External HD - which are bootable from?

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im333


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Hi all,

I want to buy an EXTERNAL HD for:

1. Backing up my data (will probably use Time Machine) using Leopard
2. Having an external I can BOOT from, so that I can run apps like iDefrag.
3. Want Firewire (is my unibody MBP 800?)

So, the questions are:

a) I'e read somewhere that not all externals can be booted from - WHICH CAN?
b) I want 1TB in size - can someone recommend one? I'm in the UK.


Cheers,
im333
 
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Clairejr


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Maxtor One Touch 4 Plus drives with Firewire are bootable and so are Western Digital My Book drives, also with Firewire. I would definitely recommend Firewire 400 or 800 for booting because it will be faster than USB and more reliable. I've had conflicts with other FW devices when I've tried to use the Maxtor and WD drives as boot drives from USB. Here's information on both company's drives:

Western Digital

Maxtor/Seagate


I've had both drives for well over a year now and I use them constantly and they both have been excellent. Maxtor has a better reputation and I would recommend it over the WD because that drive is quieter and faster than the WD one and because I've owned another Maxtor drive for over 4 years and it still works perfectly. As far as customer support, I've had good experiences with both companies. I'm sure that's not true for everyone.

Claire
 
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Clairejr


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The Maxtor drive works great with Time Machine. It's only the Maxtor software that comes with the drive that doesn't work. But you don't need that software to use the drive. Just format it for Mac OS X 10.5 and set it for Time Machine and it will work. I have the 500 GB version and it's partitioned, with one partition just for Time Machine, one for a clone of my boot drive, and one for data. There's really no need to use the Maxtor software. Use SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner for cloning and Time Machine for backups and the drive should work perfectly.

I definitely would not recommend the WD My Book with USB. I have an LG DVD drive that is incompatible with the USB port on the WD drive. Luckily, both the LG and My Book have FW 400 and, as long as both are on FW 400, they work fine, but if one is on USB and one on FW, the WD drive won't boot.

Claire
 
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im333


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Oh, that clears things up - thanks.
I'd definitely prefer to use Time Machine as intended. My plan was also to partition the drive - one for TMachine, another for a clone of the OSX install CD, another for a clone of the hard disk/data storage. I'd like to boot from it with OSX installed so as to run iDefrag also.

I wonder, can the pre-installed software be erased, so as not to intefere at all.
Also, I wanted to back up (use TimeMachine) from a 2nd Mac on the SAME external HD - possible?




Clairejr said:
The Maxtor drive works great with Time Machine. It's only the Maxtor software that comes with the drive that doesn't work. But you don't need that software to use the drive. Just format it for Mac OS X 10.5 and set it for Time Machine and it will work. I have the 500 GB version and it's partitioned, with one partition just for Time Machine, one for a clone of my boot drive, and one for data. There's really no need to use the Maxtor software. Use SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner for cloning and Time Machine for backups and the drive should work perfectly.

I definitely would not recommend the WD My Book with USB. I have an LG DVD drive that is incompatible with the USB port on the WD drive. Luckily, both the LG and My Book have FW 400 and, as long as both are on FW 400, they work fine, but if one is on USB and one on FW, the WD drive won't boot.

Claire
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