Maxtor External Hard Drive

Shouldn't require a driver for the Mini to see it.

If it has the NTFS filesystem on it, the Mini would be able to read, but not write it.

If FAT32 filesystem, then the Mini should be able to read and write.

What model Maxtor do you have? USB or Firewire?

A bit more info about the drive would be helpful.

Does it have its own power supply?

Do you know the actual model of the drive?

Is it a 3.5" or portable 2.5" drive?

Have you tried connecting it directly to the mini without the hub?

Does the hub have its own power supply?

It would also be useful to know if you have a G4 (PPC) mini or an Intel Mini. The Intel has 4 usb ports; the G4 has 2 usb ports.

If the drive is identical to the one in the link you posted, then Firewire would be my preferred way to attach. Did they supply a Firewire cable?

In any event, fire up Utilities > DiskUtility and see if the drive shows up there.

Have you tried experimenting with starting the drive before (or after) starting up the Mini?

In the left panel of DiskUtility, what does it say about your drive and its partitions?

If you click once on the drive or one of partitions, does pressing the "Mount" button at the top of the DU window allow you to use the drive (ie show it on the desktop)?

It looks like a problem in the drive formatting.

- Have you checked the jumpers?
- Can you reformat your drive?
- Some versions of MacOS will not recognize NTFS formatted drives. If your drive is formatted with NTFS you must change it back to FAT32.
- What happens if you turn your drive on after the OS boot? If MacOS says that it cannot read the drive and wants to format it then this is a formatting problem for sure.

A good thing is that your drive was successfully recognized by the system, it just can't use it. This means that there is no problem in the interfaces, those are real problems.

If you don't have a problem with reformatting it you can reformat with Disk Utility by:

1. Open Disk utility.
2. Clicking on the name of the Hard Drive in the left hand column.
3. Clicking on Erase or Partition (See below for more info about Partition)
4. Under the Erase tab you can choose the Volume Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Type in the
name that you want it to have (Ex: Bobs Drive), and click Erase.

I usually format all new hard drives that I hook up to my Mac Mini.

Something else you could do, if you want to keep the data that is already on the hard drive is:

1. Back up all the data that is currently on the hard drive on another computer.
2. Open Disk utility.
3. Clicking on the name of the Hard Drive in the left hand column.
4. And instead of clicking the erase tab click on partition.
5. Under the partition tab you can pull down the Volume Scheme Menu and choose 2 partitions.
6. Choose the size that you want the mac partition to be and choose to leave the rest as free space.
7. After it formats it will more then likely pick up on 2 partitions when you plug it in the mac. You'lll
be able to use the Mac Partition for your music, files, etc. And then format the free space on a PC
so that the PC will pick up the free space. (The Mac should pick up on both formats even after
the PC format.)

I actually use the second suggestion myself with my 250 gig external LaCie Hard Drive. I have 230 gigs allocated for my itunes, files, etc., and the other 10 gig or so for my PC at work & for my wife's laptop. Works like a charm for me. If you have any questions about anything that I've mentioned feel free to ask! 🙂

Hope one of these work for you! GL!

Forgot to mention:

Erasing the hard drive with either method will erase all data on the drive (unless.. see blow). So if you need anything back it up.

Unless.... If you have Leopard (Mac OS 10.5) you can actually partition a drive without losing any data or erasing it. If this is an option for you and you need help with how to do it just give me a shout!

LOL.... I'm sorry, I keep thinking of things. If you want to give us more information about the drive try this:

1. Open disk utility.
2. Highlight the drive in the column in the left.
3. And look at the bottom of the Disk utility window.

You should see:

Disk Description:
Connection Bus:
Connection Type:
USB Serial Number:
Total Capacity:
Write Status:
S.M.A.R.T. Status:
Partition Map Scheme:

It has a wealth of information that can help out in the troubleshooting/helping department.

Again, what does it say about your drive in the left panel of disk utility? What are the words?

+152.7 GB Maxtor OneTouch+
+No Name+

If you click once on "No Name" (to select it), does the "Mount" button near the top of the DiskUtility window work to mount the drive to your desktop?