Disk erase failure: Chosen size not valid for chosen filesystem

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Level 1

14 points

Disk erase failure: Chosen size not valid for chosen filesystem

Added a second Maxtor Diamond 10 SATA drive. Upon bootup I was told "Unable to read: Initialize, ignore, eject". Initialize brought up Disk Utility.

When I try to format the drive (erase) I get the error in subject. Erase only gives me a choice of Mac OS Standard or Unix File System. I chose Mac.

DU shows: Maxtor SABRE, Serial ATA, Internal, Device 0 ("B lower"), Total capacity 0 bytes, Read/Write, Partition Scheme: Unformatted

All First Aid choices are greyed out. Will not let me do anything within Partition tab either.

Apple support said it is a rare error and they have no information for me. Is the drive bad or . . .???

PowerMac G5 dual 2.7, Mac OS X (10.4.8), 250G Maxtor, 4G RAM, 23" Cinema, Nikon D200

Posted on Jan 13, 2007 10:23 AM

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Answer 1

unclesleepy Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 13, 2007 12:03 PM in response to unclesleepy

I cannot change anything on the Partition tab either. It is set to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Volume Scheme is "current", but both are greyed out. I can't even type in a name for the volume.

The Options button is available. It's set to Apple Partition Map.

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Answer 2

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,492 points

Jan 13, 2007 11:31 AM in response to unclesleepy

Check the volume partition scheme in the partition tab. Make sure it's set to one partition and that should allow you to choose Mac OS Extended (journaled) under the erase tab. Post back and let me know. There are glowing reports about that drive at XLR8YourMac. It should work fine

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Answer 3

unclesleepy Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 13, 2007 2:36 PM in response to SeaPapp

Upon reboot I was actually able to change Volume Scheme to 1 Partition (only lets me choose between that and Current). No grey box below it, nor lock.

Erase still only had Mac OS Standard for format type, and gave me the same error.

Each time I close and restart DU I have one opportunity to make changes on Partition tab, then it seems to realize something is wrong and I get greyed out just about everywhere as I described earlier. I can give it a name and size in Partition tab but, size is in Bytes, not GB like my primary disk.

At this point I'm reaching so I'm trying to point out any nuances. Should I try to do something within the Partition tab, not the Erase tab?

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Answer 4

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,492 points

Jan 13, 2007 1:20 PM in response to unclesleepy

Do you see the little lock icon in he lower left corner of the partition window? In the dark grey area? Click to open that lock and you should be able to make changes

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