"file system formatter failed" (GTech and Yosemite)

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"file system formatter failed" (GTech and Yosemite)

i have a reasonably new (like three years old) 3 TB G Tech drive that i have been using for a Time Machine backup of my 2006 mac pro. as i upgrade to a 2012 i seem to be running into a lot of problems - including the issue that i am getting this error when i try and re-format this drive. i am reformatting since it says it is unreadable by my new machine when i plug it in. i also seem to have gotten some prompt at one point about GUID something or other.

i am finding some answers via a search on this that appear to recommend checking some setting or other when formatting but i can't find these settings in yosemite in disk utility so it is hard to tell what i should be doing.

any suggestions on what to do with this drive?

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Mar 22, 2015 6:10 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Mar 23, 2015 2:04 AM in response to hotwheels22

Just what setting are you looking for?

What links did you get that information from?

You could have a bad disk or bad electronics in the enclosure.

Have yo went to G Tech's support site?

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Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 23, 2015 3:47 AM in response to hotwheels22

3 years in Apple land and from Lion to ahem Yosemite a long time and from 3w-bit to 65t and 6t big driver extension plus firmware.

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Answer 3

hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

74 points

Mar 23, 2015 8:18 AM in response to lllaass

i can't seem to format it.

i contacted gtech

older infomsaid to check some guid option so I thought maybe there was a way to save it or diagnose it

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Answer 4

pmiles

Level 6

16,013 points

Mar 23, 2015 8:28 AM in response to hotwheels22

I'm guessing they were saying to make sure you use a GUID partition table when you format the drive in MacOS Extended (Journaled).

Drive probably failed given that it won't let you format it at all.

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Answer 5

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Mar 23, 2015 8:33 AM in response to hotwheels22

Just what older info are you looking at?

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Answer 6

hotwheels22 Author

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74 points

Mar 23, 2015 8:48 AM in response to lllaass

hi lllaass

i googled the issue and it seemed to give suggestions in formatting in an older OS than Yosemite and I think some drive format options changed. so they were suggesting to check the Guid box or something. I didn't follow but maybe this was just saying use OS X journaled extended....

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Answer 7

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Mar 23, 2015 8:56 AM in response to hotwheels22

Format large disks

The bug is in the ERASE function in Disk Utility, 10.8.4 and later. If you can use PARTITION directly without ERASE, you will also avoid the Bug.

using a Disk Utility from any older Mac OS X, including the 10.6 DVD (if your Mac can boot from it) or any saved Installer DVD or thumb drive will work.

Another work-around is to move that drive to an external enclosure and Erase it there (provided your enclosure is modern enough to deal with drives over 2.2TB.

Since the enclosure supports larger than 2.2 TB drives that should not be an issue but I would try with 10.8,3 or earlier OSX version

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Answer 8

hotwheels22 Author

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74 points

Mar 23, 2015 9:08 AM in response to lllaass

hi lllaass, you're awesome.

i am having a very difficult upgrade process here (lots of things failing and this kind of help is really welcome).

just so i am sure how to retry this -

the GTech drive is a 3 TB aluminum like this deal here http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-raid-mini-external-2-tb-7200rpm

so it is in fact an external drive and if i understand it you are saying to just use the PARTITION TAB and to not try to format this drive with the ERASE functionality in yosemite?

THANK YOU

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Answer 9

pmiles

Level 6

16,013 points

Mar 23, 2015 9:11 AM in response to hotwheels22

Before you get your hopes up... the format bug he is referring to has been associated with internal drives only, not external ones.

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Answer 10

hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

74 points

Mar 23, 2015 9:25 AM in response to pmiles

ugh. that's a lot of aluminum and a lot of cash to have a drive fail this early...

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Answer 11

hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

74 points

Mar 23, 2015 9:27 AM in response to The hatter

hatter,

are you making a comment or asking a question or are you giving me technical information to help me troubleshoot a problem with a failed backup drive?

i don't understand your response.

the old computer was running lion since this is as high as the 2006 would go and the new computer is now running yosemite.

does that help you help me?

THANKS

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Answer 12

pmiles

Level 6

16,013 points

Mar 23, 2015 9:30 AM in response to hotwheels22

I had one fail within 3 hours of installation. Luckily the warranty was for 5 years!

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Answer 13

hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

74 points

Mar 23, 2015 12:28 PM in response to lllaass

THANKS!

looks like lllaass nailed that one. i just tried to format with one partition on the partition tab and it seems to have taken. i am doing a time machine backup as we speak. very happy to be on to the next task and not dealing with two bad hard drives...

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