What is the most reliable external hard drive?

At the beginning of the month I almost lost everything on my computer. So I am now looking for an external hard drive to back everything up. So that never happens again. I'm just scared to get one that is not reliable.

There is no such animal, but you can have some control by DIY.
Basic Backup
Get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.
At least if you buy a drive you can choose to purchase one with a good warranty. Enterprise level drives are more expensive but carry 5 year warranties such as a Seagate 7200 RPM Barracuda. Likewise, you can spend a little extra on a high quality case such as those made by WiebeTech. Slightly different components if you are going for a portable drive in which case using a Mercury enclosure from OWC with a Seagate Momentus drive.

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What is the best priced External Hard Drive, that I can reboot from, for the MacBook Pro?

I have a MacBook Pro with 10.9.4. I am looking for a 3T External Hard Drive that I can boot from if my system goes south, that I can afford. Any recommendations?
Mike

Don't know the best priced, but the external drives I like best are the OWC, http://www.macsales.com Mercury Elite Pro quad-interface drives. I have four of the 2 TB drives for my MacBook Pro and iMac and they are terrific. OWC is a Mac specialist supplier with the best guarantees and service you will find.

Advice on what might be the best networked external hard drive to create my own cloud storage?

Anyone have any advice on what might be the best networked external hard drive to create my own cloud storage? That way I can have access to all my stored files, songs, pictures and most of all movies on lets say my laptop or iPad. Since there is not very much storage on the iPad. I want to be able to access my hundreds of movies that I have from in my home on my network or away from my home as long as I have an internet connection. I know there is a Seagate one and a Western digital one, does anyone else know of any others or have any advice on which is the best? A plus would be for an external storage device that I would be able to access my movies through my apple to tv? Please help been looking for almost a year and cant make up my mind on what product to buy for what I am trying to do and create my own personal cloud storage.

SM66 wrote:
Or, I might have to do the old technique of using the Pen Tool in Illustrator and tracing over the filligree.
That's probably what I would do. If you're not well-practiced in Illustrator, this will be a good exercise. Just place the image you have, lock it down (either the object, or you can put it on it's own layer and lock the layer) and start with the pen tool.
Everyone probably has their own method, but I like to start by placing all the points I think I'll need as corner points (click, but don't drag to make the point curved). I then pick the Direct Selection tool (white arrow) and then the Convert Anchor Point tool. If you click on a point, you can drag it to be curved, but if you hold the Command key (on Mac OS) it will temporarily switch to the Direct Selection tool, which will allow you to move the point if necessary. Others would just make curved points as they go, but this is how I like to do it.
For the pointy shapes on the end, you could probably make one then rotate a copy. For the curvy parts in the middle, you may be able to make one and scale copies, or use the blend tool. As you go, you can switch the visibility of the placed graphic on and off to see how your creation looks on it's own, and when compared to the original.

My hard drive crashed on my MacBook Pro crashed and I need to get my CS5 up and running on the new hard drive. I copied what I could onto an external hard drive but when I drag and drop I get directions to uninstall but the uninstall folder I have does sa

my hard drive crashed on my MacBook Pro crashed and I need to get my CS5 up and running on the new hard drive. I copied what I could onto an external hard drive but when I drag and drop I get directions to uninstall but the uninstall folder I have does says it is an alias that is no longer present. I get error 6. I would like to get my software up and running on the laptop again please

If you subscribed to iTunes match the songs are kept in icloud. If you didn't but you did save the actual iTunes library folder which should include the music, video, etc. you should be able to just drag this file back to your machine in the same place and when you open iTunes it will give you a chance to identify the iTunes library folder.
You can test this to find out if you saved the media files or not and don't need to attach your nano to do it.
You are correct that once you connect the nano it will clear the existing files from it and sync it with the new iTunes library.
If you don't have the media files i'm not sure if/how to get them back on a windows ipod. I have everything backed up regularly because of the horror stories I have seen & heard.

What is the largest and fastest Hard Drive I can install in a 17" I-7 Mac Book Pro running Final Cut Pro7 7

What is the Largest and Fastest Hard drive that can be installed in my 17" Mac Book Pro i7 duo core 2.8 I need it to be compatible with Final Cut Pro 7

One of these SSDs:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDMX6G480/
An SSD is always a faster storage solution. A regular hard drive will almost ALWAYS be the bottleneck in a system, because it's the only part in a computer that has physical, moving parts. The SSD has no moving parts, so there's much less latency when reading and writing. That particular SSD is designed with professionals in mind, meaning that it will right at home rendering video in Final Cut. Hope that helps!

What are the Processor, Operating system, hard drive device, Total Memory, Network card, System Graphics of the Silver ipad air

what are the Processor, Operating system, hard drive device, Total Memory, Network card, System Graphics of the Silver ipad air?

"Memory" in this case means RAM, the working space for the processor in the iPad. It is different from storage space, the latter being what is referred to by the "32GB", "64GB" etc. specification.
Regards.
Message was edited by: varjak paw

An Entire cup of coffee was spilled on the side of my MacBook Pro, it was in my purse, port side up. They were filled. I'm assuming the board or whatever is fried. If I go to apple tomorrow, what are the odds that my hard drive will be salvageable?

