External hard drive vs hdd+enclosure and questions
 

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What would be better a external hdd or an enclosure. It'll be connected through USB . Now my second question is that is there a way to use the hdd with both a mac and windows computer at the sametime without formating anything?
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I would say get whichever is cheaper. Normally that would be HDD enclosure + HDD.

Yes, format the drive for FAT32. Though, you can't connect to Mac and PC (or PC and PC) at the same time.

I picked up a 1TB external for $89.99 plus taxes. I don't think you could beat that if you bought the case and HD separately.

They are the same thing, except one of them you're buying pre-assembled, and the other one you put together yourself.

First, take the warranty into consideration. Sometimes if you buy an external hard drive, it only comes with a one year warranty, whereas if you buy an OEM hard drive, it'll come with at least a three year, and sometimes five year warranties.

Second, just look at the price. Often times you'll find that it's cheaper to buy a hard drive and enclosure separately than buying an retail external hard drive.

If you want the external hard drive to work with both a Mac and Windows, you have a few options.

The easiest way is to format the drive using FAT32. Obviously there are some drawbacks though, like 2GB maximum file size. You would need to do this on the Mac, as Windows will force you to format as NTFS.

Another option is to format is in Mac's HFS+ format. Windows can read the drive, but only after you have installed special software.

You're welcome.

Depends on which brand it is. WD, Seagate branded ones... no way.


FAT32 is 4GB max file size. Annoying if you have big Blu-Ray rips. :haha:

Can Macs read NTFS?

Whoops, you're right. It's Linux that has 2GB file size limit.

Hmm, apparently they can read it, but can't write to it.

Ext hdd vs diy ext hdd... Same thing, just think about cost (about the same), warranty and support on the enclosure, and the application... If it's for video/audio work then go with something guaranteed to work (Glyph, G-Tech, Caldigit drives).


Out of the box Macs can read NTFS. There is a free NTFS driver called NTFS-3G that adds read and write funtionality, check it out!

Windows can not read HFS without a driver or app. MacDrive gives read and write HFS access, also the latest BootCamp drivers from Snow Leopard give HFS read access.
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Also I saw some saturday in store sales on retail ext hdds and the prices were awesome, look around for sales.
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I wonder how reliable that's gonna be in the long run...

I just got a WeibeTech ToughTech XE mini portable HD enclosure with a 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue. Goddamn it's fast.

http://www.wiebetech.com/products/toughtech_mini.php

But it's designed by Pininfarina and the hard drive is a Hitachi.

What brand is it? What drive is used, and what is the controller chipset?

It's made by Simpletech and the drives a Hitachi.

I don't know if I can trust a company that calls itself "Simpletech."