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Last Post
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Dec 11, 2007 11:15 PM
by: enjayjay
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Posts:
461
Registered:
Apr 12, 2003
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Formatting WD MyBook 1 Terabyte External Hard Drives
Posted:
Nov 16, 2007 6:17 PM
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I recently purchased two WD MyBook Personal Edition 1 TB hard drives. These come formatted as MS-DOS FAT32, which is pretty useless for a Mac-only system. They are connected to my Mac Pro via a FW400 daisy chain.
When I went to format these drives with Disk Utility, I wanted each to have a single partition, formatted as HFS+ (Mac OS Journaled). Each time I tried to format, I got an error that the disk could not be formatted due to a file system error. However, I have no problem formatting these drives into two or more partitions using the preferred file system. If I want to have a single large partition, the only way I can have that is if I format the drives as FAT32.
Is this a problem with Mac OS - that it won't accept HFS or HFS+ partitions over a certain size? This doesn't see right, since I can buy Mac formatted LaCie drives with the right file systems.
2.66 ghz Mac Pro/30" CD & 23" CD/12" G4 iBook/15" G4 PowerBook/80 gb, 60 gb, 30
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
The spotted cat purrs ...
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Posts:
77
Registered:
Nov 7, 2007
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Re: Formatting WD MyBook 1 Terabyte External Hard Drives
Posted:
Nov 16, 2007 6:27 PM
in response to: Lita Kaufman
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In Disk Utility, you should see two icons for your disc. The upoper one is the device, the lower one is the volume. Use the upper one. You should be able to make it all one big partition. That's what iI did with my 1 TB external.
17" Macbook Pro 2.33, 15" G4 1.5 Powerbook, G4 700 iMac, G3 iBook
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Posts:
11
From:
San Antonio
Registered:
Aug 4, 2007
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Re: Formatting WD MyBook 1 Terabyte External Hard Drives
Posted:
Nov 16, 2007 6:36 PM
in response to: Lita Kaufman
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Solved
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Hi Lita,
I have a 1TB My Book drive too, and ran into the same problem initially. In order for the partitioning to work, you have to select the appropriate partition scheme in Disk Utility. You probably have the Master Boot Record scheme selected (its the default)...you'll want to choose either the GUID partition scheme or the Apple Partition Map scheme. Which one you choose depends on whether you want to be able to boot the disk with an Intel Mac (GUID) or a PowerPC (Apple Partition Map). Disk Utility help will give you some more details.
Hope that helps.
Black Macbook
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
2Gb ram, 120Gb HD, VMWare Fusion w/XP, 4G iPod
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Posts:
23,268
From:
San Diego, CA
Registered:
May 8, 2005
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Re: Formatting WD MyBook 1 Terabyte External Hard Drives
Posted:
Nov 16, 2007 6:39 PM
in response to: MacDude68
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Which one you choose depends on whether you want to be able to boot the disk with an Intel Mac (GUID) or a PowerPC (Apple Partition Map). Disk Utility help will give you some more details.
Clarification. Both machine types will boot from a disk using the APM. However, you need GUID to run the installer from an ICBM (Intel-chip-based Mac) and install onto the disk.
G4 450 MP Gigabit 1.5 GB RAM/17" Flat-panel 1GHz iMac
Mac OS X (10.5)
10.5.1 (also 10.4.11/9.2.2)
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Posts:
555
From:
Toronto, ON, Canada
Registered:
Aug 7, 2006
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Re: Formatting WD MyBook 1 Terabyte External Hard Drives
Posted:
Nov 16, 2007 7:10 PM
in response to: baltwo
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Just a note for people who have NOT bought their drives yet.
You can buy the WD MyBook drives preformatted as Mac drives - I got all 3 of mine from the local Apple store - all 3 preformatted properly. Same price as a DOS-formatted one.
Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz IC2D, 2GB Ram, 500GB MyBook USB Drive
Mac OS X (10.5)
Video iPod 30GB; Mac-Mini IC2D, 2GB RAM
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Posts:
23,268
From:
San Diego, CA
Registered:
May 8, 2005
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Re: Formatting WD MyBook 1 Terabyte External Hard Drives
Posted:
Nov 16, 2007 7:31 PM
in response to: lethal
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One caution. I moderate the Bombich forums, home of Carbon Copy Cloner and NetRestore, and we've received reports of problems cloning with the WD MyBooks caused by its automatic spin-down (auto-sleep) feature. WD is unable to offer a way to turn it off. The only answer for others has been to purchase an uncrippled FW drive. (LaCie drives, for instance, have optional auto-sleep at a flick of a switch on the casing).
G4 450 MP Gigabit 1.5 GB RAM/17" Flat-panel 1GHz iMac
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
(also 10.4.11/9.2.2)
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Posts:
461
Registered:
Apr 12, 2003
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Re: Formatting WD MyBook 1 Terabyte External Hard Drives
Posted:
Nov 17, 2007 4:02 AM
in response to: Lita Kaufman
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Just want to let everyone know that I have been able to format the 1 TB drives as HFS+, in a single partition. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.
By changing to a single partition, then selecting the "option" button, I switched the partition map scheme to GUID, and then executed the new partitioning. It is worth noting that I accomplished this via screen sharing - from my laptop in my bedroom, three floors above my home office.
Just to fill in the blanks for other contributors:
Selecting the upper drive icon in the list of drives before partitioning results in the error message. Selecting the lower icon results in an endless looping process of reading the drive and doing nothing. The issue is the partition map scheme. I purchased these MyBooks from Costco - the price was about $150 cheaper than the Apple Store. I have been using a 500 gb WD MyBook to as the target for a SuperDuper! clone of my boot drive for about a year, without any problem.
Thanks to everyone.
2.66 ghz Mac Pro/30" CD & 23" CD/12" G4 iBook/15" G4 PowerBook/80 gb, 60 gb, 30
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
Just Listen to that Leopard purr ...
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Posts:
23,268
From:
San Diego, CA
Registered:
May 8, 2005
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Re: Formatting WD MyBook 1 Terabyte External Hard Drives
Posted:
Nov 17, 2007 1:55 PM
in response to: Lita Kaufman
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Helpful
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Thanks for the feedback. Good computing.
G4 450 MP Gigabit 1.5 GB RAM/17" Flat-panel 1GHz iMac
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
10.5.1 (also 10.4.11/9.2.2)
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Posts:
14
Registered:
Feb 6, 2007
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Re: Formatting WD MyBook 1 Terabyte External Hard Drives
Posted:
Dec 11, 2007 11:15 PM
in response to: Lita Kaufman
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Your solution works - I had the same problem and searched. Format via the partition section, 1 partion, option GUID.
Apple - this is illogical and the errors produced are worrying and extremely un-user-friendly.
Macbook Pro
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
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