Hi Daniel Thanks very much for your details on using a larger drive for backup and I agree with everything you say. I presently have 3 x 3tb WD external HD which have copies of my data, movies and photos and I intend keeping these as multiple backs of a larger drive like the Seagate 5tb. After your email I did some looking on line and found various other comments, some of which also say what you have re Seagate. It always a big risk and I sure feel better when I have at least 2 copies of everything.
I havnt used Time Machine yet but want to now so I will follow some of Ronnie's great suggestions and documents to use it. I guess I just need to format the drive as Mac OS Extended journaled to use TM, is that right? The Seagate 5tb is reasonably priced as well which is appealing and I havnt seen any WD 5tb down here yet. Many thanks and best regards Chris On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 12:29 PM, Daniel Kerr <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Chris > > Pretty much any drive can be reformatted for the Mac, so you'd be able to > erase that drive in Disk Utility. > You'd just need get the software that comes with it, as it would be > Windows only. However it would/should work with Time Machine ok anyway. > > A few things to consider though. Some of this is my own experience and > personal preference so others may disagree or have different > experiences...... > > 1) Just be aware that the larger the drive the more you'll lose should it > all fall over in a big heap. eg someone with 2x 2TB has less to lose versus > someone with 4TBs. So the bigger the drive, the more you store on it, the > more gets lost if the drive falls over. So really need more then one backup > "just in case". > 2) If the computer doesn't have USB3 then it will just drop back to USB2 > so a little slower to access. > 3) I'm not a huge fan of Seagate gear. Again, this is my own experience > and personal opinion. I've had more of their gear fail then any other > brand. (And they were the brand that had a large failure rate in iMacs a > few years back). > They may be slightly better now, but I'm still a bit cautious. So I'd just > be a bit cautious of not "putting all your eggs in one basket". Just make > sure to cover yourself should anything happen to that drive. (Though the > same applies for any drive really). Whereas Western Digital I find really > great and it's my "go to" drive brand. I just find them more reliable and > better follow service if needed. Again, just my experience. > > But to answer your question again, yes it should work fine once > reformatted. > > Kind regards > Daniel > > Sent from my iPhone 6 > > --- > Daniel Kerr > MacWizardry > > Phone: 0414 795 960 > Email: <danielATmacwizardry.com.au <http://danielatmacwizardry.com.au/>> > Web: <http://www.macwizardry.com.au> > > > **For everything Apple** > > NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion > and as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of > MacWizardry. Any information provided does not offer or warrant any form of > warranty or accept liability. It would be appreciated that if any > information in this email is to be disseminated, distributed or copied, > that permission by the author be requested. > > On 20 Jan 2015, at 12:06 pm, Chris Burton <[email protected]> wrote: > > Good afternoon wamuggers, > > I was in Good Guys this morning and noticed a number of Seagate HD, one of > which was 5tb 'Expansion drive'; I didnt know these were available and it > really got my attention as I am in the process of consolidating all my data > from numerous drives, and this size would be perfect as my offsite backup > drive. > > However, on closer inspection I noticed that it was for Windose only which > is a real bummer and has 'Backup software ready to go' and is USB 3 > enabled. They do have a 'Desktop Backup drive 2tb' that can be used with > both Win and Macs without reformatting and using Seagate's backup software. > > My question is, can I reformat this drive for use with my iMac as I want > to start using Time Machine for my backups now and this size would see me > good for a few years. > > I cant find anything online saying I shouldnt reformat and wanted to check > with you good people before I handed over the dollars. One cnet review says > that it is possible to reformat as per other external HD > > Many thanks and best regards to all > > Chris > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - < > http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - < > http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> >
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