Portable HD for MBP

abandonedheroabandonedhero
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I'm going to be receiving my 15" MBP sometime next week, and I've already begun looking at some portable hard drives with at least 160GB. I'd like to know if any of you have a nice portable drive for your MBP that doesn't require another power source or monopolize 2 USB ports.



I've seen several USB portables that need two USB ports, but it looks like the cable they come with isn't long enough to span the distance between the two ports.



Firewire 400/800 is another option. I'd really like to go with a HD that will have no problems interfacing with my desktop PC (which only has USB at the moment). I'm also open to purchasing a cheap FW400 card for my desktop if I can find a nice enough portable.



I'm also open to cheap enclosures. I've seen a few that are FW/USB combos and look good - anyone have suggestions on brands for those?



So I'll reiterate my needs and hopefully someone can help me out.



If the drive is only USB:

-Needs to be completely powered by one port



If the drive is FW:

-Needs to be completely powered by one port, and preferably be FW400



If the drive is a combo:

-Needs to be completely powered by one port or the other, possibly both ports if necessary.



Thanks for your help guys, all this should be highly helpful to a new switcher/Mac user.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    feartecfeartec Posts: 119member
    I have three externals all which work fine. I didn't care about if it was Mac compatible, and all worked fine. I got a DOS BOX version of a FAT32 converter that converted my entire 160Gb HDD to a cross compatible HDD, I have had trouble with it however. I have to be honest, it is really how cool things look these days. You got a MBP, so spend the money and get a sweet looking one @1/2 Tb and never worry again. I have three, and still need more. It's amazing what video rendering does to your space....
  • Reply 2 of 7
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    I've a nice small western digital portable drive. It'd a USB drive that I use to clone the HDD of my MBP. It seems to be working fine but I've only had it a couple of months.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    abandonedheroabandonedhero Posts: 32member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Feartec View Post


    I have three externals all which work fine. I didn't care about if it was Mac compatible, and all worked fine. I got a DOS BOX version of a FAT32 converter that converted my entire 160Gb HDD to a cross compatible HDD, I have had trouble with it however. I have to be honest, it is really how cool things look these days. You got a MBP, so spend the money and get a sweet looking one @1/2 Tb and never worry again. I have three, and still need more. It's amazing what video rendering does to your space....



    Are there any portable bus powered externals that are bigger than 200GB? I haven't seen any. If you could point me to them, that'd be great.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by backtomac View Post


    I've a nice small western digital portable drive. It'd a USB drive that I use to clone the HDD of my MBP. It seems to be working fine but I've only had it a couple of months.



    I've been looking at the WD Passport as a good drive. Does yours need another power supply?
  • Reply 4 of 7
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by abandonedhero View Post




    I've been looking at the WD Passport as a good drive. Does yours need another power supply?



    No. It receives it's power through the USB port. I haven't had it very long so I'm reluctant to give it a ringing endorsement but so far, so good. And it's very small and very portable, which appeals greatly to me.



    Just so that there's no confusion, this is the model I'm referring to.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    The SimpleTech drives work with one USB port.

    http://simpletech.com/commercial/pro...ninfarina.html
  • Reply 6 of 7
    abandonedheroabandonedhero Posts: 32member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galley View Post


    The SimpleTech drives work with one USB port.

    http://simpletech.com/commercial/pro...ninfarina.html



    I've heard of SimpleTech here and there, but can anyone vouch for the quality/reliability of their drives?
  • Reply 7 of 7
    abandonedheroabandonedhero Posts: 32member
    I went and got the WD Passport 250 GB and it's been great - I've only had one issue with it though, and that's due to the nature of the OS I first connected it to. Vista doesn't work with it. You can't read, write, or even access the HD when connected to a Vista box. If you're buying one to use across platforms, I'l only buy this if you have XP and OSX. Works great in OSX though, just tested it with my girlfriend's MacBook and hopefully I'll connect it to my MacBook Pro which should be coming in a few days.
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