What's the largest capacity bus-powered external hard drive?
I realize that this isn't a Mac specific question, but I'd really like a recommendation. What's the largest capacity bus-powered (preferably USB) external hard drive available. My new MBP has a 500GB drive so I would need something with probably 640GB or bigger. Problem is I can't find anything over 500GB that's bus-powered. Everything I've found requires an external power supply which is what I'm trying to avoid. If anyone has a recommendation, please share it.
Have a search on the web for USA retailers who supply empty enclosures and drives separately. The enclosure is the physical case and the bits of circuitry and the physical ports. Tell them what you want and ask him what drives and enclosures he has to suit your purpose and if he can fit the two together for you. I have such a supplier but am in UK.
Does it have to be a USB bus? Firewire is better and gives more power. One way I power a 360GB pocket drive is to feed from TWO USB ports on the computer into one input port on the drive(now in the enclosure) you should be able to buy a sort of "Y" shaped cable with two full size flat USB connectors at one end and one single connector at the drive end. The drive end often will be a mini usb port. What you want will depend upon the size of the input into the drive.
Similar Messages
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Bus powered external hard drives and the Powerbook G4 17 inch
Does anyone have a suggestion for a bus powered external hard drive that will work with the Powerbook 17 inch? I had purchased a Simpletech Simpledrive portable USB 100GB bus powered drive and it will not work with my 17 inch. It works with my 15 inch titanium and a G5 but not the 17 inch. Simpletech told me that it isn't getting enough power from the USB ports (I even tried using the adapter to plug it into both ports at the same time).
I am going to return the drive and probably buy a Firewire one instead since you can boot from Firewire but I am wondering if I will have the same problem with Firewire on the 17 inch and HAVE to use an AC adapter.
PowerBook G4 17 inch Mac OS X (10.4.1)This also happens on the PB 15". It is perceived as a problem. If you check via the System Profiler you will likely see that the USB port output is 500mA. Most drives - in a USB or FW case - need 1A to boot. There are some drives that will boot with 500mA. If a 500mA drive is installed in the USB case it should boot off the bus power. If using a ext HD you can only boot the computer from the FW port and not the USB or PCMCIA slot.
The FW port will power the ext HD. I do not recommend daisy chaining unless you use a powered FW hub. I blew 4 FW ports and had to replace the logic board 4 times but Apple Care paid for all the work. The newer FW ports are more robust but it is still a chance if you try to draw too much power.
MJ -
Bus Powered External Hard Drive?
Can anyone recommend a good bus-powered External Hard Drive that I can use with my iMac? I really like Western Digital's MyBooks, but they require mains power and come with a big power brick, which is pretty messy. I want a hard drive that gets it's power through either USB 2.0 or Firewire. And I'd like something that has at least 250GB of storage. Any suggestions?
I bought a bus powered OWC laptop drive (100GB 720RPM) for around 170 dollars. But, that was for my laptop, as it's much easier to have a bus powered laptop drive then needing to plug it in to use it. This way I can sit somewhere, not near a power outlet, and be able to use the drive.
As mentioned in an earlier post, 3.5 Hard Drives require to much power in order to be bus powered.
You could buy a 200GB hard drive, bus powered, 4200RPM, and is a laptop drive for your iMac, but that's not the best way to go. First, the drive is going to be very expensive. You could get a 320GB 3.5 In HD for way cheaper. Second, it's going to be noticibly slower.
When I get externals, I buy the drive, and pitch in 50 bucks or so for an external enclosure. It's the CompUSA brand and they work quite well. They are not bus powered, but the Power Brick is limited in size and is relitively small. It's cheaper this way. This can be a challenge to someone who isn't really 'computer-talented.'
I'd go FireWire....It's much faster and won't slow you down while you're trying to access your files and do your work.
OWC if you really want that bus powered laptop drive.
NewEgg if you want to shop for drives, and get them cheaper. Not to mention their fast shipping.
Give it some thought.
-benny -
And how do I turn off FACES?
I copied the iPhoto library to an external hard drive, then imported it to the new iPhoto. It turned my 2000 photos into 12,000!!
According to you youo did not do what I instructed - you said you imported the old library into th enew library which can easily take a 2000 photo library and turn it into 12,000 including two ro three versions of each photo pus all the face thumbnails
The correct procedure has NO importing involved
drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity from the old Mac to the pictures folder of the new Mac - launch iPhoto on the new mac
That is it
LN -
Can I back up apps, books, etc to an external hard drive and delete iCloud?
There are some wireless external hard drives that can be used with the iPad.
