External Hardrive for Mac

[brettzwo]

I bought a MyBook external hard drive made by Western Digital to use as a backup for my pictures with my MAC. Now, suddenly it won't mount. I've read in depth on-line this is a problem. I tried all of the proposed solutions to no avail and even tried mounting it on a friend's MacBook Pro. I'm using the USB port and the problems I saw on-line were in regards to using the Firewire port. Anyhow, that's not my main question, but if someone can give me advice on how to get the external drive mounted, that'd be great b/c I don't want to lose all those pictures!

Having said that, I'm looking for the best solution for backing up photos from my iMac. What are the best storage solutions for MAC computers. I'm giving up on Wester Digital and the MyBook as I've read entirely too many negative things about them. I would like as much as a Terabyte external hard drive.

[peterbj7]

I have several external USB-powered hard drives of various makes, including WD. All work perfectly on both PC and Mac (though they're not interchangeable - each needs to be formatted for the system it'll be used on). These go up to 320gb, which is (I think) currently the maximum available USB-powered. It's easy to get bigger, but it'll need an external power supply which to me is a MAJOR drawback.

[hommedars]

BEST is a relative term and may depend on your budget, but I have had great luck with hot-swappable mirrored RAIDs, such as these (click the RAIDs link):

http://www.wiebetech.com/

There are several companies that have similar products, but for performance, Firewire 800 is the way to go.

[smcclelland]

What format is the drive? Mac will read FAT and so will Windows but lately Windows is moving towards the NTFS file system which Linux/OSX does not recognize. Plug your USB drive into your Mac and go to the Drive Utility, if it identifies itself (which it should if it has power) then it will tell you what format the drive is and also provide any information on problems with mounting.

*edit* I am using a 250gb Seagate, 500GB Lacie and I just finished setting up a Linksys NAS200 with a mirrored 1tb RAID setup which holds all my work files and photo backups.
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1175233152539&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

[stevefossimages]

I'm still using OS10.3.9, but when I get a lockup or otherwise lose power unexpectedly, after restarting the system I have to go into applications and open Disk Utility and mount the unit from there. I have exactly the same WD unit. If you have a lockup that's going to cause you to reboot, first press the blue circle on the WD unit and hold it down until it shuts off. Then reboot. Then, once you're back up and running, turn the unit back on and it should mount just fine.

[tgara]

To the OP, thank you for this post. I, too, have been thinking about an external hard drive for my iMac, and up until now was considering Western Digital products. No longer. Like you, I've been reading too many bad things.

On a more productive note, my wife uses the G-Drive Q from G Technology

http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVEQ.cfm

She says it works great with her Macs. The things I like about this drive are (1) its quiet -- no fan; heat is dissapated by a heat sink; (2) it's FireWire 800 compatible; and (3) it's reliable and uses high quality Hitachi drives.

It also comes in several sizes (500GB at $229, 750GB at $299, and 1 TB at $399).

[ramirez.photo]

which WD drive is it?
I recently bough a 750gb silver HD from them and I had to d/l a firmware update from WD's website to make it mount properly

[tbisaacs]

+1 on the G-Drives. They are amazing. I have a regular 500gb and and 500GB raid 0 drive. They are fast and reliable.

To the OP, thank you for this post. I, too, have been thinking about an external hard drive for my iMac, and up until now was considering Western Digital products. No longer. Like you, I've been reading too many bad things.

On a more productive note, my wife uses the G-Drive Q from G Technology

http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVEQ.cfm

She says it works great with her Macs. The things I like about this drive are (1) its quiet -- no fan; heat is dissapated by a heat sink; (2) it's FireWire 800 compatible; and (3) it's reliable and uses high quality Hitachi drives.

It also comes in several sizes (500GB at $229, 750GB at $299, and 1 TB at $399).

[stathunter]

I have not had any issues with my WD Mybook 500gig drive on my iMac.

[René Damkot]

Mac will read FAT and so will Windows but lately Windows is moving towards the NTFS file system which Linux/OSX does not recognize.

