I already have a WD Caviar Green 3 5 2TB HDD(WD20EARX)

[G+_Chris Li]

I already have a WD Caviar Green 3.5 2TB HDD(WD20EARX). I want to use it on my MacBook Air 2012. Is it possible that I can take advantage of USB 3.0 or thunderblot of MacBook? What do I need to buy? 

 

Maybe I can set Raspberry Pi as a NAS, but that would be too slow.

And good ideas?

 

And Leo Laporte , how much did u spent on your little red WD passport? (These are a little bit high end here in China.)The original windows version seems can't get the USB3.0 speed on Mac, because I think there is a Mac version. Did Apple made some change to their USB 3.0 port? 

[G+_Bradley Bishop]

This seems clumsy but you could get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822154646

 

and then get an external enclosure with an eSATA port.

 

I don't know why there isn't just a Thunderbolt box out there that has connections for everything. Seems like it'd be a natural device to make. Of course, I don't understand why Apple will sell you a Cinema Display with DVI or Thunderbolt but you can't buy a display with Thunderbolt AND DVI in case you ever want to use the display with something besides a late-model Mac.

[G+_Chris Li]

Thanks for your advice. I think such kind of a device would be much too expensive. I can't afford that. I can buy a new WD external drive with $190.

 

And I don't need thunderblot, I haven't seen anything that work with thunderblot here in China, except for those displays in Apple Store. I am wondering if I am gonna use those before I change my laptop.

 

And does a normal USB3.0 external hdd also works on Mac's USB 3.0? Why WD have categories like ".....for mac"?

 

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/external/desktopformac/

 

Can some expert explain? Thanks

[G+_Collin Winans]

The "for Mac" label means the drive itself has been formatted for use on a Mac. OSX cannot write to an NTFS format (which is best for Windows), whereas Windows cannot write to a HFS+ formatted drive (best for OSX). You can format a drive to FAT32, and it should work on both.

 

You should be able to buy a USB 3.0 enclosure for the drive you already have, and it should work on the Mac (assuming the drive is formatted correctly). However, external hard drive prices are pretty low right now, and it may be cheaper to buy a new external drive.

[G+_Bradley Bishop]

You can use USB 3.0 drives with a Mac, they'll just all revert to USB 2.0 as no Macs have USB 3.0, currently.

[G+_Collin Winans]

The 2012 retina Macbook Pro and the 2012 Macbook Air have USB 3.0

 

Source: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6063/macbook-air-13inch-mid-2012-review/2

[G+_Bradley Bishop]

Ah cool. I thought I remember reading a while back that it was just around the corner.

[G+_bryant thompson]

if I understand you have a bare drive that you wish to use on your macbookpro via thunderbolt or USB3 (superspeed) 

 

Well, what you need is a 3.5" USB3 external drive encolsure.  open the box, take out enclosure, open, integrate the drive, close it up and you should be ready to go...

[G+_Chris Li]

Collin Winans  bryant thompson  Thanks for the help, guys. I have checked with Seagate official store and WD unofficial store at www.taobao.com(a place chinese people buy stuff online, like ebay.com), and also contacted a technical support at orico. They are pretty sure that "normal" WD and Seagate USB 3.0 external HDD won't work with Mac's USB 3.0. You will just get USB 2.0 speed on Mac. To use USB 3.0 on Mac, you need to get the Mac version.

 

However, Seagate do have a module that work with both Win and Mac at the speed of USB3.0.

 

So I assume that not all USB3 enclosure is supported by Mac. And +Leo Laporte , please show up and tell us about your WD passport. Is it a version designed for Mac.

[G+_Bradley Bishop]

Chris Li Any drive will work. It's just a drive. You'll need to partition and format the drive via the Mac's Disk Utility. It's not like they have one manufacturing plant for Mac drives and another for PC drives.

 

Just buy a USB 3.0 enclosure, toss the drive in, partition it, and you'll be fine.

[G+_Chris Li]

Bradley Bishop But the thing is can I get USB3 speed, which matters the most. 

[G+_Bradley Bishop]

If your Mac supports it, yes.

[G+_Chris Li]

Have you tried it? Mine is a 2012 MacBook Air, so I know I can use USB3. Thanks for giving me suggestions

[G+_Bradley Bishop]

My Mac doesn't support USB 3.0 but I have random drives (none of them Mac specific) in USB 3.0 enclosures hooked to my Mac doing stuff every day. It's just a drive. It's just an enclosure. It's just USB. There's nothing magic happening.

[G+_Chris Li]

Sorry, I believe there could be misunderstanding. Your Mac doesn't support USB3, while mine does. So you couldn't have know whether your USB3 enclosure is support on 2012 Macs, in this case mine Mac. 

 

I believe you can just get USB2 speed, but I am trying to get USB3 speed here. Yes, it's just USB, but USB2 & 3 have a lot of difference. Thanks for the help anyway.

[G+_Chris Li]

bryant thompson Bradley Bishop

Thanks guys. It looks like you are right. It seem those guys at the unofficial online store have always trying to misleading me on purpose...They might just want me to buy the more expensive "for Mac" version.

 

I found this:http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1509144&page=2

Seems some people do have their normal version of passport work at USB3 speed on Mac.

 

I have already send an email to WD to make sure.