Thanks for the replies from everyone. As always, I've learned something!
My very first Mac was an iMac G4. As I first starting using it
(converting from Windoze) I found out you could boot from an external
disk - but it had to be a Firewire one. I'm guessing this was because
USB wasn't fast enough at the time. When Apple switched to Intel, I'd
missed the fact you could now boot from a USB external disk! I only have
Intel Macs now, and didn't realise this 'USB fact'. So I've learned
something, and I've also now proved it works too.
So, it now means I can look at USB-only external mini disks. Slightly
cheaper, and more plentiful. I've already had a recommendation of
Western Digital (from David). Anyone else using different external mini
disks they'd care to recommend? Anyone tried G-Drive minis or mobile
disks, for example?
Thanks, Graham
on 22/01/2010 21:25 David Lazarus sent the following:
Graham,
I would still double check that a USB only drive can boot. The last thing that
you want to find is that your data is on a drive that will not boot. Clone it
with super duper or similar then try booting from it.
David
On 22 Jan 2010, at 17:26, Graham Street wrote:
Thanks.
I didn't realise Intel Macs could boot from USB. I hadn't tried it and just
assumed it was only FW, as the non-Intel ones are.
Thanks for the recommendation for WD and I now know I don't need FW on the
drive.
Regards, Graham
on 22/01/2010 17:03 David Lazarus sent the following:
Graham,
I have used Lacie in the past. But have been switching to Western Digital for
the last two years. Only last week bought a 500 Gb Western Digital My Passport
Essential. It is certainly very small and USB 2 bus powered. Though it needs to
be run off the machine. I tried a powered hub and that did not work.
You will need a intel mac to be able to boot from USB. Firewire will boot on
all macs. There is a FW version called My Passport Studio which may be the best
bet for what you need. I hope that has helped.
David
For the past 3+ years, I've been buying and using portable/mini drives for my
bootable backup drives and for storing backup data too. Now I've switched all
my computers to Snow Leopard (from Tiger) I'm using them for TM backups too.
For all the time I've been buying them, I've used Formac 'disk mini'. They've
been excellent, and they come with both FW and USB connections. I need the
portability these mini disks offer (but I use full-size external drives too).
Now it seems much more difficult to buy Formac disk mini drives. My original
suppliers (DABS, ebuyer, solutions-inc) have all stopped stocking them. And, if
I can find them anywhere, it rarely includes the firewire version. If you
follow the suppliers link on the Formac website, none of the suppliers listed
now appear to keep these drives. Does anyone know what' s up with Formac and
why getting these drives is now very difficult?
And is there an alternative manufacturer (but not Lacie) that people would
recommend using for mini drives? Western Digital seems to be the most prolific.
I use their internal drives, but have read many reviews stating their portables
are not so good. In addition, many of the alternative manufacturers seem to
only have a USB port which is fine for backups but presumably no good to boot
from? Am I right that only a FW external drive can be booted from?
So what do you do, and what would you recommend?
Thanks, Graham
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