Which portable hard drives to store TimeMachine backups with MBA?

Hi, I am looking forward to purchasing a MBA within a few months. In the menawhile, I am moving around with and old iBook. I need to purchase a portable Hard Disk for backups, but I need to make sure that it will work with MBA to store TimeMachine Backups.
I read some user review in the Apple online store that says that Lacie Rugged Hard Disk does NOT wrk with MacBook Air. I was surprised.
Does anybody know of a portable hard disk that can survive shocks AND works with MBA?
Would Iomega eGo do?
Thanks in advance

Marcus S. Zarra wrote:
Which hub are you using? I have tried it with a couple of powered hubs with no luck. Granted they were older. Would love to purchase a hub that it will work on!
I'm using a (powered) Gigaware hub from Radioshack. I think my drive is WD Passport essential 250G.

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Dual hard drive switch and TimeMachine backup

I recently did a dual hard drive swap on my mid-2006 MacBook Pro, changing out both the machine's internal drive as well as purchasing a new external unit. I have been using Time Machine since I first installed Leopard and have had no serious issues with it.
Prior to installing the new internal drive I updated using Time Machine and also used Carbon Copy Cloner to duplicate my home folder on both external drives. Once the new internal drive was installed, I did a clean install on Leopard after reformatting the drive.
Once Leopard was installed I moved information from the disk image created by CCC into my fresh home folder. I did so instead of using Migration Assistant, since part of my motivation for installing the new drive was to get as clean an install of Leopard as possible. In other words, I didn't copy over any data from programs I no longer use, old media, etc.
I then transferred the Time Machine backup from my old external drive to my new one using SuperDuper. Once that was complete I attempted to use the new external drive as my new Time Machine backup. Time Machine recognized the backup without any problem, but when I went to back up my home folder Time Machine attempted to transfer 125+ GB of data.
So here's my question: how do I get Time Machine to preserve my old backup and merge it with my new Leopard install? I'd really prefer not to have to waste 125 GB of my new 1 TB drive to backup data that's already backed up. I'd also prefer not to have to reinstall Leopard (and Boot Camp, and my apps, etc.).

Since you have created a completely new set up I don't see how you would expect Time Machine to somehow reconcile it with your old set up. Even moving a file from one folder to another results in a new UUID and a fresh backup of the file by Time Machine. In your case all your files would appear to be either freshly installed by the installer or transferred from an external source and so new to the system.

7200 or 5400 portable hard drive for scratch drive?

I am trying to decide whether to buy a f7200rpm or 5400rpm portable hard drive to store some of my video footage on but seem to have conflicting answers on the topic. Basically, I need to offload some of my unedited footage from my MBP as it is taking up lots of room but I need also to have this with me when travelling so that I can continue working on it, therefore the need for a small portable hard drive. I have pretty much decided to get one of the G-tech mini drives, but should I get a faster 7200rpm for video, or will this make no difference, in which case a 5400rpm will have more capacity for the same price. I emailed G-Tech and their reply was a bit vague, basically saying that with firewire 800 there "might be a slight increase in performance", but I am still not sure what this means in real terms when working with video.
I thought the best place to ask was here, so if anyone can advise I would be grateful, thanks.

I have a single G-Tech mini fw400 case with a 5400 rpm drive that is perfectly useful for capturing and editing simple DV. But, I purchased it for simply capturing video while I was out of the studio. I would not use it for serious multi layer editing. If pressed, I would guess the limits have more to do with it being fw400 than the rotational speed.
What a faster rotational speed often does is give you faster seek times.
Still, if I were in the market today, I'd go with something like a two drive miniRAID system (eg Caldigit VRmini) that can connect via FW400, 800 or eSATA.
x

Portable Hard Drive will not show up in Disk Utility

I purchased a Toshiba Canvio Slim 500 GB hard drive a few months ago before I updated my computer to Mac OSX Version 10.6.8. I was running out of Hard Drive Space since I bought my computer in 2009 and decided to use a portable hard drive to store some of my personal information. I was able to read and successfully transfer data to the hard drive, but then I updated my computer to 10.6.8 and now I can't access it at all. It won't even show up in Disk Utility. I read on a few forums that some people were having the same problem as I was and they bought a y-cable adapter to power the hard drive through two usb cables. I bought one and tried it out and I'm still not having any luck. I tried using my girlfriend's computer to see if I can access it from her computer and it shows up in disk utility, but I can't access it. The lights turn on and I can hear it working like it worked the first day I used it, but nothing is happening. Please help me fix the problem.

