[bens1901]

Hi. I have an old iMac which only has USB1.1 connections (no firewire). I'd like to get an external hard drive for backup purposes. Could anyone recommend a product that doesnt' cost much?

I spoke with a web sales person that said that a USB2.0 would "downgrade" in speed to accomodate the USB1.1, so I could get a USB2.0 drive and use it. I found 120Gb for $169.

I know these are simple questions. It's been a while since I've looked into hardware and performance and costs.

Thanks a bunch in advance.

-Ben

[va3uxb]

I have a USB 2.0 -> IDE case, into which I've put a hard drive and a CD Burner as required.

It's worked fine with my iMac DV (400MHz, DVD ROM). I'm pretty sure that my old iMac has only USB 1.1 so I'd say that the 2.0 will 'downshift' to work with the older hardware.

I don't know if it works with OS 9, but with 10.3.2 (and 10.1.5 before) the USB 2.0 worked fine for me on the iMac.

[Captain Obvious]

Make one yourself. Buy a cheap USB, USB2 , or USB/Firewire combo case and install a hard drive in it. I somehow don't think you are looking for 120GB of storage space but if you were accessing that data on USB 1 would be painful after a while. So buy the external case and a smaller, maybe used, hard drive and put them together. It will cost you under $100 and that way you can find some drive with rebates. You can even get a smaller form factor by using a 2.5 inch case for laptop drives.

[tooki]

USB-only cases are cheap. Like, as little as $30 cheap. Then get a 120GB drive on sale for $70 and you're set.

tooki

[bens1901]

Thanks everyone for the great advice :-)