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External Hard Drives...Suggestions?

L

lina231

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 7, 2013
131
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So I was considering buying an external hard drive and I wanted your guys suggestions and input.

I wanted the hard drive more to store files that I may not immediately need and also videos and pictures.

The videos that I will be storing aren't anything extravagant. It's actually for a video diary that I keep (sounds weird, but when you're a psych student you realize how important it is to keep all of your thoughts and such and I'm really no good at keeping any kind of actual "book diary").

I don't think that I will need anything over 500 GB, 1TB would be just way too much space I think.

I just wanted to know what kinds of external hard drives you guys use and how well they work. I've been looking at the LaCie 500GB Porsche Design P'9223 USB 3.0 Slim Hard Drive.

Have any of you guys owned one of these? Are they fast, and are they reliable?

Thanks in advance for your advice!:)
 
I haven't used the drives you mentioned but did use a WD My Passport (500 GB). I think it's a great drive for a relatively cheap price.

I know you mentioned you didn't need a 1 TB drive. However, an even better deal is the WD My Passport 1 TB, which is only $65 on Amazon right now. It costs less than the LaCie, has more storage space, and has better reviews.

Hope that helps!
 
Get WD My Passport Air 500 Gb which has all-metal design and the perfect combination for MBA:)
 
A fellow member posted a link on amazon for me once, don't have it saved though but it is there:

2TB USB3.0 Passport Drive, by Western Digital. -$115

I recommend you get 1TB or 2TB. Having too much space is always better than too little space. Dont forget you will likely be using the ext hd till your macbook dies... which could be a long time. Would be better than to have to buy another 500GB in a year or 2.

Think about it. Good luck.

Edit: @jadace - OMG really? $65!?! Gonna look right now.
Edit2: Found it quick. It's the same model i'm talking about. What a steal.
http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Portable-External-Drive-Storage/dp/B006Y5UV4A/ref=pd_cp_pc_0
 
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Just switched to a My Passport 2TB from a 750GB.

My problem with the 750GB was that I had/needed a Journaled and exFat partitions. Both partitions were getting close to their max. It just didn't make sense for me to go to 1TB. So now, I have 2x 1TB partitions :D
 
jadAce said:
I haven't used the drives you mentioned but did use a WD My Passport (500 GB). I think it's a great drive for a relatively cheap price.

I know you mentioned you didn't need a 1 TB drive. However, an even better deal is the WD My Passport 1 TB, which is only $65 on Amazon right now. It costs less than the LaCie, has more storage space, and has better reviews.

Hope that helps!
Click to expand...

seconded, emphatically. this is a great little drive at a GREAT price. i bought the 2TB because i use huge data sets at work, but you obviously don't need that much. I would take this advice and go for the 1tb. $65 shipped? you could probably find cheaper if you looked, but not cheaper and better and definitely not by much.

this technology is really booming now. i fully expect we'll be paying around that much for external SSD drives this time 3 years from now.
 
AlexNapo said:
Get WD My Passport Air 500 Gb which has all-metal design and the perfect combination for MBA:)
Click to expand...

it also costs 50% more than the regular passport which has twice the capacity. it's certainly thinner and metal'er but i went w/ the regular passport.

just format it in disk utility and you're good to go.
it's the same 2d dimensions as a passport and about as thick as a pack of cigarettes
 
I just bought a Seagate Solid State Hybrid ST500LM000 500GB 64MB Cache 2.5" SATA Fusion (Hybrid) drive that I will be installing in an external case. I will be using my Air only for traveling. My home computer is a souped up Mac Pro. I hope to use the external drive as the boot drive when in my hotel room and the internal 64GB SSD when at the airport.

Lou
 
Last edited:
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ItHurtsWhenIP said:
So what's the best way to transfer a couple hundred GB of music, or anything really, from a Windows PC to a Portable hard drive like the My Passport 1TB (say the one formatted in HFS+ for Mac) so they can be opened/used with a Mac?[/url]
Click to expand...

Best? I don't know. Easiest -- If the Mac can be brought to the same location, just share the drive over Wifi/Ethernet. Second Easiest -- reformat drive as exFAT. Hardest -- Install drivers on the Windows PC that can access HFS+, see, for instance http://www.macbreaker.com/2012/02/access-mac-os-x-partition-from-windows.html
 
talmy said:
Best? I don't know. Easiest -- If the Mac can be brought to the same location, just share the drive over Wifi/Ethernet. Second Easiest -- reformat drive as exFAT. Hardest -- Install drivers on the Windows PC that can access HFS+, see, for instance http://www.macbreaker.com/2012/02/access-mac-os-x-partition-from-windows.html
Click to expand...

I didn't see anything on the product page of the My Passport that showed wifi ability..maybe I misunderstand what you're saying.

Looks like adding the registry files directly would be a good place to start.

Thanks for the link! :)
 
ItHurtsWhenIP said:
I didn't see anything on the product page of the My Passport that showed wifi ability..maybe I misunderstand what you're saying.
Click to expand...

If the PC and Mac are in the same location, and both have a WiFi or Ethernet connection, you can put the drive on the Mac, share it (Sharing under System Preferences), and then copy files to it over the network from the PC. For doing it once, this is by far the fastest and easiest approach.
 
talmy said:
If the PC and Mac are in the same location, and both have a WiFi or Ethernet connection, you can put the drive on the Mac, share it (Sharing under System Preferences), and then copy files to it over the network from the PC. For doing it once, this is by far the fastest and easiest approach.
Click to expand...

Ahh..I see.

Well, that sounds much easier. I think I'll give that a shot.

What determines the transfer speed when doing it this way? Computer, hard drive or internet connection speed?
 
Thanks for all of your help guys! I will definitely be looking into the drives that you mentioned, particularly the WD My Passport 1 TB which seems to be a fantastic deal!

You guys are right, too much space is better then not having enough space.:)

Thanks for all of your help!:)
 
lina231 said:
Thanks for all of your help guys! I will definitely be looking into the drives that you mentioned, particularly the WD My Passport 1 TB which seems to be a fantastic deal!

You guys are right, too much space is better then not having enough space.:)

Thanks for all of your help!:)
Click to expand...

There's also a WD My Passport for Mac 1 TB on Amazon too right now for $65. It costs the same as the one I mentioned earlier, but has an aluminum-like silver finish (so looks great with the MacBook Air for the same low price).
 
jadAce said:
There's also a WD My Passport for Mac 1 TB on Amazon too right now for $65. It costs the same as the one I mentioned earlier, but has an aluminum-like silver finish (so looks great with the MacBook Air for the same low price).
Click to expand...

Thanks! It's prime shipping too which means I get free two day shipping! Woohoo!:D
 
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