Cable required to use existing external G-Drive for back-ups on new iMac with thunderbolt

Hey there!

That USB adapter would be the only cost-effective way to attempt to connect it. The odd noise you hear may not be due to the disk not connecting properly but the disk failing. It's possible it is and that's why your Mac cannot see it.

You could, theoretically, try to connect using FireWire, however, the cost of adapters would be similar to the cost of a new external disk.

Due to the age of the disk and the incompatibility, I would suggest you replace it with a new external disk for backups, such as a LaCie 2TB Rugged USB-C Portable Hard Drive - Apple. When you get the new external disk, this Apple Support article will help with setting up Time Machine again: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support.

-Jack

Lisette Ortiz wrote:

I have an external G-Drive that I used on my old desktop iMac (2008) for backups. The existing USB 2.0 with USB cable connects to the USB-C to USB adapter I pruchased but the G-Drive is not recognizable. It makes a weird noise when powered on because of the incompatibility.

The USB-C to USB adapter should work just fine to connect a USB 2.0 peripheral - especially one like the G-Drive that has its own source of power.

I suspect that the "weird noise" that you hear when the G-Drive is powered on is due to the hard drive starting to fail. Failure to recognize the drive could be related either to hard drive failure, or to the drive using the HFS (note: no "+") filesystem (for which Apple dropped all support in macOS Catalina).

Does anyone know what may work. I hate to discard a working external hardrive

Doesn't sound to me like it is a working hard drive – or at least, like it will be for much longer. If you have backups, or can copy the data off of it using an older Mac, now's the time to start thinking about that.

rkaufmann87 wrote:

I think on your G-Drive you can just replace the HD and keep the enclosure, if that correct this will lower the cost.

Very likely so – if he is OK with having USB 2.0 as a bottleneck for transfers to and from the new hard drive.

I could be mistaken, but that looks to me like a G-Drive enclosure for a 2.5" notebook drive. (I just pulled out my own notebook and desktop G-Drive enclosures to check.).

Unless one needs the FireWire interface for an old Mac, a notebook drive enclosure itself may not be worth a lot. Too many cheap bus-powered HDDs, bus-powered SSDs, and cheap DIY enclosures with USB 3 interfaces. You can get tool-free USB 3 enclosures with UASP support on Amazon for close to $10. Even OWC's enclosure only costs $19.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-mercury-on-the-go-pro/usb-3.1

If your EHD's Hard Drive is 5 years old or older you would be very wise to replace the hard disk. Why, ALL hard drives die and about 5 years is when we start to see a lot of failures. They also have a habit of dying when we need them the most, so please be proactive and replace the HD. I think on your G-Drive you can just replace the HD and keep the enclosure, if that correct this will lower the cost.

Also, all you need to connect the old enclosure to a new Mac is a simple USB A to USB C adapter. For $10 you can get a 2 pack of these on Amazon.

FYI, as far as I know, Other World Computing is the only remaining supplier of FireWire drives and enclosures – the sort you'd want if you were trying to set up an external startup drive on an old Mac whose USB ports ran at USB 1 or USB 2 speed.

Bus-powered notebook drives and enclosures:

OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro (FireWire 800 + USB 3)

Wall-powered desktop drives and enclosures:

OWC Mercury Elite Pro (FireWire 800 + USB 3 + eSATA)

For an old Mac, that G-Drive enclosure might be worth preserving … even if the drive mechanism inside was failing and had to be replaced.

You're very welcome! A new drive should serve you well for many years as your G-DRIVE did!

-Jack