What external HDs qualify as Mac-compatible?

Question

Will any external HD work with an iMac, or does it need to meet certain requirements?
TIA!

Answer 1

Hello,
Generally speaking, you will have a hard time finding an external hard drive that WON'T work.
An external hard drive is an external hard drive. They work the same with one system as they do with the other. They don't care what you connect them to.
The difference, is that some drives have special features which require drivers. If those drivers are only available for Windows, then those special features will not be available to you with Mac OS X.
Otherwise, You can buy and use whatever external hard drive you like.
You can use USB 2.0 and FireWire drives with your computer. If you are wanting to actually boot your computer from the external hard drive, then consider the following: the Intel-based Macs can boot from both USB 2.0 and FireWire hard drives. But, the PowerPC-based Macs can only boot from external drives of the FireWire type.
Generally speaking, you will get a huge performance improvement by using FireWire drives. They can transfer data at a much faster sustained rate than USB. And, I can tell you from personal experience that using FireWire drives provides me with nearly the same performance as my internal drives. And, likewise, from personal experience, I can tell you that the real-world performance of USB 2.0 hard drives is roughly half the performance of FireWire 400. Whenever I have to use my USB 2.0 drive, I get very impatient and have to wait a long time for my files to be transferred. My USB 2.0 and FireWire drives are otherwise comparable / identical. Just different enclosures.
So, do yourself a favor and go with FireWire 400.
As for further recommendations, I would suggest getting a FireWire drive with the Oxford 911+ or 912 chipset.
If the drive's specs don't specify which chipset they use, then it is likely one of the lower-end generic (cheaper) chipsets. While the lower-end chipsets generally work fine, the Oxford chipsets have proven to be more compatible over the years.
Basically, the cheaper chipsets have proven in the past to have trouble when new operating systems / revisions became available. They continued working fine with the older versions, but would not work with the newer versions.
The Oxford chipsets have had a great history of working with anything you connect them to.
My personal favorite drive company is OtherWorld Computing:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/
I've had great experiences with their more economical "Neptune" package. I've owned two of those, and been extremely happy with them.
I hope this helps.
Let us know if you have other questions.
P.S., if you'd like, go ahead and click the "Helpful" or "Solved" buttons on any of the posts / replies above if you feel they were helpful or adequately answered your question.