Disk Utility "frozen" trying to format external drive

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Level 1

9 points

Disk Utility "frozen" trying to format external drive

some help please...

I've got a 120gb external USB/NDAS drive that was previously formatted in NFTS on a Windows XP machine. Using Disk Utility on my new MacBook, I attempted to erase it and reformat it using the "MS-DOS" option in Disk Utility (so I can use it on both OSes). I got the spinning beach ball for several hours, at which point I forced-quit Disk Utility. The drive is now unseen by Windows, and when I plug it into the MacBook, it tells me it can't be mounted, so I choose initialize. When I attempt to either erase or partition the drive for MS-DOS, I get the beachball. I left it overnight to see if it was just taking a while, and no difference.

What next? Should I try formatting it for Mac and then reformatting MS-DOS/FAT32 and see if that works?

Thanks in advance...

MacBook Core Duo 13.3, Mac OS X (10.4.8), 1.83Ghz, 1.25gb RAM, 60GB hard drive, SuperDrive

Posted on Jan 30, 2007 4:54 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 30, 2007 5:02 AM in response to crh3ff

That disk might be bad. Why did you try reformatting it in the first place? What problem were you trying to solve? Why not reformat it on a Windows PC?

You might be better off contacting tech support from the disk drive manufacturer to resolve this issue.

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Answer 2

crh3ff Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 30, 2007 10:15 AM in response to Stanley Horwitz

I was formatting it b/c the MacBook wouldn't see the drive in NTFS formatting (not while networked); it's got to be FAT32 to be used in both OSes. My attempt to format in Windows (right click, format) wasn't working either...it gave me no options other than NTFS; I don't know why (maybe XP Home doesn't have that functionality?). Now Windows doesn't show the drive when connected, and Mac won't format it, at least not the way I'm trying.

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Answer 3

crh3ff Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 30, 2007 10:17 AM in response to Stanley Horwitz

I probably will be contacting the manufacturer, just wanted to see if anyone here had any experience with this. I did see one old post with an identical problem, but the issue never seemed to get resolved.

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Answer 4

Jan 30, 2007 10:27 AM in response to crh3ff

I had a similar problem with an older drive, eventually I did get it formatted using my iBook, but it wasn't worth it as the drive failed completely several months later (at the most inconvenient time, of course). If the drive is older than 3 years it might be on its last legs and you would be better off to buy a new drive anyway.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

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Answer 5

crh3ff Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 3, 2007 5:45 AM in response to Francine Schwieder

Well, I don't know exactly what the problem is, but I did get the disk up and running again, and connected (networked) to the Mac...in NFTS format. Just needed drivers from the manufacturer that aren't on their download page yet.

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