OSX can read NTFS, and with this (http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/how-to-read-and-write-ntfs-windows-partition-on-mac-os-x.html) you can also write to it...

[crn3371]

I had the same problem with a WD MyBook Studio Edition drive on my iMac. Don't really know if it was the drives problem or the Mac's . I sent it back to Western Digital for a new one. At the same time, WD came out with a firmware update for the drive, and Apple released the update for Leopard. Flashed the new drive, updated my Mac and haven't had a single issue. Western Digitals tech support was outstanding. Not only did they respond to all my email inquiries, but they actually called me at home a couple of times to check on the problem.

[tundrwd]

What format is the drive? Mac will read FAT and so will Windows but lately Windows is moving towards the NTFS file system which Linux/OSX does not recognize. Plug your USB drive into your Mac and go to the Drive Utility, if it identifies itself (which it should if it has power) then it will tell you what format the drive is and also provide any information on problems with mounting.

*edit* I am using a 250gb Seagate, 500GB Lacie and I just finished setting up a Linksys NAS200 with a mirrored 1tb RAID setup which holds all my work files and photo backups.
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1175233152539&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

Please check: http://www.ntfs-3g.org/
" The NTFS-3G driver is an open source read/write NTFS driver for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, NetBSD, and Haiku. It provides safe and fast handling of the Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista file systems. POSIX file system operations are supported, and full file ownership and permission (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/b.andre/security.html) support is available as well."

[jraab22]

ntfs-3g has been standard in ubuntu for some time now. Linux has no problem with any of those formats. Even windows can now read/write ext3 (which is what many linux systems are using)

[photographer unknown]

I have the MyBook 320 drive and it has run off my IMac and my DH's Pc via firewire with no problems. I also have a Laclie that I piggyback off of the MyBook at the end of the month to do a complete backup and that works fine on both as well. I don't know about the USB though.

[smcclelland]

Please check: http://www.ntfs-3g.org/
" The NTFS-3G driver is an open source read/write NTFS driver for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, NetBSD, and Haiku. It provides safe and fast handling of the Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista file systems. POSIX file system operations are supported, and full file ownership and permission (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/b.andre/security.html) support is available as well."

Cool, I'm really not an overly large NTFS fan but it's nice seeing efforts like this.

[brettzwo]

I had the same problem with a WD MyBook Studio Edition drive on my iMac. Don't really know if it was the drives problem or the Mac's . I sent it back to Western Digital for a new one. At the same time, WD came out with a firmware update for the drive, and Apple released the update for Leopard. Flashed the new drive, updated my Mac and haven't had a single issue. Western Digitals tech support was outstanding. Not only did they respond to all my email inquiries, but they actually called me at home a couple of times to check on the problem.

I have the 500GB Premium Edition from WD. Unfortunately, I have a bunch of pictures I don't want to lose on there. What does "Flashed the new drive" mean? I'll have to try WD tech support b/c I haven't gone that route yet.

[brettzwo]

What format is the drive? Mac will read FAT and so will Windows but lately Windows is moving towards the NTFS file system which Linux/OSX does not recognize. Plug your USB drive into your Mac and go to the Drive Utility, if it identifies itself (which it should if it has power) then it will tell you what format the drive is and also provide any information on problems with mounting.

*edit* I am using a 250gb Seagate, 500GB Lacie and I just finished setting up a Linksys NAS200 with a mirrored 1tb RAID setup which holds all my work files and photo backups.
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1175233152539&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

It is recognizing the drive in Disc Utility as Fat32; however, it provides no info as to why it can't read the drive.

[brettzwo]

I'm still using OS10.3.9, but when I get a lockup or otherwise lose power unexpectedly, after restarting the system I have to go into applications and open Disk Utility and mount the unit from there. I have exactly the same WD unit. If you have a lockup that's going to cause you to reboot, first press the blue circle on the WD unit and hold it down until it shuts off. Then reboot. Then, once you're back up and running, turn the unit back on and it should mount just fine.

