View Full Version : External hard drives?
glahnb
11-22-2008, 09:09 AM
I need to get an external hard drive for my mac. My goal is mainly to save my itunes songs and word files so if and when I buy a new mac, i can load all that stuff into it.
What's a good hard drive for this? I know zero about this sort of thing.
Will I be able to save all my stuff and pop it into a new computer?
I need to get an external hard drive for my mac. My goal is mainly to save my itunes songs and word files so if and when I buy a new mac, i can load all that stuff into it.
What's a good hard drive for this? I know zero about this sort of thing.
Will I be able to save all my stuff and pop it into a new computer?
Absolutely. And 1 terrabyte for 219.00 USD
http://freeagent.seagate.com/en-us/hard-drive/hard-drive-mac/Free-Agent.html
It will connect to Firewire 400, 800, and USB 2.0.
If you have a newer mac you can use it for Time Machine. If not, you can just turn it on, it pops up on your desktop, and you can drag whatever you want onto it for backup.
BTW, you can connect your old mac to the new one in several ways and transfer things without an external HD, but you really should have a backup drive anyway.
Highly recommended. 7200rpm so it is very fast, and if your current mac does not have FW800, your new one will, and that is fast indeed.
dc
glahnb
11-22-2008, 09:47 AM
The backup is for me really. My mac (an old emac, about 8 years old) crashed a few years ago, and I lost everything, so I like the idea of keeping everything safe until I get a new computer.
That's a good looking drive, what's the minimum I should expect to pay for something decent.
The backup is for me really. My mac (an old emac, about 8 years old) crashed a few years ago, and I lost everything, so I like the idea of keeping everything safe until I get a new computer.
That's a good looking drive, what's the minimum I should expect to pay for something decent.
You can get a little 2.5" drive in a case for less, but it will not likely be large/fast enough to work with Time Machine on your new mac. I found this out the hard way... Still these can be bought for 100.00 or even less. If you can, get the big one in the link, and you will not outgrow it too quickly. Also, I use Seagate for pretty much everything and they have been totally reliable.
dc
scottlr
11-22-2008, 10:03 AM
Other Would Computing. Buy a bare drive and a firewire case and put them together yourself. Easy as pie. You just need a phillips screwdriver, nothing more. I prefer Seagate drives. As mentioned, get one that is 7200rpm.
whoofnagle
11-22-2008, 10:04 AM
Bought a WD external drive 500 Gigs at Costco for $90 - works fine with my Mac
Bought a WD external drive 500 Gigs at Costco for $90 - works fine with my Mac
This is a great point. You do not need a special Mac drive. You can easily reformat a PC drive for macs with Disc Utility, and many macs will read PC HD's just fine. (it slows them down though)
The drive I linked to is a standard Seagate drive; the only difference is that it comes preformatted and has the FW800 port, which few PC's have yet.
dc
newking70
11-22-2008, 10:12 AM
http://www.drobo.com
dkals
11-22-2008, 10:13 AM
I bought a Seagate 750 meg back up from tigerdirect.com a few months back for $90.00. I am using only 67 meg out of 750 meg backing up a desktop and laptop. Simple to use, hook up the usb drive, the computer recognizes the external drive downloads the software and you set up your back up schedule. Thats it.
HEY!YOU!
11-22-2008, 10:16 AM
I did the WD as well. Under $100.
Lots of storage.
bdegrande
11-22-2008, 12:41 PM
Other Would Computing. Buy a bare drive and a firewire case and put them together yourself. Easy as pie. You just need a phillips screwdriver, nothing more. I prefer Seagate drives. As mentioned, get one that is 7200rpm.
While I use FireWire myself, and it performs better than USB, Apple is clearly abandoning it (Macbook Air, new Macbooks). It would not surprise me at all if future Mac desktops and laptops had only USB, particularly when USB 3 is available.
It's fine to buy a FireWire enclosure, but I would make sure that it has USB as well if you want to use it with future computers.
scottlr
11-22-2008, 12:51 PM
True, but if it comes to that, you get a new enclosure. I need FW for recording. I am always a year or six behind the newest Macs anyway ;) Like right now.... I have been running an upgraded G4 for about 6 years or more.
While I use FireWire myself, and it performs better than USB, Apple is clearly abandoning it (Macbook Air, new Macbooks). It would not surprise me at all if future Mac desktops and laptops had only USB, particularly when USB 3 is available.
It's fine to buy a FireWire enclosure, but I would make sure that it has USB as well if you want to use it with future computers.
Wow! This is totally wrong.
I am typing this on a new MacBook Pro and it has built in Firewire 800.
My new Mac Pro tower has 2 FW 800, and 2 FW 400. Apple is not abandoning firewire in the least.
dc
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