external hard drive which work on usb for pc/mac

<p>Hello<br>

I work on pc as well as mac I want a external hard drive which i can use on my pc as well as mac<br>

Please can someone tell me of any external hard drives which work by just plugging the usb,<br>

the current external hard drive i have is seagate freeagent the problem with this hard drive is, it needs a power supply. i am looking for hard drives which do not need any power supply.<br>

Thank You Very Much</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I have several wester digital "passports" for storage off site, and to carry about.</p>

<p>Check here:</p>

<p>http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/7367/Hard_Drives_Portable_Drives.html</p>

<p>Here is an example that can be used on Windows and Mac:</p>

<p>http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/574913-REG/LaCie_301841_500GB_Little_Disk_USB.html#specifications</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p> i am looking for hard drives which do not need any power supply</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>That's usually dependent on the power output of your USB ports as long as you're using low power drives. In 2.5" drives I've only had one 40GB (older WD Scorpio) work without extra power. All 1.8" drives should work.</p>

<p>The rated power needs of a 'no power brick' drive is .5 amp, but many USB ports don't supply that. I have a modern motherboard, and the ports on its back panel work great for that, but the front panel ports are too low power to do it.</p>

<p>I've never been able to run a USB only powered drive from a USB hub, even the powered ones.</p>

<p>Windows best uses NTFS, Mac uses a different format that is incompatible with Windows (and vice versa), so I don't think you can plug the same drive into both OS, without (maybe) special software for one system that lets it see info from the other.</p>

<p>The only mutual format I know of is FAT32, which is limited on both platforms. There may be another work around, but you might consider doing file transfers between two drives via a FAT32 formatted Thumbdrive. 16GB thumbdrives are pretty cheap these days, as are externals. And using two drives would be like a forced backup, never a bad idea. good luck... t</p>

<p>I have a newer Seagate Passport, requires no additional power. However, mine is NTFS, so it won't translate to MAC usage. As was stated, you'll need to use FAT32 in order to have a format both systems can "see."</p>

<p>I use a "My Passport" Essential from Western Digital - this one is only 250GB but doesn't require power supply and works with PC/MAC. Small and portable too.</p>

<p>USB port powered Western Digital Passport comes also in 320 GB and 500 GB sizes.</p>

<p>I have two WD portable drives, and they work perfectly. If you want to have a disk compatible with both Mac and PC, you can choose the "MS-DOS (FAT)" option in the Mac Hard Disk Utility, and then erase the disk.</p><div></div>