External USB hard drive choice

[Steveatesh]

My first Apple is being delivered next week, a new retina iMac with 1 tb fusion drive. My current PC setup has a number of additional back up storage - a buffalo duo NAS, an additional internal hard drive and an external hard drive too.

I need to make sure the new iMac is similarly backed up. So some questions that may seem obvious to users here but as I'm new to Apple I want to get it right straight away.

Will I still be able to use the NAS and if so will I still be able to use it for a windows laptop too?

I need a USB drive to dedicate to the iMac. I'm wondering whether it's best to get one with a separate power supply to take the load off the iMac or does separate power not really matter?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm currently looking at the Seagate STBV2000200 2TB. Would that be ok?

Sadly I can't afford the time capsule, I've blown most of the budget on the iMac itself. Cheers in advance.

 

[steve62388]

I need a USB drive to dedicate to the iMac. I'm wondering whether it's best to get one with a separate power supply to take the load off the iMac or does separate power not really matter?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm currently looking at the Seagate STBV2000200 2TB. Would that be ok?

I ordered this to go with my iMac:- http://www.storagereview.com/seagate_backup_plus_fast_portable_review

I feel it hit on several fronts. Cheaper than a pure SSD or Thunderbolt solution, faster than a standard drive solution when paired in RAID 0, reasonable storage capacity, no power supply required and therefore no extra cable clutter, small pleasant looking design.

You do open yourself up to a higher failure rate in RAID 0, but that's covered by a Time Machine backup on my networked NAS sitting in my TV cabinet.

 

[Weaselboy]

Will I still be able to use the NAS and if so will I still be able to use it for a windows laptop too?

The NAS has its own file system, so it does not care if the files stored there are from a Windows machine or a Mac. Now if you want to use the NAS for Mac Time Machine backups, that will depend if the NAS vendor supports TM backups. Some do.

I need a USB drive to dedicate to the iMac. I'm wondering whether it's best to get one with a separate power supply to take the load off the iMac or does separate power not really matter?

Not an issue. The powered desktop drives usually tend to by faster though.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm currently looking at the Seagate STBV2000200 2TB. Would that be ok?

That drive will work just fine. Just attach it and turn in Time Machine and follow the prompts.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427