[MacDV] Storage

[Derek Roff]

--On Friday, February 19, 2010 12:00 PM -0800 Patty wrote:

> I was in Best Buy today and took a minute to look at some 1TB (and
> larger) drives. Both the ones I looked at said they were for Mac
> OS X v10.3 or later. Does that actually matter if all one wants to
> do is hook it up and transfer files to it?

I hope no one working with video is still trying to use Mac OS 10.2 
Jaguar or earlier.  But it sounds like that might be the case for 
Patty.  What model computer are you using, Patty?  Even if it is 
ancient, it could probably run Mac OS 10.3 Panther.  What video 
software are you using?

There are various things that might not work with a new drive and an 
ancient OS version.  At one time, some of my G4 PowerMacs couldn't 
recognize/use more than 140 GB(?) of hard drive space.  I don't 
remember if that limit was caused by hardware, OS version, or a 
combination.  OS 10.3 Panther came out in mid-2003, and was the 
mainstream OS version before most Mac users got USB 2.  So it's 
possible that Jaguar didn't support USB 2.  I prefer FireWire in any 
case.

There is another way to look at it.  In order to run Mac OS X Jaguar or 
earlier, you probably need a computer produced in 2003 or earlier. 
There aren't many of us left running computers that old.  So most 
people buying the 1 TB disc that you describe don't even have to think 
about the OS version limitation- their computer came with an OS that 
matches the requirements.

If the drive maker says you need Panther or later, I bet you do.  They 
have no need to discourage customers who could use their hardware.  And 
for most disks that include special software, it will run on PCs only, 
so every Mac user is out of luck, regardless of the OS version.

I agree with the advice that a Mac user reformat the drive to Mac OS 
Extended (journaled).  Disc usage will be faster and more reliable. 
But Macs can read and write disks with FAT 16 and FAT 32 formatting. 
Leaving the format as is would allow a disc to be shared with a PC 
user, if that were important to someone.

Derek

Derek Roff
Language Learning Center
Ortega Hall 129, MSC03-2100
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
505/277-7368, fax 505/277-3885
Internet: derek at unm.edu