External hard drive for OS 10.4.11

I just spent all last night figuring out this exact same problem. Didn't want to spend even more on top of the upgrade to a new iMac but my solution was this. Compatible in all ways to a Mac OS 10.4, non-intel PPC (dinosaur) comes with the cords 500 GB but you can get a 320GB (not cost effective) PORTABLE so will be useful going forward.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MS8U3H5500GB/

I called their tech support instead of sales and they were very patient and extremely knowlegable.

I also looked at

• Upgrading to 10.5, but it seems it is a sellers market on this rare OS and don't trust online free or cheap illegal downloads from Latvia (yes I looked at spam reports) I was desperate for a quick fix but not stupid
• cloud type backup but not extensively (becasue I still don't trust online companies to have all my data) could be a solution for you

I only need this for the intital cross backup before I have Apple migrate it all over for me. But I also don't waste money on something that I won't use in the future. So for me after reading everything and most support blogs leading me there, I have to be happy with my decision.

: )

External hard drives just need to be formatted properly for the type of computer you have. Some manufacturers, like Western Digital and LaCie, may include special backup software that is only compatible with certain OS's, but the drive itself works just fine.

Make sure you get an external hard drive that is at LEAST as big as your internal drive.

You may want to check out what Other World Computing has to offer. Their drives are compatible with Macs running at least 10.0.x (so your current computer definitely qualifies) and they're a very reputable company.

Once you have an external hard drive, I suggest downloading Carbon Copy Cloner to do a bootable backup of your MacBook's hard drive. With a bootable backup available to you, you have nothing to worry about if your upgrade doesn't go well - you can wipe the internal drive and clone back all your data very easily.

I hope that helps you a bit - if you have questions, please do ask!

~Lyssa

Have you heard anything about the Seagate backup plus desktop drive instead of the OWC? Trying to make sure it will work (has firewire 800) before opening and messing with CCC and all. I only have an emac with 10.4.11 and cannot go higher.

jessmichmac wrote:

I am looking to upgrade from OS 10.4.11 to a newer system, but first need to purchase an external hard drive to back everything up before updating. The options for an external hard drive that will run on an OS before 10.6 seem to be limited. Does anyone have suggestions of a reliable external hard drive for 10.4.11( any brand)?

Thanks.

My advice: Buy a new HDD for the MacBook and use your old one as a permanent archive. Mount your existing drive in a USB HDD case and use it to import your user account, files and applications from your drive. Then invest in an external drive that supports being used as a Time Machine backup for your crispy, fresh Snow Leopard system.

FWIW, if you have the funds, an SSD will make the MacBook MUCH faster.

One option would be a 32gig usb memory stick. Example Here. They're not that expensive.

OOPS bad example. It also is 10.5+

You get the idea though.

You might also a cloud based service like ADrive to back up your files.