Unfortunately that isn't working for me. Did you by chance run the WD firmware upgrade b/c that's the only thing I haven't tried yet.

[brettzwo]

which WD drive is it?
I recently bough a 750gb silver HD from them and I had to d/l a firmware update from WD's website to make it mount properly


Are you using the Firewire and/or USB port? Could you do either before the firmware upgrade? Did the Firmware allow you to mount both ways?

[brettzwo]

I have not had any issues with my WD Mybook 500gig drive on my iMac.

Just wait...AND BE PREPARED. I didn't have many if any problems until after I had it over a year...and NOW LOOK AT ME :-)

[crn3371]

I have the 500GB Premium Edition from WD. Unfortunately, I have a bunch of pictures I don't want to lose on there. What does "Flashed the new drive" mean? I'll have to try WD tech support b/c I haven't gone that route yet.

Western Digital came out with a firmware update for their drives that addressed certain issues with the new iMacs. You download the update and then the firmware is sent to the drive. Kinda like a firmware update for your camera.

[d44]

I run two Iomega 500gb Desktop Harddrives with my MacBook Pro. One for the time machine backups; the other to backup photos and music.

I am running them off a usb hub and have had no problems.

[MDJAK]

Unfortunately I can't remember the exact solution to this problem, but it is a very simple one. I posted about it a while back, someone gave me the answer, and the drive was up and running in minutes. It does work, there's just something in the disk utility that needs to be done.

mark

[bperboy]

For your original drive, have you tried restarting the mac and seeing what happens? I had this problem; all my digital music was stored on an external from WD, and when it didn't mount, I just about cried, but I restarted and it showed right up. Needless to say, I found a way to make multiple backups, because I don't really want to lose all the music!

[figmented]

get a program like ejector.. and then just eject all drives (even tho it doesnt show up) its like rebooting the mount.. i had the same prob and i about cried till i figured this lil secret out. heh

[MusoD]

Really can't go wrong with Glyph drives:

http://www.glyphtech.com/

[mknabster]

I bought a MyBook external hard drive made by Western Digital to use as a backup for my pictures with my MAC. Now, suddenly it won't mount. I've read in depth on-line this is a problem. I tried all of the proposed solutions to no avail and even tried mounting it on a friend's MacBook Pro. I'm using the USB port and the problems I saw on-line were in regards to using the Firewire port. Anyhow, that's not my main question, but if someone can give me advice on how to get the external drive mounted, that'd be great b/c I don't want to lose all those pictures!

Having said that, I'm looking for the best solution for backing up photos from my iMac. What are the best storage solutions for MAC computers. I'm giving up on Wester Digital and the MyBook as I've read entirely too many negative things about them. I would like as much as a Terabyte external hard drive.

I actually had a similar problem with the WD My Book Studio edition, i went through 2 of them because the drive kept going corrupt on me within a week. I switched to Lacie and got the d2 Quadra. This thing is built like a tank and the firewire is 2X as fast as USB (Firewire is 800 mb/s while USB is 450 mb/s). I was able to transfer 60 GBs of data at one time in 30 mins on this thing. It was amazing, it is a little on the expensive side compared to WD, but you cn get a good deal on it at B&H. Highly recommend.

[MusoD]

I actually had a similar problem with the WD My Book Studio edition, i went through 2 of them because the drive kept going corrupt on me within a week. I switched to Lacie and got the d2 Quadra. This thing is built like a tank and the firewire is 2X as fast as USB (Firewire is 800 mb/s while USB is 450 mb/s). I was able to transfer 60 GBs of data at one time in 30 mins on this thing. It was amazing, it is a little on the expensive side compared to WD, but you cn get a good deal on it at B&H. Highly recommend.

It depends on the sort of use the HD will be put through. If it is just sat on the desk the LaCie D2s are great, but with constant moving around and un-plugging, I've come across many where the power connector has failed.

The nice thing about the Glyph drives is that the PSU is built into the HD enclosure, so you just use a standard IEC cable to power it.