Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: RalphyS
RalphyS Author
User level: Level 1
6 points

Need help with Disc Utilities and External Drive

I got a 1.5TB My Book external hard drive. It was formatted as a MS-DOS Fat32, so I wanted to erase and reformat as a Mac drive.

I did this in Disc Utility and I guess I did something wrong somewhere because now I'm getting nothing but errors. The computer now recognizes the drive but won't mount it.

Verifying fails, repairing fails, hitting the mount button fails, nothing's responding.

Can someone walk me through getting this drive back online, and also formatted for mac?

Here's the beginning of the log if it's any help:


2010-04-21 20:28:45 -0400: Disk Utility started.

2010-04-21 20:31:45 -0400: Preparing to erase : “1.5TB Drive”
2010-04-21 20:31:45 -0400: Partition Scheme: Master Boot Record
2010-04-21 20:31:45 -0400: 1 volume will be created
2010-04-21 20:31:45 -0400: Name : “1.5TB Drive”
2010-04-21 20:31:45 -0400: Size : 1.4 TB
2010-04-21 20:31:45 -0400: Filesystem : Mac OS Extended

2010-04-21 20:31:45 -0400: Creating partition map.
2010-04-21 20:31:48 -0400: Formatting disk1s1 as Mac OS Extended with name 1.5TB Drive.
2010-04-21 20:31:49 -0400: Disk Erase failed with the error:

Powermac G5, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Apr 21, 2010 5:57 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: Kappy
Kappy
User level: Level 10
361,741 points

Posted on Apr 21, 2010 6:26 PM

You did not reformat the drive quite right. Try this:

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 one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

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.
View in context
3 replies
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: Kappy
Kappy
User level: Level 10
361,741 points

Apr 21, 2010 6:26 PM in response to RalphyS

You did not reformat the drive quite right. Try this:

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 one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

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.
Reply

Need help with Disc Utilities and External Drive

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.
Learn more Sign up