Problem with Replacement Seagate Drive

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Problem with Replacement Seagate Drive

I have an iMac 20" in which the HDD died (Flashing folder with question mark on startup). I took out the old HDD which was a Western Digital 250GB with the external temperature sensor glued to the outside. I purchased a Seagate 1TB Barracuda from Best Buy yesterday to replace it but when I start the Disk Utility software from my original backup system disk, it shows the drive capacity as 7.3TB and I am unable to erase or partition it. I get an error message that there is a problem with the data in/out with the drive (Not sure if that is exactly what it said but I think that is it). Any suggestions?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6), 20" White Plastic Chassis

Posted on Apr 11, 2012 1:09 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

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Apr 11, 2012 2:36 PM in response to jsohawaii002

Did you format it and if so describe exactly how you formatted it including the partition type.

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Answer 2

jsohawaii002 Author

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Apr 11, 2012 4:13 PM in response to rkaufmann87

I was not able to format it. When I started Disk Utility, right after I finished assemling the computer with the Seagate drive in it, it showed the drive capacity as 7.3TB. I tried to partition it (MAC OS Externded (Journaled)) but received that error message so I restarted the computer and started Disk Utility again and it still showed the drive capacity as 7.3TB. I tried a Quick Erase and received the error message again. I tried to erase with Writing Zeroes and it started to go and showed an expected time of 16 hours. It ran like that for about 2 or 3 hours and dropped to 13 hours with some blue showing in the progress bar when the error message popped up and it stopped. So I turned it off and am now here trying to figure out how to get it to run. The original HDD was a 250GB WDC but I prefer Seagate so that is what I bought. Should I try a smaller Seagate (500GB) or try a 1TB WDC?

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

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Apr 11, 2012 4:29 PM in response to jsohawaii002

It needs to be partitioned first using the GUID partion, then format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), the GUID partition sets it to be a bootable drive.

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Answer 4

jsohawaii002 Author

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Apr 11, 2012 5:12 PM in response to rkaufmann87

So do I need to take the drive out and format it using another computer? I did not do anything to the drive when I took it out of the box. It went straight from the box into the Imac and now Disk Utility will not let me do anything to the drive while it is in my iMac.

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Answer 5

rkaufmann87

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Apr 11, 2012 5:55 PM in response to jsohawaii002

jsohawaii002 wrote:

So do I need to take the drive out and format it using another computer?

No you can use your original Install DVD to get Disk Utility. Pop it in the SuperDrive, restart the computer, when you hear the startup tone hold down the Option key and choose the DVD. Select the language, the click the Utilities menu and open Disk Utility. Once you are in Disk Utility the partion the drive as a GUID drive and format as required.

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Answer 6

jsohawaii002 Author

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Apr 12, 2012 1:08 AM in response to rkaufmann87

I figured it out - Thanks for your help. I was using my original Backup DVD's which are 10.4. Apparently, the 10.4 Disk Utility does not support the 1TB HDD. I switched to my Snow Leopard upgrade DVD, 10.6, and the 10.6 Disk Utility properly recognized the 1TB HDD and I was able to partion and format it. I re-installed Snow Leopard and it runs fine. It is now downloading and installing the most recent updates to bring itself up to current spec. Too bad the original HDD is absolutely dead so I cannot extract any data from it.

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Answer 7

rkaufmann87

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148,522 points

Apr 12, 2012 6:30 AM in response to jsohawaii002

Glad you figured it out, you should begin backing up immediately. Get yourself an external HD and begin using Time Machine, there isn't any reason not to. Time Machine has been available since Leopard was released in 2007. If you don't know what TM is then please watch

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#timemachinebasics

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Answer 8

jsohawaii002 Author

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Apr 12, 2012 4:28 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks, I have been using TIme Machine but not on a regular basis. I guess I should just keep a drive connected and do regular backups.

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Answer 9

rkaufmann87

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Apr 12, 2012 7:23 PM in response to jsohawaii002

jsohawaii002 wrote:

Thanks, I have been using TIme Machine but not on a regular basis. I guess I should just keep a drive connected and do regular backups.

Good idea! Personally I don't need the hourly backups so I got TimeMachineEditor that allows me to set how frequently it back's up. I've been using it for over 4 years will absolutely no problems.

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