New ATA/IDE Drive - Mac OS X Won't Mount the Drive!

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Level 1

10 points

New ATA/IDE Drive - Mac OS X Won't Mount the Drive!

Hello out there!

I have a problem- I installed a new 80GB WD ATA drive to my old PM G3 - everything went in smoothly, hooked it up to the "Ultra ATA" slot on the motherboard, and booted. (It is now the only disk, set to Master - jumpers, not cable select)

The main objective is to get out of OS 8/9 and get into X. I put in the OS X install disc, and get all the way to "Select Destination" - the drive is no where to be seen.

I went into the installer logs, says that the drive didnt mount, and it tried again, then gave up.

I then went into Disk Utility, click on the Disk, saw the Volume didnt mount... Erased the Disk, to Mac OS X E - and it appeared to erase - but - still no mount...

I have erased the Disk too... still no mount, the computer clearly knows the disk is there, but wont mount the volume.

Never had a problem like this before, and you guys are so impressive!

Hope you can help me out!
Thanks!

Chris

PowerMacintosh G3, PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Jul 19, 2006 1:04 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 19, 2006 2:20 AM in response to ChrisBreen

Hi, Chris -

Welcome to Apple's Discussions.

Check the jumper-settings label carefully on the drive. WD drives often have a third jumper position available, Single, which is to be used when it is the only drive on the bus.

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Answer 2

ChrisBreen Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 19, 2006 5:41 AM in response to Don Archibald

Good Morning Don,

The drive says "Master/Single" with no Jumper connected, so that is the state that it is in now.

Chris

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Answer 3

Jeff

Level 6

12,058 points

Jul 19, 2006 10:40 PM in response to ChrisBreen

That master/single jumper setting (using no jumper) is interesting, because (as stated previously) the WD ATA hard drives formerly had a vertical jumper placement for a master w/slave present, but for standalone/single use, the jumper was either removed or could be stored horizontally across a pair of pins. In any event, if the jumper is removed, that should be fine with a single drive setup. Does your B&W have a Rev. 1 motherboard? If so, you may have problems with an 80 GB drive and the onboard IDE controller. As for erasing, did you format the drive as a single partition?

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Answer 4

Jul 20, 2006 3:11 AM in response to ChrisBreen

Chris,

I don't know how much this wil help, but I just had a peak at how I installed the 80GB WD in my son's Rev.1 B&W G3, and the drive is in the "Master or Single" configuration, no jumpers.

As for the size of the drive in a rev.1, my daughter's B&W G3 is happily married to a 120GB Seagate, working a marvel.
No data corruption or strange behaviours.

cheers

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Answer 5

ChrisBreen Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 20, 2006 5:15 AM in response to Jeff

I did format it as a single - How would I know if it was Rev. 1?

C

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Answer 6

Jul 20, 2006 5:47 AM in response to ChrisBreen

Chris,

see this link to identify your version of the motherboard:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=24924

cheers

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Answer 7

ChrisBreen Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 20, 2006 7:13 AM in response to Mauro Maitan1

Mauro,

I unfortunatly cannot get into the system profiler, because I dont have a version of OSX running, or any version for that matter... when I erased the disk, so went the OS.

The install program doesnt allow access to the sys profiler, any other ideas?

C

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Answer 8

ChrisBreen Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 20, 2006 7:14 AM in response to Mauro Maitan1

That is how the drive is configured now... just sidenote.

PowerMacintosh G3, PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

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Answer 9

Jul 20, 2006 10:08 AM in response to Mauro Maitan1

Article 24924 applies to beige G3. If you have a Blue & White, this article pictures the sheet metal that appears in MOST Rev 2:

58193- Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White): Additional Hard Drive Installation Options

The definitive test is in section 3 of this article:

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3-ZONE/yosemite/newfeatures.html

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Answer 10

ChrisBreen Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 20, 2006 10:41 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

My system doesnt match those two articles... I'm assuming I have #1 then?

Am I doomed?

C

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Answer 11

Jul 20, 2006 11:54 AM in response to ChrisBreen

Without the 646U2-402 chip on your motherboard, you have the "Heartbreaker" Blue & White G3. When upgraded to a Hard Drive faster than the original 4, 6, or 8 GB drives that shipped with the units originally, they become flaky -- producing crashes, freeze ups, and eventually disk corruption. But never repeatable enough to diagnose a firm problem.

The solution for most users has been to install a PCI Hard drive Controller, IDE or SCSI at your option, and live happily ever after. (Recently, the cheapest Mac-specific IDE Controllers have been new at NewEgg.com. The cheapest bootable SCSI is the used Apple/ATTO UL2D).

"Happily Ever After" that is, until you try to transfer large amounts of data over FireWire. At which point you may be forced to install a controller for FireWire to get satisfaction in using that Bus. Oh, and the Blue & White can not share its drives over FireWire using FireWire Target Disk mode, either.

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Answer 12

ChrisBreen Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 20, 2006 11:52 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks so much!

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Answer 13

Jul 20, 2006 11:57 AM in response to ChrisBreen

Chris- I revised by post above after your acknowledgment.

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Answer 14

Jul 20, 2006 12:27 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Recent layoffs of almost all the moderators of this Apple Site have reduced the level of civility in some discussion areas. Luckily, this area does not seem to have been affected.

There is a grave concern among the cognoscenti that the Apple Discussions is now managed by someone who thinks it is not a valuable resource, and that they would like to close it. If you have the opportunity to put in a good word for the Apple Discussions in other media, I hope you will do so.

Email me (click on my name) if you would like to discuss this further.

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