copy large files to external firewire - finder hangs

Question

copy large files to external firewire - finder hangs

running 10.4.8, when coying large files to an external firewire drive it hangs. only a hard reset will work. HELP!!!!

very computer literate, cannot figure this one out!

PowerMac G4 dual 1.25, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Mar 10, 2007 8:03 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 10, 2007 8:07 PM in response to Andrew Watson3

Have you checked for HD corruption?

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Answer 2

Mar 11, 2007 5:06 AM in response to Jeff Kelleher

yes, fixed permissions, ran first aid from the installer disk, done everything i can think of.

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Answer 3

Mar 11, 2007 4:21 PM in response to Andrew Watson3

Andrew

How is the external firewire drive formatted? If it is formatted in FAT32 (a Windows format), then files are limited to 4GB. If you format it in HFS Extended (HFS+) you'll be able to use files up to 16 TB (10.3 and later).

Usually in these cases you should get an error message.

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Answer 4

Mar 11, 2007 6:07 PM in response to Michael Conniff

Michael,
I see that you are a very heavy poster of replies. Thank you for your attention.

All my drives are HFS+, PC's (of which I have two here) give me hives. I have 4 Macs here and all have been fine until this problem.

On the web there are rather extensive discussions re this but I have yet to see apple or anyone crack this nut. Most of the forums discuss large file transfer with 10.1.x and up to 10.2, but not many for 10.4.8. A number of people talk about the firewire bus and how having isight plugged in can confuse it. I don't have my isight in the house.

So, I remain confused. Any help appreciated.
-a

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Answer 5

Mar 12, 2007 3:04 PM in response to Andrew Watson3

Have you checked the system log to hunt for clues?
I do agree that it's a head-scratcher.

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