Cannot format/use external hard drive

I purchased a 250GB Seagate hard drive and mounted it in a case. Connection can be either with Firewire or USB - chose Firewire since I had open ports on the machine. Turned on external hard drive (EHD)and booted the Mac. Mac asked if I wanted to format, said yes. When disk utility came up, it said that the EHD was
Disk Description :Generic
Total Capacity Bytes
Connection Bus :FireWire
Write Status : Read/Write
Connection Type :External
S.M.A.R.T. Status :Not Supported
Connection ID : 461335322364975
Partition Scheme :Unformatted
I select Partition. Gave it a name, and message is that partiion failed - insufficient privilidges. Journal is MacOS Extended. The jumper has been removed from the EHD. I would appreciate advice to get this drive working.

It is best to check the website of the drive's manufacturer to verify which jumper position is correct for their drive in an external enclosure. Most HDs need to be set to "Master" if they are placed in an external enclosure. Removing the jumper altogether often puts the drive into "Slave" mode.

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I cannot connect my external hard drives (1 WD My Passport and 1 LaCie Porsche Design). The drives were connected and worked perfect, the WD is used as a Time Capsule, the LaCie is formatted as exFAT and used for miscellaneous. They are both USB 3.0

I cannot connect my external hard drives any longer. I have one WD "My Passport" used as a Time Capsule and one LaCie Porsche Design used for all different kind of data, formatted in exFAT. They worked fine, connected direct or through an additional USB hub or also attached to a Dell monitor. The Lacie helds my iTunes Library and the iPhoto library.
After I moved the iTunes library to the external drive, from time to time the drive went into a never ending loop and I had to shut down the laptop (MacBook Air).
The last time starting again the drives were not recognized any longer. I tried to connect them to another MacBook, which didn't work.
Starting with Windows 7, the WD is also not recognized at all (perhaps because of time capsule format?) and the LaCie gives an error.
Could anybody tell me if there is a chance to get them alive again? When I connect them now, they start to heat up quite fast without anything else happening.
Thanks

Hi,
Just want to clarify, have you checked to make sure the cords are not damaged (going from hard drive to computer and or any power source )?
You have also check to make sure that usb ports are working correctly?
If you have checked these things it may be that the external drives have failed.
I would google the error message from the LaCie drive before I do anything.
There are several ways that I know of, one is to put the hard drive in the freezer for a while (make sure you wrap it air tight) if this works it is not a permenint fix. You might be able to transfer information to another source.
The other method is to plug the hard drive into a hard drive connector a product like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707192
to do this you would have to remove the hard drive from its enclosure and still this is not a guarantee it will work.
The finally way I know is using a recovery service. This can be rather expensive, and there are no guarantees

Which format for external hard drive to use with time machine backup and connect to windows laptop?

Hi! I have an external hard drive on which I have transferred my iTunes library (just mine - not others). I have also a folder containing just films (some but not all of which are in iTunes too) Everything has been working just fine until yesterday I noticed that Time Machine was not including the external hard drive in back up as it wasn't formatted. So I have moved everything back to the Mac hard drive and and ready to format the external hard drive - but understand that if I do the contents cannot be opened from a windows laptop ... is that right? Is there are format I could choose that would allow Time Machine to back up and allow Windows to open as well (the idea being that I take the external hard drive with me on holidays etc!!) Many thanks for any advice.

ok - I understand. I have managed so far to format the drive (on windows) to exFAT file system - which apparently works with both Windows and Mac - but you're correct - it will not be included in time machine backup as I have checked the back up files and Samsung is not showing. Reckon I'm onto having to buy yet another portable hard drive just for windows - or of course buy myself a new mac book!! Can I ask you please - does the drive have to be clear of everything before I change the format - or can I change it with the files still in there? Also, got any quick ways duplicating the files onto another External Hard drive (for use on the windows laptop) At the moment the files are taking 2/3 hours + to copy over! Thank you!

I get the following error when formatting a external hard drive. Partition failed with the error: POSIX reports: The operation couldn't be completed. Cannot allocate memory

I get the following error when formatting a external hard drive.
Partition failed with the error:
POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory
I have a Macbook pro 13" A1278. I purchased it around december 2010. I have a HHD 3.5" drive desktop select II 1.5TB. I purchased it around Febuary/March 2011 to use with my Macbook pro. I formatted it and moved all my files to there, I got it so my macbook's hard drive wouldn't brake and I lose everything on my macbook.
Is there any fixes?

