What external hard drive should I get?

First off, I hope I'm asking this in the right place; apologies otherwise.
So, I need a new external hard drive for my machine, but there are some constraints that are making it difficult for me.
- I'm on a G5 mac (power PC)
- I'm using OS X 10.4.11
- I'd like a firewire connection (800 preferably).
I've been all over town shopping and all over the net, and everything is either USB, or requires OS 10.5+. Does anyone have any good suggestions? Thanks!

On some issues such as chipset incompatibility it is a given that a problem will occur. On others such as the power source with LaCie, it's a matter of chance. I have a LaCie backup drive. Read the reviews from other owners and they are about 5/10. Personally I never had a problem with it in 5 years of using it. I took the WD drive out of it about a year ago and put it into my computer and it runs fine. With some it's a matter of chance and you can get a winner or lemon with any brand.
Another thing is, drive ratings change a lot. As I said before, Seagate used to be tops. I have several seagate drives >10 years old. 2 years ago I went shopping for new drives and people were warning against seagate at all costs. I'm not talking their enclosures but the drives themselves. Complete reversal.
Best thing to do is, spot a few models that interest you, then check online reviews from other owners. Read them to get a feel for the issues. All drives can have problems so don't let one or two lemon reviews sway you, nor people giving bad ratings because the vendor is not so great (go to a different vendor with good ratings). What are the issues? A drive may be rated as slow but if you aren't using it to boot then that's not an issue for you, especially if it is an archive drive (one you unplug and don't use for weeks at a time).
Post on the hardware forum too. Some knowledgeable people frequent there who never go to an OS forum. I bought my WDs based largely upon initial recommendations I read on the PowerMac forum and then substantiated with reading reviews on big online vendors (but bought from OWC in the end).

Similar Messages

I want to move my music and photos to an external hard drive from my iMac. What external hard drive should I get?

I want to move my music and photos to an external hard drive from my iMac. What kind of hard drive should I get? Will it remove it from iMac and only be on external hard drive?

How to correctly move your media:
iTunes: How to move the library to an EHD
iPhoto: How to move the Library to an EHD
It is important that the External Hard Drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled).
And also make sure that all is working to your Satisfaction before Deleting anything Off your Mac.

Going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drive should I buy to back up computer using "time machine". Have 320 gb hard drive.

I am going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drives should I buy in order to use time machine. I have a 320 GB hard drive. Don't have too much on computer.

patmc102 wrote:
I am going to upgrade to Lion. First have to back up computer. What external hard drives should I buy in order to use time machine. I have a 320 GB hard drive. Don't have too much on computer.
Buy an external drive 320G or larger (much larger is preferable). I do not recommend you use TM for this, instead download a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner and make a clone of your drive. Once this is done you have 2 choices, you can download and install Lion on your internal drive just as you planned or download and install Lion to the external clone, the 2nd method allows you to test the Lion install before committing to it. If the clone with Lion is to your liking then just clone it back to the internal.

What external Hard drive should I use for Final Cut Pro?

Hi:
I have a Mac Pro and I'm planning to work with HD. What external hard drive should I use?
PD: I have a NVIDIA on a PCI Express graphic slot.
Thanks,
Cabezon

You'll need to be much more specific; there are 20 or 60 different kinds of high definition. Some require nothing, some require superfast RAID, some require specialized hardware support.
bogiesan

What type of external hard drive should I get?

First, I'm not sure were I should have posted this question but here goes....
I am officially 100% an Apple home environment now. I have an iMac, a Macbook Pro, and an Airport Extreme. I want to add an external hard drive and I need suggestions for what to get. I know the Time Machine router is available but I'm looking for a less-expensive option.
I want to add an external hard drive but I want to make it available to the entire home network so that both the iMac and Macbook Pro can write and access files on one shared external drive. I also want the ability to have both computers to be able to use Time Machine to back up to the external drive. External file access (i.e. via a cloud option/app) for accessing files from my iPhone or iPad is not necessary but would be appreciated.
Also, is it just as easy as hooking the external hard drive up to the network by USB cable to the USB port on the Airport Extreme?

There is no such thing as a Time Machine Router, however I think you are referring to a Time Capsule. Time Machine is an application for backing up. Time Capsule is something else entirely different.
If you want to hook up an external HD to an Airport Extreme that will work just fine as a network drive however DO NOT use it to back up using Time Machine, at best it's unreliable for using Time Machine.
Finally if you are looking for a good quality EHD I strongly recommend using OWC (www.macsales.com) Mercury Elite Pro series.
If you want to back up multiple Macs to a single EHD then you need the Time Capsule. You can get them refurbished from Apple. For example:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD032LL/A/refurbished-time-capsule-2-tb

What External Hard Drive should I be getting?

