I am looking at some OWC external drives to use with time machine on my new iMac. Is it better to go with a bus powered drive or one that has it's own power supply? I like the idea of only having one cable back there to keep with the clean look of the iMac but will go with an AC adapter if need be. Also I have a 1 TB hdd and only using a fraction of it right now. Do I need to go with a 1 TB ext hdd or can I save money with something smaller? Thanks.
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Bus or AC powered Time Machine drive
- Thread starter sh00t4par
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Although it is recommended that you should have a drive that is larger than your total drive size to allow multiple backups to be done while keeping more of the 'past' versions of your data intact.
You might not believe it, but you will fill up that drive a lot sooner that you think.
Honestly, with 1TB drives coming in at around or under $100, it's not that much of an expense.
I would go for the AC-powered, but that only because those are the ones I am familiar with.
Are there many bus-powered ones? Are they reliable?
You might not believe it, but you will fill up that drive a lot sooner that you think.
Honestly, with 1TB drives coming in at around or under $100, it's not that much of an expense.
I would go for the AC-powered, but that only because those are the ones I am familiar with.
Are there many bus-powered ones? Are they reliable?I am looking at this for AC powered:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
and this for bus powered:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
and this for bus powered:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
You can get them for a LOT cheaper (just two random examples of 1TB drives):
http://www.buy.com/prod/fantom-driv...-32mb-cache-external/q/loc/101/215093154.html
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western...st=1TB external hard drive&contract_desc=null
(USB just as good as FireWire BTW, for this application for what it's worth)
http://www.buy.com/prod/fantom-driv...-32mb-cache-external/q/loc/101/215093154.html
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western...st=1TB external hard drive&contract_desc=null
(USB just as good as FireWire BTW, for this application for what it's worth)
Just putting in a recommendation for that Fantom Drives 1TB external, I've had one for a few months now, it's great! I have it formatted 500GB for extra storage, then the other 500GB for a time machine drive