MacBook Pro :: Unable To Format 3 External HDDs?
Aug 3, 2009
I have a mid 2007 Macbook Pro, 2.4GHz, 4GB Ram, 160GB HDD. My iPhoto library has been slowly taking up all of my disk space, currently almost 80GB worth. So I decided to get another external HDD to temporarily move it to until I replace the Macbook Pro's HDD.
So I initially purchased two 1TB drives, one a WD My Book, and one a SimpleTech. I hooked them into my powered USB hub along with my two other 500GB external drives, and started formatting the first one while zeroing it out (as per instructions on a site about how to set up a RAID mirror).It said that it would take 16 hours, so I came back the next morning and the format had failed. I tried to redo it, but it would not work. The error is:
Disk Erase Failed
Disk Erase failed with the error:
File system formatter failed.
Next I tried to format the other drive, and got the same error. Both drives were unreadable by OSX (they were initially formatted for Windows). So I thought that maybe putting 4 drives on the USB hub may have maxed it out?Finally, I purchased another drive, a 1.5TB Free Agent, and tried to format that. Same problem as the others.I am just not sure what to do?I should mention that I am down to only 700MB of disk space, after having moved all my Documents to an external HDD, so things are really thin. Could the low disk space have an effect on the formatting?
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May 28, 2012
I was doing a major cleanup with an external Seagate USB HDD due to low free disk spaces. It has two partitions/drives: FAT32 (using it for on other non-Apple machines like Windows 2000 SP4) and HFS [Time Machine only]). I threw about 30,000 items (copied from an old Windows 2000 SP4 machine's HDD with NTFS back a few years ago) from FAT32 partition/drive into the trash can. However, I am having problems emptying it.
Most of them were emptied, but some were left behind. This four years old MacBook Pro's Mac OS X 10.5.8's Trash dialog boxes said "The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items." and "Emptying the Trash cannot be completed because "<filename>" is locked. To empty everything in the Trash, including locked items, press the Options key while selecting Empty Trash".
[URL] for the screen shots/captures of the error messages. I tried holding Option key and emptying trash, but that didn't work. I used Finder to look at the files, and they had locked status. So I unlocked them which worked, but I can't delete the empty folders/directories, and these don't have locked. What's going on and how do I empty the trash?
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 2.4 Ghz; A1260 model; 15" size.
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Apr 8, 2010
After doing some research today I still have a few basic questions about RAID arrays that I was hoping someone could answer.
1) Could I form a RAID 1 set using only two external HDDs, of the exact same capacity, make and model, and a MacBook with OS 10.5? That is, would I only need to connect the laptop to the external HDD enclosures, and the enclosures to each other, with the relevant cables and the software would do the rest?
2) I kept coming across the warning that a RAID array is redundancy and NOT a backup system. This seems simple enough: a file deleted accidentally on the source drive is deleted on the RAID array. So would I be right in saying that a RAID array along with a system running, say Carbon Copy Cloner with its archival backup, would provide both backup and redundancy?
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Dec 27, 2010
I bought a WD My Book Essential to do Time Machine backups. It is formatted for a PC but I was told I need to format for my IMac before I can use it. How do I do that? Is it a complicated process? I have only been using a Mac for about a year now and am still learning about them.
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Feb 18, 2009
i have just bought and external hard drive and want to put stuff on it. i know i hav to format it somehow using disk utility on my imac. what do i format it to so i can use it on both mac and pc? it is set to read only in "get info" and ms-dos fat in disk utility.
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Dec 12, 2010
It's not an issue as such, more of an annoyance (when trying to keep things tidy and organised) but on all 3 of my external HDD's a folder 'Desktop' keeps appearing. It's empty on all drives.
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Feb 8, 2010
Generally speaking, is it healthier for the HDDs to remain spinning most of the day
Or have them spin down after x minutes idle, but spin up at least ten times a day when I need to access them (or use spotlight for any reason)
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Jan 9, 2011
I'm using Macbook Pro(2010, 10.6.6) and a PC with Windows 7. I need to transfer image files from both laptops to an external drive. I formatted the external drive in exFAT and wanted to know if there are any problems that might occur in the future. I already know there is an issue with such programs as Carbon Copy Cloner. I primarily need the drive for backup of the images and not system backups. Do you have any file corruption or other problems formatting in exFAT?
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Dec 29, 2009
What connection type would you choose when buying a new external hard drive?USB 2 isn't very fast, but Apple seems to be de-emphasizing Firewire and eSATA isn't even an option on anything except the Mac Pros AFAICT.
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Mar 24, 2009
I received an Acomdata 2Tb external hard drive today from Amazon and plugged it in. Time Machine popped up and I declined to link the hard drive to it. I went into Disk Utility and chose the new hard drive on the left column and went to erase. I chose Mac OS Extended. I named it and hit erase. It started going, and going..... and going... and a half an hour later I knew something was wrong.
Disk Utility was not responding and I eventually had to Force Quit. Now I cannot format the hard drive. I starts and then it stops with a disk error. I tried to run the First Aid verify and repair and both stopped after a few seconds with an error. What do I do?
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Jun 9, 2010
I just discovered that even though external drives can be backed up with Time Machine, Time Machine won't let you restore files from them if they fail. You can only restore files from a secondary drive if that drive is mounted, which is impossible if that drive has failed.
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Nov 5, 2009
I'm running Snow Leopard on my new Macbook Pro. I've got a 1.5TB External hard drive that I'm trying to figure out how to format in HFS+ with Apple Partition Map. I can figure out how to format in HFS using Disk Utility, however it still does it in GUID format and I do not know how to do it in Apple Partition Map.
