Need some advice regarding future purchase of SSD + external HD

[Unprocessed1]

I'll divide this into 2 parts:

a.) I want to get an Intel X-25 SSD and I'm heavily leaning towards the 80GB model, which is within my budget (and I think is a ridiculous steal compared to the other SSDs on the market). I'd prefer a 160 GB drive, as I think it could possibly remove my need for an external HD for at least a year or more.

I plan on using Bootcamp to play video games, and I do actually like to use Vista once in a while (my Air runs Vista very smoothly when I'm not getting the occasional blue screen). Obviously the original X-25 M 80GB can't run bootcamp, even with firmware updates.

So, does anyone know the specific models/numbers of the X25 M 80GB that have NO problems with Bootcamp and installing Vista/7? I'm not sure how to specifically separate the "good" and "bad" SSDs, and want to make sure I'll be buying a SSD that is guaranteed to run Bootcamp without any problems.

b.)With that said, if I do get the 80GB model, I'll need an external HD. I currently own a mini G-Drive 120 GB, which works great on OSX, but I cant load or trade files on Vista, so something saved on either OS can't be transferred to the other which is a nightmare. Are there any hard drives that would have no problem being read on both OSX and Vista.

Can anyone recommend a fast, reliable, and OSX-Vista/7 transferable external. I don't need 1TB/500 GB or anything

 

[Eddyisgreat]

I plan on using Bootcamp to play video games, and I do actually like to use Vista once in a while (my Air runs Vista very smoothly when I'm not getting the occasional blue screen). Obviously the original X-25 M 80GB can't run bootcamp, even with firmware updates.

So, does anyone know the specific models/numbers of the X25 M 80GB that have NO problems with Bootcamp and installing Vista/7? I'm not sure how to specifically separate the "good" and "bad" SSDs, and want to make sure I'll be buying a SSD that is guaranteed to run Bootcamp without any problems.

Where did you hear that the ones with the updated firmware still didn't work? I'm curious. I applied it on mine and just installed Windows 7 this morning. I had one of the earlier models from NE.

b.)With that said, if I do get the 80GB model, I'll need an external HD. I currently own a mini G-Drive 120 GB, which works great on OSX, but I cant load or trade files on Vista, so something saved on either OS can't be transferred to the other which is a nightmare. Are there any hard drives that would have no problem being read on both OSX and Vista.

Any drive will work. The important thing is the format of the drive. You probably have it formatted as Mac OS because thats what g-tech does from the factory (I think that was the case with my G-Drive Mini Raid). Reformat it or another drive as Fat or ntfs (using ntfs-3g

 

[Unprocessed1]

Where did you hear that the ones with the updated firmware still didn't work? I'm curious. I applied it on mine and just installed Windows 7 this morning. I had one of the earlier models from NE.




Any drive will work. The important thing is the format of the drive. You probably have it formatted as Mac OS because thats what g-tech does from the factory (I think that was the case with my G-Drive Mini Raid). Reformat it or another drive as Fat or ntfs (using ntfs-3g

Many others people on the forum and on the net have stated the Intel update doesn't work for them.

I used someone else's external and they have only vista and yet it worked flawlessly loading up on OSX Wold formatting it as a windows HD solve that problem (since Mac seems to be compatible with everything). Would formatting all future externals on Windows first solve the compatibility problem? I apologize for my ignorance, still learning about the wonders of OSX.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

You're right. OS X can read anything (including NTFS) but can only write to FAT and Mac OS natively. To write to NTFS you'll need NTFS-3G+MacFUSE or Paragon NTFS for Mac.

Alternatively if you find yourself in Windows less than often and operate in OS X regularly i've used MacDrive for Windows with good success, which will allow Windows to read the Mac OS format.

The obvious idea would be that FAT is the best format to work with , but obviously there are serious limitations that have to be dealt understood first, so its really just dependent on your usage and which platform you use most.

 

[Unprocessed1]

You're right. OS X can read anything (including NTFS) but can only write to FAT and Mac OS natively. To write to NTFS you'll need NTFS-3G+MacFUSE or Paragon NTFS for Mac.

Alternatively if you find yourself in Windows less than often and operate in OS X regularly i've used MacDrive for Windows with good success, which will allow Windows to read the Mac OS format.

The obvious idea would be that FAT is the best format to work with , but obviously there are serious limitations that have to be dealt understood first, so its really just dependent on your usage and which platform you use most.

I'll be mostly using MAC for internet and office, and Windows for games, so I guess maybe splitting up the SSD 40 and 40 would be a good idea, so I have enough room for games on the Windows partition.

So can you not edit or copy or save files from a Windows external HD to OSX without software?

 

[benlangdon]

I'll be mostly using MAC for internet and office, and Windows for games, so I guess maybe splitting up the SSD 40 and 40 would be a good idea, so I have enough room for games on the Windows partition.

So can you not edit or copy or save files from a Windows external HD to OSX without software?

no. you can do it. just format it either in ms-dos or fat-32.
i think on both you cant move a file larger than 4 gb.

 

[nutritious]

too bad. A week ago Buy.com had a deal on a kingston branded intel 160GB SSD for around $360. It was a steal.

 

[Unprocessed1]

no. you can do it. just format it either in ms-dos or fat-32.
i think on both you cant move a file larger than 4 gb.

The FAT-32 trick works to perfection

Only thing that remains is, does anyone know the specific model numbers/serial numbers, etc., etc. one should get/avoid in order to make sure their X-25 will work with bootcamp?