external hard drive options

[adamcarvell]

Apple Authorised Centre in Leamington quoted £145 to fit SSD – provided I supply SSD+components. So you can see why I'm battling on with external disc for startup. Hardly worth investing thick end of £300 on a 2010 iMac!
Hope all goes well.

Well tried something different this morning booted pc but not with the problem hard drive on I switched that on manually it tgen mounted straight away with all contents showing! Something not right then at boot up it seems sny guesses ?.
[doublepost=1486020425][/doublepost]also the new drive id want it to be 7200 as it gets daily use downloading films videos etc needs to be a workhorse.

 

[JackRoch]

Well tried something different this morning booted pc but not with the problem hard drive on I switched that on manually it tgen mounted straight away with all contents showing! Something not right then at boot up it seems sny guesses ?.
[doublepost=1486020425][/doublepost]also the new drive id want it to be 7200 as it gets daily use downloading films videos etc needs to be a workhorse.

Don't touch anything! i.e. no restarts, etc. While it's still there and showing contents, I'd rush out and buy your new drive and copy contents asap.
That might be just my panicky approach but ultimately, data is always more precious than cost of new hardware.

 

[adamcarvell]

Don't touch anything! i.e. no restarts, etc. While it's still there and showing contents, I'd rush out and buy your new drive and copy contents asap.
That might be just my panicky approach but ultimately, data is always more precious than cost of new hardware.

the files always return on a manual power on off the drive and always stay there tbh. problem seems to be letting the mac handle the power on at boot up don't handshake properly im now leaning towards caddy ?

 

[adamcarvell]

as a rule powered external desktop drives let the mac turn them on or turn them on manually once its booted to the desktop ?.

 

[adamcarvell]

had time to swap drives in enclosures the wd has gone in the seagate enclosure and the seagate in the icy box enclosure etc powered down reset sec pram re started the wd now mounts and displays all its contents so the drive not faulty .
but the seagate in the other enclosure won't mount which leads me to believe now the icybox enclosure is the fault !.
so need a new one any recommendations on a reliable caddy please .

 

[Fishrrman]

You want a dock that is specifically stated to support UASP (USB attached SCSI protocol).

I've also found that an "eject button" is useful. But not absolutely necessary.

I've done well with plugable.com products.

 

[adamcarvell]

You want a dock that is specifically stated to support UASP (USB attached SCSI protocol).

I've also found that an "eject button" is useful. But not absolutely necessary.

I've done well with plugable.com products.

Im a bit put off by enclosures now tbh ordered G-Technology G-DRIVE 0G04455 3000 GB External Hard Drive - Silver From Amazon £140 . No delivery date if you think its a mistake looked at an anker dock this morning concern about dust etc.
[doublepost=1486145951][/doublepost]Im just relieved its not the mac bus controller also found out when it wouldn't mount the mac is running fdisc in the background quit that and problem drive mounted.

 

[adamcarvell]

If a drive doesn't list it's contents but does on a power reset, my guess is that it's 50-50 enclosure or drive with perhaps OS software playing a role. A partial listing would change my guess more towards the drive and probably not the OS.

There are various tests you can do (some of which I suggested earlier) but these might not be practical for you.
1) Try the drive in a different enclosure or computer (for a 3.5-inch drive the computer would have to be an older iMac or a Linux/Windows computer that can read the Mac OS file system).
2) Try a different drive in the enclosure.
3) Look at Disk Utility and see if it reports a S.M.A.R.T. status for the drive. Just about all USB enclosures will NOT report the S.M.A.R.T. status. Usually the drive has to be connected via SATA or possibly Thunderbolt to report the status - again if you have a Linux/Windows PC, you may be able to do this.
4) You can get software that will test the drive. The diagnostics which comes with the Mac will not test USB drives. I don't recall seeing a recommendation for free disk-testing software here on macrumors. I use Scannerz and I've seen a few others here on macrumors use it. Some download sites list some sort of free download - a lot of people have warned about downloading software from these sites. Otherwise, it costs $30-$40 (for a downloadable version). I bought it because I have more than a few drives - a lot of them used for backups that I test periodically.

http://scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html

Since swapping drives around both work as they should now. After restarts etc

 

[adamcarvell]

IM STILL BUYING A NEW H/D SHOULD I BUY A DOCK/ENCLOSURE AND PUT MY OWN NEW DRIVE IN OR A BRANDED ON THAT HAS GOT THE SOFTWARE ON IT LIKE WD ETC?.

 

[treekram]

It's more economical to buy an external drive from Seagate or WD vs. buying an enclosure and adding your own HD. As I mentioned before, bare drives and the external drives are about the same price so to replace the bare drive in the enclosure down the road will be about the same as replacing the external drive. I have 7 Seagate external drives - 4 bus-powered, 3 external-powered and I haven't had any issues with how the USB electronics in the drives work.

What an enclosure gives you is the flexibility of choosing a bare drive, the external drives from Seagate (don't know about WD) usually don't have the drives with the highest specs (RPM, buffer, etc.). Also beware that unless specified, the model of bare drive put in an external drive may vary. You would also need to compare the warranty of the bare drive vs. the external drive. Also be aware that a given spec difference may not translate into a difference that a specific user will be aware of when using the drive.

Stay away from encryption software that comes from an HD provider - there have been problems with them working, particularly as users upgrade their OS. Diagnostics software is usually OK, for other software you would need to do your due diligence.

 

[adamcarvell]

It's more economical to buy an external drive from Seagate or WD vs. buying an enclosure and adding your own HD. As I mentioned before, bare drives and the external drives are about the same price so to replace the bare drive in the enclosure down the road will be about the same as replacing the external drive. I have 7 Seagate external drives - 4 bus-powered, 3 external-powered and I haven't had any issues with how the USB electronics in the drives work.

What an enclosure gives you is the flexibility of choosing a bare drive, the external drives from Seagate (don't know about WD) usually don't have the drives with the highest specs (RPM, buffer, etc.). Also beware that unless specified, the model of bare drive put in an external drive may vary. You would also need to compare the warranty of the bare drive vs. the external drive. Also be aware that a given spec difference may not translate into a difference that a specific user will be aware of when using the drive.

Stay away from encryption software that comes from an HD provider - there have been problems with them working, particularly as users upgrade their OS. Diagnostics software is usually OK, for other software you would need to do your due diligence.

been looking at this drive
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M1BYGJJ/ref=pe_942301_45935611_TE_n_id
[doublepost=1486419908][/doublepost]

been looking at this drive
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M1BYGJJ/ref=pe_942301_45935611_TE_n_id

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0...t+deskstar&dpPl=1&dpID=51EQ7yQC3pL&ref=plSrch
Or that in an enclosure

 

[BestOfGuru]

I use a LaCie rugged thunderbolt drive and I love it. I'm using a late 2015 MBP that still had thunderbolt 2 ports and it works fantastically. The integrated cable is a great touch. I think LaCie now make Thunderbolt 3 variants with a USB type-c connector.

 

[adamcarvell]

I use a LaCie rugged thunderbolt drive and I love it. I'm using a late 2015 MBP that still had thunderbolt 2 ports and it works fantastically. The integrated cable is a great touch. I think LaCie now make Thunderbolt 3 variants with a USB type-c connector.

iwanted to get one with two thunderbolt ports and daisy chain my acer monitor but don't think it's possible.

 

[adamcarvell]

Bought the wdmybook for mac 3 tb for £71.14 in the end