External hard drive

[firetruckjanet]

I have an old iMac version OS X 10.4.11. It has an 800 MHz PowerPC G4 Processor and 768 MB SDRAM. I need to buy an external hard drive to back up all my stuff but I don't know what is compatible or how much memory I need. As you can probably tell, I'm not very techno savvy.

 

[GGJstudios]

I have an old iMac version OS X 10.4.11. It has an 800 MHz PowerPC G4 Processor and 768 MB SDRAM. I need to buy an external hard drive to back up all my stuff but I don't know what is compatible or how much memory I need. As you can probably tell, I'm not very techno savvy.

Any external hard drive will work, as long as the connectors are there (Firewire, USB, etc.) It doesn't matter how the drive is formatted out of the box, since you can re-format any way you like. If you plan to use the drive for backups of your internal drive with Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner, it should be formatted as HFS+, and should be at least the size of your existing internal drive.

Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)

Choose the appropriate format:

HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)

• Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
• Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac OS X system files.
  [*]To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive
  [*]To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
• Maximum file size: 8EiB
• Maximum volume size: 8EiB
• Mac OS X: Mac OS Extended format (HFS Plus) volume and file limits
• You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)

 

[Fishrrman]

You might consider one of these gadgets:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(many items shown, they all work the same, just pick one you like that's cheap)

Then, either buy a "bare" SATA hard drive, or ask around -- sometimes you can scrounge one up for free.

You'll also need the free version of CarbonCopyCloner, version 3.4.6.
You can download it here:
http://www.bombich.com/download.html

Just connect the dock, put the drive in, turn it on
The drive probably isn't initialized, so launch Disk Utility and initialize it. You might run DU's "repair" feature just to test the new drive before using it.

Then, launch CCC and on the left, choose your source (internal) drive.
On the right, choose your target (the docked drive)
Then, let CCC backup everything (it will take a while)

When done, you'll have a fully-bootable cloned backup of your internal drive.
Very useful.
You'll find having a USB/SATA dock around to be very handy if you ever encounter another hard drive -- just "swap and go".

Suggestion:
You might consider buying a USB3 version of the dock. That costs a little more, but the USB3 docks are "backward-compatible" with USB2, and if you get a new Mac with USB3, they will take advantage of the speed increase.

 

[joepunk]

Your iMac might not be able to power an external usb hard drive unless the hard drive comes with it's own power cable/adapter. I know on my Powerbook G4 I can't get my external portable HD to work/be powered by a USB cable alone. I have to use a powered hub device via firewire.

 

[sine-nomine]

Since your iMac may be old enough for this to be an issue, double check that it has USB 2.0 before buying a USB hard drive. If not, you'll almost certainly want to look for a Firewire external.

 

[SteppingStone]

Definitely check whether you've got USB 2.0 -- i know a lot of those machines didn't have USB 2.0 yet.

Assuming you've only got USB 1.1, I'd suggest getting an external drive or enclosure with both Firewire 400 and USB.