Craig Kaplan

Q: 6TB Western Digital (WD Black) Performance HD

I upgraded recently to one of the newer 4TB WD Black hard drives and it has been working great.

 

So, I purchased one of the new 6TB WD Black (WD6001FZWX) drives.

 

When I install it in one of the drive bays in my MacPro Tower (2012 model), Disk Utility sees it but will not initialize it.  Disk Utility tells me that the "Operation Failed". 

 

Western Digital tells me that this drive should work in my machine.

 

Has anyone had this experience?

 

Even though my profile says I am running 10.11.1, I just applied the update to 10.11.2.  So, everything is up to date.

 

Suggestions?

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), 8GB RAM, 256GB SS boot drive

Posted on Dec 16, 2015 6:24 PM

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Q: 6TB Western Digital (WD Black) Performance HD

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  • by Craig Kaplan,

    Craig Kaplan Craig Kaplan Dec 22, 2015 6:29 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 2 (280 points)
    Dec 22, 2015 6:29 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    If the bug is in Disk Utility, why couldn't I initialize it using Drive Genius 4 (which I have licensed on this machine)?  Using Drive Genius 4, I got the same result as the initialization failed.

     

    I do not have an "installer thumb drive".  But, I think I do have an old installation disc from Lion (Mac OS 10.7.5).  Could I boot the machine while holding the "C" key with that disc in the optical drive?  If I could get the system to boot what way, would I then be able to initialize that drive?

     

    Here is what I have that shows the drive ID when installed in the system (it is currently out):

     

    Drive Info.jpg

    Drive ID.jpg

     

    I hope this is the information you wanted to see.

     

    Please let me know if booting the machine from the Lion disc will work.  I have a feeling that OS may be too old to boot this machine.  But, could you confirm.

     

    Thanks.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Solvedanswer

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Dec 25, 2015 11:53 AM in response to Craig Kaplan
    Level 9 (61,078 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 25, 2015 11:53 AM in response to Craig Kaplan

    Any drive that will not tell Disk Utility is Make&Model and a reasonable, non-Zero size/capacity has died.

     

    You know it is connected, it has provided its Make&Model. If the drive is spinning (remove the side door with it running [there is no interlock] and touch the drive to check for the vibration of its motor)  but still showing a Zero size, you have a Dead-on-Arrival new drive.

     

    This does happen occasionally, but is so rare that we never thought to ask about it. I am sorry if we all gave you a Hard Time.

     

    Contact the Vendor, tell them the drive shows up, but as size Zero, and ask for a replacement.

  • by Craig Kaplan,

    Craig Kaplan Craig Kaplan Dec 25, 2015 11:53 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 2 (280 points)
    Dec 25, 2015 11:53 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    The faulty drive is on its way back.  I have requested a replacement.

     

    Thanks for all the help.  I really do appreciate it.

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