Cannot copy files from FAT32 USB HDD to mac

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Cannot copy files from FAT32 USB HDD to mac

When attempting to copy files (a directory containing a significant number of files) from a FAT32 formated USB hard disk drive (USB HDD) the process (finder) halts indefinately after a small nuber of files have been copied.

The only way I can find to stop the process is to unplug the USB HDD.

I've tried at the command line [i.e. mac# cp -Rv /Volumes/USB_HDD/directory/ /Users/Me/tmp> this also stops after a small number of files with no indication of what is going on and no error messages.

The cp process cannot be killed, even with the -9 option. Again the only way to get it to stop/respond is to unplug the USB HDD. When this is done the cp process dies.

This USB HDD works perfectly well on both Windows XP and Linux SuSE 9.3 PCs. This is infact my work around - mount the USB HDD on said SuSE box and share it out via CIFS/SMB and copy files via network.

Also this USB HDD has no issues according to the Mac Disk Utility.

Thanks in advance.

Rennie

Powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Posted on Nov 27, 2005 9:55 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 27, 2005 11:08 PM in response to renene

FAT32 does not allow large transfers (above 2GB) on Macs. You'll need to reformat the drive (but backup elsewhere first) into Mac Extended Journaled.

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Answer 2

Nov 27, 2005 11:29 PM in response to Vlade Divac

Vlade,

This is not true at all. I have a 160GB USB2 HD formatted as FAT32 and I store archive copies of Movies and other data on it and there are multiple files that are over 2GB and I have zero trouble with copying from or to the disk.

I would say that the issue is that there is something wrong with the FAT table. The FAT table is the lookup list of where each piece of data is on the HD, much like HFS, HFS+ or UDF. I would definetly attempt to run the disk through Disk Utility>First Aid>Repair Disk.

However stating this I caution you that Apple made only a good first attempt at repairing FAT partitions. It seems to me that it will give up on anything but the most basic FAT table issues. It might be necessary to take the disk to a PeeCee to have it repaired on that (natively as it were). That seems to catch most every issue and if it does not, there are PeeCee utilities that then can be utilized to make a more in-depth repair.

Peter

PowerMac G5 DP 2.5Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

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Answer 3

renene Author

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Nov 28, 2005 12:04 AM in response to Peter Scordamaglia

I would say that the issue is that there is something
wrong with the FAT table. The FAT table is the lookup
list of where each piece of data is on the HD, much
like HFS, HFS+ or UDF. I would definetly attempt to
run the disk through Disk Utility>First Aid>Repair
Disk.

I've tried that and it finishes saying everything is good with no sign of any errors.

However stating this I caution you that Apple made
only a good first attempt at repairing FAT
partitions. It seems to me that it will give up on
anything but the most basic FAT table issues. It
might be necessary to take the disk to a PeeCee to
have it repaired on that (natively as it were). That

OK, I'll try this when I get a chance.

Thanks for the pointers.

Cheers,

Rennie

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Answer 4

renene Author

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Nov 28, 2005 6:01 PM in response to renene

OK I've just done a windows XP chkdsk on the USB HDD in question and it returned no errors (see below)

C:\Documents and Settings\rennie>chkdsk d:
The type of the file system is FAT32.
Volume BACKUP created 25/Nov/2005 6:11 AM
Volume Serial Number is 5D32-CC50
Windows is verifying files and folders...
File and folder verification is complete.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.
39,052,448 KB total disk space.
18,528 KB in 254 hidden files.
43,648 KB in 1,349 folders.
15,851,392 KB in 20,166 files.
23,138,848 KB are available.

32,768 bytes in each allocation unit.
1,220,389 total allocation units on disk.
723,089 allocation units available on disk.

Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I can go about finding the problem here. I realy do need to have a disk that I can read & write to from both the Mac and XP box.

Regards,

Rennie.

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Answer 5

renene Author

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Nov 29, 2005 3:08 PM in response to renene

I'm still having grief with this issue.

As I've stated earier all good with this USB HDD on Linux & WinXP but when I try to read from the disk with my new Mac it goes for a bit then the process just pauses - doesn't crash, dosn't exit. This causing which ever app' is trying to read the disk to also pause/stop and not be killable. The only way forward is to unplug the disk in question.

I'd love it if somebody could give me some clues as to how to debug this or at least get some more info as to whats going on. I MUST have a file system that I is RW on both Mac & Win and so far it's not looking good.

Cheers,

Rennie

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Answer 6

bdmarsha

Level 4

2,580 points

Nov 30, 2005 10:30 AM in response to renene

Rennie,

How is the drive powered when connected to the Mac? Is it plugged in to a power brick or are you using the power from the USB port? If the latter, try to connect it to a brick or use a special USB cable that uses two connectors to draw enough power for the drive. I'm shooting in the dark here, but you never know.

bd

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Answer 7

renene Author

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Nov 30, 2005 6:39 PM in response to bdmarsha

Hi bd,

How is the drive powered when connected to the Mac?

External power. I know that these drives flash their LED yellow when not getting enough power, which is definately not the case here.

I have had some progress in working out what is wrong though: It seems the Mac does not like the "ST Lab" USB HDD enclosure with the Genesys Logic Inc GL811E or GL811USB chips ... or the other way around.

Situation:
- 2 x 2.5" HDDs (1 x FAT32, 1 x ETX3 format)
- 2 x ST Lab USB HDD enclosures (1 x GL811E chip, 1 x GL811USB chip)
- 1 x other brand USB HDD enclosure (1 x OnSpecInc chip?)

Mac will not access either of the HDDs in either of the ST Lab enclosures, it won't even format the ext3 disk.

Mac will happily access files on FAT32 HDD in OtherBrand USB enclosure.

Conclution: ST Lab / Genesys USB enclosure not compatible with Mac!?!?

Where do I submit a bug report? I've emailed genesyslogic.com (and searched for drivers for OSX 10...) & support@apple.com (bounced).

Any other sugestions are welcome.

Thanks for your help.

R

Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

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