First, try a system reset. It cures many ills and it's quick, easy and harmless...
Hold down the on/off switch and the Home button simultaneously until the screen blacks out or you see the Apple logo. Ignore the "Slide to power off" text if it appears. You will not lose any apps, data, music, movies, settings, etc.
If the Reset doesn't work, try a Restore. Note that it's nowhere near as quick as a Reset. From iTunes, select the iPad/iPod and then select the Summary tab. Follow directions for Restore and be sure to say "yes" to the backup. You will be warned that all data (apps, music, movies, etc.) will be erased but, as the Restore finishes, you will be asked if you wish the contents of the backup to be copied to the iPad/iPod. Again, say "yes."

How do i format an external hard drive for use on both windows and mac book air?

how do i format an external hard drive for use on both windows pc and mac book air?

Use exFAT on the PC.
(71374)

HT203167 Moved iTunes library from one computer to another using external hard drive. Cannot play many files. Says they are missing but locates them in an archive file but still won't play them. Are the files themselves part of the .itl files?

Moved iTunes library from old computer (PC Windows 7) to new (PC Window 8) using external hard drive. Library listing shows all music but can only play a fraction of it. On the ones it cannot play it asks to locate, then refers to an archived version (an .itl file), and still cannot play them. Do I just need to copy the archived .itl over, or is that not where the actual media are (do the actual media files even exist on the new computer?)? Any advice or information on this would be helpful.

*Also...is there any way I can filter out all the tracks with the ! so I can delete the unplaying copies as they're taking up room in my iTunes? I know how to find duplicates, but then I have to go and delete each one individually...*
*Thank you!*

How can i format my external hard drive to write files from Mac without loosing the files that i alredy have on my external hard when i used it with windows?

How can i format my external hard drive to write files from Mac without loosing the files that i alredy have on my external hard when i used it with windows?
I have been using Windows to write files to my 1TB WD external hard drive and I do not want to format to loose the files capacity of around 500GB
Someone, Please help

Hi Allen,
Is there any way to store the back up to Mac and restore after formating?

Hello once again.. i have formatted my external Hard drive it using exFAT, now my windows cant detect my device, can u plzz help me the whole purpose is getting ruined, i use Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit

hello once again.. i have formatted my external Hard drive it using exFAT, now my windows cant detect my device, can u plzz help me the whole purpose is getting ruined, i use Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit

This is a problem with the Mac OS X implementation of exFAT. I've had the same problem.
Best is to use a Windows box to format the drive exFAT. Then it can be read by both Windows and Mac OS.
But aren't Macs supposed to "Just Work"? Not in this case.

Using external hard drive with both iMac and PC

I own an old Dell PC and an iBook, and will soon replace the Dell with an iMac.
I recently bought a 250GB Western Digital external hard drive to back up my data. I would like to use this hard drive to back up all of the files that are on the PC (which I will soon be getting rid of) and also use it for backing up the files on the iBook and, when it arrives, the iMac. In other words, neatly back up all my info onto the back-up drive.
My question is this: can I do this? If not, what is the best way to consolidate all of the data from all of these computers into one place? Will the fact that some data comes from a PC and some from a Mac be a problem? Can you move back-up drives fromone computer to another? The photos on my PC are saved in Picasa, whereas the photos on the iBook are in iTunes. My iPod music files are all on the PC in iTunes.
Any advice about backing all this stuff up in a user friendly way would be greatly appreciated.
By the way, I have heard that there are ways to reformat external drives, to partition them, and to "raid" them. Can someone explain what this all means?
Thanks.
iBook G4

Hello,
Your best option would be to store the files from your PC on the drive with the drive in the FAT32 format. Then, copy the files to your Mac's Internal hard drive.
Now, once the files are stored safely on your Mac's internal hard drive, you can safely reformat the external drive as a Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) drive. That will be the best format to use for long-term purposes with your Mac.
Many OS X file types (such as many PKG files) cannot be stored / written to a FAT32 volume. So, a FAT32 drive would not be suitable for backing-up an entire OS X hard drive (or even many of the system updates that you might download).
So, that's how I'd do it. Use the drive as a FAT32 just long enough to get the files moved to your Mac.
Once the drive is re-formatted in the Native Mac format, then you could copy the files back to it, and any other Mac files that you wanted to back-up to it for safe-keeping.
Personally, I would re-partition it in at least two pieces on the Mac. One to hold data / personal files for safe-keeping, and a second bootable partition for a full system / OS X backup.
You can read a bit more about this in some of my previous discussions here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2536703&#2536703
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2597825&#2597825
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2632566&#2632566
Read through each of those three discussions and you'll see how they all come together and provide you with a good solution for backing-up your hard drive.
I hope you don't mind my linking you to those other discussions, but it just seemed more practical than re-typing what I had already said all over again
Also, if you are getting one of the new Intel iMac systems, and you want to be able to create a bootable backup as described in those posts, be sure to format your external hard drive using the new GUID format. That will provide you with the best solution.
I hope this helps.
Let us know if you have other questions.
P.S., if you'd like, go ahead and click the "Helpful" or "Solved" buttons on any of the posts / replies above if you feel they were helpful or adequately answered your question.

