Which External Hard Drive for my iBook G4?

Bassist4Life · #1 07-31-2008, 09:22 PM

I would like to get an external hard drive to store all my Medeski, Martin & Wood live shows I have been downloading. They are filling my hard drive fast! I could burn them to CD; however, I would love to have fast access to them. I don't want to shuffle through CDs if I can help it.

I have a Mac iBook G4 w/Mac OS X 10.4.11 (non Intel). It's around 3 and a half years old (if that makes a difference).

Does anyone have some suggestions for me? I don't need some mega-fancy thing. Just something to store my audio so I can access it quickly and easily.

Thanks in advance,
Joe

Bassist4Life · #2 07-31-2008, 09:35 PM

I found this:

Seagate FreeAgent™ 160 GB USB 2.0 Hard Drive

$80

Circuit City has it.

Thoughts?

Bassist4Life · #3 07-31-2008, 09:43 PM

Just read this at the Seagate website:

Quote:

FreeAgent Go software and drive formatting works only with Windows, but drive can be reformatted for Mac using Disk Utility.

I'm wondering if I'll mess this up...

Trevorus · #4 07-31-2008, 09:46 PM

For a tiny bit more, I'd rather get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136175

It's 500GB.

Bassist4Life · #5 08-01-2008, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevorus

For a tiny bit more, I'd rather get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136175

It's 500GB.

Cool, thanks.

Any other suggestions? I can't be the only one in need of such a thing. Are people just burning to CD?

Joe

**Jerose** · #6 08-01-2008, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevorus

For a tiny bit more, I'd rather get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136175

It's 500GB.

Ohhh that's a really good deal! I used to have a 250 GB external (can't remember the brand off hand) but the drive started making that "your hard-drive is screwed" clicking noise and no longer works.

I really need a new one for live shows as well. They take up so much space, but you just can't stop downloading!

Barkless Dog · #7 08-01-2008, 08:29 AM

What ever you get if your book has FireWire, get a drive with Firewire

Bob Clayton · #8 08-01-2008, 08:31 AM

wow, someone else has that computer besides me... it's old, im surprised anyone uses it? how's yours holding up? my battery is pretty much shot.

anyway, pretty much any external will do. i have a Seagate 160GB, i don't remember having to run disk utility on it. western digital works pretty well as well. something to consider, your iBook has a firewire port, if you got a hard drive with a firewire port and connected them vie firewire, data transfer will go faster, as firewire is faster than usb 2.0

if you have a wireless router, you might want to look into a network drive. a network drive will hook up to your router via ethernet cable, enabling you to access your data wirelessly. these are more expensive though.

i'm going to buy this though..
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB...s&mco=MzMyMzQy

it's a wireless router AND an external hard drive, so I'm pretty sure you would be able to transfer everything wirelessly.

Bassist4Life · #9 08-01-2008, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Clayton

wow, someone else has that computer besides me... it's old, im surprised anyone uses it? how's yours holding up? my battery is pretty much shot.

anyway, pretty much any external will do. i have a Seagate 160GB, i don't remember having to run disk utility on it. western digital works pretty well as well. something to consider, your iBook has a firewire port, if you got a hard drive with a firewire port and connected them vie firewire, data transfer will go faster, as firewire is faster than usb 2.0

if you have a wireless router, you might want to look into a network drive. a network drive will hook up to your router via ethernet cable, enabling you to access your data wirelessly. these are more expensive though.

i'm going to buy this though..
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB...s&mco=MzMyMzQy

it's a wireless router AND an external hard drive, so I'm pretty sure you would be able to transfer everything wirelessly.

I've never had any problems with my computer. I love it; however, my battery is just starting to show signs of wear.

I think that firewire is a great idea. I do have a wireless router, but I'll save some money and just plug in direct.

Do you have any suggestions on brands/models w/firewire?

Joe

Bob Clayton · #10 08-01-2008, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassist4Life

I've never had any problems with my computer. I love it; however, my battery is just starting to show signs of wear.

I think that firewire is a great idea. I do have a wireless router, but I'll save some money and just plug in direct.

Do you have any suggestions on brands/models w/firewire?

Joe

it really is a great machine. aside from the battery, i've had no problems.

don't know what your price range is, but this looks decent.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148306

Bassist4Life · #11 08-05-2008, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProBeachBum

I have that 500gb Western Digital and it's really nice - thats a great deal by the way.

Thanks for the suggestion. This ended up being the right one for my needs. It's really easy to use! No issues. Thanks! The USB seems to be plenty fast. Also, it's one of the only external hard drives that says it will communicate with my Mac OS X 10.4.11.

Thanks again,
Joe

Barkless Dog · #12 08-05-2008, 07:18 AM

To format a drive to just go and search in the Finder - Disk Utility. Double click it.

It should show the backup drive & your hard drive and you click on the back up drive and format it for 0SX in the list of options below. It erases the drive and rewrites it in OSX.

Any drive can be re-formatted for Mac in disk utilities.

If you have Firewire I would seriously get a Fire Wire drive- they can be found cheap.