Questions & Answers for WD 3TB My Book for Mac Hard Drive
83 Questions from the Community
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after i back up my computer using an external hd and time machine can i erase data from my computer?
- Asked by Martha D from Cockeysville
- Mar 9, 2012
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Best Answer
No. The whole point of a backup is to have your data in two (or more) locations, so a failure in any one place does not mean total loss of your data. Furthermore, Time Machine backups will prune the oldest data as the backup drive gets full (always preserving what is needs to reconstitute your internal drive in its current state). So if you back up a folder of music, say, then delete it from your internal drive, that backed-up folder could eventually be pruned.
To move data off your internal drive that you want to keep, you will need a second external drive. Move the data to that, then make sure Time Machine is backing up both the internal and the new external drive to the Time Machine drive.
All hard drives fail--think of them like light bulbs in that respect. And arrange your data management accordingly.
I speak as an independent Mac consultant.- Answered by Colleen T from Jackson
- Aug 15, 2012
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I am looking for a hard drive that will back-up both my mac files (pics & itunes) and win XP files ms,exc (from parallels on my mac & my PC at work)
can anyone recommend an external hard drive (1-2 TB) for both a mac and a pc (win XP). The PC files are on a separate computer at work and from my mac from parallels. I am not super computer literate and will pay more for something that is easier
- Asked by Kathleen M from Washington
- Jan 20, 2010
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Answer
yes this drive will work for that
- Answered by Adam P from Oakville
- Jan 28, 2010
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Answer
This device connects to a computer via USB ports and cables. For the moment there is no way to back up your iPad directly on to this, BUT if it's your music/apps you are worried about, just back your computer to this. You computer will back up it's iTunes library (this is where it backs up iPad info) and that will be backed up into the External Hard Drive.
- Answered by Billy A from West Orange
- May 6, 2010
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Can the Western Digital be connected to a Time Capsule for additional capacity for Wireless backup?
- Asked by Glen E M from Littleton
- Nov 21, 2009
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Answer
Yes, But it will come up as another drive. Basically all that you are doing is making the Hard Drive wireless. But this is compatible for wireless backups from a time capsule.
- Answered by Christopher M
- Feb 25, 2010
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Does WD 3TB work with Lion? Will it work if I upgrade to Mountain Lion?
I want to buy this to use with Time Machine, but I am only running Lion.
I have mac 26" with firewire 800.- Asked by Sandra M from San Marcos
- Nov 20, 2012
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Answer
Yes it will definitely will. Even if you buy the drive that is originally designed for windows (as I did), you will only format it once to go with the mac. I did that when I had lion OS, And everything went OK when i upgraded to mountain lion.
- Answered by Milad G from Mississauga
- Dec 13, 2012
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can I set up this drive as two mirrored 1GB drives?
That is, can I utilise RAID mirroring on this drive
- Asked by Jacob S from Greenacres
- Jan 31, 2010
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Best Answer
I know you mean two 1TB drives. Yes. When you format the HD you can divide it into partitions with 1TB sizes or more than two with smaller partitions.
2TB = 2,000 GB- Answered by Jon M from Palm Springs
- May 28, 2010
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can i transfer video files larger than 10 gigs from a mac to a pc using this drive
- Asked by Ben K from Cincinnati
- Feb 3, 2010
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Best Answer
Any drive can be formatted as one of 3 main file system options:
(a) FAT32 (MS-DOS) - Windows older format.
(b) NTFS - Windows newer format.
(c) HFS+ (Mac OS Extended, Journaled) - Mac format.
On any Mac, by using Disk Utility app, any drive can be formatted for either (a) or (c). Using a Window machine you can format a drive for (a) or (b).
File size issue:
- FAT32 is limited to 4GB max file size.
- NTFS or HFS+ can have files larger than 4GB.
Reading/writing issue:
- Mac OS X can only read NTFS, not write.
- Windows cannot read or write HFS+.
- Mac & Windows can read/write FAT32 (but with the above file size limitation, very apparent given modern HD video or databases file sizes).
Solution:
There are third-party programs for Mac OS X that add read/write capability for NTFS formatted drives. There are third party solutions for Windows that add read/write capability for HFS+.
Usual advice:
If you live in a Mac dominated environ, use HFS+, If Windows, use NTFS. If never using such large files, use FAT32.
