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why is this external drive for windows only?

B

bob2131

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 27, 2008
853
0
hi

this drive

it says windows or vista.......but no mention of mac........

would it be recognized by osx? probably have to reformat with disc utility?
any other issues?

just need a drive to back up my macbook...wanna make a cloned bootable back up. black macbook so firewire 400 port & usb connection i want.

thanks.
 
thanks guys...

so it would DEFINATELY STILL work with my new macbook?
Just need to format it right?

Strange how they dont even mention mac compatibility.

But there is a specific seagate "mac" drive.....ready to work with from get go.
 
I have that drive. You have to reformat it as it comes as NTFS formatted.

The only odd thing about it is sometimes I have to plug it in, wait for the logo to light up then unplug it and plug it back in for the Mac to recognize it.
 
diamond.g said:
The only odd thing about it is sometimes I have to plug it in, wait for the logo to light up then unplug it and plug it back in for the Mac to recognize it.
Click to expand...

Disk Utility / Repair disk.

Next time when you eject, wait 10 seconds before turning off the power.
 
Consultant said:
Disk Utility / Repair disk.

Next time when you eject, wait 10 seconds before turning off the power.
Click to expand...

I actually don't power the drive down. I just unplug the FW cable. I haven't tried it with USB as it is my TM drive and I hear that USB sucks ;).
 
Don't believe that every backup HDD will work with Mac OS X. Sometimes the firmware/chipset is set to only work in Windows. I don't know about this specific one, but there is a difference between many that say Mac compatible and some of them that do not. I'm not saying all, but there are no guarantees of compatibility if it doesn't say Mac compatible. Formatting doesn't always do the job.
 
brop52 said:
Don't believe that every backup HDD will work with Mac OS X. Sometimes the firmware/chipset is set to only work in Windows. I don't know about this specific one, but there is a difference between many that say Mac compatible and some of them that do not. I'm not saying all, but there are no guarantees of compatibility if it doesn't say Mac compatible. Formatting doesn't always do the job.
Click to expand...

Good point. It might have some strange firmware for encryption or windows utilities. Unless you're critical on money, why not look for a drive that says it works with Mac?
 
Hard drives with a USB interface are almost universally compatible with any OS. A drive with Firewire may be compatible with Windows but not so reliable on the Mac. The Oxford 911 Firewire chipsets are compatible with Mac and PC. I'm guessing if Seagate has a separate Mac product, it's probably in regards to a different chipset, not necessarily the software bundled with it.

Most drives have at least USB, so you're good to go.
 
If you want some of the best externals with guaranteed compatibility you should go with Macsales but the shipping will be high to the UK. (Roughly $40). So yes but something else.
 
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