Which External Hard Drive should I buy/Do you suggest?

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I see...

What about this process?
I found it on another thread in these forums earlier today...

"Partition the drive on the PC to one part NTFS and one part FAT32

Then from the mac reformat the FAT32 partition to Mac OS Extended (journaled) for the mac, especially if you want to use Time Machine"



I don't care about being able to write to the windows partition from my Mac. It's fine if I can only view those files. I was just trying to recall the steps that guy at the Apple store said to go through because I remember something he said about how Windows can't overwrite/re-format a partition once it's formatted by Mac. So you had to do it in a Windows format first. The rest is hazy in my swiss-cheese memory.
 

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Another idea - just create the Mac partition on the Mac first, leaving free space for Windows. Then create an NTFS partition on Windows. That should work.
 
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Cool. I'll try that. Sounds like it would cut out one step since the drive already comes Mac formatted.

Thanks for your help!
 
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follow up

cwa's method worked flawlessly.
It took all of 5 minutes (if that!) to partition, re-format, and begin the Time Machine backup from the moment I plugged the drive into my Macbook Pro.
Thanks again for your help/suggestions. This external drive is amazing and firewire 800 is definitely the way to go (unless you're lucky enough to have esata on your machine). I had to use USB on my Dell desktop and backing up almost half as much space took me 3 times longer. If only I had firewire on the Dell!
 
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Hi there can anyone help me to find a link for a HD for my macbook please?
The details are:
Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB21.00A5.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.17f0
Serial Number (system): W87410R4Z5W
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled


I would like a biger HD than the one i have alreay please. As big as my laptop will take.

Thankyou in advance for your time.
 

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You will be looking for a typical notebook hard drive - e.g. 2.5" drive with SATA connection and 9mm height (this is typical, the new WD 750GB drive will not fit due to it's being 12.5mm)

This is the same for "ALL" Intel MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

The current batch of 500 GB drives can be found here. I would personally recommend Seagate or WD.
And there is no need to pay for the retail packaging.
 
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Is this a logical backup storage solution?

Was thinking of purchasing a Drobo but after looking at cost I came up with this setup and was looking for feedback as to if its worth while.

1, WD 2TB My Book Studio Edition II connected via firewire to my MBP for external storage of music, video (iTunes) and photos for editing.

2, WD 2TB My Book World Edition II as a NAS (sharing over network to PC/Xbox/PS3) for storing iTunes and edited photos plus other files.

I thought that as both these are RAID systems I have a good amount of redundant backup and the total price of both systems is approx £100/$160 less than a Drobo.

Any thoughts opinions appreciated. :)
 

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The NAS would be more convenient, but if performance is of concern, I'd go with Firewire.
 
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Do you think having both of the WD My Books listed above would make a good setup. I think it covers all bases with regards to storage AND backup.
 

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Most Reliable Harddrive??

What is the most reliable HD? I am willing to spend an extra buck if I don't have to worry about it failing. Any suggestions?

Also, what about WD Mybook vs Seagate? 1 TB
 
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What is the most reliable HD? I am willing to spend an extra buck if I don't have to worry about it failing. Any suggestions?

Also, what about WD Mybook vs Seagate? 1 TB
As far as hard drive makers go they are all pretty much the same to a degree. If you are really worried about losing data get either a NAS or external hard drive that allows for a raid level setup or mirroring the first drive. So that way if one of the hard drives fails you have the second one with a full backup so you just install a new one to fill in the failed one.
 

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Seagate and Western Digital are the most reliable in my experience. Fujitsu next, Hitachi, Toshiba and dead last, Samsung.
 

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Cool thanks guys, Costco has Seagate's pretty cheap, I think I will go with them.
 
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Seagates have great warranties as well if it breaks, just don't expect to get your data back without shelling out a couple grand.
 
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I have a Maxtor 1TB drive. $169. Obviously powered by electricity, but USB. No probs at all. I also have 2x 300G WD powered by USB. All have been great. I use my 1TB Maxtor to store all photos and Videos, backed up on another external drive also that I leave at a trusted persons home [incase of fire or robbery] and I use one of the 300G drives as my Time Machine. I am happy with them all.
 
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I've had better luck with Seagate.
 
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There is no reason why a hard drive would be more or less reliable based on the OS of the system that it is plugged into. In my experience no HD manufacturer is perfect, but I think WD and Seagate are better than some of the others.

I agree. I have not had a problem with any over another brand. If i had to pick one I would also go with WD. You should be fine with any brand though, no stress!
 
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LaCie network drive as backp for use with Time Machine

That process probably isn't going to work. Once you partition it in Windows (using NTFS, because Windows won't allow you to create a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB), it will be read-only as far as Mac OS is concerned, unless you remove the partition completely.

Now, if you can get away with FAT32 for the Windows partition, you should be able to just use Disk Utility to create a Mac partition and an "MS-DOS" partition for Windows.

FAT32 does have some limitations, most notably that it can not store single files that are 4GB in size or greater. If you need to do that, you'll want to format it as NTFS. Of course, OS X can only read NTFS without 3rd party tools. If you want it in NTFS, I would purchase Paragon Software's NTFS for Mac. That will allow you to create an NTFS partition and a Mac partition all within Disk Utility.



If I want to use the LaCie as the backup HD by way of Time Machine, what is the simplest way to format the LaCie HD for this purpose. I don't need to have this drive accessible for Windows users. I would simly like to be able to use TM and have TM recognize the LaCie drive, which it does not currently...and I assume its because of the formatting.

Please help me.
 

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If I want to use the LaCie as the backup HD by way of Time Machine, what is the simplest way to format the LaCie HD for this purpose. I don't need to have this drive accessible for Windows users. I would simly like to be able to use TM and have TM recognize the LaCie drive, which it does not currently...and I assume its because of the formatting.

Please help me.

If you want to use it with Time Machine, it needs to be formatted as the native Mac filesystem, "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
 
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If you want to use it with Time Machine, it needs to be formatted as the native Mac filesystem, "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".

I know this is a stupid question, but how do I do that...format it in th enative Mac filesystem? I apologize for my ignorance in advance.

Thank you.
 
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