Best iPad External Hard Drive Storage Options
http://www.unlocktips.com/2012/11/best-ipad-mini-external-hard-drive-memory-stor age-options/
iPad Storage Solutions
http://www.ipadstoragesolutions.com/iPadWirelessStorage.php
SanDisk Connect Wireless Media Drive
http://www.sandisk.com/products/wireless/media-drive/
WD My Cloud
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1140
Another option:
Expand your iPad's storage capacity with HyperDrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1153935/hyperdrive.html
On the road with a camera, an iPad, and a Hyperdrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1160231/ipadhyperdrive.html
Cheers, Tom -
On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture. How can I access the Aperture Library on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup? I can only access the application but not the library..
Go into Time Machine (the program not the bundle on the extrnal disk) and using Time Machine's browser go to the Folder where the library lives. You could look in the library bundle in Time Machine but that won't really tell you much,
If you want to make sure it truely has backed up your library you will need to restore it and open the restored library with Aperture.
If all this still has you confused you need to read up on Time Machine in order to get a feel for how it works, for what it is doing and for how to restore files from it. -
I was just about to order a photo book, using photos stored on an external hard drive. I organised the book and pressed 'buy'. IPhotos instructed me that I needed to upgrade and so I went on the ASpp store, bought the upgrade and installed as directed. I then used the iPhoto Library upgrader as directed.
After the iPhoto upgrade I can no longer access the photos stored on my external hard drive. I am able to access the photos stored on my internal hard drive - the remainder (including the photo album) seem to have vanished into thin air.
Any suggestions please?What format is the external drive?
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I just purchased a new computer that runs windows 8 and it doesn't want to recognize the time capsule as an external hard drive (ie doesn't show up under my compter). I've downloaded and run airport utility, but it seems to have a hard time finding the time capsule...maybe one out of 10 times it will find it.
What's more, when I look under network infrastructure under the control panel, it shows my Broadcom ADSL centurylink Router...so I'm wondering if my modem/router combo is overriding the router function on my timecapsule and the time capsule is not being used as a router...
Any help much appreciated!In this case the TC should be in bridge mode.
Win8 is still problematic. Try using ethernet instead of wireless. I think the drivers are poor still and it is well worth having a try via ethernet if you haven't already.
Otherwise you will need to wait for apple to release bonjour for windows 8 and airport utility.. which is not out yet.
Also make sure the windows is set to home, not work or public.. even turn off the firewall.
Open windows explorer and type the TC ip address into the address bar.. (none of which is perhaps the same.. I gave away windows at vista.. shudder)
\\TCIPadderss. -
I want to use the Thunderbolt connection for an external hard drive
I want to use the Thunderbolt connection for an external hard drive - so what port would I use on the MacBook Pro 13" for the display monitor. Thank you!
This is not the forum for MacBook Pro owners.
You just need to reformat the drive in Disk Utility and erase the drive and have Mac HFS.
If you did need to use NTFS then you would not want -3G but Paragon NTFS for OS X x. 10.0
Or buy something that isn't pre-formatted to Windows NT file system.
First though make sure you have backups of your system. TimeMachine being used now?
http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-TimeMachine-drive.html
http://www.apple.com/support/timemachine/
Maybe cleanout some files you don't need.
Install a larger notebook hard drive even.
http://www.macsales.com/firewire has a lot of choice in Mac compatible drives and enclosures so you don't need to worry about Fantom not working at some point.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.6_snow_leopard -
In specific, I own a 2007 Macbook Notebook, and it is an Intel Core 2 Duo MB21.00A5.B07. Last year, it became necessary to replace the hard drive, and was informed that the reason for the replacement was that the hard drive had reached the end of its lifespan.
My question is how long do Macbook notebook hard drives typically last? This also is in the context of frequent use of the notebook.
Additionally, is it a good idea to replace the hard drive more then once, or will the hard ware on the notebook, after I'm assuming about six or so years, be too out of date to accommodate a second or third hard drive replacement?
Also, since the replacement was still covered under an applecare plan (it's expired now), the general cost of replacing a Macbook notebook hard drive is not known? What is the cost generally expected of a hard drive replacement? This is in relation to repairs conducted at an applestore location (as opposed to a third party repair center).justinfromlos angeles wrote:
Also, this means that, the settings of a system like Snow Leopard, in addition to all other personal settings from a current hard drive, can be copied to and from an external hard drive?
Your entire system can be copied to an external HD in bootable form. It's generally referred to as cloning, and there are a number of applications available to assist in the task.
SuperDuper
CarbonCopyCloner
LaCie Silverkeeper
To name but three.
