External HD Problem in Snow Leopard

Wow, a problem from 2009 still exists. Add me to the list of people with a

Partition failed with the error:

POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory

report from Disk Utility. Mine is a WD1600 pulled from a Lacie enclosure as I tried to establish if the FireWire and circuitry on the casing was the problem. Tried in a USB enclosure and also on Windows but can't partition it there either. BTW, as I tried to format/partition the drive in Windows7 I realized how ugly and pathetic that OS is and how difficult it is to find basic information to do simple things.

But, right now, I am out two drives (which, on a side note, worked fine until volume directory repairs by TechTool Pro 6 rendered unusable).

Imran

We got as far as mounting in on a Windows computer, and deleting the partition, but when we went to format it, it gave error "trouble formatting disk".

I replaced three drives due to this "problem."

The Apple store near us said they hadn't hear anything about it.

Sigh.

UPDATE from July 8, 2011 post... The Seagate 1TB drive failed on me AGAIN. This time I pulled it from the enclosure to see if that was the issue and the drive did not work in an external drive dock either. Since the drive was out of warranty I have zero confidence in it and scrapped it. Replaced it with a Maxtor.

So jump ahead a couple of months.

The same thing has happend on a NEW Seagate device. I accidentally unpluged the device without unmounting it and then it wouldn't mount again and I couldn't format it with Apple's Disk Utility AGAIN. I was able to re-format it with a Windows machine and then format it back to HSF+ with Apple's Disk Utility and it has been working fine for the last month. If it happens again I will be getting it replaced since it is still under warranty until 2013.

I'm still not sure if this is an issue with the hard drive manufacturers or Apple's Disk Utility.

-L

I came across this exact problem and formatted in ExFat in Disk Utility. This worked like a charm. Hope this helps.

For me it won't since I am not even able to format the discs - on Mac OR Windows.

i had this issue in the begining of 2009, i thought that i have done something at that time i had to wash my hands from my HDD 320GB, but today while i was doing a bootable Flash memory and it didn't work so i tried to make it back to normal and it give me the same error which i googled and came to this link, but i would definetly ask APPLE Inc. to do something about this simple problem that they have.

thanks and hope apple does something

I believe I have found the missing link between Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and Lion 10.7.3.

I have an external 2T WD My Book Studio connected to an iMac 27 2,8 i5 1T.

Immediately after installing Lion 10.7.3 (and dropping it by mistake, ok I admit) it stopped mounting, and when attempting to erase with Disk Utility, I received the message:

"Disk Erase failed with the error: Unable to write to the last block of the device"

This is a new error code from Lion ( http://foruns.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1210385 )

There was no difference whether the external disk connected with FW 800 or USB.

There was no success using the Terminal commands mentioned in previous emails.

When I moved the same external disk to my MacBook Pro running under Snow Leopard 10.6.8, I experienced the same problems with either FW 800 or USB cables, but the message from Disk Utility's failed attempt to erase was the famous from this 3-year list of the same problem:

"Partition failed with the error: POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory"

So the two messages fron either SL or Lion are now officially connected.

My dilemma: I would like to try the only solution that seems to work (take the disk out of the case, connect it with PC, erase to NTFS, bring back to Mac, erase to HFS+) and also makes sense (the case contains some anti-tampering electronics) but my question is:

1) Will I be able to recover the lost files with Data Rescue 3, after the above operations?

2) If not, should I choose not to void my disk's warranty and just return it to get a new one?

Hey gimisis,

you have a chance to fix the hard drive using PC method but if i were you i would go to warranty and get a new one. and as i mentioned Apple Inc. where are you on this issue?

Thank you, Kenny, This worked beautifully! I had tried numerous solutions posted using Disk Utility and Terminal Command, but perhaps the trick here is the use of NAME and IDENTIFIER, crucial items missing in other posts.

Cheers,

Cody

Hey guys,

I ran into this same problem having formatted tens of Seagate Barracuda drives on Leopard and now that I have two systems, one running SL and one runninng Lion get the I/O error or "cannot allocate mememory"error.

The drives are running off WiebeTech bays via FW800. I also tried running the bays via USB to no avail on both SL and Lion. I ran the Terminal suggestion also to no avail.

Finally, my friend came over with his cheap-o $30 bay and was able to format the drives on my Lion system. Annoying that his $30 bay could do it over my $300 ones but what can you do. The drives read and write fine on my drives.

c.

It's good you could format the drives but that's part of the problem, that the drives have to be formatted.

I lost three, containing triple backups of 7 years worth of work.

Well actually by format I specifically mean that I had to initialize the drives. Not sure how that's part of the problem... standard kind of procedure you need to do with raw drives.

c.

The problem here is drives that were once recognized no longer being recognized.

Some can format them and start anew (lose all data); others can't format or recognize at all.

Sounded like you were able to format an existing drive and start anew.

Oh no that's not the case with me. All my drives are working fine. The problem with me was I could not initialize brand new drives!

c.

I understand that the solution I'm about to state sounds incredulous, unlikely, doubtful, but here goes.

Replace the power supply (the wall wort power brick).

Yes I know the old one seems to work, powers the lights, etc. But really. Replace it.

My Vantec Hard Drive Dock used to work then after not using it for a few months I tried it again and it wouldn't work. Well it did work for 2.5" drives but not for 3.5" drives. I think that the smaller drives don't need as much current.

The new power brick was really an old one that had the same specs (12V 2000mA) but looked a little beefier. The output plug was the same. (Are manufacturers standardizing the output plugs based on voltage now? It seems so.)

So dig in that box of old components (you save all your old power bricks, right?) and give that a try.

If you don't have another power brick available then try a 2.5" drive in the dock and see if that works (as a test).