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BobHail

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 15, 2009
619
0
Seriously, why is it so hard to find a simple external hard drive with these specs:

-500GB - 1TB
-Firewire 800
-Mac formatted
-With a power supply, ´cause I´m daisy chaining it with my firewire soundcard. (Tried already one without a power supply and although it could power itself from my MBP FW800, it couldn´t from my soundcard FW800. So I had to send it back.)

-Dealbreaker: No WD Smartware!!! :mad: WD My Book 1TB Studio is actually perfect for what I need, but they had to ruin it with that crapware! :mad: (I actually have one, I should have bought two when they were still without the "Smart"ware).

I´m losing my mind, done hours of research and I can´t find a simple external hard drive, please help!

Any tips would be appreciated!
 
Mac Guide on External Hard Drives

Any external hard drive will work with PCs or Macs, 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.
Formatting in HFS (Mac OS Extended) or FAT32 or NTFS-3G can be done with the Mac OS X Disk Utility.

FAT32
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
  • No individual file larger than 4GB.
NTFS
HFS
  • Read/Write HFS from native Mac OS X
  • To Read/Write HFS from Windows, Install MacDrive
  • To Read HFS (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
 
Problem is that I´m trying to find one from my own country, where the selection isn´t that impressive. Ordering from EU countries could be option too, but ordering from US is out of the question. But I still would like to find one from my own country first.

Is there anything exactly like the WD My Book 1TB Studio, but without the Smartware or any other crapware. I mean a "common brand that you can buy from everywhere"?

Just a simple EMPTY hard drive Mac formatted.
 
According to the specs you posted you're looking for:


http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=11395


If you want to go for more memory....this one.

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11158

Hmm, what are these?

Software : LaCie Setup Assistant
LaCie Backup Assistant


These are not Mac formatted either are they?

Anyway looks nice, but seems like a hassle again with formatting and those softwares makes me suspicious... Besides the first one I can´t find here in the local stores. The second one I did, but there´s a month waiting period. :eek:



I found the Iomega brand from the Apple Store. Seems like the specs are in order, any word are they good?
 
-Dealbreaker: No WD Smartware!!! :mad: WD My Book 1TB Studio is actually perfect for what I need, but they had to ruin it with that crapware! :mad: (I actually have one, I should have bought two when they were still without the "Smart"ware).

You can remove the smartware using a downloadable utility.

Look for a Lacie drive to meet your requirements. They don't use "tricky" means to keep the crapware on their drives. Simple format with disk utility should solve the issue.
 
I don't understand why Miles' original suggestion of buying a bare drive and an enclosure wouldn't work for you. I'm sure that bare drives and enclosures are sold in EU countries, right?

The formatting of the drive when you buy it is inconsequential. You can always reformat it for Mac compatability. That really is no hassle at all, assuming that you have currently have a Mac. And it would ensure that absolutely nothing is on the drive other than what you put on it.
 
I've got a couple WD "somethings" with USB 2. Just reformat for Mac.
Easy.

I've got a Buffalo quad interface USB FW400, FW800 ... Formated NTFS, I think. Will reformat to Mac in the future. I use to transfer video, so I need compatible with Windows for now.
 
Why does it need to be Mac formatted, you know you can do that yourself in like 15 seconds right? The LaCie tools are not needed to keep the drive running, I'm pretty sure that's also the case with WD drives.

Anyway, I have a LaCie d2 Quadra which you can format to HFS+ yourself and does not need any tools. It has 2 FW800 ports and 1 FW400 port. It also has it's own power supply. Just a normal external drive like many others available in Europe.
 
These are not Mac formatted either are they?
As has already been said, there's no such thing as a "Mac hard drive" or a "Windows hard drive". They're just drives. How they're formatted out of the box is irrelevant. They can be formatted however you choose, to be compatible with your system and your needs. Formatting is a very simple process and will ensure removal of any 3rd party software that may have come with your drive.
 
@OneShotos: Someone already recommended OWC. the OP said that he's not in the US, so ordering from OWC won't work for him.
 
From the OP:

Problem is that I´m trying to find one from my own country, where the selection isn´t that impressive. Ordering from EU countries could be option too, but ordering from US is out of the question.
 
From the OP:

People from all over the world, including the EU, order from OWC with great results, so it CAN be done. If the OP simply chooses not to, that's another matter. However, the OP also was under the mistaken impression that a drive had to be formatted for Mac upon purchase, which was false.
 
Okay fine. I should have said he's not in the US *and* ordering from a US based company won't work for him, instead of saying "so."

I don't know why he doesn't want to order from OWC, I have nothing against OWC, I don't know what's going on with EU shipping, whatever. It just seemed like folks chiming in to say "order from U.S.-based company X!" wasn't really going to be much help to him, since he ruled that out in his second post. You see that my original suggestion was to get a bare drive and an enclosure. I'm not sure why "hours of research" wouldn't have turned up that perfectly reasonable solution, either.
 
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