Furthermore, once cloned, should you have to replace the internal drive, it's easy to boot from the external and clone the system back to the internal.
justinfromlos angeles wrote:
If so, do you know where one can purchase an external hard drive and a replacement hard drive?
As I don't live in the US, it's difficult for me to reccommend retailers, but any computer store (including Apple) can supply external HDs. Be aware that not all HDs from some manufacturers will play well with Macs; Western Digital I believe needs careful selection of the correct model. There are plenty of contributors who can no doubt help on that front. Personally I use LaCie and Iomega. Note that these are purpose built externals and come with their own enclosure and all cables reqd.
One thing you will need to do with most of them is to use Disk Utility to partiton them correctly (GUID system for Intel Macs) and set the file system to Mac Extended (journaled) before cloning.
justinfromlos angeles wrote:
There is one last question. Say I've replaced the hard drive on the same computer for nine years or so. Despite the hard drive being new, would the hardware of the computer be too out of date to accept an up to date replacement hard drive?
The hardware of the computer dictates what sort of internal drive you buy; earlier models used IDE interfaces, current models use SATA and these are not interchangable. However System Profiler will tell you what sort you have. It's still possible to buy compatible HDs for the early iMacs, c. 1998/99 so there's no reason to believe your model will suddenly become defunct. -
How to make iTunes recognize the music library in my external hard drive after instaIling Yosemite?
How to make iTunes recognize the music library in my external hard drive after instaIling Yosemite? I tried re-setting the media folder location, but it didn't work. What else should I do?
The issue is not related to the external drive. iTunes Match has difficulties matching tracks ripped fom CDs because they may differ slightly from the versions on sale in iTunes. You can try the match again. Otherwise do a search of this forum. There are already many discussions on this subject here that may help you.
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I was trying to move my photos from the iPhoto library to an external hard drive. I now have a desktop display of thousands of cascading photos. How do I remove them from my desktop screen?
Strangely enough we can not see you so it really helps if you share with use exactly what you have, exactly what you did and details about the problem
what version of iPhoto and of the OS? What exact steps did you do? where are you seeing these "thousands of cascading photos" now and using what software and what exactly did you want to accomplish
The correct way to move your iphoto library to an external drive is to verify the drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journal) and then drag the iphotl library intact as a single entity to is
The correct way to move some or all of your photos is to select them in iphoto and export 9file menu ==> export -- https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921 ) to the external drive
LN -
how can I change the desktop icon for an external hard drive. Using LaCies and Dimple hard drives.
One of the things I've found with OS X (at least with Snow Leopard, which is my first excursion into OS X), is that all too often the thumbnail displayed on a file, whether a file created or one downloaded, is a false thumbnail. That is, when you do a Get Info on the file the icon in the upper left is the generic icon for that file type, rather than the thumbnail displayed in Finder. Makes it a bit difficult to copy.
Apparently Finder uses Preview in the background to generate the displayed thumbnail without actually creating one.
What I've resorted to doing, particularly with graphic images, is to process them with GraphicConverter - I have its prefs set to automatially add thumbnails and previews. With an individual file this means opening it in GC and doing a Save As. However, a much easier and faster way is when there are two or more such files; I put them in a common folder and drop the folder onto GC. GC then opens them in a catalog view, in the process adding real thumbnails and previews to each automatically. Doesn't take long to do several hundred files that way. -
Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a bus powered FW hard drive for about $150. I'll be using it as my secondary scratch disk while traveling. Any suggestions would be great!
I'm currently using a UBS bus powered Western Digital drive; No problems yet with as a scratch disk, but i don't want to press my luck!
Thanks,
-N.A.
15" MacBook Pro 2.16 Core Duo, 1GB RAM, 256 VRAM Mac OS X (10.4.8)if the drive has its own firewire controller and serial converter built in (some do), then it should work but of course with a lot of latency.
but other drives with a firewire port do not have an onboard controller and rely on "daisy chaining" for the firewire port to be active.
only one way to find out though, aside from reading its packaging materials. -
i am using for first time the time machine and an external hard drive because I want to erase my macbook and start from zero files. Am i keeping my files in the portable hard disk when I will connect it again with the macbook or the time machine will erase all?
I would like to know if after I erase all my data, empy hard drive inside the macbook, the time machine will erase all my files that I have saved in my "WD "My passport" external hard driveWelcome to Apple Support Communities
Time Machine has to erase the external disk in order to make backups. Before setting Time Machine up, copy the files of your external disk to the hard disk of the Mac in order not to lose them, and then, set up Time Machine. The first backup will start automatically.
If you want more information about Time Machine, read the Pondini's site > http://pondini.org
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