i need to send my macBook pro to Apple for repair.

i have never backed up my system, but would really like to save about fifty very important garageband files plus at least 500 word files -- don't really care about the other stuff. recommendations and advice would be greatly appreciated on the "best bang for the buck" external HD that will work seamlessly with my mac/time machine and is it easy to back-up those files and restore them especially those garageband files? if possible, i'd like to keep my outlay under $150.

I've been using WD MyBook externals for a while and haven't had any issues with any of them. They come in variety of size and models, and should have something in your price range. They also go on sale often.

why not just take the hd out and send it back like that?

is that easy to do? i should also check whether Apple would give me grief over it.

I've been using WD MyBook externals for a while and haven't had any issues with any of them. They come in variety of size and models, and should have something in your price range. They also go on sale often.

yes, i've seen those at costco and they are very reasonably priced.

i've been looking and it would be nice to find something that i could hook up to my home network that both my mac and pc would easily access wirelessly.

upload them to rapidshare

I'm very happy with the Buffalo Link Station that I bought recently. I greatly prefer the flexibility of a NAS device compared to a simple external drive.

that's the problem, my cd/dvd drive is shot.

upload them to rapidshare

will look into this online storage site. thank you.

I'm very happy with the Buffalo Link Station that I bought recently. I greatly prefer the flexibility of a NAS device compared to a simple external drive.

costco has a similar product made by iomega, but it got poor reviews on amazon then i checked out the buffalo and users gave it more favorable reviews. thanks for the impressions and i'll look more into this one.

I'm very happy with the Buffalo Link Station that I bought recently. I greatly prefer the flexibility of a NAS device compared to a simple external drive.

I agree. I like using a NAS opposed to a simple external drive. I'm also very familiar with the Buffalo Link Station and it's easy to setup.

just a little update... first off thanks for all the input.

over the weekend, i picked up a wd 750gb essential edition from bestbuy for $148 and change. it was on sale, plus i had a 12% off coupon. i should have done more homework because the transfer rate was mind numbingly slow. it took around 4 hours to back-up my macbook pro's 31gb in time machine. i had no clue how dead slow the essential edition usb only transfer rate was going to be, if i did, i wouldn't have bought it.

today, i looked more into a possible NAS solution as that would have be ideal, but arrived at the conclusion that most likely the transfer rate would be slow. though, i still don't know how it compares to USB 2.0...

after some more research, i thought it best to go with an external hard drive with an 800 firewire connection as that will provide the second fastest transfer rate available. so i keyed in on the lacie d2 quadra 500GB from amazon for $153. i should have it within the next couple of days. based on all the reviews it has a very good and reliable track record and speedy quick transfer.

31GB transfer in 4 hours? Are you sure you didn't have it hooked to a USB 1.1 port?

(does apple have 1.1 ports? I dunno)

Yah, that's building the database, not just transferring data.