Format an External Hard Drive to use on MAC and PC

[Walter Soyka]

[Frank Giardina] “Crazy!!! LaCie drives are solid. Should be interesting to see what Seagate comes up with.”

It’s anecdotal, but I’ve heard a lot of complaints about LaCie failures, too.

I’d only say here that all hard drives die — it’s a matter of when, not if. If you have only one copy of your data, you are a quick twist of fate away from having no copies of your data.

Back everything up.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Frank Giardina]

I hear that… when I used tape it was easy just to save the tape as the backup. Shooting with DSLR means huge project files to backup. When I was using FCP I kept RAW on one drive and the project transcoded on another. Now, I’ll have to just backup on another drive. Thanks for reminding me Walter!

Frank Giardina
17 Video Production

[Frank Giardina]

Here’s an update… I used the Seagate drive for all of two weeks and it’s not POWERING UP. I hear they acquired or are in the process of acquiring LaCie. That doesn’t sound good to me at all. With that being said, any external drive recommendations.

Frank Giardina
17 Video Production

[Walter Soyka]

[Frank Giardina] “Here’s an update… I used the Seagate drive for all of two weeks and it’s not POWERING UP.”

Bummer!

It’s possible that the enclosure has failed, but the drive itself is still good. You may be able to open the enclosure (voiding your warranty), remove the drive, and place it directly inside a computer or in another enclosure to access the disk and retrieve your data.

I generally buy my storage from companies that cater to audio/video markets, like CalDigit, Dulce, G-Tech, Glyph, MaxxDigital, and others (many of whom are advertisers here). You’ll pay more, but you’ll get better support, components and build quality, and enterprise-class drives. Still doesn’t guarantee the drives won’t fail, though…

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Frank Giardina]

I hear that Walter. They are sending me a new base, thinking it may just be the base that failed, that’s why there was no power to the unit. If that doesn’t do it, I’m pulling the drive and as you noted, either place it directly inside a computer or in another enclosure to access the disk and retrieve your data. They waved the voiding of my warranty in case I have to go that way. I also have a IT friend that can retrieve the data if push comes to shove.

I’ve already decided to go with G-Tech looking ahead, and I’ll backup all my files on another external drive. This whole thing started because I was looking for a multi-platform workflow. I thought Seagate would do that for me and it’s turned into a big mess.

This has been a live and learn a hard lessons.

Thanks for your help and support!!!!

Frank Giardina
17 Video Production

[Jim Miesner]

how Is The Speed Of Tuxera? I Tried Macdrive, But It Was Really To Slow To Edit With.

Jim