I'm usually good at backing up my photos and documents, but the last 2 months of pictures and videos are on there and not backed up anywhere. I'm heartbroken.

"What are the odds that my hard drive will be salvageable?"
Very very good, it's all sealed and only a large electrical surge or dropping it while running could do some damage.
Take it and use a SATA to USB adapter you can get online for $12-$40 and hook it right up to the new Mac and use Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant to transfer files.
OR you can access the drive directly and on a PC with MacDrive installed.
However the Mac itself is likley a goner.

What is the best choice of hard drives?

My G4 AGP.350MHz with 1.3 GHz upgrade needs an additional internal hard drive for backup. It currently has an 80 GB and 160 GB. I am moving out the 80 GB HDD to my G3 Beige. I am thinking about getting a 80-120 GB for replacement. What is the best choice of hard drives?
Will the 80 GB hard drive, with Mac OS 10.4.4 installed, run in my G3 Beige 233MHz with G4 500MHz upgrade?
Thanks.
Robert

"What is the best choice of hard drives?"
I'm thinking of adding a drive to my G4. I will probably put a 150 MB SATA PCI card in and get a SATA drive. Going from the ATA66 interface to the 150 SATA should be a noticeable improvement.
"Will the 80 GB hard drive, with Mac OS 10.4.4 installed, run in my G3 Beige 233MHz with G4 500MHz upgrade?"
As long as it's an IDE drive, it should work fine. Be sure you have only one of the drives set as the master, if you have more than one drive.
Powermac G4-AGP Mac OS X (10.4.4) Fastmac 1.4Ghz

What is the most reliable way to run one Windows accounting program in Osx 10.5.8?

I have a simple Windows application where I basically do my accounts. I do not want to tie up my Imacs resources with running a full Windows Os "emulation" like Paralells or VMware Fusion just to run a simple accounting program.
I have heard about apps that can run one windows application at the time through a kind of Osx Application which emulates windows some how. Is is true that this is a better way of running my accounting program? Is it reliable? What I do is to punch in invoices and print out reports basically. How much resources does this "consume" to run it in "one simple application mode" in comparison with for example Paralells?
And what is the term for running windows in "one simple application mode"?

I guess you could try the free trial of CrossOver. http://www.codeweavers.com/products/crossover/ You did not say what app you want to run so it is difficult for us to recommend crossover as being able to run the app.
But your question is that you are looking for the "most reliable" way to run a Windows program. In my opinion you need Parallels or Fusion. These run the real Windows OS so my thinking is it is the "most reliable" method of running a Windows app on an Apple computer, other than Boot Camp.
But you said you don't want Parallels. This is probably why you have not received any responses. You eliminated the most reliable and easiest method, in my opinion, when you initially posted. Parallels does not consume any resources until you start it up to use your app. You can close it after you are done with your app. Of course hard drive space is required for storing the OS, your app, and data. But you still need to store your app and data regardless of method you choose.
One more thing, Parallels and Fusion create a virtual machine for running Windows.
So my recommendation, use Parallels or Fusion.

Can anyone recommend a reliable external hard drive?

Hi everyone,
I going to buy an external hard drive to back up my photos and music. I already use time machine, but I've lost files so many times in the past, either through equipment eventaully not working or laptops being stollen etc. So I guess I am backing my photos and music up twice. I want to get a reliable hard drive, with a lot of space (as I have a lot of photos and music) whilst keeping costs fairly reasonable.
Has anyone got any recommendations? Thanks in advance.

Well as with anything it can fail in one day or not for 10 years.
I have been using the Western Digital My Book Essential drives for about 5 or 6 years and the first 2 I bought, a 250GB and then a 500GB, are still working. So based on that, and the price and that it is USB 3, I purchased the newer style 2TB model.
It has also been my experience that if and when any external hard drive fails it is most likely the drive inside the enclosure is still good and it's just the electronics in the enclosure, the electronics that change the HDD standard connection to USB or Firewire or whatever, that have failed and taking the drive out of the enclosure allows you to get the data off it. That is if you have a SATA/IDE to USB adapter.
Of course there are times when the actual drive fails as they all do.

What's 'best-practice' with external hard drives?

Hello folks,
I just got myself a 500GB LaCie d2 'Quadra' hard drive, and it works great - just as I was led to expect. Now I've connected it to my iMac with a FW400 cable. I've a few questions regarding general usage and 'best practice' when using an external hard drive like this:
1. Do I need to disconnect it (pull out the cable from my iMac) every time I Shutdown - and reconnect on Startup? Or can I leave it it and pretty much just forget about it?
2. Can I turn it 'on' and 'off' any number of times (using the on/off switch on the back) when working on the iMac? I might like to switch it off if I'm not using it for an extended period of time while still working on the computer. Is this okay?
3. When I'm not using the drive and the drive switch is 'off', can the drive still remain connected to 'mains' power? Or is it necessary to disconnect it from the 'mains' entirely?
4. I understand it's best to disconnect when 'Repairing Permissions?' Can this be confirmed?
Thanks so much.
Cheers!
Steve.

