seagate Blutooth harddrive, however, I an not sure it will work.

I have a friend that told me he is using a Seagate external drive and it is working. I did not see any that stating it's compatible with the ipad. My friend he is using Seagate 1TB Backup Plus Slim

WD External Harddrive for Mac

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