Good External for Time Machine

**TuckerdogAVL** · November 14th, 2009, 05:05 PM

Quick Question: I just purchased a 500gb Seagate External (the plastic one) at OfficeMax, and upon checking out, noticed that it is "compatible with Windows Vista, EP." Okay. But no mention of the Mac. The salesperson said, "oh, yeah, it will just ask you if you want to format for the Mac, blah blah blah," so I got home and googled the hard drive. Arrggh.

So, here's the question: I want to get something that is 1)at least 500gb and 2) around $85-100 to use with Time Machine, soon to upgrade to Snow leopard. Is this okay...will it be okay...or should I just go for the 1TB Seagate Free-whatver for $109 (This was 85)....both are 7200 RPM.

Is Hitachi worth looking at?

The whole reason for this is I have a LACIE 320GB that has died. What happens is that it will back up. Work fine...as long as the computer doesn't go to sleep. If it does, I can reformat the drive, then back up again....and it all appears to work fine...until we go to sleep again....then, I have to reformat because the drive won't mount. So, that sort of defeats the purpose.

Any suggestions regarding the brand and price would be great. Office Max is sort of a req as I have $20 discount for it.
Thanks again.

Tuckerdog in Asheville

**earthsaver** · November 14th, 2009, 06:56 PM

I can't say about enclosures from hard disk manufacturers but there are good hard disk models from all the major brands: Hitachi, Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung. I recommend looking at them at Other World Computing, where they've been equally tested.

There should be nothing wrong with the one you bought, though it may be worth seeing if the model of hard disk inside that enclosure matches one of the ones OWC sells.

**Satcomer** · November 14th, 2009, 08:26 PM

My network advice is not to get Time Machine. Just get the Airport Extreme and then plug into the Extreme USB port and Time Machine will support it. It will be cheaper and you will get the same result! One advice that wholly agree with earthsaver is use the enclosure s from OWC. I had used their drives since the 10.4.x days and they are still going strong. since they included all the cables for whatever ports on the back makes them the no brainer (if you are in the USA or Canada).

The import advice I can give is when using Time Machine on a wireless network is do the initial first Time Machine back will wired to the device because the initial backup is so large.

**ElDiabloConCaca** · November 14th, 2009, 11:41 PM

I highly recommend the Western Digital 1TB Elements drive. It's 1TB of space in a nice, rugged, clean enclosure that's quiet and energy efficient. It's not the fastest thing in the world, but it's cheap (just over $100) and spacious.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...1tb%20elements
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...1tb%20elements

I have 5 of them hooked to my Mac mini, one of which serves as my Time Machine drive. I think I'm addicted to collecting these... I'm feeling the urge to order just one more!

**lbj** · November 15th, 2009, 03:02 AM

If you can wait a week or so, do. Can't hurt to see what Black Friday brings. My rule of thumb is no more than .10 (10 cents) per MB unless I need something today. These things are on sale all the time. Ditto EDCC's Elements comments. Great Drive and good price. I'm addicted to FW myself and have begun the enclosure route with good WD drives inside. Wait 2 weeks, OM always has great Black Friday offerings.

**TuckerdogAVL** · November 15th, 2009, 09:26 AM

Originally Posted by Satcomer

My network advice is not to get Time Machine. Just get the Airport Extreme and then plug into the Extreme USB port and Time Machine will support it. It will be cheaper and you will get the same result! One advice that wholly agree with earthsaver is use the enclosure s from OWC. I had used their drives since the 10.4.x days and they are still going strong. since they included all the cables for whatever ports on the back makes them the no brainer (if you are in the USA or Canada).

The import advice I can give is when using Time Machine on a wireless network is do the initial first Time Machine back will wired to the device because the initial backup is so large.

Time Machine is packaged with 10.5.8. I was using it because it seemed simple, but it does seem to want to constantly back up back up....like every hour! :-)

**earthsaver** · November 15th, 2009, 09:29 AM

Yep, Time Machine is a simple backup tool that keeps your system backed up and archived regularly and ensures you can retrieve deleted files if necessary. Unless you are creating and changing very large files, this archiving doesn't actually take up that much disk space. I prefer Time Machine's ease of use to other solutions.

**Satcomer** · November 15th, 2009, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by TuckerdogAVL

Time Machine is packaged with 10.5.8. I was using it because it seemed simple, but it does seem to want to constantly back up back up....like every hour! :-)

You can fix that with freeware software. It is called Time Machine Editor, or you could do it manually if you are nerdy enough.