Formatting new Seagate FA GoFlex Desk Media for Mac

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Level 1

11 points

Formatting new Seagate FA GoFlex Desk Media for Mac

I purchased a 2 TB external hard drive, which needs to be formatted for Mac. See details below:

Name : Seagate FA GoFlex Desk Media
Type : Disk
Disk Identifier : disk1
Media Name : Seagate FA GoFlex Desk Media
Media Type : Generic
Connection Bus : USB
Connection Type : External
Writable : Yes
Ejectable : Yes
Mac OS 9 Drivers Installed : No
Location : External
Total Capacity : 1.8 TB (2,000,398,933,504 Bytes)
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
Disk Number : 1
Partition Number : 0

I clicked on the icon, went to "Partition" and selected "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". I clicked "Partition", which it did quickly, but now everything is ghosted. The icon also does not appear on the desktop.

Several questions:
1) Do I need to select the "volume scheme" - I did this once and it remained on "Creating Partition Map" for several hours
2) Do I choose "GUID Partition Table" or "Apple Partition Map?"

Thank you much...

Message was edited by: pacobell73

iMac G4 (Flat Panel), Mac OS X (10.4.11), Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-115D

Posted on Dec 15, 2010 7:03 PM

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Answer 1

Fortuny

Level 7

21,455 points

Dec 15, 2010 8:37 PM in response to pacobell73

Hi,

Hi,

In Disk Utility use the "Partition"-Tab in the right pane.

Use Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as file system and then click on the 'Options'-Button and set the partition scheme to GPT (GUID Partition Table) for use with Intel-based Macs or APM (Apple Partition Map) for use with a PowerPC- (PPC-) based mac.

Be aware that PPC-Macs cannot boot OSX from USB-connected external harddisks !

Most likely right now the Partition Scheme of the external HD is set to MBR (Master Boot Record) which doesn't work that well with the MacOS Extended file system.

Regards

Stefan

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Answer 2

pacobell73 Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 16, 2010 1:06 PM in response to Fortuny

+"Most likely right now the Partition Scheme of the external HD is set to MBR (Master Boot Record) which doesn't work that well with the MacOS Extended file system."+
Yes, it was set for the *Master Boot Record*. I switched it to *GUID Partition Table*

I have a circa 2002 iMac G4 (Flat Panel), which I believe is Intel-based (I am not home at present, so I am not sure).

After formatting, I restarted the system, and the icon appeared on the desktop for the first time. It also appeared in Disk Utility, so I think we are good.

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Answer 3

pacobell73 Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 16, 2010 8:52 PM in response to pacobell73

Actually, I just checked some more details of my iMac:

Machine Name: iMac
Machine Model: PowerMac4,2
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 800 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
Memory: 256 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.3.4f2

So with a PowerMac, will I have booting problems with a USB-connected external hard drive vs. a Firewire? From what I can tell, USB moves far slower than Firewire

The USB external drives (Maxtor, Seagate) are "Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec" while the Firewire (WD) is "Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec." That is bad...

Pls. advise...

Message was edited by: pacobell73

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Answer 4

Fortuny

Level 7

21,455 points

Dec 17, 2010 4:24 AM in response to pacobell73

Hi pacobell73,

you shouldn't have any booting problems with the USB-connected HD.

However as said, PPC-Macs cannot boot OSX from an USB-connected HD, this only works with Firewire !

If this is your only Mac then you really should use APM (Apple Partition Map) for the external HD since this is the 'native' partition scheme for PPC-Macs.

Regards

Stefan

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Answer 5

Feb 5, 2011 7:52 PM in response to Fortuny

Thanks For the help Stefan, I had the same issue, and your info was spot on.

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