What size hard drive does it take to back up a mac book

What size hard drive does it take to back up a mac book pro?

The bare minimum would be one equal to the total used storage space on your MBP's hard drive.
However, that is the technical minimum and not an optimal estimate. Optimally, if using Time Machine, you should look for a hard drive that is 2-3 times (or larger) than your internal hard drive - that gives you space to grow your backup archive, and to be able to go back in time a fair bit if need be to restore something since TM keeps a database of incremental backups over time (TM will only purge an older archive if the drive fills up and it needs space for the current incremental backup).
If you are cloning your system, then you should buy an external drive equal to (or larger, if you cannot match exactly) the size of your internal drive. A full system clone will never be bigger than your internal drive is, so there is no need to have a much larger drive for the clone.

Similar Messages

I need a operating systems from my mac book pro. I will like to change my hard drive, I need a operating systems from my mac book pro. I will like to change my hard drive

I need a operating systems from my mac book pro. I will like to change my hard drive, I need a operating systems from my mac book pro. I will like to change my hard drive

To reinstall the original OSX in your rMBP, boot the MBP using the COMMAND-OPTION-R keys. The display should show a picture if the planet earth and you will be connected to the Apple servers. Make certain that you have a solid Internet connection and follow the instructions.
For SSD options look at this link:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Retina-2012- Drive-Internal-Flash
Ciao.

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 size hard drive will fit into a 2010 Mac mini?

Hello all,
I am planning to buy a new Mac mini. However I intend to upgrade the hard drive, i.e. buy a 320GB Mac Mini then remove the hard drive and replace it with a better one.
I have my eyes on two Western Digital hard drives:
+ WD Scorpio Black 750 GB SATA Hard Drive (WD7500BPKT)
specs: http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?driveID=905&language=1
+ WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB SATA Hard Drive (WD10TPVT)
specs: http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?driveID=685&language=1
Here's the problem. I figured that being both SATA 2.5" drives, they would have the same dimensions. It's not the case:
+ my preferred choice, the Scorpio Black (with faster 7200rpm) has a height of 9.5mm
+ the Scorpio blue (1TB but 5200rpm, slower than the default drive) has a height of 12.5mm
So I wonder, which of them would fit in the mini? Both of them? Afer hours looking for it, I couldn't find the exact specs and dimensions of the default drive in the Mac mini.
Questions this arises: if the Scorpio Blue fits in, then will the Black be loose because it's thinner?
I just went to my local Apple retail store, the flagship Opera store in Paris. I asked two Geniuses there and neither of them was able to answer my question, including the so-called hardware expert (duh!). They just told me "good question", and advised me to be careful with dimensions indeed because there is so little room in the mini...
Has any of you guys any clue on the subject?
+ any idea of the size/specs of the default drive?
+ any idea of what size drive would fit? Does the new disk have to be the exact same size or not?
FYI I checked the specs of the mini they had on display, and the disk reference is TOSHIBA MK3255GSXF. It looks like a specific ref number for these Apple drives.
Thanks!
Message was edited by: aaSwebmaster

6 MONTHS LATER/UPDATE.
I got the the Seagate Momentus® XT 6Gb/s 750GB Solid State Hybrid Hard Drive. Was able to install it myself in the Mac mini; it works great! (now).
My original 350GB was near full and taking almost 5-minutes to load.
Now my computer boots up in under one minute. Big difference!
Apps also snap open quickly, all functions fast and with 8GB of Ram using my computer is fun again.
Note: Initially I just made a clone of my old HD to the Seagate before taking my old HD out. This did make a bootable volume but funky and eventually the mouse clicks took 4-5 minutes to work!?
So I wiped the Seagate clean, did a new/fresh install of my Mac OS onto it and then used the Apple Migration Assistant app to get all my apps and data over - This worked and no funky stuff developed.
It's the best change to my computer in years. Feels great...and besides the features of the fusion-sytle hybrid drive (SSD & regular) I got 450GB of new, extra space...now I can put my work aside for awhile and try out one of these 12GB games!. Rock on.
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS: patience, patience, patience and instructional video at OWC; yet the insides were different, an extra plastic 'cage' around the HD. Just be careful & alert.