1. Do I need to disconnect it (pull out the cable from my iMac) every time I Shutdown - and reconnect on Startup? Or can I leave it it and pretty much just forget about it?
What I do is shut down my Mac, leaving it connected to the mains: the external HD, external speakers and other peripherals are all connected to a mains switch and I turn these off. There's no need to disconnect the cable: some disks spin down when the computer is shut down, some don't. It probably wouldn't hurt to leave it spinning anyway, though I prefer to shut it off at the mains. Incidentally I shouldn't disconnect the computer from the mains when you shut down: doing this will run down the PRAM battery and hasten the day it needs replacing, which is expensive.
2. Can I turn it 'on' and 'off' any number of times (using the on/off switch on the back) when working on the iMac? I might like to switch it off if I'm not using it for an extended period of time while still working on the computer. Is this okay?
I shouldn't do this: the most strain on a hard disk is when it is starting up, not when it is running: I should leave it running all the time the Mac is on. If you do switch it off, make sure to unmount it first (drag it to the trash) otherwise you will have all sorts of problems.
3. When I'm not using the drive and the drive switch is 'off', can the drive still remain connected to 'mains' power? Or is it necessary to disconnect it from the 'mains' entirely?
No: I see no problem in leaving it plugged in to the mains: the 'off' switch disconnects it anyway.
4. I understand it's best to disconnect when 'Repairing Permissions?' Can this be confirmed?
I've never heard this, and I can't see that there's any neccesity: the repairing process will be confined to the disk you have nominated to work on in any case.

What files to Backup to External Hard Drive

Fairly new to Mac's Very new to iphoto 5.
I have an external hard drive I use to backup my itunes music I would also like to backup my photo's but not sure what files to backup.
Thanks in advance
Bravo

hi bravao,
It's very simple...copy the ENTIRE iPhoto Library folder (found in your Pictures folder) to the external. That's it!
If anything ever goes wrong on the one on the internal, just copy the one on the external right into the Pictures folder then launch iPhoto.

Storing part of the library on external hard drive

Is is possibile to store part of my iTunes Library (i.e. All my movies and tv series) on an external hard drive?
I tried making an alias of the Movies folder but it didn't work...

There is one quite anoying problem here:
When having several libraries, there is no way you can tell which library you have open, and all the changes you do in the pref. for one library will also be same prefs. when opening another library.
F.ex.:
You can in preferences name your library, but this name does not show up anywhere in the iTuens window when you open it. And when looking into the prefs., all the libraries have the same name.
You can choose what format to import in (lets say AIFF for one lib.), but when switching to another library (where you keep the songs for the iPod - lets say AAC, since Apple doesn't let you convert on the fly when putting the songs on the iPod), you will have to change the import settings so you don't end up with songs in the AIFF format.
Same with which folder you have the songs in.
Problem is; switching between libraries don't change the settings you've done in the pref. file accordingly. There does not seem to be a pref. file for each library.
Please tell me I'm wrong! If not, I'll consider this a bug, which can generate a lot of confusion for those not aware of it.

When is Apple going to fix the problem with external hard drive not working on Lion?

As for everyone else external hard drive does not work with Lion.
When will Apple fix this problem. Do they just ignore the customer : (

Copy off all your data off the NTFS formatted drive to another drive
Open Disk Utility in the Applications>Utilities folder
Select your external NTFS drive on the far left, should have the drive makers name, a ID perhaps plus the word "media"
Click the Partition Tab, click the big box and click 1 Partition
If you want a Mac only drive > Option: GUID >format OS X Extended (Journaled)
If you want a Mac/PC drive (for over 4GB sized files) > Option: MBR > format exFAT
If you want a Mac/PC drive (for the most compatibility with other devices, Win XP, but only under 4GB sized files) > Option: MBR > format MSDOS (FAT or FAT32)
Give it a name and click Apply.
You can also search Microsoft for a free exFAT download if you have Win XP.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

How to use the ipod as external hard drive???

I went to the windows explorer page and checked under my computer and saw my ipod as the "E" drive. Is the procedure of storing files, be it word or excel or photos as simple as dragging them into the ipod E drive location???
I have tried doing this and they seem to have been copied into the ipod, however when I checked into the ipod they were not there...anywhere. I highlighted the "ipod(E)" drive and created a new folder named "my documents" and then dragged some word files into it. I then detached the ipod from my computer and checked the ipod for the files and the new folder "my documents" and could not find them.
When you use the ipod as an external hard drive are all the documents and files you drag into it hidden???
Is there any way to view word documents?? How do you store them?
When using the ipod, is the only viewable information that comes up onto the ipod screen, info from the "itunes" page??
cheers
ipod 4th generation....20g Windows XP
Windows XP

You can't view any of the files on the iPod while using the iPod. You can only see them through the computer. I guess if you want, you can put the files into the "Notes" folder on the iPod and see them using your iPod, but you can only open .txt files up to 4kb big.
eMachines(POC); 3rd Gen 40GB iPod, 4,000 songs on the dot! Windows XP Pro

What is the most reliable external hard drive?

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