3TB external drive appears to be 801,23GB

I just bought a Western Digital 3.0TB caviar green disk drive and plugged into a Freecom Hard Drive Dock Quattro with the provided FW800 cable and the disk appears to be 801,23GB on OS X Lion. I have tried to reformat with Disk Utility but nothing changes. Is this hard drive supported?

OSX can handle 3TB harddisks and format them correctly to full size.
However, there seem to be problems with the WD Green 3TB and external harddisk enclosures according to this thread https://discussions.apple.com/message/15362222#15362222
Stefan

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Using a 3TB external drive?

It appears that 10.5.8 will not support a 3TB external drive as a single unit? Hitachi has a patch for windows but they indicate that Mac Os X should support the 3TB drive. Do I have to upgrade to 10.6 ? The Drive is recognized as 768GB drive and the limitation seems to be 2.2Gb . Is there a workaround?

Some additional observations: I installed one of the HItachi 3TB (Green, variable speed) drives (yes, using GUID partition at initialization) in an older G5 Mac running 10.5, and it recognized the drive and would format it in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). However, the size was only 2.7TB, and when I tried using the G5 as an external drive in target disk mode with the 27" iMac (running 10.6), it would recognize the 150GB system HDD, but insisted on initializing the Hitachi 3TB drive as an 801.57GB drive in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
I also tried the tarket disk mode using a 13" MacBook Pro running Lion (10.7) and it did the exact same thing.
Note, it shows the S.M.A.R.T. status as "Unknown" when erroneously depicting the drive as 801.57GB, whereas it is "verified" when connecting with eSata cables where it shows the proper 3TB size and will format properly all day long? Again, eSata works great, but no easy way to have an eSata connection in the iMacs or smaller MacBook Pros.
Note I also installed one of these Hitachi 3TB drives in a 27" iMac (late 2009) and it ran so HOT (fans going wild, WAY too noisy) that I took it out an reinstalled the original factory 2TB drive. YES, I installeld the thermal sensor correctly, and YES I used the same manufacturer for the HDD, and YES I tried the various fan speed software, but the fans were running and it was noisy just because the drive runs HOT from what I can tell, even in an external enclosure.
This is going to be a real problem as the need for larger 3TB (and more) storage exists, so I hope someone figures out why

New Toshiba 3tb external drive not recognized at startup WIn 7

My new toshiba 3tb external drive (with wall wart power) is not recognized at start up (Win7). The message I get is that it is a USB storage device but can not be used until it is formatted (I already moved files to it). If I plug it in after start up it's fine and shows up as a toshiba storage device. I've used the 2.0 and 3.0 ports and it is the same problem (it has wall wart power). I have never encountered this problem with any other usb storage device (an iomega 1tb and a WD 500gb) always plugged in and recognized at start up.
Thoughts?

Please provide your complete model number of your system.
By doing so, we will be in a better position to provide you assistance.
Thank you,
-Kenna
"Knowledge should be unrestricted and the most important commodity we can offer to help one another."

HT201596 80 % of my itunes files are located on a 3tb external drives; the remainder on a 4TB drive. ALL my files are on the 4TB. How do i get iTunes just to use the files on the 4tb drive so I can use the 3tb for other purposes THX .

Hi, 80 % of my itunes files are located on a 3tb external drives; the remainder on a 4TB drive as I ran pout of space. ALL my files are on copied on to the 4TB drive . How do I get iTunes just to use the files on the 4tb drive so I can use the 3tb for other purposes THX .

Select the desired location in preferences, then consolidate the media files to it.
iTunes 12 for Mac: Change where your iTunes files are stored - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH19507 - Unfortunately this is misnamed. It should say "Change where your media files but not where your library files are stored" - more information at: https://discussions.apple.com/message/22026652#22026652 - and steps 5-8 in https://discussions.apple.com/message/24491967#24491967

Formatting a WD Elements 3TB external drive...temporary file normal?

Hi All,
I am, I hope, at the end of a 36+ hour formatting process with this WD Elements 3TB external drive. I decided to zero out the drive and when I went to bed last night at around 12am, there were about 6 hours left in the process. This morning at aroud 9am I went to check on the drive, expecting it to be ready to go, but I found it writing a temporary file. The progress bar is about 90% done. Is this part of the normal zeroing out process? If so, how long should this take? If this ISN'T part of the normal process, what should I do?
Thanks to all who read this, many thank to those who respond.

gridout1959 wrote:
but I found it writing a temporary file. The progress bar is about 90% done. Is this part of the normal zeroing out process?
Yes, DU is creating a huge file of Zeros and will confirm, the driver software will map off any failing sectors before you lay data on it.
That is a good proceedure your doing, because if you run out of spare sectors the drive is bad and you can get a refund/exchange right away.
gridout1959 wrote:
Hi All,
I am, I hope, at the end of a 36+ hour formatting process with this WD Elements 3TB external drive. .....If so, how long should this take? If this ISN'T part of the normal process, what should I do?
3TB? well 500GB should take about a hour and a half, so 9 hours and it should have been completed.
36+ hours, there is either something wrong with the drive, or DU is not prepared to handle drives in that large amount. which I suspect is more the case, but I might be wrong.
Likely 1TB is it's limit, so use partitions and zero each of those, then reformat.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

Old External drive appears on SYS. Info., not Disc Utility.

