Troubles with my external hard drive

The drive has a firewire 800 port yes. Will I definitely be able to use that with a mac if I buy one. (this is the research part I should have done previously lol)

Okay so what I need is a firewire 800 and a firewire 800 adapter? The firewire 800 wont just plug in to the mac?

What else do I possibly need before I can optimse files via the external hard drive? I'd rather get all the purchases I need to make and buy them all in one go.

Does your GoFlex have a spot to plug in FireWire? If it does, just buy a cable like Ben said. If it doesn't, you will need the adapter. You also need a FireWire 800 cable if you don't have one.

Also, check to see if the GoFlex is 5400 or 7200 RPM drive. If it's 5400 the FireWire probably won't help.

As for the RAM and other things, others will have to chime in about that.

JT

cockneyjay wrote: Okay so what I need is a firewire 800 and a firewire 800 adapter? The firewire 800 wont just plug in to the mac?

What else do I possibly need before I can optimse files via the external hard drive? I'd rather get all the purchases I need to make and buy them all in one go.

I've been trying to write this reply for a while so hopefully this one comes through.

The hard drive has firewire 800. So what I need is a firewire 800 and a firewire 800 adapter? It wont just plug in to a mac even though they sell it at the apple store?

Also how can i get a ram upgrade? That'd be quite costly wouldn't it?

Can a mac really not edit things without upgrading it?

I read all over the box and I can't see if the hard drive is 5,400 or 7,200 RPM. How do I find out?

I think I do need an adapter too.

OK, you have a FireWIre port so just get the cable - easy enough to see how much that helps. The drive didn't come with a cable?

You can get RAM here:

eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/

I upgraded my 2011 Macbook Pro to 16G - love it. 8G may be enough? But I would just try the FireWire cable to see how much that helps.

JT

Do not get an "adapter" of any sort, just a FW800 cable.
16GB RAM would help, too. But get the FW800 cable for your hard drive first.

Video editing is very stressful to a computer system, it takes a lot of power to do it, be it Windows or Mac.

But on the box of the hard drive it says you can customize the hard drive with a fw800 adapter. So you think I don't need one still?

Oh, I think that you're specific drive has a "base" you can get different kinds for. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes.

But do not get an adapter that goes from FW800 to some other format such as USB or FW400.

If you check the link I posted above you will see the adapter. I purchased one of these for my GoFlex to change from USB3 to Firewire. However, I don't use this drive for video editing. Just for backing up files.

If you want to go with Thunderbolt you can get this adapter:

www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home...&is=REG&Q=&A=details

Although it costs a bit more, it would future proof for when you upgrade your Mac and FireWire is no longer available on it.

I still wouldn't do anything until you know the drive speed.

mobiletaylor wrote: You will probably need a new adapter for FireWire:

www.amazon.com/Seagate-FreeAgent-GoFlex-...dapter/dp/B003KGBBRM

Just make sure your GoFlex will work with that adapter!

Also, although that should help, you may have other limiting factors as well. As mentioned above, 4Gigs of ram is not really enough. Could be some other things slowing you down as well.

JT

Holy Moses!

If you have a firewire drive and want to use it with a new iMac that only has USB and thunderbolt ports you will need this $29 cable. store.apple.com/us/product/MD464ZM/A/app...-to-firewire-adapter

I've one to use my existing drives with the new iMac that should be delivered in the next couple of weeks. Having not used it yet I can't tell you how good or bad it works.

I have a T'bolt to FW800 adapter, works just fine. As fast as a native FW port.