What size hard drive can i use in my pavilion dvd 1000ea

what is the maximum hard drive size i can use in my pavilion dv5 1000ea
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi
Please find the link given below might help you. Check second link for Manual page 31 along with part number are avialable.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c01486884
http://h20628.www2.hp.com/km-ext/kmcsdirect/emr_na-c01550108-6.pdf
Let us know how it goes!
"I work for HP."
****Click the (purple thumbs up icon in the lower right corner of a post) to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
Regards
Manjunath

What size Hard Drive can I put in my iBook?

Hello all,
I have a 12 inch 800 MHz iBook. The 30GB internal drive failed on me a couple days ago. Good thing for external drives:). Anywho, I'm just wondering what the biggest size drive I can get for a replacement?
Thanks for any and all help,
Dan

I just upgraded my iBook today with a Samsung 120gb(111gb formatted), 5400rpm Hard Drive. So far it runs smoothly and zips a little faster than the factory 40gb. It took me time and patience but it can be done, I also bought a Panasonic DVD burner, with patchburn(free software online) it works great too.
iBook G4 12in Mac OS X (10.4.6) G4 1.33ghz, 1.5gb ram, 120gb hd, SuperDrive

How can I tell what size hard drive I have in my macbook

Just seeing if there's any value (doubtful) to this old computer I have. I'm sure it's easy enough to find but it's not matching what the prompts are for hard drive size, e.g. 120gb, 128gb, etc. Gazelle is having a promo asking for this info.
Oh, and my battery doesn't keep a charge so I have to keep it plugged in to work. The kids use it for their school computer but since I have a MacBook Pro I should probably just let them use mine, as a guest user.
Thoughts?
Thanks!

Single click on the hard drive image in the upper right corner (usually called Macintosh HD). Then right-click and pull down to Get Info.
BTW, What model MB is it?
 > About This Mac > More Info...

What size hard drive?

I have about 5 hours of footage that I need to upload and edit into a 15 min short film. I have Final Cut Pro HD on a G5 desktop, and I'm wondering what size external hard drive would be good for this amount of work?

A hard drive is just that...a hard drive. Bare with connections that connect directly to your computer. Now, if you have a G5 or MacPro, then I'll second Chuck's recommendation for that SATA drive. $150 and yo have 500GB. A G5 will have one extra drive bay that you can install that into and you'll be set. A MacPro has 3 additional drive bays for drives. Filling up your internal bays first is always recommended.
An enclosure is a case to put that drive into...for when your internal bays are full. This enclosure then connects to the computer either via USB 2.0, firewire 400, firewire 800 or eSATA. USB connections aren't fast enough for video, FW400 is only good for DV and HDV, FW800 adds DVCPRO HD and uncompressed 8-bit, and eSATA can get you uncompressed SD to uncompressed HD.
The cheapest and best solution is what Chuck said, the 500GB SATA drive. Faster than FW400 or 800...much cheaper...and it slips right into the computer in about 5 min. But, if you need portability, then look for a firewire drive that you can connect to any computer with a firewire connection.
Shane

What size Hard Drive do I need?

I have a MacBook Pro 2.2 with a 120GB Hard Drive and an external 300GB Hard drive.
I get the message, "This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires a 320.8 GB but only 279.2 are available".
The external Hard Drive has been formatted Mac OS Extended Journaled.
That appears to be about 2 1/2 times the size of my computer hard drive.
Is this correct?

FRUGUY,
Just curious, try this for me:
*Reset Time Machine Preferences .plist *
Open Time Machine Preferences.
Click “Change Disk…”.
Select “None” and click “Stop Backing Up”.
This should move the slider on the left to “OFF”.
Close System Preferences.
Reboot the Mac.
Open Time Machine Preferences.
Click “Change Disk…”.
Select the Time Machine backup disk and click “Use for Backup”.
This should move the slider on the left to “ON”.
Now initiate a backup.
Let us know if this made any difference.
Cheers!

What size hard drive can I fit to 20-inch iMac (MA876LL)

Hi,
I want to upgrade the hard drive in an iMac, it has 250 GB today, ideally wouldlike 500 GB.

Any 3.5" SATA drive should be ok. Just be careful of the sensor cable attached to the drive.

Ok, my MacBook Pro has 15000 photos on its hard drive, if I take three quarters will my mac get up too speed again?