Googleing this for hours has lead with all kinds of information on how to go to GUID FROM Apple Partition Map but not the other way around. I know GUID is the new hottness.. but this drive will be used exclusively to connect to my XBOX 360 and it supposedly only reads HFS+ when its formatted with Apple Partition Map. (I have tried it with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID, and the XBOX does NOT recognize it) I do not want to use Fat 32, (I know that that is the other major option) beacuse it limits file size.
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May 20, 2012
I need to format my Mac, basically because I need to free up some space and get a fresh and empty computer. My CD-ROM has recently stopped working, and won't take any CDs, including the Mac OS X disc. Is it possible in any way to format the mac without an external CD-ROM or any back-up?
Info:MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2008), Mac OS X (10.5.8), CD-ROM not working
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Jun 23, 2012
how can I format an external cd-player that runs on windows? I want to change that to mac, so I can copy my cd's
Info:
MacBook Air
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Dec 27, 2010
I have recently purchased my first MBP (13 inch). It is my first Mac notebook, but not my first laptop. I tried to transfer pictures from my sony cyber-shot still digital camera, but neither Iphoto nor Image Capture recognize the picture format (JPG) and does not allow me to transfer it.
The device also does not show up on the desktop and I have set finder preferences to show every device on the desktop. I have tried everything with my limited knowledge, but as a new mac owner.
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Nov 22, 2009
I am having issues with formatting my main drive in my Macbook Pro (mid 2009) to install Leopard.
I have booted off of several Leopard and Snow Leopard install discs and attempted to use Disk Utility to format my drive. Everytime I try to format the drive I get one of two errors: 1. input/output error OR 2. Unable to allocate memory.
I have tried using several hard drives.
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Mar 19, 2012
Which format would be most appropriate for reformatting my external drive whilst keeping it compatible across platforms (mac and windows)??Â
Info:
MacBook Pro
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Apr 28, 2012
I have format an External Hard disk for Mac. Can you advise how to format back to FAT32 format for Window
Info:
MacBook
Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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May 2, 2012
Verbatim Store 'n' Go USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive 500Gb
this is a external hard drive i am looking to buy,but it has Nero back it up and burn software already on it,so in order for me to use it on my macbook,would i need to format it?
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Aug 28, 2014
How do i format an external hard disk for my Mac Book Pro
Info:
MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)
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Nov 10, 2009
I'm trying to format my disk due to an error with boot camp. However, I cannot push the erase button as shown below.
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Sep 12, 2014
I have partitioned my external Hard drive into three different partitions, each of different formats. Two partitions for backing up my macbooks and one to copy to and from my windows PC. I would just like to know if in any way is it possible for me to be able to re-partition one of the partitions, without affecting my Time machine partitions, in case the need be in future.
Info:
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)
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Apr 1, 2012
Which is the best way to format external hard drive to be compatible with both Lion and windows, and at the same time support high data transfer?
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1)
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Jan 20, 2010
I have a Mid-2007 MBP... I upgraded it to a 500gb HDD some time ago and I'm currently running 10.6.2.
If I were to buy a new MBP (hopefully a Core i5 one if/when they come out), would it be possible to simply swap the HDD from the old MBP into the new one?
I'm aware that Time Machine and/or imaging products like Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper are ways of achieving the same thing, but I'm interested whether the physical hard drive swap would work in theory.
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Apr 8, 2010
got a real basic question to ask and you're gonna think im an idiot for asking...I just bought a 320gb western digital elements hard drive and want to reformat it so that its compatible for both mac and pc's. i intend to format it as NTFS-3G as it would allow me to use it on the 2 platforms without having the 4GB file size restriction that fat32 has, anyway.....
when I go to reformat my external hard drive in disk utility, I see my external hard drive to the left, and there's a "sub" hard drive as a child of the external hd listed uppermost. just wandering which one of the two do i select before going to Erase>Windows NT filesystem (NTFS-3G)>erase? Do I select the uppermost drive and erase that or the lower one? or both
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Nov 7, 2009
I want to upgrade the HDD on my macbook pro and I need some help on compatiblity issues - is it compatible with a SATA300 or the SATA150?
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Jun 26, 2012
I would like to use time machine for my laptop on 2 HDDs, so I can keep and off sight copy. Alternating the drives to provide maximum back-up security.Â
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Jul 27, 2010
I just got my new Seagate 640gb external hard drive and am in the process of formatting it on my MBP. However, I am not sure which format to do? My main use for the hard drive is for transferring media files back and forth between my MBP and PC using just one partition on the drive. I already know I'm not supposed to pick 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' because I believe that is to use it as a boot drive. So should I pick 'Mac OS Extended' or maybe 'Free Space'?
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Aug 1, 2010
I'm saving up to buy a 13" MBP come next refresh and am planning to upgrade the internal HDD to the Hybrid Seagate XT drive.
Is it safe to assume the XT will still work with the newer laptops due to the size/connector being standard?
I'm thinking of getting the HDD ahead of time so when I do get the MBP I have it ready to go.
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Feb 9, 2009
I have just received an Mp4 Player from overseas. I don't know what the brand is, there is no info on that. It came from Asia. It has games, a digital camera, can play .avi , mp3, .wav.
But everytime i put one of my avi files from my mac it won't play it and says there is a "format error."
I tried putting the software disc that came with it (which is a small disc btw) into my Intel core 2 duo Imac but it doesn't register that it is in there.
I have the latest version of Leopard. The video that comes already on the player works, which is also an avi video. I just have a problem with avi files when I put them on the player from my Mac.
The video player is 16GB.
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