Evidence, as scant as it is from Disk Utility, suggests the Toshiba external
HDD is indeed without Partion Map Scheme, has no files on it, unformatted.
So I wonder if there isn't a wire or defective circuit inside the box (enclosure)
that may be hiding access to the actual HDD unit inside there. Those kinds
of enclosures generally use a laptop 2.5" HDD since they can run on USB
power from the port. Matching up the internal HDD from that case, with an
other one with correct life support (connections) is a way to test it.
However if the Toshiba HD is a 3.5" standard drive, a larger enclosure, or
an adapter that simply plugs into the connections of the bare hard drive,
would be a way to access that external drive. These 'drive adapters' can
work with both SATA and IDE hard drives; or just one of the two. They
run in the range of $40 or so, and essentially are a wire kit with a power
adapter to spin the drive, but some do not even have the adapter, so as
to still use USB power for smaller drives of slower disc RPM speed.
Most competent computer stores with a skilled staff would know of these.
However some of the smaller HDD enclosures may be hard to open up.
And if there were a Toshiba warranty, this action could void the same.
Adapters would be to 'test the idea of recovering any data,' if enclosure
the drive shipped in has somehow developed a defect. Though it may
be if there is a defect, it may have existed at a point in time to affect
the actual save-to-disk process. Or later. A wire could be not allowing
information to be received, if broken or circuit damages, by the Mac.
But by the look of the Disk Utility's partition map, along with the other
earlier image that shows the same info in the bottom of the image of
the status, in Disk Description, this does not bode well for recovery.
I'm not sure what else to suggest. When the dust settles, Toshiba may
have a residual warranty that could only replace that one with another.
Some older mailorder catalogs show these kinds of adapters, some use
USB port power, others also include an AC adapter so standard faster
HDDs can be used without an enclosure. This also helps if one wants
temporary access to a hard disk drive, but does not want to install it.
•USB drive cable adapter kit SATA and IDE HDD - google results:
https://www.google.com/#q=USB+drive+cable+adapter+kit+SATA+and+IDE+HDD
Companies also make hot-swap docks to allow fast swapping of HDDs
of either or both 2.5" and 3.5" size, these have their own adapter and
one simply puts drives inside from the top, like a bread toaster.
Hopefully you can take the Toshiba along to a computer store and ask
a somewhat skilled person there about getting the cable adapter kit or
another enclosure. The cable adapter would cost less & be quicker, yet
that would still involve opening up the failed HDD's enclosure for access.
Good luck & happy computing!

Portable hard drive questions

Okay, so I know nothing about portable/external hard drives. I'm looking into getting a portable hard drive so I can backup my Mac when I move to college and I have a few questions. What kind of portable hard drive is best (I heard that drives above 500 GB require a power outlet so I'll stick to 500 so I can just plug it in, is that right?)? Also, is it possible to set aside a portion of the hard drive just for Time Machine and use the rest for storing needs? Or does the whole hard drive become a backup? I'm also curious as to use FireWire or USB; I have a FireWire 400 and 800 ports on my Mac. Any help would be appreciated so much. Thanks in advance!

In general "portable" external drives use 2.5" Laptop sized drives and tend to cost about twice as much as do "full" sized externals that use 3.5" drives. Or put another way, for the same money you can usually get twice the storage as you get with a portable (e.g. $100 for a 1TB desktop external or for a 500GB portable). Also many of the portable drives tend to be Bus powered, meaning they run off the USB or Firewire port for power and data. The desktop ones usually have a dedicated external supply. Unless you plan on actually carrying the drive around with you a lot, you will get a better deal on a desktop sized external drive. Many of them are actually rather compact to begin with, no so much that I would want to carry it around in my backpack all the time, but certain portable enough to go from college to home and back again a few times a year.
In general, Firewire drives tend to be a bit faster for sustained large file transfers than USB2. They are also much better for doing video downloads directly from a camcorder to the external drive via Firewire (talking about MiniDV camcorder and other tape based systems). They, Firewire enabled drives, also tend to cost a bit more for the same capacity than USB2 drives. My advice is if you tend to do a lot of video editing off a tape based camcorder, then you NEED a drive that can connect with Firewire. If you mainly will be doing basic Time Machine stuff and other simple file storage work, etc. then Firewire is nice if you can find one for a good price, but USB2 will do the job just fine.
When you get the drive, you plug it in and power it on and the drive will simply show up on your desk top much like your internal drive. At this point, there is a good chance the drive is formatted in Windows format. If you plan to use it only with your Mac, it is a better idea to reformat it in Mac format. For Time Machine it HAS to be in Mac format.
So second thing to do is... Applications folder -> Utilities folder -> Disk Utility.
Select the new drive and then go to the erase tab and pick the option to format it as Mac Extended (Journaled) and let it format. Should take all of about 10-20 seconds.
I believe you can use the same drive for Time Machine as well as other storage. You may want to partition the drive into two sections and dedicate one to Time Machine and use the other for whatever you want. But I believe you can keep it all on one partition if you like.
Regards,
Patrick