How do I save the photos on an external hard drive , just by dragging them across ?

Yes, you can drag and drop them into a folder on an external HD.
Regardless of your HD internal, or "losing space" you must have a backup of all valuable data you "dont dare lose"
2 copies is 1, and 1 is none....and the computer never counts as one of those copies.
safeguard your valuable data.

Why are the files I migrated over from a backup hard drive locked and inaccessible on my new used Mac Book pro? I used the migration assistant. Running Snow Leopard on a core duo.

My laptop got pinched and I bought a used Mac Book Pro, put a larger hard drive in it and performed a clean install of Snow Leopard on the new drive, after which I used the Migration Assistant to bring over my applications, settings, documents, etc., from my backup hard drive. This hard drivekis not a Ti e Machine drive, it's one I use to clone my computer to regularly with Carbon Copy Cloner. When the migration was complete all my documents, the desktop,and other folders are locked and won't allow me to access them. What to do? Thanks for the help.

Graham Giles wrote:
Have you seen this type of problem before? I think it could be a serious issue for anyone in a similar position.
No; but then, I've not had occasion to use TDM. I've been using firerwire drives for over 10 years, both FW400 and FW800, with no issues except a bit of instability using a B&W G3 machine.
TDM should be safe. Using cautious, manual copying of files from the Target machine to the Host machine should not result in unexpected loss of files or damage to the Target drive's directories. It should behave exactly the same as if it were an external (to the Host) firewire drive.
• I don't suppose there is anything I can do to 'put back' lost items from a separate Time Machine drive which has an up to date backup on it.
There is probably a way to do that - seems to me that's one of the reasons for a Time Machine volume.
On the other hand, if the Time Machine volume is rigidly linked to the now-absent OS on the original drive, there may be no way to effectively access the files in the TM archive.
I know that using a cloned drive would work well in this instance.
I have no experience with Time Machine, so perhaps someone who has will chime in with suggestions.
With the machine in TDM with the other machine, have you tried running Disk Utility to see if you can effect repairs to the drive?

How do you erase and reinstall a hard drive without a disc? I bought this mac book pro under a year ago and am pretty sure i downloaded mountain lion from the app store. Basically Im having startup issues and this is the final step Ive reached

when I start my laptop it loads a third of the way and shuts down automaticallyI've tried to safe boot, repairing discs and clearing RAM but nothing has worked. basically I've come to the final step of having to a erase my hard drive and reinstall mountain lion however Apple support suggest that I install from a disc however I installed mountain lion from the App Store. can anyone help me go about this?

Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

I have downloaded footage from a Sony Z1 on to a hard drive which I've put on to my Mac Book Pro and it will not read in iMovie. Can somebody help me?

I shot three video clips on a Sony Z1 camera. As I only had the cable to plug it in to my PC, I uploaded the footage on to the PC and then copied it on to my hard drive. I then put the hard drive into my MacBook Pro so that I could continue to edit it on there, however it will not read the files. The audio is WAV and the video footage has come up as M2V files. I need to be able to import it in to iMovie to edit however it is not letting me do so.
Is it because they are M2V's or do I need to upload the footage directly on to the MacBook and not on to a PC first?
If anyone could help, it would be massively appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Mollie

re-post in the iMovie forum: https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/imovie. Good luck.

How big of a hard drive can I stuff in my 13" white mac book?

Hi,
I have a (june 2007) 13" 2.16 GhZ, 2 GB RAM Intel Core 2 Duo white macbook with a 120 GB hard drive. The hard drive is about 3/4 of the way full and I am starting to shop around for an upgrade. According to apple, my macbook is upgradable to 250 GB but I have found a WD 320 GB drive that is supposedly compatible here
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?model=265&type=DataStorage&TI=2824&shoupgrds=ShowUpgrades
My question is, how big of a hard drive can I fit in my little macbook? I just want to be sure before I buy.
Thanks!

I installed the 320 GB Western Digital drive in my BlackBook and it runs great. I checked it against my 80 GB drive with XBench and it has better response time.
While your in the buying mood you might want to consider a OWC Hard Drive Enclosures. I picked up one to install my old drive in so I could use it to help recover my system and to use for storage,

What size hard drive does it take to back up a mac book

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for