External hard drive for iMac

[Brian Sheridan]

I would like to purchase an external hard drive to back up my iMac with a 320 gb hard drive and Leopard 10.5 OS. I would appreciate any recommendations for which brand and/or type I should consider. I have seen some negative reviews on a WD My Book external drive.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Brian

[Train]

Do you actually want the backup garbage some of those set ups have?

[Brian Sheridan]

Absolutely not. I'm looking for something simple (plug and play?) which will work with an Imac. As you know the system has its own software package called Time Machine which I suspect will work very well with the proper hard drive.

Brian

[Train]

OK, then the way I would do is to buy a USD , firewire, or what ever ports you have enclosure and add your favorite brand of hdd.

Be the cheapest way.

Enclosure examples
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...nal-Enclosures

hdd examples
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...al-Hard-Drives

Just be sure the enclosure match as to whether they are both Sata or Pata

[Brian Sheridan]

Hi Train,

I've picked both an enclosure and a hard drive as per the attached screen captures. I would like your opinion on these 2 items, i.e. will they do the job? I can't see where SATA or PATA is mentioned for the drive! What else do I need other than a USB cable? The physical set-up doesn't bother me but it is the software set-up that concerns me. Is there software included and how do I ignore it? How do I format the drive?

Brian

[Train]

You have a mismatch.

The enclose is for a PATA, ide hdd and the hd you have picked out is SATA.

They both must have the same connectors or you can not plug them together.

Like the seagate.

[SpywareDr]

Here's the difference between the two interfaces:

http://www.SpywareDrGuide.com/Virtua.../Sata-Pata.jpg

[Brian Sheridan]

Train and SpywareDr,

Thanks to both of you for your input and help. I know a lot more now than when I started. I may just chicken out and try the WD My Book on a trial basis and take it back if it doesn't work. Walmart has it at $94 which seems really reasonable. I'll let you know how it works out.

Best regards,

Brian

[Train]

Please do!

[saslab]

FWIW, I'm using a MyBook, firewire connection, with my MacBook Pro and an IMac. No probs IF you format the external hard drive first using the disk utility built into your iMac. The reason is that if you do not, you will not be able to back up large files, something I learned the hard way trying to backup video files.

[Train]

You have to do the same thing in Windows as most of those items come with the hdd unformated.

Thanks for Posting Back!

[Brian Sheridan]

Train, SpywareDr and Saslab,

I have installed the WD My Book external hard drive and formatted it using the utility from the Mac. It has now been running for 10 days and is working just fine so far.

Once again thanks for all your inputs and help.

Regards,

Brian

[Train]

You are Welcome and THANK you for posting back!

[SpywareDr]

It has now been running for 10 days and is working just fine so far.

Excellent!