Inexpensive hardware at Staples

[Ted Roche]

On May 9, 2006, at 10:07 PM, Bill Ricker wrote:

>> 250 Gb Western Digital External Drive (USB2): $89
>
> Is that Linux friendly?

It's Linux-neutral. A standard USB2 interface and hard drive  
controller.  Plugging it into a running Ubuntu machine had it come up  
automatically. The two backup buttons on the front seem to be ignored  
until Linux.

> The "one touch backup" software advertised on the package made me
> question if it might require proprietary drivers.

It does include a copy of Dantz Retrospect Express software that only  
runs in Win 98se/ME/2000/XP.

It claims MacIntosh compatibility for OS 9.22+ or OS X 10.2.8+ but  
claims you need to reformat the disk as HFS "before using the  
installation CD." I think it has software to work on the Mac, too,  
although only if it's HFS-formatted.

>   If I can plug-and-go on a modern Linux w/ USB mass storage  
> support, this would be great.

That it does.

Ted Roche
Ted Roche & Associates, LLC
http://www.tedroche.com