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Will external USB 3.0 HDD work with 2009 MacBook?

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Droooooj

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 19, 2009
104
5
London, UK
I want to get an external, portable HDD to use with a 2009 MacBook, which only has USB 2.0 ports.

Will a USB3.0 drive work straight out of the box (albeit with slower data transfer) or will I have to install drivers, update OSX, use 2 USB sockets to power it, wave a dead chicken over it, etc..? Anyone have any experiences to share?

I'd get a USB 2.0 drive, but they're now hard to find, or oddly more expensive. So, the two USB 3.0 drives I'm currently considering are:

Lacie Rikiki USB 3.0, 1TB
http://www.lacie.com/UK/products/product.htm?id=10517

Seagate BackUp Plus, USB 3.0, 1TB
http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/standard/backup-plus/
 
W

WildCard^

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2013
152
0
I am nearly positive that all USB 3.0 devices are backward compatible to USB 2,0 ports. No drivers necessary. Or dead chickens. :D

-WC-
 
D

Droooooj

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 19, 2009
104
5
London, UK
Thanks Wildcard.

I'd like to be 100% sure before I splash the cash, is anyone please able to offer any cast iron proof USB3.0 HHD will work with no dramer through USB2.0 ports?
 
O

old-wiz

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2008
8,331
228
West Suburban Boston Ma
I have 2 usb 3.0 external drives that runs fine on both usb 2.0 and usb 3.0. I use the drives for backups and switch from a 2008 iMac to a 2013 retina MBP to a 2011 13" MBP

There have been some reports of problems with usb 3.0 on usb 2.0 connections, but I expect the issues have been resolved by now.
 
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