How do I use external hard drive

how do I use external hard drive and Photos? I keep getting a msg that there is not enough free space on your photo library volume - i even bought 500Gb of space on iCloud.... that didn't even work please help

1. Drag the library to a volume formatted as Mac OS Extended, launch Photos with the Option key held down, select Other Library, and choose it. Alternatively, drag it to the Photos icon in the Dock.
2. iCloud storage space is separate from that on the computer.
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How to format an external hard drive for vista and snow leopard?

I want to format an external hard drive to attach to Airport Extreme base station to us with Snow Leopard and a PC with Vista. What format should I use for read/write access for both?

I use NTFS for my external drives being used on both Macs and Windows. To get the Mac to write to NTFS, you need a separate program. I use Paragon for Mac software. It works behind the scenes. There are also some free things that do the same thing but I found them cranky and unreliable. YMMV.
Windows can not read any of the Mac disk formats without additional software.. FAT32 is fine but is extremely limited.
For the last year, I have had absolutely no problems on any computer, Mac or Windows.

Is it possible to format an external hard drive on my mac?

I purchased a portable external hard drive to back up my former pc in the hopes of using it on my mac. Obviously, I did not research this seeing now that I can integrate my files and photos from my pc to my mac. It appears possible to format the external hard drive to my mac os, which should be done prior to downloading files from my pc to the hard drive. Has anyone dealt with this or am I the only idiot that purchased the external hard drive thinking that was the thing to do before my pc dies completely?

A HD formatted in EXFAT will transfer data between both PC and Mac.
However dont make the titanic error most do in having merely a single external HD backup of your data, thats a tragedy waiting to happen.
HD are cheap as dirt.
Ideal situation is 3 HD , 1 for Mac backups, 1 for data archives stored away safely and updated as needed / often.
and a 3rd HD in Exfat for data transfers (or a thumb drive for the same thing to save $$)

If I have to format an external hard drive to make it Mac compatible, will it delete all the content in the external hard drive?

If I have to format an external hard drive to make it Mac compatible, will it delete all the content in the external hard drive?

As others have said, the answer to your question is a big YES. Formatting a drive will delete everything!
To keep your data, yet reformat the drive for optimal Mac compatibility, you will need to:
1) copy your files to a different hard drive (I would recommend two different locations if you value your data)
2) repartition/format the external drive
3) then copy the files back to the external.
You haven't given details but if you need the external to ONLY be compatible with the Mac (and no longer care if if can be read by Windows), then you will want to partition the drive using the GUID partition scheme, and format as the (HFS+) "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" filesystem. You can do so using the built-in "Disk Utility" application on your Mac (in the Applications/Utilities directory). Here are instructions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph5845
If you need the drive to be compatible with both Mac and Windows computers then please post that so someone can recommend a solution for your specific needs.

I can't format my external hard drive, some one please help me.

i can't format my external hard drive, when i am trying using disk utility its some times not showing the erase option. when its shows erase option its saying earase failed can not unmount the disk.

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.

First time using external hard drive for backup of computer....

First time using external hard drive for backup of computer....it asks "Do do you want to erase disk?" In order to proceed, I have to say "yes" ... is that what I want to do? ...Seems like I'm skipping a step...

To use Disk Utilities, attach the drive, open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utilities and then highlight the LaCie drive in the left panel of the DU window. In the right panel, choose the Partition button top center of the pane. Then decide how many partitions you want on the drive, one is just fine.
Then choose the format, the default is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) which is prefered.
Then name the partition or drive.
Then choose the partition table, the default is GUID which is prefered.
Then Apply and you will get to confirm that you want to erase and format the drive.
Quit DU and you are ready to go.

Cannot format/use external hard drive

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