Wanted: Portable Hard Drive With SD Slot Used with Leopard/Timemachine

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I have an 80GB MacBook and looking for external picture storage. I use the computer mainly for IPhoto and web browsing.
The Apple store online doesn't have such a device and I would consider getting the iomega 160 GB portable hard drive from them.
Many thanks,
Carlos Marques

You can boot your iMac from a connected FireWire drive. It must be FireWire and not USB. G3 Macs cannot run Leopard. Tiger will work fine, if you have more RAM.
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If the Mac Mini is PowerPC and not the current Intel version, you should be able to start the Mac mini in FireWire Target Disk Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
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If the Mac mini is Intel, the drive is partitioned using +GUID Partition Table+ (instead of +Apple Partition Map+ used by PowerPC Macs). Therefore, access to the drive using FireWire Target Disk Mode will depend on the OS installed on the iMac. It should work if the OS is Tiger. It will not work with Panther and earlier.
If you want to use a Mac mini to off-load some of the data on the iMac, you may want to use a network connection instead. Then, you will have full access to the Mac mini while it shares its storage space with the old iMac.

Backup I-Tunes Music to another portable hard drive?

I would like to backup my music to a portable hard drive instead of multiple DVDs within the I-Tunes program. Is there another way to do this?

You can't backup to an externa hard disk in iTunes, but there is nothing to stop you doing it in Windpws Explorer.
Assuming you have a default installation i.e music files in the iTunes Music folder, just close iTunes and copy the iTunes folder to the external disk.
It more convenient to use backsoftware which can backup changes, so after the intial backup, further backs are fast.
There is an article on backup here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1522195&#1522195

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I want to restore my MacBook Pro running Snow Lepoard, I made a time machine backup on a portable hard drive, can I get all the files back when resseting the OSX from the Hard Drive?

If you're using the Mac App Store version, there is initially no clean install option unless you're running the installer on a different drive or partition; your existing data will remain as is. If you're doing it from Lion's recovery partition or using the USB flash drive after erasing the internal drive, yes.
(64046)

Currently have 30K pics on PC Win. 7 laptop using PSE 8, corrected issues and did full backup on portable hard drive plus saved (Extensive) Keyword tags to file. Installed PSE 13 on PC Win 8.1 laptop. Will attach same portable Hard drive to new laptop.

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No importing needed.
See these instructions: Use Backup, Restore to move catalog | Organizer | Elements 6 or later

Restore Windows 7 backup file to portable hard drive

Restore Windows 7 backup file to portable hard drive
I have a full system backup on an NAS - 241 zip files.
The backed up Windows 7 laptop failed irreparably, and I now have a new laptop running 8.1.
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Thanks

Hi,
To restore your file from Windows 7, you need to restore these file from Windows 7 system, then choose the feature of system restore to restore these file.
Please refer to the link below for more details about how to restore your file. Especially notice "To restore a backup made on another computer".
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-hk/windows/restore-files-backup#1TC=windows-7
Roger Lu
TechNet Community Support

Backup Library, Albums & Titles to portable hard drive

I read the posts but confused on best way to move an entire library to a portable hard drive so it not only would be backup but also could be taken to family who also have Macs with ilife6. So they wouldn't have to manipulate individual jpegs, put in albums and retitle.
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Ralph

Ralph
The item that stopped it had a long title and a /.
In OS X the slash '/' is a shorthand for New Folder (or Directory), so, for instance, Home/Pictures/iPhoto Library Folder reads to the Operating System as Home Folder -> In there Pictures Folder -> In there iPhoto Library Folder. If you use a / in a file name, the computer things in means new folder and that makes no sense, so the copying stops.
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TD

Can I connect a portable hard drive to an ipad 4 to play music?

