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Zimmer1956 Author

Level 1

9 points

G-Drive external hard drives change to unwritable. Anybody have this problem?

Using IMac intel 27" with 10.8.3.

I have two brand new 1TB G-Drive Genartion4 external drives, one for Time Machine and the other for CCC clone. The first drive is into the IMac with FW800 and the opther is daisy chained into that drive with FW800.They worked fine but suddenly message that both Time Machine and CCC couldn't be used because they were unwritable. I used Disk Utility and Drive Genius3 to check/repair permissions and reformatted them. They worked for a day or two and received the same error. I even went back to the disks and manually changed the settings making writable for everyone. That dis not work

Called G-Drive and the support team had me eject them and unplug the FW800 and plug each in one at a time. That worked and the next day both drives were unwritable again. I have repartitioned these about 5-6 times and the problem continues. I have a call in to their tech support and communicating with support from Hitachi through email. In his last emai probably before they closed yesterday, he suggested it might be an OS issue. I sent the IMac info and expect to hear from him Monday.

I will call Apple support on Monday. In the meantime, is there anyone who have had this issue and have knowledge of what might be the OS issue and is this something I can fix myself? Is it just this Mac and G-Drive or have others had this same problem? Would appreciate any suggestions or assistance anyone can give me.

Thanks.

OS X Mountain Lion, two 1TB external hard drives

Posted on May 11, 2013 9:55 AM

22 replies

BDAqua

Level 10

239,351 points

May 16, 2013 12:41 PM in response to Zimmer1956

OK, good luck Don, & do let us know the outcome please. 🙂

Zimmer1956 Author

Level 1

9 points

May 17, 2013 8:48 AM in response to BDAqua

I did a lot of research before choosing the G-Drive. Now that I need to get new hard drives, considering the LaCie d2 Quadra, the OWC Mercury Elite Pro - given what happened, should I consider the G-Drive again???

Thanks.

BDAqua

Level 10

239,351 points

May 17, 2013 12:11 PM in response to Zimmer1956

Never tried a G-Drive, so can't say, but I've been pleased with OWC's offerings & Service.

mortfe

Level 1

0 points

May 29, 2013 4:23 PM in response to Zimmer1956

Doesn't change to unwriteable but I get a -50 error code that won't let me write to it. Only on the NEW 2tb drive. I have 3 other G-Drives, 2 4th generation and a G-Connect. They all work perfectly. I have been using G=Drives for bout 6 or 7 years and never had a problem till this drive. According to G-Tech they are supposed to be updating the firmware after I threatened to go to court. Wanted them to replace the last drive with a 4th gen but they refused.

Jun 24, 2013 11:13 AM in response to mortfe

Hi same problem here, have some G-Raids going back 6 years.

I have two daisy chained together via Firewire: a GRAID G - speed Q Raid and a 4TB G Drive.

Itunes is on the 4tb and time machine is on the G Raid, seems to be when Itunes is open and the time machine back up kicks in i get the -50 error code and the G-drive becomes unwriteable. I fix it by force eject and remount in disk utility.

Have tried swapping which drive comes first in the chain but it does appear like the G Drive is problematic as it stuggles to mount after a powerdown. The G Raid seems fine.

Might see if i can get a replacement, i am normally really pleased with G Raid but this one is a bit flakey

mortfe

Level 1

0 points

Jun 29, 2013 9:10 PM in response to Zimmer1956

Apple is full of s**t of not being aware. I spent an hour on the phone with them 2x as well as G-Tech. There is a problem with the new, 5th gen drives. I get a -50 error, randomly, anyware from 1/2 hr to 1 or 2 days. Will not let mw write to it. Unmount it and remount it and it is fine till the next time. Using or idle, makes no difference. Replaced it 3 times. Have 3 other G Tech drives, 1tb, G-Drive mini and G-Connect. They all work fine. G-Tech has promised a firmware update, ha ha, that was 2 months ago.

Jun 30, 2013 9:13 AM in response to Zimmer1956

So i seem to have resolved my problem by switching to a Firewire 800 cable from Western Digital (old drive that went KABLAWEE)

Since swapping the cable for the old on not problems with the drive

Hope this helps some of you

G-Drive external hard drives change to unwritable. Anybody have this problem?