Partitioning an ext HD for use on a new iMac

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Level 1

29 points

Partitioning an ext HD for use on a new iMac

I zero'd a 2TB external drive I'll be using with a new iMac, chosen GUID partition scheme and formatted as Mac OS Extended Journaled and selected 1 partition. The partition progress bar has not moved for a half hour, it's in the first tenth of the progress bar's length and hasn't moved since I clicked "Partition"

How long should partitioning/one partition take? I didn't name the volume(necessary?), and I see at the bottom left, the Partition Scheme says Apple Partition Map although I chose GUID. Since I'm preparing this external drive on a PPC for the Intel iMac is this the hangup---I can't GUID partition on a PPC?

Posted on Mar 3, 2013 8:02 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

238,997 points

Mar 3, 2013 9:48 AM in response to Paul Elson

Should take less than a minute.

What OS is on the PPC Mac?

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Answer 2

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Mar 3, 2013 9:48 AM in response to Paul Elson

Correct!

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Answer 3

Mar 3, 2013 9:54 AM in response to Paul Elson

Question: Why are you using an old PPC Mac to format the drive? 2TB drives weren't around when PPC was around. I'm not 100% sure, but I have seen issues with older computers handling drives that large.

The iMac should be able to do all the same things you are wanting to do when formatting. I'm just curious as to the exact reason you're using the PPC for this.

Are you trying to do a Time Machine backup of the old unit to transfer the data?

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Answer 4

Paul Elson Author

Level 1

29 points

Mar 3, 2013 10:03 AM in response to Klaus1

Klaus, I meant to click "This solved my problem"---sorry!

And to thecaseyburesh: I won't be receiving my new iMac for another week or two. I was just trying to get a jump on all I need for the transition. I should have mentioned that... Thanks for the response.

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