What type external drive best for new Mac Mini?

[richpate]

I just got a new Mac Mini (2009) and want to upgrade the internal HDD. I want to first copy a bootable clone of the OEM internal HDD onto an external enclosure with the new HDD in it. Then once I clone the OEM drive, I can boot from the external HDD to make sure everything works before I install it into the Mac Mini.

On my old PPC PowerBook I had to use a Firewire external enclosure for the HDD in order for it to be bootable.

On the new "Intel-Macs" can a USB 2.0 external drive enclosure be used to create such a bootable clone of the internal drive? The reason I ask is that I got a free USB 2.0 external drive enclosure with the new HDD I bought. Thanks.

[dnanian]

Yes, as stated in the User's Guide and the system requirements, you can use a USB drive with an Intel Mac. But the external drive must be properly partitioned (as GUID) to use it properly.

[fshnmich]

I have used an external HDD for my macbook and imac to make a bootable drive. The software works flawlessly. You may want to partition the disk GUID.