Formatting a new Lacie External Hard Drive

Question

Formatting a new Lacie External Hard Drive

I bought a 250GB Lacie Porsche external hard drive because I was satisfied with the smooth running 160GB drive I've been using for a couple of years. In the packaging was a note saying that the drive was configured to work with various Windows formats and OS9, and that OSX users should initialize the drive using Disk Utility.

I connected the drive, and erased it, but there was no option for choosing a Mac format for the drive. I tried to back up my iTunes music folder to it, but after 16GB the transfer stopped, and there was an error message saying that my destination drive was full.

Does anyone know how I can correctly initialize the HD so I can use it with my Macs? I'm running a G4 iBook and a first generation (lampstyle) G4 iMac.

Thanks!

J.

800 iMac, iBook G4, OSX 10.4.4, Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Apr 1, 2006 4:36 PM

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Answer 1

Doug Clay

Level 1

100 points

Apr 1, 2006 4:58 PM in response to Jonathan Hayes

Hi -J,
If you used Disk Utility to erase/format your drive you should have had the option to select 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)',which is default, among a few other options. Have you tried to partition your LaCie?
-doug

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Answer 2

Apr 1, 2006 10:08 PM in response to Doug Clay

Hey, Doug. Actually, I didn't have a journaled Mac format option. For the format options, the pulldown menu only had one choice - MS-DOS. I thought there'd be a Mac option there, but no sirree...

I didn't get as far as trying to partition the HD, and am not sure that I would want to - I use the 160 GB HD as one big storage closet to stick stuff in, and was thinking that I'd use the new one the same way.

(I've been a longtime Mac user, but am kind of ignorant about the under-the-hood stuff, as these embarassing posts no doubt reveal!)

thanks for any ideas,

J.

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Answer 3

scb

Level 5

5,388 points

Apr 2, 2006 6:53 AM in response to Jonathan Hayes

Is it plugged in and running, before you start up? You should get a screen asking you to initialize.

Try it on a friends Mac.

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Answer 4

Apr 2, 2006 7:09 AM in response to scb

Thanks for the suggestion scb, but starting up with the running drive already attached doesn't bring up any dialogue box. I verified it again, and it still passes, with format listed as MS-DOS (FAT32).

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Answer 5

Doug Clay

Level 1

100 points

Apr 2, 2006 9:29 AM in response to Jonathan Hayes

The FAT32 is a stock format from LaCie so it can be used on all platforms. But you should still be able to format any flavor you'd like. This might be a permission issue. Try unplugging your LaCie, and run Repair Disc Permissions on your internal HD. If that doesn't work do a 'Get-Info' on your LaCie HD icon, and make sure you have 'Read-Write' under Ownership & Permissions. Might have to unlock it to chance it. Hope that helps.
-doug

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Answer 6

fede_dev

Level 1

40 points

Apr 2, 2006 9:57 AM in response to Jonathan Hayes

the thing is simple:

1-your disk is in fat32 you have to erase it and change the format.
2- open disk utility you must see the disk on the voloumes column on the left.
3-select the volume (something as: 149.1 gb seagate etc.)
4-click the tag "Erase" on the window on the right choose the kind of format:
"mac os extended (journaled)" recommended, assign a name at the disk.
5-click the button "Erase"
6- you have to see your new volume with the name of your choice.

bye
fede

Mac OS X (10.4.5)

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Answer 7

Apr 2, 2006 10:50 AM in response to fede_dev

Thanks, Doug - I repaired permissions, no luck with that. When I did a Get Info, there was no Permissions option, just Spotlight Comments, General, More Info, Name & Extension and a preview of the icon. No luck there!

Fede - grazie. I've already tried erasing the disk, but Disk Utility doesn't give me any format option other than MS-DOS.

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Answer 8

Apr 2, 2006 10:56 AM in response to Jonathan Hayes

I don't know if this is any help, but here's the Info from a Get Info inside Disk Utility. (I called the disk drive Further Out)

Name : FURTHER OUT
Type : Volume

Disk Identifier : disk1s1
Mount Point : /Volumes/FURTHER OUT
File System : MS-DOS File System (FAT32)
Connection Bus : FireWire
Partition Type : Windows FAT32
Device Tree : fw/node@d04b590d0a7c78/sbp-2@c000/@0:1
Writable : Yes
Capacity : 232.9 GB (250,056,705,024 Bytes)
Free Space : 232.8 GB (249,995,427,840 Bytes)
Used : 192.0 KB (196,608 Bytes)
Number of Files : 0
Number of Folders : 0
Owners Enabled : No
Can Turn Owners Off : No
Can Be Formatted : Yes
Bootable : No
Supports Journaling : No
Journaled : No
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
Disk Number : 1
Partition Number : 1

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Answer 9

Apr 2, 2006 11:14 AM in response to Jonathan Hayes

Problem solved! And it was something kind of stupid - as these things often are:

When I first erased the drive, I wasn't sure which to pick, the one named LACIE, and the other that was more specific, something like LACIE SgA3 . A friend told me it didn't make a difference. In fact, it did - the original LACIE was only formattable as MS-DOS, whereas the more specific drive name gave me all the options. The drive is now appropriately formatted, and my iTunes back-up is proceeding apace.

Thanks for all of your patient help!

J.

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Answer 10

Apr 4, 2006 12:17 PM in response to Jonathan Hayes

I purchased a LaCie 100G portable hard drive because I will be in a situation where probability of theft, of my computer, will be higher than usual. I am also concerned with the incoinvience of any computer problem. It would be ideal to have both a bootable drive and data on the drive that is accessible with a pc. I understand how to partition the drive, but is it possible to format one partition as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to use as the bootable drive and format the other partition as MS-DOS in the event that I have to use someone’s pc to retrieve my data?

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Answer 11

Apr 4, 2006 1:56 PM in response to briandoowkcol

Well… I called LaCie. They suggested the following:

Create two partitions the first will be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The second partition should be formatted as free space ( which is one of the options when selecting format type).

Use Carbon-Copy Clone (free down-loadable software) to create an exact copy of my mac (operating system, applications, data files, pics, music, everything!) on the first partition.

Then plug the portable drive into a pc and using the utilities application (or whatever it is called on a pc) and format the free space as FAT/32.

One caveat… the free space partition must be less than 32 gigs for this to work (I didn’t ask why).

Does anyone have any experience with Carbon Copy Clone?

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Answer 12

Steve M.

Level 5

4,758 points

Apr 4, 2006 2:04 PM in response to briandoowkcol

I've heard good things about CCC, but haven't used it. I've used SuperDuper! and loved it. I even bought the full version so I could do incremental backups of my clone.

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Regards,
Steve M.

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