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Macbook & External Hard Drives

T

tha80sbrat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 1, 2007
132
0
I just bought a new black Macbook and I was thinking about buying a portable external hard drive to complement it. I was reading that some USB-powered drives don't work with laptops...is this the case with Macbooks?

Do any of you guys have portable external hard drives that are USB-powered and works on a Macbook? I was going to get a Western Digital Passport.

This is my first Apple computer since the early 90s so I'm a total noob when it comes to Apple compatibility.

Any suggestions/comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Though my USB external is not a portable version, just a straight desktop version, I can tell you that it works very well. I have both a firewire and a USB drive, and they both work just fine on my macbook. Would a portable be any different?
 
skybolt said:
Though my USB external is not a portable version, just a straight desktop version, I can tell you that it works very well. I have both a firewire and a USB drive, and they both work just fine on my macbook. Would a portable be any different?
Click to expand...

I also have a desktop external hard drive and t works fine, but the portables don't have to be plugged into an electrical outlet to be powered up. The Western Digital Passport is powered through the USB port, but some reviews have said that laptops don't have enough power going through the USBs to support the portables. My question is, does the Macbook have enough power to support the portable hard drives that don't require an electrical outlet?
 
tha80sbrat said:
I also have a desktop external hard drive and t works fine, but the portables don't have to be plugged into an electrical outlet to be powered up. The Western Digital Passport is powered through the USB port, but some reviews have said that laptops don't have enough power going through the USBs to support the portables. My question is, does the Macbook have enough power to support the portable hard drives that don't require an electrical outlet?
Click to expand...

Dont know about the WD but I just got a Seagate freeagent go 160gb it works great powered off usb on my macbooks. It came with a y cable to use if your laptop dont have enough power but i have used it with a regular usb cable and it worked fine. I also used a firelite 40gb drive that is usb powered with no problems. That drive always gave me issues with my dells.

EDIT: Also the reason I went with the Seagate was the 5 year warranty for about the same price as the WD with 3 year warranty. in case you wernt set on the WD drive.
 
I see no reason why any 2.5" drive would not work on any Mac. Unless of course it is one of the drives which comes with some sort of 1 button backup system. Those typically cause a little bit of hassle, even with Windows machines.
 
skuzzy said:
I see no reason why any 2.5" drive would not work on any Mac. Unless of course it is one of the drives which comes with some sort of 1 button backup system. Those typically cause a little bit of hassle, even with Windows machines.
Click to expand...

It's just I was reading some reviews on Amazon and some people were complaining of problems, one of which belonged to a powerbook user. The passport doesn't come with the y cable so I just wanted to be prepared.

pungohboy said:
Dont know about the WD but I just got a Seagate freeagent go 160gb it works great powered off usb on my macbooks. It came with a y cable to use if your laptop dont have enough power but i have used it with a regular usb cable and it worked fine. I also used a firelite 40gb drive that is usb powered with no problems. That drive always gave me issues with my dells.

EDIT: Also the reason I went with the Seagate was the 5 year warranty for about the same price as the WD with 3 year warranty. in case you wernt set on the WD drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll keep that in mind. :)
 
skuzzy said:
I see no reason why any 2.5" drive would not work on any Mac. Unless of course it is one of the drives which comes with some sort of 1 button backup system. Those typically cause a little bit of hassle, even with Windows machines.
Click to expand...

Could you expand on that? I'm currently having trouble with exactly that. A 2.5" drive (IO Magic Gigabank) that has a one-button backup that is recognized on all Windows machines, but my new MacBook doesn't see it at all. First I've seen of a external with one button causing specific problems.
 
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