Hey guys, I'm looking to get an external HD for the new macbook pro i just picked up this week. 2 questions really. I've come down to the choice between the WD my passport essential 250gb drive, or the Seagate Free Agent go 250gb. First off, are these decent drives that will perform well, and 2nd, I am trying to transfer all my files from my current HP laptop to my new mac, is the format supported or will these not work, stupid question maybe, but just making sure, thanks!
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External HD help
- Thread starter crossfitotg4
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Do you plan on switching the HD between macs and pcs or just this once to do a file transfer?
Do you plan on switching the HD between macs and pcs or just this once to do a file transfer?
Just this one time, then it will be solely used as a backup device for my mac. Thanks for the quick reply
Are you saying buy an enclosure as well, so that in the future if i want to upgrade to a SSD drive, which I do, it will be easier? Thanks
You can buy a nice case here, already with a good drive, here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
In the future, when you want to upgrade the notebook, buy a fitting internal disk, remove the backup disk, put the new disk in the case, clone the notebook, take out the new disk, put it in the notebook, put back the backup disk in the case.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
In the future, when you want to upgrade the notebook, buy a fitting internal disk, remove the backup disk, put the new disk in the case, clone the notebook, take out the new disk, put it in the notebook, put back the backup disk in the case.
Thanks cube! That last part looks liek a mouthful, I think I'll wait a little while to upgrade the internal disk haha
Good to know. One more question, like i said i would like to transfer my files from my current laptop (PC) to my new macbook, will i need to purchase the seagate free agent to go for the mac, or will the regular free agent to go do the job well, The mac one comes loaded with both firewire and usb ports so that one is the one i'm leaning toward, but was wondering if it will transfer from pc to mac. Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance
Get the regular Freeagent Go, because it will be formatted (Fat32) so your PC can read/write to it, and also should be read/writeable by your Mac. Then, copy all the data from your PC you want to transfer to your external Freeagent Go. After it's copied, then connect/copy it to your Mac HD in your MBP (I did this, just created a folder called Archived files from Windows.)
Once you have copied all the files on the external drive to your Mac HD, reformat the Freeagent Go, unless you intend to use it with both your PC and your Mac. If so, then don't reformat it or you won't be able to use it with your PC.
Use Disk Utility on your MBP. Select the Freeagent drive, and click the "erase" tab. Select Mac OS extended (journaled) in the drop down list - it should probably be the default... then click "erase." It should be formatted in a few seconds. If you click "erase free space" it might take quite a while before it's done, and probably isn't necessary.
Once you have copied all the files on the external drive to your Mac HD, reformat the Freeagent Go, unless you intend to use it with both your PC and your Mac. If so, then don't reformat it or you won't be able to use it with your PC.
Use Disk Utility on your MBP. Select the Freeagent drive, and click the "erase" tab. Select Mac OS extended (journaled) in the drop down list - it should probably be the default... then click "erase." It should be formatted in a few seconds. If you click "erase free space" it might take quite a while before it's done, and probably isn't necessary.