I am looking at getting an external hard drive...any model or brand better then others?
Also I need to transfer files from my PC to the apple powerbook. I was hoping to use this external hard drive to do so...will this work?

This can really depend on your needs, but I have had good luck with LaCie drives. I have a portable 40 Gig with Firewire 400 / USB connection, and a 250 Gig Ethernet disk mini. For general data backup, photo storage etc, they have worked out well. I mainly use a Mac, but occasionally transfer files to a PC, the formatting options will make them compatible for just about any OS. I'm sure there are other brands of equal quality.

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.

How big of an External Hard drive should I get?

I have a macbook pro, and I'm looking for an external HDD to back my system up to. Now, lets say that I have a 250 GB HDD in my Macbook, should I get a 250GB HDD external drive to back up to? Or will that fill up too quickly?
I guess my real question is, does Time Machine compound backups on top of eachother? If my 250GB drive is filled to 100 GB Capacity, will my 250GB external drive be full before three backups? Or does TimeMachine severely compress the backups?
Thanks!
Psych

Time machine doesn't do compression, but it does only save changes.
This means that your first backup will consume the same amount of space as your source data.
Then each subsequent backup copies the files that have changed since the last backup. Some applications may support backing up specific parts of files, otherwise TM will copy the entire file even if just one bit changes.
Therefore the amount of disk space you need depends on:
1) how much data you're backing up (bear in mind that most people don't TM their entire drive, just their personal data)
2) What percentage of those files change on an hourly/daily basis
3) How large those files are.
So if, for example, you work mainly with text documents and you have 50GB of data in 50,000 files (average of 1MB per file) and you change 100 files per day your backup will consume 50GB to start, and grow by 100MB per day. Under this model a 250GB TM drive will have about 200GB of space for incremental backups (250GB - 50GB initial copy), which is enough for about 2,000 days, or several years worth of changes.
On the other hand if you work with large video or graphics files, and have 50GB of data in 50 files and you change 3 files per day you'll still start with 50GB of backups but your backups will grow at 3GB per day. That way your 250GB drive will fill in about 2 months.
Only you can determine your data pattern to predict your needs. Personally I use a TM drive that's about 2x my internal drive. I have almost a year's worth of backups and it is still less than 1/4 full.

What internal hard drive should I get for a 2007 Mac Pro?

Hello, I have a 2007 Mac Pro in which I would like to install two additional internal hard drives. I want to use one to run Time Machine and I want to use the other as an archive for my photos. What is the best internal hard drive to get for these purposes? Thanks for any help.

System:
SSD: Samsung 840 128GB
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06/
Icy Dock $15
http://www.amazon.com/2-5-3-5-Ssd-sata-Convert/dp/B002Z2QDNE/
Sonnet Tempo Pro
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempossdpro.html
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%20Technologies/TSATA6SSDE/
WD Black 1TB $85
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Internal-Desktop/dp/B0036Q7MV0/
WD 3TB $225
Western Digital 3TB WD Black SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Desktop Hard Drive WD3001FAEX
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B2UWTHE/

How large of an external Hard drive should I get

I shot 20 lecture, aprox 2 hours each, on Sony DVCAM 184 tape stock and need to digitize to edit in FCP. I'm limited to Firewire (400 & 800) on my IMAC 24". I've been using Lacie's and have been pleased. Is there a recommendation on the size and make to use? I heard not to go larger the 500GB.
TY FOR YOUR RESPONCES

HI:
FWIW I have an external 160Gig Lacie drive that have been working everyday from 4 years ago (I knock on wood !!!). I have heard about such exeprience with so old drives from them BUT not so happy experiences with the newer ones.
Alberto

I am trying to use Time Machine to back-up to an external hard drive and I get the following message.Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder. Does anyone know what I should do?

I am trying to use Time Machine to back-up to an external hard drive and I get the following message.Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder. Does anyone know what I should do?

Hello Drake, I suspect one or more of the Drives needs repairing, but...
Have you looked through Pondini's extensive TM help site?
http://Pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Can't imaging something not being covered there.

