I just got a new MacBook Pro and i am looking at getting an external hardrive (250 GB). I am just curious on what i should look for before i go and purchase an exteranl hardrive.
External Hardware Obviously, you would need a hard drive and an enclosure. Make sure that the enclosure you are going to get is compatible with the hard drive, for example, the hard drive has an IDE connection, get an enclosure with the IDE connector. Vice versa, you can get a hard drive with SATA connection, get an enclosure that is SATA compatible. Also, get an enclosure and hard drive with the same size (2.5" and 3.5")
External Hardware Hi Shan, Hi Roy I think Shan is looking more for general details for a retail External HDD rather than a build your own that you are describing....!!! So Shan First of all you need to know what connectors you have available on the MacBook.....having googled it I see you have 3 choices either firewire 400, firewire 800 or USB 2.0. It depends on how you intend to use the Hard Drive, i.e. will you want to be able to connect it a computer other than the MacBook, if so what connectors does the other computer have, - not all computers have firewire, pretty much all modern computers have USB 2.0. Firewire 800 provides faster data transfer speeds than USB 2.0 with USB 2.0 providing speeds of up to 400 Mbit/s and Firewire 800 up to 786 Mbit/s. Also USB 2.0 being a more common standard than Firewire, it's easier to find USB 2.0 external HDD's than the Firewire equivalent, though they can be easily found at a number of online retailers, its less common to see them at retail stores. If you decide to choose a Firewire 800, take care not to get the older standard Firewire 400, which offers slower transfer speeds than USB 2.0....you should look for IEEE 1394b You can gete some external HDD's that offer a combination of connectors such as Firewire/USB/e-SATA and this offers a good raqnge of compatability if you want to use the external HDD on more than one computer. The majority of these combination connecting Hard drives though tend to have the older Firewire 400 (IEEE 1394a) connectors, these are fine, but if you want to benefit from the Firewire 800's faster speeds, its just something to look for. The next thing you need to think about is the capacity that you want, this will depend again on the use of the HDD is it to be used as a backup for the MacBook HDD, or is it just some extra storage space, or is it a combination of both.......the MacBook comes with a HDD of up to 200Gb, so you'll probably want to at least match that, or maybe even add some more for addittional storage......so maybe 320Gb...???? So lets say you want an external HDD to act as a backup to your MacBook's internal HDD, and to give some extra storage, and you want to use it on multiple computers.... You'd probably be best looking for something that ticks all those boxes i.e. Compatability - USB 2.0, Firewire, or combination of USB 2.0 + Firewire. Capacity - Dpending on the use but say 320Gb as a minimum. Price - that comes down to the usual shopping around for the best price. Looks - this can be important to some, so again its case of looking for one you like the look of and then checking that it meets the requirements above Here are some examples for you: Western Digital 320GB USB/Firewire External Hard Drive 8MB Cache - Retail Maxtor One Touch III 320GB External Hard Drive USB2.0 & Firewire 16MB Cache Seagate FreeAgent Pro 320GB USB/eSATA/FW External Hard Drive 16MB Cache - Retail LaCie D2 QUADRA 320 GB E-SATA/FIREWIRE 400/FIREWIRE 800/USB 2.0 (301108EK) review cheap prices D2 QUADRA 320 GB E-SATA/FIREWIRE 400/FIREWIRE 800/USB 2.0 (301108EK) LaCie best buy discount online uk shop Edit: The last of the links above you will need to copy and paste into your browser address bar, the link doesn't seem to work directly. Hope this has been of some help to you... if so please click on the Thanks - Thumbs up - icon for this post. By the way out of curiosity whereabouts in the UK are you from, not Wales by any chance...???? Best Wishes Kaz -x-
External Hardware Thank you so much for your help!!! Actually I filled the registration form rather quick and missed out on the location part of it. I am from South Dakota, USA
External Hardware Hi Shan, No probs, glad to be of help. Thought it may have been an odd coincidence...I know a Shan here in Wales, and over here its quite an unusual way of spelling it, normaly it's Sian, so just wondered if the online world was getting a little smaller....lol. Seems not with you being on the other side of the pond....lol. Good luck with your new HDD when you get it. Thanks Kaz -x-
External Hardware i mean no offense kazgirl, but some of the specific transfer rate aren't quite as accurate as you say, the actual values are: transfer rates USB2 = up to 480kbp/s Firewire 400 also known as IEEE1394a Firewire 800 also known as IEEE1394b and both USB & Firewire are both backward compatible USB - you can simultaneously use upto 127 devices (if you use powered hubs) Firewire - it can only use upto 63 devices BTW: no offense kazgirl, is no big deal, just a small correction, & the info i provided does not change anything with shan, i'm just making slight corrections USB Source & Firewire Source, please check i'm correct
External Hardware Hey Donkey, Thanks for pointing out the exact speed ratings, personally I was aware of the relatively minor differences, but from the tone of the OP, I took it ( I think correctly ) that she was not overly interested in precise figures, but just wanted a general idea of what to look for in an external HDD. I did advise the OP that Firewire 400 was slower than USB 2.0 and did say Firewire 800 was 786 mbit/s, foregoing the 0.432 as being irrelevant to Shan, similarly for USB 2.0 BTW don't you mean Mbit/s ....just so as to not confuse anyone further.........I merley mentioned USB 2.0 as 400 Mbit/s for the sake of a comparison figure over the Firewire 800 transfer rate, as it is a quite significant difference. The fact about being able to chain 127 devices over USB rather than the mere 63 over Firewire, is again irrelevant to any domestic user, it was quite clear, that Shan was looking for some basic help/advice. I think that sometimes people can be swamped with too much technical data, when its quite apparent that all they want is a simple answer to a simple question, they come looking for advice, not a confusing lot of gobbledegook which any sales rep can babble to them as part of their sales pitch. Yes there will be some instances where detailed technical specifications will be needed or wanted by some, however in this case I feel that the OP was best helped by keeping things in a clear concise manner, without overly confusing the issue with totally irrelevant information. But hey no offence taken, at least the info is there now for anyone who does really need to know the precise specs..... I'm sure that it will be of help to someone.....
External Hardware :good:[ot]it may be crap, but, as you say, it could be useful to someone[/ot]BTW: you didn't need to defend yourself by stating why you said anything, i did say Edit you can now access the Buy / Sell / Trade forums as you have now made over 50 posts
External Hardware Remember guys too, that most flash drives rarely reach their "USB 2.0" speed. Most come close while some don't...
External Hardware nah all are piece of sh*t usb2.0 is max. 380 as i've seen and firewire can speed up to 620 i got a macbook too but using a toshiba u3 for storage shan if you haven't bought the disc, check for the u3 it's too much effective 2gb but got encryption on it and it's just the flsh drive for macbook i can say but if you need higher capacities like 100gb or somewhat yeah firewire is faster but much expensive and drains more power than usb discs when i use one on desktop it isn't clearly noticed but on laptop it can be easily seen. i recommend you a usb one, if you want a firewire interfaced choose one which has an external power plug option to support the disc and don't buy a macbook next time i can say i have to because we got to use original licenced software in our faculty and to use os x you gotta buy one