More specifically, in your case:
- if moving files one way, Mac to Windows; use HFS+.
- if moving files one way, Windows to Mac; use NTFS.
- if moving files both ways, use either.
But in ANY of these, you'll then have to use a third-party program, as mentioned.
...yes, it is a bit of a pain ;-)- Answered by James S from Hove
- Jul 6, 2011
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if i'm switching from windows to mac, can I use this hard drive to transfer my music files to my mac?
I have about 4GB of music on my desktop and it's a Windows XP. I'm getting a Macbook soon, will I be able to use this hard drive to transfer the music over?
- Asked by Kevin R from Granite City
- Nov 17, 2009
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Best Answer
it says it comes "formatted for Mac," so you might not be able to read or write to it in Windows unless you reformat it. There's a Mac-specific disk format (called HFS+), a Windows-specific disk format * (called NTFS), and a lowest-common-denominator format called FAT32. So, "formatted for Mac" might mean it's HFS+. Either your Windows computer or your Mac can reformat it as FAT32, then you can read and write from both computers.
* that's kind of oversimplified; there's products that will allow you to read and write NTFS on a Mac, but it can't out of the box.- Answered by Matt H from Reston
- Dec 17, 2009
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transitioning from pc to mac. will stored data from pc download to mac?
- Asked by Miguel G from Lucerne Valley
- Nov 13, 2012
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Can I use this drive as a start up drive
- Asked by Roger L from Forest
- Dec 25, 2009
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Answer
Yes. Any drive can be a startup drive - you will need to use your (Snow Leopard) installation disks to put OS X on it. It's pretty simple - just follow the prompts.
To test it, go to System Pref-> Startup and select the disk and re-boot.- Answered by Bill C from Adelaide
- Mar 28, 2010
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will this work with an older G4 Mac desktop running Tiger OS?
- Asked by Guy J from Richmond
- Dec 8, 2009
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Best Answer
It should do. I used a 500GB WD MyBook with a G4 running Tiger, with no problems. I'm still using the same drive, even though I've since upgraded to a MacPro running Leopard.
- Answered by Robert A
- Jan 9, 2010
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Any WiFi storage systems like this for MAC please?
- Asked by Christopher W
- May 25, 2012
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Best Answer
Time Capsule. It is a router and an external hard drive.
- Answered by Ryan A from Lewis Center
- Jul 4, 2012
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How many mac books can I back up? I would like to back up a minimum of three, I understand it has the ability to back up two but what is the limit?
- Asked by Tracy G from Fountain Valley
- Feb 10, 2010
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Best Answer
Any External hard drive can be partitioned as many times as you want it to. So in theory, you may back up a virtually unlimited number of mac books. Of course, the more mac books you back up on this drive, the less space you will have per mac book.
- Answered by Jacob L from Eau Claire
- Mar 8, 2010
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can the Western Digital 2TB My Book for Mac be connected to a macbook and a airport extreme simultaneously?
- Asked by Daniel C from Cathcart
- Jun 12, 2010
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Answer
I connect a My Book 2T by USB to my time capsule which also acts as our household airport. Any macbook on the network can see and write from or read the 2T drive.
- Answered by Paul C
- Oct 23, 2011
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is this a 5400 rpm drive or a 7200 drive
- Asked by Stewart R from Goodyear
- Jun 11, 2010
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Do you get any sort of warranty with it?
- Asked by Karl W from Coogee
- Jan 8, 2010
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Answer
There's a 2 year warranty included from Western Digital.
- Answered by Bryan M from Happy Valley
- Jan 30, 2010
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Does this work in europe too if i bought it in the US
- Asked by Maksymilian C from Galesburg
- Dec 2, 2009
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Answer
yes it will but you will need to buy a new/different power adapter
- Answered by Adam P from Oakville
- Jan 28, 2010
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Can this Drive be used by Time Machine in the same manner as Time Capsule device?
- Asked by William B from El Paso
- Nov 24, 2009
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Best Answer
Yes. The description specifically states that.
- Answered by Matt R from Tucson
- Dec 17, 2009
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Can this be used for back up for two Macs?
- Asked by Pam B from Stouffville
- Dec 7, 2009
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Answer
Of course! ^_^
It works the same as a USB, only it can store maybe 20x the amount of data an average USB would.
Hey, you can back-up 20 Macs with this! ^_^- Answered by Laila M
- Mar 28, 2010
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