Backups for Windows and Mac

Backups for Windows and Mac



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Safely Resolving the Incompatibilities
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Windows (NTFS) and Mac (HFS+) use incompatible default disk formats and do share a common but obsolete unreliable standard format (FAT32) which I do not recommend. (This is the way that they usually come formatted from the store for better sales, but will have worse reliability.) So that means
you could choose one or the other, NTFS or HFS+ and get a translation utility to be able to use its files with the other.

Another option is to make both kinds of formats available on one disk, in separate partitions and use the appropriate translation utility when you need to get a file from the one kind of system to the other. That way you may do native data backups. ...or simpler just get two drives, each formatted appropriately for each kind of system.


http://www.cnet.com/how-to/the-best-ways-to-format-an-external-drive-for-windows-and-mac/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/250431/how_to_share_an_external_drive_between_a_mac_and_a_pc.html



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Drives to purchase
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The Hitachi type drive I would buy is all sold out. They are all bigger size, more expensive, smaller case type and therefore slower, etc. 3.5 inch drives are faster, more reliable and less expensive than the 2.5 inch drives

So the other options are Western Digital, who bought out Hitachi, or put it together to to achieve a better quality more reliable outcome, like I would and have been doing for years. Since the drive will likely need to be custom formatted anyway for use with both Windows and Mac. That is the way I would recommend to get the very best possible reliability outcome.



Option #1 - Western Digital (WD) My Book 2TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive

$69.99 Recertified    Western Digital (WD)
http://tinyurl.com/WD-USB3-0-3-5R or
http://www.microcenter.com/product/455450/My_Book_Essential_2TB_SuperSpeed_USB_30_35External_Desktop_Har

d_Drive_WDBACW0020HBK-NESN_Factory-Recertified
(At that price buy a few, format one for Windows, format one
for Mac and format one to be sure that it is good for a spare)


$99.00 New    Western Digital (WD)
http://tinyurl.com/WD-USB3-0-3-5 or
http://www.walmart.com/ip/29016523?

wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227022045843&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40881028592&wl4=&wl5=

pla&wl6=78811169072&veh=sem



The way I usually do it for absolute maximum server quality reliability is -

Option #2 a Hitachi bare drive and an Enclosure

(Format with 2 partitions, 1 for Windows and 1 for Mac
or get 2 drives, format 1 drive for Windows and 1 drive for Mac)

$64.95
Bare 2TB Drive (Server Quality Ultrastar rated at 2.0 million hours MTBF)
http://www.amazon.com/HITACHI-0F12470-Ultrastar-A7K3000-internal/dp/B00PVXQBAE/ref=sr_1_6

Plus an Enclosure

$35.99
USB 3.0 3.5 inch SATA Drive Enclosure
(with an internal fan if you plan on leaving it on all the time)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182316

or

$14.99
USB 3.0 3.5 inch SATA Drive Dock
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1DS0FR8421




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The ultimate complete system disaster Backup Utility Clonezilla (Free!)
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Best version for most newer computers
http://clonezilla.org/downloads/download.php?branch=alternative
choose -AMD64 and -ISO and burn the ISO image to a CD with
a CD/DVD burning utility

Best version for most older computers
http://clonezilla.org/downloads/download.php?branch=stable
choose -i586 and -ISO and burn the ISO image to a CD with
a CD/DVD burning utility



Free Programs to burn CD / DVD images to disk
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download  or
https://cdburnerxp.se/en/download


Once you have burned an ISO image to the CD, you then reboot your system to the boot CD and hit just enter many times to just chose the default after many screens of incomprehensible Clonezilla questions.



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For faster USB 3.0 access from your laptop unless it only
has the older PCMCIA type slots or no CardBus slots at all
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54mm slot ExpressCard

$13.98
http://www.amazon.com/GMYLE-BC618T-Laptop-Express-support/dp/B004YB60KA/ref=sr_1_4?

ie=UTF8&qid=1448493684&sr=8-4&keywords=usb+3.0+laptop+card


34mm slot ExpressCards

$23.59
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-ExpressCard-SuperSpeed-Adapter-ECUSB3S22/dp/B006K25AX4

or

$13.98
http://www.amazon.com/GMYLE%C2%AE-ExpressCard-34mm-Adapter-Dual/dp/B0045BLP1S


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For faster USB 3.0 access from your desktop if you have a free PCI-e slot
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K0C6U20/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ps_2?pf_rd_p=1944687442





References -

Why not just leave it the factory default FAT format or use eXFAT?

https://www.google.com/search?q=reliability%20of%20exfat
https://www.google.com/search?q=reliability%20of%20fat32