I have been looking at external hard drives but none of the cheaper alternatives say there mac compatible. Is this because there not or just decided not to mention it
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Are all hard drives mac compatible
- Thread starter MacDonaldsd
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Might I suggest sticking with an external enclosure that has either firewire (only) or firewire and USB2? You cannot boot from a USB2 extrnal drive, and it's quite useful.
yellow said:
I'd agree for different reasons. Firewire has a dedicated chip while USB2.0 needs to use the CPU (not exactly correct but its the idea that counts). So transfers from Firewire will be faster and not slow down your computer.
Not all firewire devices can boot an Apple, but you definately can't boot from any USB device (unless you have a Mactel, and thats not really confirmed yet).
Fast enough to Run XP from?
1 thing i had in mind was to have Windows Xp installed on it (so i dont have to have the nasty os actually on my mac) and run virtual pc from that. Would this be possible in your opinion ?
1 thing i had in mind was to have Windows Xp installed on it (so i dont have to have the nasty os actually on my mac) and run virtual pc from that. Would this be possible in your opinion ?
Not silly
I admit I hate the os (need it for uni) but fact is I can keep all the windows file seperate to the mac ones which I think makes sence. I have a PowerBook so havnt really got spare GB to use up.
I admit I hate the os (need it for uni) but fact is I can keep all the windows file seperate to the mac ones which I think makes sence. I have a PowerBook so havnt really got spare GB to use up.
Umm.. VPC uses disk images, so the files ARE separate from the OS X files.
I see a couple potential problems..
1) Do you have a PC to format the drive? Because AFAIK, Windows XP needs to be installed on NTFS, and your Mac isn't going to be formatting anything NTFS.
2) Mac OS X doesn't write to NTFS drives, so you can't use this external drive for anything other than VPC unless you're partitioning. You won't be gaining any speed (loosing in fact) from installing it on FW drive either.
I don't know if you've ever used VPC, but it's pretty darned slow and not something you're going to be want to be shackled to.
I see a couple potential problems..
1) Do you have a PC to format the drive? Because AFAIK, Windows XP needs to be installed on NTFS, and your Mac isn't going to be formatting anything NTFS.
2) Mac OS X doesn't write to NTFS drives, so you can't use this external drive for anything other than VPC unless you're partitioning. You won't be gaining any speed (loosing in fact) from installing it on FW drive either.
I don't know if you've ever used VPC, but it's pretty darned slow and not something you're going to be want to be shackled to.
yellow said:
I do have a PC to format the harddrive but im sure it would write to a mac formated disc because thats what It would have to do normally am I wrong ?
Do you recommend any other emulators for speed improvements ? I will only be using it for apps such as Microsoft access not high end apps
Your PC won't read or write to HFS+ (Mac formatted) unless you install MacDrive. I'm not sure if MacDrive will allow you to format HFS+.
You cannot install Windows XP on a drive that is formatted HFS+.
If you have a PC, I suggest you use that for your Windows apps, rather than VPC.
You cannot install Windows XP on a drive that is formatted HFS+.
If you have a PC, I suggest you use that for your Windows apps, rather than VPC.
Ok il take note I understand what your saying.
Just would make life easier as I dont want to buy a windows laptop ,rather save the money and put towards a new macbook pro or something because besides the few hours a week on uni work I dont use the windows os at all.
Just would make life easier as I dont want to buy a windows laptop ,rather save the money and put towards a new macbook pro or something because besides the few hours a week on uni work I dont use the windows os at all.
Then don't waste your time installing Windows on an external drive, you don't gain anything from it. Just install VPC as normal locally.
Use your new external FW drive as your back up.
Use your new external FW drive as your back up.
If you're using VPC with XP you have to install VPC onto your Mac then the virtual hard drive XP (as it's called) will be installed into your ~/Documents folder. All you need do is move that onto your external HDD, leaving the actual VPC app on your Mac then create a shortcut of the virtual hard drive (the XP drive) and put that back into your documents folder. When you launch VPC it will access XP from your external via the shortcut.
Doing this will save you a ton of space on your Mac's HDD.
Doing this will save you a ton of space on your Mac's HDD.
Bern said:
Sorry if I sound like i know nothing ,but dont know anything about how VPC works. So all your windows app installs in the "virtual hardrive" seperate from anyother Mac OS X apps/ docs etc
yellow said:
VPC installs XP on a FAT32! And tells you not to get on to NTFS if you want to share disks. With Fat32 you cannot have files larger than 2gb so No DVD images etc. But who wants to deal with 4 GB files on VPC!
MacDonaldsd said:
To be specific in a Virtual disk image ( a single file). The above post is right. You get to speed when you install. VPC 7 is very good with novice users. all you need to decide is if you want Firewire with 50% more cost (WD usb 80GB -> 120, Lacie USB/FW->180 both mobile). I suggest you get the firewire one even if it is more pricey!
Mac/Windows Compatibilty
I'm on Ipad/Iphone/Ipod etc but am now considering changing my laptop and desktop to the latest Macs. One question, will my external hard drives work as plug and play in Mac and will I be able to transfer the files off them onto my new iMac?
I'm on Ipad/Iphone/Ipod etc but am now considering changing my laptop and desktop to the latest Macs. One question, will my external hard drives work as plug and play in Mac and will I be able to transfer the files off them onto my new iMac?
You'll be able to read the files and transfer them - no problem at all. You may need a driver on your Mac to write new files to them.
If your drive is formatted as NTFS for the PC/Windows, yes, you'll need a driver to write to the drive. OS X can read from NTFS drives.
Once you safely copy your files to your Mac, you can use the Disk Utility built in to OS X to reformat and repartition your drive so you can both read and write to the drive.
There are many articles and postings about this.
Assuming you are currently using Windows, yes, Macs can read/write FAT drives and read NTFS drives. Of course, you'd want to make sure any important applications have an OS X equivalent so you don't lose access to importanat data.