using external hard drive

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Recent convert to macs,loving the release from virus worries!But I have a seagate 320 gig external drive that I want to use with my mac mini.I previously used it with a pc so reformatted it to fat32 as I was advised that the mac would be able to see it then.I intended to get disc utlity to reformat it to mac's format so I could use it.But although finder could see the drive and give info on it ,when I opened disc utlity it just said 'collecting disc information' and stayed like that.The only way I could get it to stop was to force close it.Is it the external drive doing this?Can I leave the disk formatted fat32 and still use it with the mac?I want to use it to put movies on as the mac mini doesnt have much space.:Confused:
 

cwa107


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So... when the "collecting disk information" message comes up, is that after you tried to copy some data to it?

FAT32 has some limitations, the biggest one being that it can't handle a single file that is 4GB or larger in size. So, if you have a movie file, it will likely error out when you go to copy it.

Additionally, Windows imposes a 32GB partition size limitation on FAT32 - so, if you formatted it FAT32 on Windows, your disk size may be a lot smaller than you realized and if you're trying to massively dump data to it, you might see a message like that.

Personally, I would just format it NTFS if you need Windows compatibility. The Mac can natively read NTFS, or you can use one of several add-ons to add write support. My personal favorite is Paragon NTFS. There are some free alternatives also, like MacFUSE with NTFS3G, although I have had some negative experience with it in the past.

And finally, Mac OS X has latent some built-in native R/W support, but it is not enabled by default by Apple because it is still under development. You can activate it by using NTFS Mounter.

Good luck.
 
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Its disk utility that seems not to be working I found.Opening it without the external drive attached I get the same blank box with the circle going round and 'collecting drive information' but nothing happens.It doesnt even give info on the mac itself!I have to force close it to get it to stop.So I have no idea where to go from here.Help!Can you reinstall disk utility?How can I get it working?
 

cwa107


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14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
Its disk utility that seems not to be working I found.Opening it without the external drive attached I get the same blank box with the circle going round and 'collecting drive information' but nothing happens.It doesnt even give info on the mac itself!I have to force close it to get it to stop.So I have no idea where to go from here.Help!Can you reinstall disk utility?How can I get it working?

Reboot the machine, leave the drive unattached and try Disk Utility again and report back.

I have never heard of a situation where Disk Utility needed to be reinstalled.
 
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Thanks so much-I should have remembered the old windows saying-when in doubt,reboot!Disk utility decided to work so I plugged in the external drive and was able to format it in mac os extended[journaled] since I only want to use with the mac.Job done!Thanks again,esp for the promptness of your help.
 
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Backup

I'm using the Mac, not long ago and made ​​no backup. But as the issue is getting critical, need to backup, I'm using an HD - Toshiba 1TB, recent model, small size, and now I have the following doubts: Should I only use Time Machine to back up this, or should I use Super Duper, or use both taking advantage of one or the other?
You guys see any disadvantage or problems using the same HD to store the two backups (Time Machine and Super Duper)?

Thanks,


Jose Carlos
 

cwa107


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14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
I'm using the Mac, not long ago and made ​​no backup. But as the issue is getting critical, need to backup, I'm using an HD - Toshiba 1TB, recent model, small size, and now I have the following doubts: Should I only use Time Machine to back up this, or should I use Super Duper, or use both taking advantage of one or the other?
You guys see any disadvantage or problems using the same HD to store the two backups (Time Machine and Super Duper)?

Thanks,


Jose Carlos

I'm a little confused by your opening sentence, but I think I understand what you're asking.

SuperDuper and Time Machine are both good bets for backups, but they accomplish the same thing slightly different ways - and each product has its advantages and disadvantages.

SuperDuper makes an exact clone of your system drive. It will even boot from the drive if you set it to do so.

Time Machine doesn't make a bootable backup, but it does do a nice job of automating backups AND backing up revisions to your files - for example, if you have a Word document, it will basically backup each revision to that document.

The best approach really depends on your recovery goals. If you want a "set it and forget it" approach, Time Machine is a good bet. If you want instant recovery in the event of an HDD failure, then SuperDuper is a great option. If you can't decide between the two, do what I do - buy one external for SuperDuper backups and another for Time Machine.
 
C

chas_m

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You CAN keep both backups (SD and Time Machine) on the same drive, but really there's not much point -- if the drive should fail, there go ALL your backups!

With drives so crazy cheap these days, I'd suggest getting a separate one for TM and one for SD. Better peace of mind, more flexibility about how often you want to do the SD backup (ie, turn on the SD drive).
 

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