-I have a external enclosure containing my used hdd from my old windows machine connected to my macbook pro retina.
-I am trying to clear it to use with just my mac and cannot see it in my Disc utility, yet can see it in my System info under the usb location.
-There is data on the drive that I wanted to save, but now im desperate enough to just want the drive to backup on.
-I was able to see the drive on my replacement windows machine in disc management but was unable to access it because anything i would do would respond "disc is not ready" or something along those lines.
-I've ruled out connection problems due to the fact that I can see the drive appear in System Information when plugged in, and it is gone when unplugged.
-I have tried a cold boot and get the results above, and trying to hot boot makes my computer not able to boot up at all, even when I dictate to boot with my internal boot drive.
Thank you for any advise!

you can only repair and verify permissions on a drive with OS X installed. so that part is completely normal.
see this link to unlock the drives:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8173371&#8173371

External drive appears twice in folders.

When I connect my external drive and open LR2, it shows the drive twice in folders. However, LR is looking for the photos on the "phantom" drive. In order to work on any photos I have to go through and locate them again. Drive in Finder is there only once and appears to be functioning correctly. Any ideas?

Kind of. I have images on an external drive. Just this week with my external drive attached I open lightroom, but LR doesn't see the photos. Give me "?" on the folders of the images and when I open a folder I have the "?" in the upper right hand corner. When I click to locate and browse out to the file on the external drive, LR seems to create another copy of my external drive w/in LR. Once I confirm the location and choose to locate files next to it, it finds everything within THAT folder, but I still have two instances of the external drive. Did you understand what I was talking about w/the external drive taking on the storage data of my internal drive? It's almost as if LR is acting like it is re-importing the files.
Message was edited by: robbyn329

Windows 7 can't recognize my Seagate GoFlex 3TB external drive

I can create backups using the Seagate go flex home software, but I want to do a windows backup and image on my Seagate. I've connected it via usb as well, but windows doesn't see it in device manager or computer mgmt.

Kindly go through the following link:
External drive troubleshooter for Windows 7/Vista
S.Sengupta, Windows Entertainment and Connected Home MVP

Time machine backup fails in my seagate 3tb external drive

Time machine backup fails in my seagate 3tb external drive

Without any specifics it's impossible to assist you, however the best tool for debugging TM failures is using Pondini's Time Machine Troubleshooting guide.
Good luck.

Seagate 3TB External Drive not mounting

The light is on but no-one is home. Recently upgraded iPhone4 to OS7.1.2 (which required reboot) and since then the Seagate External Drive is not mounting on the desktop. Computer details below;
MacBook Pro Model 5.5
2.26 GHZ Intel Core 2 duo
Boot rom Version: MBP55.00AC.B03
SMC Version (system) 1.4f2.
The problem started with OSX 10.6.8 (when upgraded iPhone OS), I tried Disk Utility didn't work. Have upgraded to 10.9.4 still won't show. Have check preferences, used Disk Utility & SMC reboot to no avail.
I did connect to another MacBook Pro 5.5 running OSX 10.6.8 and external drive would not mount.
Any suggestions..?? or is the external drive fried..

How old is the drive?
If you put your hand on the drive do you feel any vibrations?
Restart with drive attached. If this fails to mount the drive in Disk Utility, it sounds like the drive has died.
If you can see the drive in Disk Utility you might try Repair Drive. You might have to erase the drive to repair.

Time Machine backup to Seagate 3TB external drive

Hello all!
I have a 3TB Seagate external hard drive which I have already reformatted and partitioned to be my new drive for time machine. I would like to backup wirelessly through my airport extreme as if it is a time machine. I tried to set up my time machine and select my 2TB partition but the "update" button is greyed out and I am unable to get the drive to select. It only recognises the drive when it is connected via USB 3.0. Is there anyway without returning this drive and having to invest in a time machine to get the computer to connect to it over my airport extreme?? Thanks so much for your help everyone!

This may or may not have anything to do with your issue but, in my experience, Seagate full size (i.e., 3.5" HD) externals tend to run hot so they are designed to spin down when not actually in use in order to cool off. That has caused problems when directly connected to a computer so Seagate used to offer a one-time patch to turn that off. Connecting via AirPort Extreme rather than directly may aggravate the problem. I don't know if the patch is still offered for the newer drives but it might help, though not necessarily for the health of the drive.

