If you meant me, I am working on an iMac G4, 800mgtz, using Jaguar. Can an external harddrive be shared between the G4 and an older G3 iMac? I don't mean on a network. I mean physically unplugged from one and plugged into the other.
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Suggestions for external harddrives
- Thread starter ThatGirl
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Swapping Drives
With a properly working and formatted drive (HFS+), there shouldn't be any issues that would prevent an external hard drive from being shared and moved between computers of different processors or operating systems -- outside of accidentally dropping it.
External drives though aren't as mobile or hot-swappable as they seem on the product box (at least to me they aren't). They're all about the size of a thick hardcover novel, maybe a bit longer. They're heavier than they would seem. Louder. If the power supply is external, this has to be brought along when plugging it in somewhere else, or you have to have an external power supply for each workstation. Just some things to consider. They're a lot better than the old external SCSI drives though, for sure.
ThatGirl said:
With a properly working and formatted drive (HFS+), there shouldn't be any issues that would prevent an external hard drive from being shared and moved between computers of different processors or operating systems -- outside of accidentally dropping it.
External drives though aren't as mobile or hot-swappable as they seem on the product box (at least to me they aren't). They're all about the size of a thick hardcover novel, maybe a bit longer. They're heavier than they would seem. Louder. If the power supply is external, this has to be brought along when plugging it in somewhere else, or you have to have an external power supply for each workstation. Just some things to consider. They're a lot better than the old external SCSI drives though, for sure.
Thanks, so much. I hadn't even realized I could reformat it. I did not have the choice of HFS+.. Is that the same as "Macintosh Extended"?
I have Acomdata 160GB external HD for my Ti PB. I transferred the iTune music files to that external HD to free up the Ti's hard drive. I don't think I formatted that HD before I used with my Ti PB. Is there any problem using the external HD without formatting? It seems my music files are in good condition since I was able to play it with iTune when I click it.
I now have three. An 80gb WD FW done in two partions. One for restores, the other for data. (uses the Intitio chip so it is ok to use with 10.3.6). A Maxtor 120gb USB formated for Windows. And just got a 40gb LaCie Mobile 40gb FW. This one was for my PB for my work data. All three are great so far.