Disk compatibility

[dnanian]

I'm sorry. There are so many drives, and so many Macs, and so many combinations, it's nearly impossible for me to provide a list of drives that are "known good", but "known good" can only be for combinations that we can test.

Thunderbolt, in general, should work fine, as should USB drives. Some drives (like G-Drives) may need firmware updates to improve their Mac compatibility, but that's rare. Sometimes you need to attach the drive when you Option+boot, rather than having it attached before. Problems, though, are generally rare.

[G.Wright]

Originally Posted by dnanian

I'm sorry. There are so many drives, and so many Macs, and so many combinations, it's nearly impossible for me to provide a list of drives that are "known good", but "known good" can only be for combinations that we can test.

Thunderbolt, in general, should work fine, as should USB drives. Some drives (like G-Drives) may need firmware updates to improve their Mac compatibility, but that's rare. Sometimes you need to attach the drive when you Option+boot, rather than having it attached before. Problems, though, are generally rare.

I understand.

Thanks for starting this post - which is a valuable asset for SuperDuper users trying to pick a backup drive from the ever-changing selection which is available to us!

What sent me here today was the frustration that fewer of available hard drives can connect with FireWire, and several of the few that are available have other problems. Add to that the fact that there are fewer Macs with a FW port - and obviously, at some point, the advice in the Users Guide:

"Our general advice is to get a FireWire drive from Other World Computing, WiebeTech, LaCie or a Maxtor OneTouch. We have tested these drives for compatibility, and all work well with the Mac."

... is going to need to be updated - as well as the 'Sticky' that starts this thread ("FireWire is always preferred").

I don't think a comprehensive "known good" list is needed, but some general guidelines - just like the comments you made here about Thunderbolt and the G-Drives - and all the other excellent observations you have made throughout this thread - if summarized - and put in the Help Guide, or on the SuperDuper website, or at the start of this Sticky might get newbies up to speed quicker.

Someone who glances at the User's Guide, or reads only the start of this Sticky might incorrectly conclude the software is mostly for Macs with FireWire. And some of us long-time users may be getting nervous about the shrinking supply of FW backup drives, and wondering about other options - which are mentioned - but sprinkled throughout this longish thread.

[dnanian]

I do try to say, in the User's Guide, that USB works fine with Intel Macs, whereas you need FireWire for Power PC Macs. When it's an option, FireWire is preferred. When it's not an option, though...

[dianeoforegon]

The Western Digital My Book USB 3.0 drives work well after reformatting with Disk Utility.

The WD My Passport with Unlock does not. To remove the software that locks the drive it requires a Windows machine. You need to download Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows.

This will completely remove the unlock partition and erase all software on the drive.

Now you can format properly in Disk Utility.

My suggestion would be to take the Passport back and exchange it for a MY Book USB 3.0.

[dnanian]

Thanks for the info, Diane!

[Budgie]

just brought a new imac for my prepress dept

iMAC 27" 3.2ghz 32gb ram 1tb fusion drive

I generally use lacie drives as I have had a good run with these for years, I opted to try a lacie Porche Design P9220 1tb USB, the drive is only 130mm x80mm x 18mm, from a virgin imac I did the initial erase and install, blazing speed, backed up in 18 minutes, installed a heap of other software, and then did a smart update, wow, fast, 6 minutes
boot test from external was as expected a little slow, but up and running in about 2 minutes

BRILLIANT

SD ROCKS

[dnanian]

Nice, Budgie!