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User profile for user: Lee Tubb
Lee Tubb Author
User level: Level 1
39 points

Hard drive enclosures?

I have a dilema id like help with!


I have a brand new 500gb Scorpio Black 2.5" sata hard drive!


I alos have a 500gb Seagate sata 3" hard drive, I also have an external fan assisted case for this however I cannot get anything to recognise this drive, my win laptop can see and identify the drive but cannot do anything with it! (dont know why, been using PCs for years and have run out of ideas).



so my question is this, if i use the 2.5" as an external, id need to puchase an enclosure from somewhere (which i know can be obtained for very little money), however will this definately work and id like to format so it would work with windows as well so i think that means formatting to ExFat?



ive seen a LaCie 3.5" USB2 enclosure for sale on a well know bay of auctions and wonder if that would work with my 3.5"drive or would i be better off buying an enclosure for the 2.5" and try to get USB3?


id intend to use these on windows 7 and my new imac 27" with Mavericks.



any advice would be appreciated!


Lee.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), 1st mac, and its a beauty!

Posted on Mar 1, 2014 5:28 AM

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User profile for user: Joe Bailey
Joe Bailey
User level: Level 6
12,227 points

Posted on Mar 1, 2014 7:58 AM

If you plan to boot your Mac from this external HD it will have to be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using an GUID partition table. If you will have nothing on the drive but data you can use ExFAT, but you will not have all the features of OS X available on the drive. As to the enclosure, not all external enclosures are created equal and not all of them "play nice" with the Macintosh and some will not play at all. If at all possible you want an enclosure that uses the Oxford bridge chip for maximum compatibility with both the Mac and PC platforms. Other World Computing has a variety of different enclosures that use the Oxford chip set and just about any interface you can think of. FWIW I have no connection with OWC other than that of being a satisfied customer.

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User profile for user: Joe Bailey
Joe Bailey
User level: Level 6
12,227 points

Mar 1, 2014 7:58 AM in response to Lee Tubb

If you plan to boot your Mac from this external HD it will have to be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using an GUID partition table. If you will have nothing on the drive but data you can use ExFAT, but you will not have all the features of OS X available on the drive. As to the enclosure, not all external enclosures are created equal and not all of them "play nice" with the Macintosh and some will not play at all. If at all possible you want an enclosure that uses the Oxford bridge chip for maximum compatibility with both the Mac and PC platforms. Other World Computing has a variety of different enclosures that use the Oxford chip set and just about any interface you can think of. FWIW I have no connection with OWC other than that of being a satisfied customer.

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Hard drive enclosures?

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