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How do you transfer iTunes to Windows 8 when you use an external hard drive to store you music/media files

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I currently use a Windows 7 computer and have my songs for iTunes on an external hard drive. I would like to find some step by step instructions on how to transfer my library to a new Windows 8 computer and still utilize the external hard drive to store my music. What I find very confusing is I have similar folders for iTunes on both my computer and the external hard drive (ex. Album Artwork, iTunes Library Extras, Previous iTunes Libraries). I'm not sure which files to move over to the new computer to make for a smooth transition.
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See also Make a split library portable.
tt2

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what files do I backup?
Most users backup their entire hard drive contents - system, applications & files. As a minimum, backup your important files.
Can I just drag and drop the Mac HD to the Iomega backup hard drive? and the applications and my personal file?
You can't drag the Mac HD to the backup hard drive to copy everything. Generally, you can drag files & most applications, however, there are many invisible files associated with the System that would not get copied. You need to use one of the cloning apps below.
Depending on how many GBs of data needs to get copied to the external hard drive, it will take multiple hours to copy everything. I do mine over night. Be sure to turn of the Energy Saver. Depending on which cloning app you use, after the first clone you can then just update the things that have changed. Most of us use SuperDuper (shareware) or CarbonCopyCloner (donationware).
Whenever you upgrade your OS, like going from Panther 10.3 to Tiger 10.4, you will not lose anyhing if you use the Archive & Install feature & select preserve user settings.
Look at Mac Backup - Mac Backup Software, Hardware, and Guides for Your Mac
http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/tp/backuphub.htm
Mac OS X data backup FAQ http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
You can use CarbonCopy Cloner @ http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html , or SuperDuper @ http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html , or IBackup @ http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/index.html , or Silverkeeper @ http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/ or the Restore function of Disk Utility included in OS X.
 Cheers, Tom

Portable Hard Drive Needed

I seem to be out of the office more and more and I need to have my files with me. I have a Mac G4 and have been researching portable hard drives, the only thing is, not many of the reviewers consider the older macs.
PC Magazine did recommend a portable drive for "older mac users" but I thought that I would ask the experts before I make a purchase.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2349221,00.asp - Iomega
* Reviewer mentions that it works with older macs. * Firewire cable.
Click free portable back up drive (no firewire cable- excellent reviews)dual prong usb cable
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptop-hard-drives/clickfree-portable-backup-drive/4505- 9997_7-33497721.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody
Lacie Little Disk
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptop-hard-drives/clickfree-portable-backup-drive/4505- 9997_7-33497721.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody
If any of you have experience with a portable drive with a powerbook, I would greatly appreciate your advice. I'm getting a headache.
Thank you in advance for your help.
My Mac
Mac OSX 10.4.11
Memory: 2GB DDR SDRAM
Machine Name: PowerBook G4 17"
Machine Model: PowerBook5,7
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.2)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.67 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.9.1f1
Serial Number: W8507*RJ3
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
Version: 1.0

Is this the one that your son has? It looks like it gets good reviews and the fact that the company stands by their products is a big plus.
The OWC drive I pointed to is the same one my son uses. He's had it about a year with no issues. I like the fact that it's got a 3 year warranty, while others are sometimes 1 year. I have several desktop external drives that use the Oxford chipsets, and others would agree they interface very well to our macs.
The other benefit to firewire is if you either copy your system to the hard drive, to make a backup of your internal drive, or just install an operating system on it, you have the capability to boot and use your system if there is any problem with the internal hard drive. You can even partition the external drive into one partition with an operating system/backup and the second partition with business data. If you think this approach would be one you might use, take that into account when you decide what size external drive to get, ie, get a larger one than you might normally go with just for data.
Also, on an external hard drive whose purpose is primarily data storage, I probably wouldn't spend the extra on a 7200rpm drive, instead going with a 5400rpm drive (which is probably the speed of what's in your Powerbook). So ... if you have an 80GB internal hard drive today, round it to 100GB for backup, then add 300GB? for business data ... maybe a 400GB or even 500GB external hard drive would work for you. It would be a backup for your internal drive as well as hold your business data. Just a thought ....

Which portable hard drives to store TimeMachine backups with MBA?

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