What size external hard drive should I purchase

What size external hard drive should I purchase? I'm not tech savvy, so please speak slowly. I'm looking at OWC Mini Stack Classic to match my older Mac Mini. Do I need 500 GB, 1 TB or more? Plus, I have to add memory to upgrade to Snow Leopard. How much memory do I need and should I have an expert install it ?
Mac OSX version 10.5.8
Mac mini 3.1
Processor 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 2GB 1067 MHz DDR3
1 Processor
2 Cores
L2 Cache 3MB
Memory 2GB
BUS Speed 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version MM3.1.0081.B06
SMC version 1.35f0
Hard Drive
Format MAC OS Extended
Capacity 297.77 GB
Available 238.69 GB
Used 59.08 GB on disk

Good points raised by all.
In my mini configs - both older and newer flatter model - I have kept their ministack external drive on top of the mini; with 3 or 4 little rubber feet added to the mini's base to give it a bit more elevation from the surface they are sitting on and a bit better chance to breathe. I'm not impressed by the very small air intakes on the bottom and the hot air that often comes out the back or how warm the case feels. Especially in the heat of summer.
I do turn the ministacks on/off as needed (primarily for backups once a week) as they're not entirely quiet and sometimes seem to have a low hum vibration. Nothing crazy. I just like it as dead quiet as possible sometimes. Plus the fan does not turn off even if the mini and ministack drive have shut down. The newer wide & slim model does seem a bit quieter than the older model.
Check through system profiler to see if your system has 2x1GB or 1x2GB. Most likely it is 2x1GB and you'd need to remove both to double your ram. On the off chance it has a free slot; a single 2GB stick would get you to 4GB. Check on the cost difference between the 2x2GB kit and a 2x4GB kit. I have an older core duo mini that functions fine with 2x2GB of RAM and 10.6.8. But, if you plan to continue to use the mini for several more years as a primary machine including upgrading the OS to Yosemite; it might not be a bad idea to just max it to 2x4 8GB. Yosemite really likes RAM to maximize performance.
Along the lines of keeping the same mini and doing upgrades. The biggest speed improvements are made by replacing the original internal hard drive with a flash drive. Of course this is a more technical upgrade, you really need to take the mini apart more and you have to weigh the cost of the upgrades and possibly paying somebody to do them; vs the cost of a newer system which would have a significantly faster processor and other improvements.

What external hard drive to you recommend to free up space on an old Macbook Pro?

My Macbook Pro is approx. 5 years old. I have since gotten an imac, however would like to use my old Creative Suite 2 on the macbook. When I updated it to "Lion" - it denied access to my creative suite apps. I have since contacted Adobe, and they have given me a solution to get it up and running again, however, my startup disk is just about FULL. Therefore I can't upgrade or really even open more than one app without getting the warning pop up about getting rid of some files asap or risk malfunction of the laptop.
What external hard drive do you recommend to get the most bang for my buck in terms of offloading a massive amount of photos to in order to be able to use the laptop again?

Your picture folder would have to be 10 times larger and then it would be close to 1 TB in size. I have an aphorism, 'one cannot have too much storage'. If the bank account can afford it, follow Ralph's advice and do go for the larger storage drive. Given enough time, you might just grow into it..
Now there is an issue that you should consider. Since these pictures will no longer be on your MBP, do you want to have them backed up? If so, you then are going to need an additional HDD to store the backups. All HDDs will eventually fail, you just do not know when.
Ciao.

Which external hard drive should I use to save my iTunes library?

Hi,
So I have collected so much music and movies in iTunes that my internal HD is practically full. (Library is over 500GB of 1TB and the rest is taken up with my apps and programs.) It's time to purchase an external hard drive to transfer my library to. Furthermore, I currently have a 2TB WD My Book for Mac that I am currently using for backup. The My Book is also full and Time Machine is deleting the oldest backups to make room for the current ones.
Here is where I need everyones advice. I am planning on purchasing a 3TB WD My Book for Mac. I am planning on purchasing more movies for iTunes. Which external hard drive should I use for what? Option A or B
Option A: Put my iTunes library on the 2TB external hard drive and use the 3TB for backup
Option B: Put my iTunes library on the 3TB external hard drive and continue to use the 2TB for backup
Also please give me your reasoning.
Thanks everyone for your responses!

Limnos,
So, let's go one step further with this. I read your reply to moving iTunes library to an external hard drive: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4594518?tstart=0 However, if I move the iTunes library, will this include all the movies and apps that I have purchased?
Thanks!!!!

When adding an external hard drive, should you hook it up to your iMac or your Apple Extreme router?

When adding an external hard drive, should you connect it directly to your iMac or to your Apple Extreme router?

That depends on what you are using it for. The advantage of connecting it to the router is that you can share the drive over your home network and/or over the Internet. That can be convenient but drive access is performed at network speed - slower than when connected directly to the computer. If you need/want to share the drive, connect it to the router, otherwise connect it directly to the computer.

What external hard drive should I get?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for