2014-03-23T11:15:18+00:00 Zend_Feed_Writer https://www.augwessex.org.uk/discussions/view/1028 AUGW info@augwessex.org.uk https://www.augwessex.org.uk/ 2014-03-19T14:28:10+00:00 https://www.augwessex.org.uk/discussions/view/1028#4535 Drew McFarlane info@augwessex.org.uk https://www.augwessex.org.uk/ Hi All, I am in the process of buying a Portable Hard Drive to download my pictures when on holiday. I would be grateful for recommendations please. I have been looking at those on the Apple Store website and cannot decide on which one to purchase. Thanking you in anticipation. Drew 2014-03-19T15:46:35+00:00 https://www.augwessex.org.uk/discussions/view/1028#4537 Mick Burrell info@augwessex.org.uk https://www.augwessex.org.uk/ I would suggest sticking to one of the well-known names but apart from that, choose it by physical size and capacity. And of course price! There is no need to pay any extra for drives that claim to be Mac compatible as the only difference is that these come ready formatted for your Mac but it's the work of moments to reformat a drive into a Mac format should you prefer (I do) although strictly speaking this is not necessary as your Mac will read and write to Windows format drives if required. Apple may not be the cheapest source of these drives! 2014-03-19T18:02:54+00:00 https://www.augwessex.org.uk/discussions/view/1028#4538 Euan Williams info@augwessex.org.uk https://www.augwessex.org.uk/ It's well worth getting a USB3 drive (it works fine on USB2) as one day, if not now, you will be using a USB3-capable Mac and USB is vastly quicker than USB2. Nice! Information? Websites: PC World, John Lewis ("never knowingly undersold"), Amazon. Sometimes there are offers over major Bank Holidays, Christmas, Easter, back to school. John Lewis deliver next day to your local Waitrose by 2.00pm if you order on-line by mid afternoon. Think about getting a 1Tb drive (It makes sense to use two x 1Tb drives rather than having all your eggs in a single 2 or even 4Tb drive. Partition it into four x 250Gb partitions when it's new. That's a manageable size. You may enjoy using one of the new slim 2.5" drives which don't require an external power supply and fit in a pocket, e.g. WD's 1TB 2.5" Passport Ultra. It comes with a little bag, and you can get protective pocket boxes too (check for size!) Those older power supplies and cables are a real pest. Check the warranty: WD has a three year 'limited' warranty. Formatting Ordinary data files e.g. 'Word .doc' work fine whether you use Windows or Mac formatting; BUT you will need to format for Mac (Mac OS Extended (Journaled) if you want to store any Applications or other 'executables' on the drive, for example if you want to make a clone. Windows drives don't 'understand' UNIX and Applications will either fail to write or files will come up as corrupt when read. In emergency you could always make a disc image (.dmg) to store them, but that's a nuisance. My drives come from Western Digital and Toshiba (yes, other people have other views and that's how it should be). 2014-03-22T18:39:09+00:00 https://www.augwessex.org.uk/discussions/view/1028#4554 Drew McFarlane info@augwessex.org.uk https://www.augwessex.org.uk/ Thank you Mike and Euan. Having decided on a particular hard drive, I found that it had been discontinued and was being replaced within the next few weeks. I am now waiting for the replacement. Yours aye, Drew 2014-03-23T11:15:18+00:00 https://www.augwessex.org.uk/discussions/view/1028#4555 Derek Wright info@augwessex.org.uk https://www.augwessex.org.uk/ I use an iPod as a backup for the pictures I put on the Macbook when travelling around.