Seagate FreeAgent 500GB can't create new folder

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Level 1

131 points

Seagate FreeAgent 500GB can't create new folder

i just bought the 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go hard drive today. i plug it to my macbook, it shows up right away under devices in finder, yet it does not give me the option to add 'new folder'.

when i drag a file to it, it says 'freeagent drive can not be modified'.

i also have the western digital 250GB passport and it works fine. is this a bad hard drive or something i am missing here?

new unibody Macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Jan 18, 2009 8:13 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 18, 2009 9:28 PM in response to j Robson

What is the format and partition scheme of the drive? If it is formatted for NTFS, for example, you cannot modify it natively on the mac. Try using Disk Utility to re-partition it. First select the hard drive (not the partition) on left-hand side of DU and then click on the partition tab at the top-right. Under "Volume Scheme," select 1 (or more if you like) partition. Then click "Options" below and choose the GUID partition table and click OK. Hit "Apply" in the lower-right and wait for it to finish (shouldn't take very long). Once it is done, then try creating new folders or dragging stuff to it.

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Answer 2

j Robson Author

Level 1

131 points

Jan 22, 2009 11:07 AM in response to theonlydean

i am just amazed that seagate hard drive is so picky. with the western digital passport hard drive, i can plug it in and i can do anything. the WD works beautifully for mac and window without having to format.

even a simple flash drive can be used for mac and pc without formating. so i find the seagate hard drive is a bit challenging.

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Answer 3

Henahn

Level 1

34 points

Feb 19, 2009 12:21 AM in response to j Robson

It's not that the drive is picky, if I'm not mistaken the non-mac version comes partioned with NTFS. That means MacOS is not able to write on it as a default.
If you need access to a NTFS partion with read/write, this link you'll probably help you:
http://blog.adamnash.com/2007/05/25/how-to-mount-ntfs-drives-on-mac-os-x-with-re adwrite-access/

And again, if I'm not mistaken, flash drives are formated with FAT32, which MacOS can read/write by default. The problem is that this format cannot hold single files bigger than 4GB.

I'm about to test a FreeAgent Go 500GB, myself and i will be able to give feedback. But I believe I'll have a HFS+ for Mac stuff and a NTFS for my Windows and other peoples computers.

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