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USB Storage


LedRush
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I have been forced to move all my music and movies (and once I can figure it out, my pictures) from my MacBook to an external harddrive due to the ridiculously bad storage options on Mac computers. I originally did this with an external drive which requires an independent power source, but now it feels like my laptop has become a desktop.

 

I would like to get a large (preferable 3TB, but at least 2TB) USB external drive which is small and uses the power from my MacBook. Does anyone have any recommendations?

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I have been forced to move all my music and movies (and once I can figure it out, my pictures) from my MacBook to an external harddrive due to the ridiculously bad storage options on Mac computers. I originally did this with an external drive which requires an independent power source, but now it feels like my laptop has become a desktop.

 

I would like to get a large (preferable 3TB, but at least 2TB) USB external drive which is small and uses the power from my MacBook. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I have one of these but its an older version and is only 500gb.

 

http://www.amazon.co...ywords=3 tb usb

 

Whatever you do, if you are going to store your data on one of these, keep a backup copy somewhere else. Any hard drive can fail at any time, sometimes with zero notice.

Edited by thesweetscience
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I have been forced to move all my music and movies (and once I can figure it out, my pictures) from my MacBook to an external harddrive due to the ridiculously bad storage options on Mac computers. I originally did this with an external drive which requires an independent power source, but now it feels like my laptop has become a desktop.

 

I would like to get a large (preferable 3TB, but at least 2TB) USB external drive which is small and uses the power from my MacBook. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I have one of these but its an older version and is only 500gb.

 

http://www.amazon.co...ywords=3 tb usb

 

Whatever you do, if you are going to store your data on one of these, keep a backup copy somewhere else. Any hard drive can fail at any time, sometimes with zero notice.

 

Western digital are meant to be good. As thesweetscience said try to keep them backed up in two places. Maybe on your old hard drive if it's not full?

Edited by LittleRushmonkey
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I have been forced to move all my music and movies (and once I can figure it out, my pictures) from my MacBook to an external harddrive due to the ridiculously bad storage options on Mac computers. I originally did this with an external drive which requires an independent power source, but now it feels like my laptop has become a desktop.

 

I would like to get a large (preferable 3TB, but at least 2TB) USB external drive which is small and uses the power from my MacBook. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I have one of these but its an older version and is only 500gb.

 

http://www.amazon.co...ywords=3 tb usb

 

Whatever you do, if you are going to store your data on one of these, keep a backup copy somewhere else. Any hard drive can fail at any time, sometimes with zero notice.

 

Western digital are meant to be good. As thesweetscience said try to keep them backed up in two places. Maybe on your old hard drive if it's not full?

 

I back up wirelessly every hour to a different device.

 

Thanks for the rec!

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I bought a micro-desktop for $150 as a media server connected to the TV and stereo system with a 3TB drive attached. You can just stream over Wi-Fi if you want to access it from a portable device. If you want to cart something outside your Wi-Fi range, a 256 GB thumb drive would esily hold all the Rush DVDs, and the most extensive music collection with space left over.
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I bought a micro-desktop for $150 as a media server connected to the TV and stereo system with a 3TB drive attached. You can just stream over Wi-Fi if you want to access it from a portable device. If you want to cart something outside your Wi-Fi range, a 256 GB thumb drive would esily hold all the Rush DVDs, and the most extensive music collection with space left over.

 

Thanks, but that setup won't help me, and I have about 500GB of music (not including the 2TB+ I got from the Rush HDD sharing thread) and I need room to expand, so a thumb drive won't help.

 

I currently stream my music from my laptop to my stereo system through Apple TV, but I could use one of several other devices I have if they were half as good to use.

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I don't think using a portable device as a server is going to lead to a solution you are completely happy with.

 

I already have everything set up. The only thing I need to do is replace my 3TB external HDD which requires an independent power source with a 3TB external HDD which doesn't require an independent power source.

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I bought a WD My Book for Mac 3 TB hard drive for the Rush traveling hard drive and I liked it so well that I bought another one recently so I could scan old family photos and put them on it. It does require an external power source, though.

 

This article might be helpful ?? http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400958,00.asp It recommends some different external hard drives but it explains the tradeoff between externally powered ones (the larger 3.5 inch desktop ones with fan) and the USB powered ones ( 2.5 inch portable ones- no fan, and so are limited to smaller capacity.) Good luck!

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Are you trying to derail this thread?

Honestly, LED the one I linked above is what you want. You can get one that is 3TB, its not very big so it can still be portable if you want to carry it around with your laptop, it only requires one cable and as far as reliability, it will be as good as any.

 

All hard drives with high capacity have QC issues which is why I mentioned the importance of backups, but you said you have that covered.

 

And they aren't really that expensive considering what you are getting.

Edited by thesweetscience
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Are you trying to derail this thread?

Honestly, LED the one I linked above is what you want. You can get one that is 3TB, its not very big so it can still be portable if you want to carry it around with your laptop, it only requires one cable and as far as reliability, it will be as good as any.

 

All hard drives with high capacity have QC issues which is why I mentioned the importance of backups, but you said you have that covered.

 

And they aren't really that expensive considering what you are getting.

 

Cool, thanks again.

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Have multiple backups.

Having worked on company and personal laptops for 15 years, I have 8 backup drives.

Backup the backup is the rule. I do it with spreadhseets/ music/ videos/ pics...always think in 3's ...keep one with you and the 3rd in a drawer/ different location/ safe somewhere or somewhere different in case of theft, loss, disaster, etc....

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So, I never pulled the trigger on this and plan to get a new MacBook Pro. Any thoughts on this bad boy:

 

http://www.apple.com...-drive?fnode=5f

 

Good I don't really want to store all of your stuff anyway :P

 

A buddy of mine has an older macbook and a smaller version of that hard drive. He's always worried about breaking the thing as it doesn't feel sturdy. In terms of speed it's fine.

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