Best external hard drive for Retina Macbook pro

[Petchjaa]

I've just got the Retina Macbook Pro base model and I'm looking for an external hard drive.

I'd like to ask for suggestion for the best external hard drive to reliably connect to RMBP via wireless network. My need is that I'd like to have external hard disk for my RMBP. A USB 3.0 port is preferred when I want to transfer large amount of files. For daily use, I'd like to access external wirelessly to stream media to my RMBP and iPhone, iPad, xbox 360. It would be great if I could create my own personal cloud storage.

I need only 1 hard disk around 1-2 tb.

I'd also want to use Time Machine along with typical external storage [ pictures, musics, movies] ==> I need to create partition?

1) Time Capsule ==> If I use time capsule, can I use them as an external storage? can windows and iPhone/ipad access files in Time Capsule? [$299]

2) Airport extreme + USB 3.0 hard disk ==> I don't know if it's fast enough to stream media to RMBP or any device in the network [$180+$110]

3) WD My Book Live 2TB [$150] ==> I've read a lot of bad reviews form Amazon and doubt its performance. But it would be a good deal.

4) Buffalo Linkstation pro [$180] ==> It has a usb 2.0 port and NAS function to stream media to many devices along with bit torrent function.

5) Any other choices? ==> please recommend.

 

[Jacobwilson99]

Seagate GoFlex models are great because there is a GoFlex thunderbolt adapter than you can buy and stick your portable or desktop external in. Boosts speeds like crazy and allows you to put those tb ports to use. That's what I'm doing. 2Tb desktop. 1tb portable.

I got the 2TB desktop for $100. Has USB 3.0. The TB adapter is $200.

The 1TB portable is about $119 w/ USB 3.0, and the TB adapter is $90.

 

[jcpb]

Seagate GoFlex models are great because there is a GoFlex thunderbolt adapter than you can buy and stick your portable or desktop external in. Boosts speeds like crazy and allows you to put those tb ports to use. That's what I'm doing. 2Tb desktop. 1tb portable.

You don't need Thunderbolt with single HDD external drives. None of the desktop HDDs can saturate a USB 3.0 connection.

 

[Jacobwilson99]

You don't need Thunderbolt with single HDD external drives. None of the desktop HDDs can saturate a USB 3.0 connection.

Ah....

 

[Petchjaa]

Can anyone recommend any wireless external?

 

[ECUpirate44]

Can anyone recommend any wireless external?

Time Capsule.

 

[Eric8199]

Is it possible to use Time Capsule as both external storage and a time machine backup?

 

[Petchjaa]

Time Capsule.

How fast is the speed for time capsule file transfer?

Is it able to partition time capsule?

 

[blueroom]

Add the Synology series NASs to your list.

 

[imMango]

I bought the 2TB WD My Passport USB 3.0 a couple of weeks back from Amazon for $192 or so. No complaints (although I haven't used it with a rMBP yet - there was some talk of some drives not working very well a few weeks back).

 

[Petchjaa]

I bought the 2TB WD My Passport USB 3.0 a couple of weeks back from Amazon for $192 or so. No complaints (although I haven't used it with a rMBP yet - there was some talk of some drives not working very well a few weeks back).

Doesn't it come as a Fat32? Do you need to format the disk to NTFS ?

 

[Feed Me]

I bought one of these:
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10517

I really love the brushed aluminium design, the lack of a visible blinking light (there's a small one on the back) and the fact that this thing is really really small.

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Doesn't it come as a Fat32? Do you need to format the disk to NTFS ?

For time machine you need Mac OS Extended Journaled, but time machine does this for you and it takes only a few seconds on a brand new blank drive.

 

[MH01]

Time Capsule.

Aren't those the things that die just after the warranty period is up

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Add the Synology series NASs to your list.

+1

Moving to NAS was the best thing I could have done. You get a true network drive you can access wired/wireless depending on your network setup.

As a bonus you can host your itunes library and backups on it. Damn awesome.

http://www.synology.com/dsm/dsm_for_home.php?lang=enu

 

[Fortimir]

For local external storage, I can't recommend the Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt drives enough. I have a 3TB desktop version, and I also have a mobile adapter for my SSDs.

For backup, nothing touches the Synology NAS units. Even hooked up directly via gigabit Ethernet with jumbo frames, you'll still be happier with a Thunderbolt drive for fast access. For a time I was storing my photo catalogs on my NAS, but the access time slowed me down. Not to mention having to reconnect it all the time was a pain.

 

[trsblader]

For local external storage, I can't recommend the Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt drives enough. I have a 3TB desktop version, and I also have a mobile adapter for my SSDs.

Are transfer speeds with the thunderbolt adapter still very good and reliable (for lack of better phrasing). I was considering this but wasn't sure if the adapter would be a true speed increase or if it was just a gimmick.

 

[Fortimir]

Are transfer speeds with the thunderbolt adapter still very good and reliable (for lack of better phrasing). I was considering this but wasn't sure if the adapter would be a true speed increase or if it was just a gimmick.

It's fast and reliable for sure. No problems here. Faster than anything else I use. The bottleneck is the drive, not Thunderbolt.

 

[trsblader]

My main concern is whether thunderbolt will be quicker than usb 3.0 with this drive since the drive is the bottleneck. Time to do some more research

 

[spdntrxi]

Will be using a 1tb buffalo ministation probably today... Then a g-raid thunderbolt down the road. I have an old WD sHarespace NAS but am having issues with my iTunes that is on it. I can read / use everything else with the lion os workarounds on the net.

 

[jcpb]

Time Capsule.

I would recommend against that.

One, replacing the internal hard drive, if it breaks, isn't as simple as removing a few screws here and there.

Two, I'd highly prefer that the router and network storage be two separate hardware devices. If the Time Capsule breaks, that's $300+ down the drain.