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time machine harddrives

JamesGorman

JamesGorman

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 31, 2008
1,123
1
Winnipeg
just wondering if i need a time capsule to use time machine or if any external drive that is mac compatible will work? and do i just connect it to the usb port?
 
perfect, i will be buying my external soon than, and than hopefully my new HDD:) thanks for the speedy reply
 
JamesGorman said:
perfect, i will be buying my external soon than, and than hopefully my new HDD:) thanks for the speedy reply
Click to expand...

No problem.. That Toshiba one I gave a link to is a decent deal. I paid $119 @ BestBuy when I first got my MacBook in October, now it's only $79.
 
i may go pick that one up than, that seems like a good deal. Also im going to get a 7200rpm drive regardless of how much of an improvement there is, but will i notice an improvement over my stock 5400 drive?
 
JamesGorman said:
i may go pick that one up than, that seems like a good deal. Also im going to get a 7200rpm drive regardless of how much of an improvement there is, but will i notice an improvement over my stock 5400 drive?
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I want to do the same. 500GB 7200RPM.. Im sure it will be a bit faster but nothing to knock your socks off! Ive heard people are getting a lot of vibration with the faster hard drives. I dont know if its brand specific or just the faster ones in general..
 
yea, the vibration factor is throwing me off a lil bit. Ideally id like to get a 256SSD, but thats tough to do on a students budget. I think ill look around and see if i can find a 7200rpm drive that has the least vibration.
 
Scippy said:
Is there really any point in getting a 7200 rpm, just to backup your files?
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I know this link is about a PS3 but you can see everything is essentially faster with a faster hard drive. It might not be super noticeable but it is faster. The PS3 starts up about 2 seconds faster with a 7200RPM hard drive compared to the 5400. Game load times were also up to 2 seconds difference.

Again I know this is about a PS3 but I'm just showing an example of a faster hard drive in action.
 
hey i was gonna do this^ pretty soon, but had a few questions about it.

the stock HD in my macbook is about 15 gigs from full, and is starting to bog down the speed of my computer.
so i want to backup everything to an external HD, and delete the music, movie and picture files from my computer (because thats the majority thats using up my HD).....my question is? will i be able to access these files on the HD from my macbook at anytime, and use them as if they were still on my stock HD???......please forgive the newbie question....im still learning bout this stuff.

thanks:D
 
intelplatoon said:
hey i was gonna do this^ pretty soon, but had a few questions about it.

the stock HD in my macbook is about 15 gigs from full, and is starting to bog down the speed of my computer.
so i want to backup everything to an external HD, and delete the music, movie and picture files from my computer (because thats the majority thats using up my HD).....my question is? will i be able to access these files on the HD from my macbook at anytime, and use them as if they were still on my stock HD???......please forgive the newbie question....im still learning bout this stuff.

thanks:D
Click to expand...

If its formatted HFS+ or FAT32 then yes, if NTFS then your gonna need something like MacFuse & NTFS-3G
 
Scippy said:
Is there really any point in getting a 7200 rpm, just to backup your files?
Click to expand...

i dont think you understand what im trying to do lol, and thats my fault for maybe not making it clear:p. ill be getting a 7200 to put into my macbook, and the question about backups was a serperate question. I didnt want to have to spend lots on a time capsule if any old external would do. Although i may get a time capsule, as the networking capabilities are a nice added feature.
 
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