WD Elements External drive file transfer issue.

In order to do what you have described properly you must:

Extended Hard Drive Preparation

1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.

2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list.Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to two. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Select the first volume and set the format type to Mac OS Extended, click on the Security button and select Zero Data (one pass) then click on the OK button. Click on the Erase button. Wait for the process to complete which can take up to several hours depending upon the size of the partition.

5. Then select the second volume and set the format type to MS-DOS and click on the Erase button.

Note that a TM backup volume should be approximately twice the size of the drive it backs up so be sure you have made an adequately sized partition for use with TM.

Seen this thread?

http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2250519&tstart=0

WD's are junk and don't play well with Macs, as you have discovered.

This is untrue, except for some WD external drive models which have had firmware-related issues with Macs. For example, firmware updates that improve OS X compatibility are available for the first generation of MyBook Studio Edition drives. These updates fix problems with the drives' internal power management and the Mac's power management.

Really? See the links in my post at http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10760038#10760038

This thread is mainly about the enclosed backup software, WD SmartWare. I don't quite understand why they decided to make a Mac version of this, since Time Machine seems to work better than their solution.

When these drives first shipped, SmartWare was in a special area on the disk that could not be removed. But WD has since issued a firmware update that can completely disable SmartWare, so you have a normal hard drive again that can be used just like any other drive. And there are still WD models shipping without SmartWare in the first place.

AFAIK, their disk sleep feature cannot be disabled. Finally, I don't know if their firmware update can be applied with a Mac or needs a PC, but I'm glad to hear they're moving in the right direction. I still wouldn't use their externals, especially since the information at their site hasn't changed.

Don't listen to the "noise" you get here about WD drives not being up to par. I have 5 of them and never had a single problem. If you ask the nay sayers if they actually own or have ever used them, they say no.

The sleep function of the drive is GOOD. Your iMac puts the internal drive to sleep. Go check System Preferences - Energy Saver - Put Hard disk to sleep when possible. I'll bet it's checked.

I use them for clones and for TM. I test a lot of software for various companies and need to set up special boot environments. I use WD for all of them.

That's just an opinion from somebody that actually owns and uses the product we're talking about

and btw, since I have the exact same My Book Essential USB 2.0 1.5 terabyte drive the poster has, I retrieved the Box it came in (Green) and It says plainly on the box. "Compatibility - Formatted NTFS for Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7.
Requires reformatting for Mac OS X Tiger, or Leopard".

OP states he formatted a 1 terabyte partition FAT32. Do any of you actually understand the size restrictions of FAT32? I didn't think so.

I have no problem with this or any other drive since I format every drive I buy for the purpose that I had in mind.

The decision is size/interface/price. Any WD will do, since usb2 at 480 mbits/sec is faster than firewire 400 and out of my 4 macs only usb2 is common across them all, it's a no brainer. Yeah, firewire 800 is faster but only half my macs support it.

So it goes to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity? TM only updates once per hour. In loose terms it sleeps 50 minutes of every hour when it's not needed. So What.

So in a day's time, that's 1,200 minutes that it doesn't spin...that sounds like a feature to me.

How many new, inexperienced users have you people talked into taking perfectly good drives back to the store? I see it post after post and quite frankly, you don't know what you're talking about.

Full disclosure. I don't work for, or have ever been paid anything from WD. I don't have stock in WD (although I've thought about it). I don't have any other ID's on this board so I don't "game it" like other users.

Don't listen to the "noise" you get here about WD drives not being up to par. I have 5 of them and never had a single problem. If you ask the nay sayers if they actually own or have ever used them, they say no.

Noise? It's what WD says, no one else.-> http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1787 and http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1059

The sleep function of the drive is GOOD. Your iMac puts the internal drive to sleep. Go check System Preferences - Energy Saver - Put Hard disk to sleep when possible. I'll bet it's checked.

Not here. I never sleep computers or HDs. Do note that WD says you cannot disable the sleep timer in their My Book HDs. Note, they say it not I.

I use them for clones and for TM. I test a lot of software for various companies and need to set up special boot environments. I use WD for all of them.

Good on you. However, since WD says they won't support bootability, whether or not they can do it, why would anyone use them to make bootable clones?

baltwo, thank you for responding because my comments are directly related to your advice.

Have you actually read your links, I have. They say that they should work. Their hesitation is Power PC macs. Here's a clue 99.9% of us don't have power pc macs, nor do we care. We also note that you wrote many of the negative comments over on their boards, but you've never actually used the product.

In previous posts where you show your clear inability to except any USB attached external drive as supported and especially a WD, you also admitted that you have never used a USB external disk and clearly not a WD.

Yes, I note that you cannot disable WD sleep AFTER 10 MINUTES OF INACTIVITY.
Again, so what? For my TM disk I want them to sleep 50 minutes of every hour. Why do you want them to spin all the time for nothing? You don't sleep anything?
Are you on your system 24 hours/day? You burn 200 watts electricity doing
nothing?

So I leave it to the reader, believe someone who never has..
or believe someone with years of experience.

Let's just agree to disagree. But every time I see you trying to talk a newbie into taking a perfectly good drive back to the store, I'm going to follow you and call BS.

99.9%!!! Really? Not in my world. I've never disdained USB HDs except those, such as WD, that impose proprietary bottlenecks on their equipment. The reason why I don't use USB wis because FW is significantly faster and designed for data transfer and not peripherals such as printers, cameras, keyboards, and mice. Who cares about not wanting to sleep HDs? I do, just like I prefer not to sleep computers and haven't since my first 128 Mac. Why do I want them to spin, because then they're warmed up and ready to use. My alternative is to shut them down. To each his own. As I noted earlier, I don't do TM, so have no comments about it, except to state that its backups are useless unless you've restored them periodically to ensure that they're viable, just like restoring clones stored on disk images.