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What external hard rive is recommended for a Macbook Pro 2008 15"?

What external hard drive would you recommend for a Macbook Pro 2008 15"? At least 1 TB, portable preferred. limited to USB 2, standard A plug

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Early 2008

Posted on Mar 11, 2013 7:05 AM

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Posted on Mar 11, 2013 7:08 AM

I'm looking for the best brand name mac users would recommend.

4 replies

Mar 11, 2013 8:09 AM in response to Petewould Mac

USB2 is all you have, it makes a terrible interface for backup and copying files.


And actually I would avoid any and all of the big "name brand" whether WD (love their drives) or any others (LaCie, Seagate, etc)


And this is one case where I almost always and only use OWC enclosures (you can get one with a drive or choose your own, buy an enclosure with "0" drive size and throw in anything from WD 1TB and up, slower rpm green drives etc.


The best upgrade you can make is probably to replace and upgrade the internal drive you have for an SSD and put your drive in an empty 2.5" pocket enclosure - OWC sells kit for doing just that.


And in the future if you want to post in the macbook notebook area forums, this one is not, go here:


MacBook Pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro

http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro

Mar 11, 2013 9:19 AM in response to The hatter

I have used MacAlly multi-Interface 3.5" external cases from Amazon, and have been happy with them. I bought the ones with Firewire 800, and that can provide a fairly speedy backup.


For re-purposing laptop drives, I have used the OWC Mercury Elite Pro metal mini-enclosures.


2.5" drives are mostly laptop drives, and use a 5 Volt spindle motor. They are not performance drives. You CAN Bus-power them, but a power supply of some description (even a USB stunt cable) may be more reliable.


3.5" drives are desktop drives, and use a 12 Volt spindle motor. Their enclosures MUST have a power supply of its own. They have the potential to be faster.

What external hard rive is recommended for a Macbook Pro 2008 15"?

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