Snake007uk Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Hey Guys, I have a small dilemma, basically i bought my macbook pro about 3 weeks ago, and I want to purchase a small external drive, for backups etc... I was thinking USB 2.0 drive as I can use it with my Window/Linux machines, and also with my Macbook Pro. However the problem is I also want to use it for backing up my Macbook Hard disk, you know, where you can backup your hard disk Image and boot off the external drive if something goes wrong etc.. use to restore my laptop etc... can i do this with a USB drive? I have done it on G4 using Firewire but never on Intel and USB, not even sure if Intel will do this? Thanks Snake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampTK Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 I'm almost certain that OS X on intel can boot from USB. But try to get a drive (or enclosure for a drive) that has Firewire 800 and USB 2.0, that way you can use it at faster speeds, at least when using the MBP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wydra Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Buy external drive with USB and FireWire sa you will dont have problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake007uk Posted February 2, 2007 Author Share Posted February 2, 2007 can you recommend any good one dont need more then a 100gig UK site please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wydra Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I bought disk and put this to Wettland HHD Casse I foung one (and only one) external firewire case from witch X cant boot , th Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soündless Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 I'm almost certain that OS X on intel can boot from USB. But try to get a drive (or enclosure for a drive) that has Firewire 800 and USB 2.0, that way you can use it at faster speeds, at least when using the MBP. nope, you have to boot into single user mode to grant it permission Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Nonny Moose Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 When Macworld tested USB 2.0 against Firewire 400 (on the same hard drive), the Firewire plug was still faster (but just barely). SO if you need to eek out every little bit of speed, then go for Firewire (also, if you have a lot of USB {censored}, then it might behoove you to go for Firewire anyways). It will all depend on what exactly you need and all those other factors (including how many other USB thingies you already have). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wydra Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 try benchmark read and write, in writing FireWire can do 25-38 mb/s depends on firewire ata bridge, usb gain onlyonly 18-22mb/s. in reading difrences are small but noticeable. specialy when you use more than one external drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asap18 Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 Soundless, i think you're thinking about powerpc macs. Intel macs can boot both firewire, i do both all the time. Just make sure it is partitioned with the guid partition map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soündless Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 do you boot usb? i know fw 800+400 will boot, but i had no idea that usb would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake007uk Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 I borrowed my friends Western Digital My book, it has 2* FW400 and 1 * usb2.0 all i can say is FW400 is SOO FAST!!!! I never even bother trying to boot off the USB, as external drive had both connections. Ive orderd the new model and it comes with 1*FW800 1*FW400 and 1*USB2.0 (250GB) at £85 and i have to admit I am very impressed with it (Although i had to send my SHINY new Macbook pro back for a new one, as the power botton decided to dip to one side and it requires a whole new top case, im within 14days so i get a new one ) Thanks for all your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asap18 Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 The great thing about firewire, is that most of the firewire drives have two firewire ports allowing you to daisy chain them together when you have many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwhsh8r Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Id go with firewire for osx, and usb 2.0 for windows, theyre both speed comparable, so whatever you have more ports of would probably be the smartest way if not osx bootable being an influencing factor, i think firewire if you want to boot osx86 offa it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scart Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Go with the firewire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest goodtime Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 (edited) As far as I know most PCs won't allow Firewire to boot. USB 2.0 does boot on most PCs. I would get a drive that has both USB 2.0 and Firewire 400. This way you could use it for booting either PowerMacs, Intel Macs or OSx86 Macs. Be mindful that BIOS PCs use FDISK/MBR partition scheme, Intel Macs use GUID partition scheme and PowerMacs use the Apple Partition Scheme. gt Edited February 6, 2007 by goodtime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake007uk Posted February 6, 2007 Author Share Posted February 6, 2007 just curious why people seem to think Firewire is dead? considering how good it is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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