Problems with FREECOM external hard drive

I would start by repartitioning and formatting the drive. It may have come to you formatted FAT32.

Extended Hard Drive Preparation

1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)

2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.

4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.

5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.

6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

If there are compatibility problems we can't really help you. FWIW, in the future do your research before you buy.

Hello Onetay,

According to the information available here: http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail.asp?ID=3917&CatID=1147788&sCatID=1147790 &ssCatID=1148492 You have to be using your Time Machine on Leopard in order to use this external drive. Is that the case? Could you please drop a link here to the site you purchased the drive from? Thanks ...


Carolyn 🙂