I only have a USB2.0 iMac and devices, but want to future proof my purchase, can I plug this drive to my iMac and connect the external HDD on it?
1105833
Yep. That's the same thing I did. Of course your external HD will have to support USB2, because, I'm confident that you can't go: USB2 Mac -> USB3 hub -> USB3 HD. However, most newer ext HD's support both USB 2 & 3
1105834
Throughput is limited to speeds supported by the lowest common denominator. In other words, you will not obtain USB 3.0 speeds, even between USB 3.0 drives, because the controller is sitting on the other side of the USB 2.0 connection. The device itself is backward compatible.Warning (and this is in their documentation that comes with the device): Logitech wireless keyboard do not work well when this device is plugged into your computer, even if the wireless is plugged directly into a computer USB connection and not through the hub.
1105835
Throughput is limited to speeds supported by the lowest common denominator. In other words, you will not obtain USB 3.0 speeds, even between USB 3.0 drives, because the controller is sitting on the other side of the USB 2.0 connection. The device itself is backward compatible. Warning (and this is in their documentation that comes with the device): Logitech wireless keyboard do not work well when this device is plugged into your computer, even if the wireless is plugged directly into a computer USB connection and not through the hub.
2146739
The drive is supported, it comes formatted in fat32. You can reformat to mac only or exFat if you want. USB 3 is not supported on macs (yet, you'll need a new mac), but the drive works just fine.I have 2, use them both on mac's and pc's with no issues. Great drive, really fast even on usb2.
259146
No. It requires external power for the drives and most other USB-powered devices. I ended up connecting my non-powered USB devices into the hub and those requiring power directly into my iMac. Fortunately, I had sufficient devices that didn't need power that it worked.
455336
Yes you absolutely can. i have 2- 4tb seagate go flex drives sitting on these and daisy chained together into a thunderbolt port on a iMac.they can also be used in the same mannor on usb 2.0/3.0they work great
1380045
Not unless the USB 3.0 device also has FireWire 800 ports, such as the Oyen Mini-Pro. But then, why not connect the drive directly to a USB 3.0 port on your iMac? It will even work if you connect it to a USB 2.0 port, if your iMac doesn't support USB 3.0, but that will reduce the speed of the drive considerably. Either go straight FW *or* USB 3.0 - you can't do both.
1626710
The drive itself is only 5,400 RPM. However, if your only option is Thunderbolt or USB 2.0 (2011 iMac for instance) then this drive will still offer higher performance over a 7,200 RPM external USB 2.0 hard drive. USB 2.0 is limited to about 60MB/s (480Mbit/s), and this drive achieves around 105MB/s - 109MB/s according to http://reviews.cnet.com/external-hard-drives/buffalo-ministation-thunderbolt-1tb/4505-3190_7-35338125.html. Having said that, I have two of these. I have one on a 2013 iMac (i7 & 16GB Ram) and another on a 2011 iMac (i7 & 16GB Ram). I use them as external drives for my Windows 8 virtual machines. They are very speedy, and I haven't had any performance issues as of yet. You're correct however, you will never see 10,000GBit/s as they imply.
420476
I can't imagine why this external hard drive would not work with a new macbook. What difference would the screen make? I presume that the new macbook comes with OS X 10.8. I have two of these drives on my iMac and they work fine. It's a good idea to read the directions (quite simple) when installing the drive. It is formatted for Mac. The only thing I can think of is that someone mistakenly configured the drive for a PC. Then it wouldn't work on a Mac.
934756
I have Mt Lion, I am not sure if there are any issues with previous OS's.. I can't imagine it being a problem, especially if you're using it as a sole hard drive.. I have the stock 1TB hdd as a secondary internal in my 2012 Mac mini, and if you pay attention to the OWC instructions on setup, it works like a dream. I can only imagine hardware not being compatible if anything. I really don't know 100%, but I assume you will be safe
2158870
I couldn't tell you, I don't use pc I'm a mac guy. I worked in my Power Mac, but I now have an iMac and it won't work w/ new OS. Sorry I couldn't help more but I had mine before USB 3.0 became a reality.
677285
I have it connected via iMac. I use an external hard drive w/esata to USB 3.0 adapter, iPod classic, and anything else that I have needed! Fantastic hub with lightning fast transfer speed!
1803946
Once you plug in the USB cable your Mac should recognize the drive immediately and you can just use disk utilities to reformat the drive to Mac format. Remember if you reformat it to Mac format. A PC may not be able to read the contents of the drive
135685
I am an idiot- specifically, how do you format this for a Mac? Also, is it fine to do this, or should I buy a specific hard drive already formated or designed for Macs?
2278959
This is just the case, you will need to provide the HDD (2.5in SATA (SATA, SATA II, SATA III) laptop hard drive or SSD) separately... check your MacBook's specifications.... that being said it's standard USB 2.0 connection, it will work just as any regular USB drive would.... I'm very happy with mine and it enabled me to get access to my old laptop's files and now use the case for "on-the-go"...
448603
after further investigation you may need a easy transfer cable from mac to mac. usb cable is good for mac to external hard drive.
90649
You can. My drive was formatted NTFS via usb and i connect to my Mac via Firewire 800 with no problems.
987591
Nope. The new mac mini uses flash memory that is soldiered on to the logic board. There is no connection point for an HDD at all. What you get when you buy it from Apple what you will ever have. You can use a USB 3 enclosure to add more HDDs though. With USB 3 its about as fast as an internal drive. Same goes for the ram, soldiered on, so max it out as much as you can before purchase.
515166
I use this strictly to do OSX backups using TimeMachine. This drive is formatted for use with Apple computers and is not formatted to be accessed by PCs. I have no idea what you are trying to accomplish, whether it is backing up data using backup tools or just trying to copy files to an external drive that either system can read. Regardless, this is not a good, cost effective, starting point for you. You would need to totally reformat the drive and consider if your PC supports USB 3 because this drive is built to support that higher transfer rate.