Can't see my 3TB lacie external drive (for Time Machine)

since upgrading to Yosemite my Time Machine backup won't operate, says the drive is Read Only.
Don't see where I can change this, I have verified and run repair and looks good but still no Time Machine backups will function, last successful one was with Mavericks before moving to Yosemite.
It is a Lacie 3TB external drive, worked flawlessly in Mavericks.
I can't see it in the Finder , but I know computer communicates with it because I could run Disk Utility and see the drive.

I restarted the computer and then Time Machine backup worked.

Can I use Time Machine to backup ONLY an external drive?

I am having problems with the internal HD on my iMac and Disk Utility is telling me I need to reformat the drive and restore from backup. Only problem is that my 3TB Lacie Thunderbolt drive I was using for Time Machine recently failed (think it may have happened during an electrical storm brownout). Yep, I know, ***** to be me
The issues with the internal HD are preventing the iMac from booting and I would prefer not to have to purchase various repair software to find one that really works such as Disk Warrior or similar ((despite it getting very good reviews). I suspect it make be HFS corruption but no way to really tell that I am aware of.
I have setup an external drive with Yosemite and booted from that so now my old internal drive is seen as an "external drive".
I am using Disk Utility to make an image copy to a new 3TB external drive I purchased. Writing the DMG is going to take some time.
What I would like to do is to set up Time Machine to backup to a separate external 3TB hard drive (the second one I purchased) and have TM create a backup of ONLY the old internal drive - not the new system as well as the old internal unit.
Is this possible and if so can anyone advise how to do this. Does not seem I can exclude the system drive I am now booted from so that it is not backed up. (This makes sense that TM would be designed this way given its primary purpose is to backup a system).
If TM cannot be configured in this way, is there another option I can use?
Thanks
Andrew

Thanks for that advice. I have heard of it but a friend who does IT support at a University nearby suggested using Disk Utility to save an image - hence this is currently underway at present. Once this is finished I will try Carbon Copy Cloner.
I have another friend who has an older version of CCC - do you know if an old version will work ok or if only the latest supports Yosemite?
Also once I have the clone completed from CCC, is the process then to reformat the old internal drive and then clone from the CCC external drive back to the internal and then reboot and trust all is well?
Appreciate your help Csound1.
Regards
Andrew

Seagate Goflex external drive not mounting

Upgraded to Yosemite with no problems. However my Seagate 3tb external drive will not mount, but it is recognized in the disk utility and it is recognized on a pc but will not mount? Is there anything I can do? I tried the goflex thunderbolt dock, Ive tried usb, Ive plugged it into an older imac with 10.7 on it and it says "unrecognizable drive" and gives me options to initialize or eject. Is there anything I can use to just get these files off of here on win or osx?
I have also plugged in two 1tb drives seagate and toshiba and they both work perfectly. And, I have also updated the thunderbolt drivers and all that... I am at a loss of what to do next.

Okay found out the problem, on my exfat formatted drive, after I upgraded to Yosemite it basically created a new partition, a corrupted partition and would not mount my drive. However, I could open it and see it in Disk Utility.
Here's what I did to fix it:
Goto disk utility to see the name of you drive.
Open Terminal and type: sudo fsck_exfat -d disk1s1(this should be the name of your disk)
It will ask for your password then press, enter and it will display all files on the disk.
Then is will ask: Main boot drive needs to be updated?
Type: Yes
It will update and say that you can repair disk in disk utility.
Do that, and it will show up on the desktop.
Link to original forum post if you need more information:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4154638?start=0&tstart=0
Hope this helps, it was a headache for about a week but, Ive read osx does not handle exfat formatting very well.

Is it possible to use Boot Camp to partition an external hard drive so there is a OSX partition and a Windows partiton? I want to use the external drive for backup only, NOT to load Windows and NOT to use as a boot drive.

I have partitioned the internal hard drive and am running Lion and Win7 Pro on my iMac i5 2.7GHz with 16GB RAM. Can I use Boot Camp to create a Windows partition on an OSX external hard drive to use for backing up both systems to the same HDD? I do NOT want to install OSX Lion or Windows 7 Professional on the external drive. I do NOT want to boot either system from the external drive. The 3TB external drive is for backup only.

Use NTFS for Windows and buy Paragon NTFS for OS X
You can also try Paragon HFS for Windows
As long as you are using for data and backups, you can leave the drive as GPT too.
I would recommend strongly to always have a 2nd bootable Mac OS drive, only need 30GB partition. System maintenance. Though LIon Recovery Mode finally makes it less but not totally unneeded.
And yes you can use Windows to create a partition.
Boot Camp is too broad. Do you want or mean BC Assistant? not needed but probably possible.
MBR has trouble with 3TB drives.

3TB external drive appears to be 801,23GB

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