Directory Issues on External Drive?

I have a Mercury Elite Pro 160GB external drive, and sometimes it won't mount. Disk Utility and DiskWarrior say there's no problem.
If there's corruption, does using Disk Utility to erase the drive also rewrite a new Directory? A Mac tech told me that only Repartitioning will truly delete/write a new Directory. Don't know if that's true.
The drive won't mount half the time. I've erased it twice. I ran the Drive Genius thirty-minute hardware test; the drive looked okay.
What's the real story on Directory corruption? Thanks.

Along the hardware lines, it would also help to know with what kind of computer you are using this (generally helpful for any question asked here).
Before you return it I would suggest checking things like the cable (as BDaqua suggested), that your board and connections are secure. Are you plugging this directly into the computer or daisychaining?
Message was edited by: Limnos

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Mobile User doesnt work with user directory set on external drive

i'm in the progress of migrating some users from local user accounts to mobile user accounts.
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I suspect a problem with user rights on the acl, however I havnt got an idea how to set them properly.

I'm having the same problem with Network Homes. When I create then in Workgroup Manager on the main drive with Mac OS X Server it all works great. When I create and share a folder on the second internal disk the client get "an error occurred" message.
Does the name of the folder matter?
Server HD/Users/glimonez - Works like a charm
Same Xserve second drive
Data/Users/glimonez - an error has occurred"
What should the permissions be for the Users folder on Data? What should I use to change them?
Also, is there a way to apply the default permissions to a users home folder? Desktop, Downloads etc for them only, and Public and sites to whatever they should be? I've only seen "apply permissions to folder and everything enclosed" options.
Sorry for long post
Gabe

How can I specify a default directory on my external drive, for iPhone photos to be imported to on Macbook Air?

I use both a PC as well as my Macbook Air and when I sync my iPhone with my PC (I connect the phone to PC) my phone (or is it my computer)? knows to import my photos and videos to a specific directory/folder on my external hard drive (I am able to tell my PC which folder to import my photos and videos to). For example, it imports all photos and videos to the external drive and organises the photos and videos by date (it creates a separate folder for each date the photos/videos were taken; I had to tell my PC to import to the default directory (external drive) when I did this for the first time, and it now creates a new folder for each date which is useful for keeping photos organised, etc.
I'd like to be able to do the same thing, using my Macbook Air, i.e., when I connect my iPhone to the Macbook air, I want my Macbook Air to know to import my photos to my external hard drive; is this possible? I am not familiar with the photo programmes on the Macbook air, but to be honest, I don't want to use them for this; I just want my photos and videos on my iPhone to import to the same folder when I use my Macbook air to sync, as when I use my PC to sync (I use my PC at work and have my Macbook at home). I'd like to be able to sync my phone when at home and not have to wait till I get to work, etc.
Many thanks for any help you can provide...

Yes there are many, but the question is why won't the new folder create on the drive?
What format is it?
I think you've not grasped what iPhoto is. Have a read of these
For help accessing your photos in iPhoto see this user tip:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491
This User Tip
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
has details of the options in the Export dialogue.
Though dealing with different topics, they explain some of the background and the differences between what you're looking for (file management) and what iPhoto does (photo management).

Issue w/external drive that was once an internal main drive

I recently replaced the hard drive in my Powerbook G4 and planned to use the previous hard drive as an external drive, but I’m having difficulty with the drive being recognized. All the external case does is blink. Doesn't even whirl. I’ve used Disk Utility with no luck, but when I plug the drive into a Windows machine it does physically recognize the drive, it just can’t read it (likely due to having OS installed). Do I need to set the jumpers to slave on the old drive for it to be recognized on the Powerbook? Is there an issue with both the internal and external drives both having Mac OS installed?
Thanks in advance for the help!
-David

Assuming you put the drive into a bus-powered USB enclosure, the problem is that your Powerbook, like most or all PB G4s, doesn't put out enough power via the USB port to operate the drive fully. It will spin, but the heads won't move. There are four remedies:
1. Use a USB "Y" cable that enables the drive to draw power from two USB ports instead of just one. Here is one example.
2. Connect an AC adapter to the drive to power it, if it has a port for one.
3. Connect an AC-powered USB hub to the computer, and connect the drive to the hub.
4. Replace the USB enclosure with a FireWire enclosure and connect the drive to your FireWire port, which provides more power than the USB ports do.

Mavericks 10.9-10.9.1 bug/issue/problem: external drives connected through thunderbolt or firewire are not put to sleep when iMac goes to sleep

Previous to Mavericks (10.9 - 10.9.1) I've had no issues with external firewire or thunderbolt connected drives to be put to sleep. However, since Mavericks all of my external drives are not put to sleep when my iMac, or Mac Pro go to sleep.
How can a company such as Apple, pushing people to have external devices like hard drives, is not on top of fixing this issue? Apple pushed for firewire and thunderbolt, thus All external drives I've owned are firewire. Because of speed. I bought thunderbolt adapters for firewire, and before Mavericks all worked great. Now that we have 10.9.1 update, this is still an issue!
I'm aware of the temporary solution of connecting the drive through USB to make it work, this is not a solution, but a hack.
Please let Apple know that this is a known issue, and there should be a fix for it. Everyone's data depends on it! Not only current external backups, but also external sensitive hard drives we rely on. Currently, the following makes are experiencing this issue: Lacie, OWC (Elite Pro), WD, Promise, Seagate, Toshiba, G-Drive.
Other Apple Support Communities related thread:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5486167?start=60&tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/message/23541363
External References:
http://blog.macsales.com/21004-upgrade-to-mavericks-drama-free-with-owc
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1659332&page=3
If anyone finds how to solve this issue, please help by posting the steps or solution.

Same 2 issues with 10.9.3:
External FireWire drive WILL NOT spin down when Mac goes to sleep.
also
External FireWire drive WILL NOT spin down for inactivity despite “Put hard disks to sleep when possible” is checked in energy saver.
This has been going on since the launch of Mavericks and no solution found yet.
USB ports work normally.

FireWire issues with external drive in Yosemite

I have just upgraded to OS X Yosemite, and I have an annoying problem with my 500GB FireWire external drive (which I use for Time Machine backups).
Basically, after updating the drive won't show up anymore, neither in the Finder nor in the Disk Utility. I also tried the "diskutil list" command in the Terminal, but it is nowhere to be found. Note that the drive does indeed receive power from the port - it spins - and when I look into System Report --> Hardware --> FireWire it does show up there (but I can't mount it). Furthermore, if I use a USB cable to connect the drive everything works fine, so the disk itself seems to be OK.
The funny thing is that if I boot with the drive plugged in the FireWire port the system mounts it normally. But as soon as I eject the drive, I am unable to mount it again (unless I switch to the USB cable, as mentioned above).
Prior to the update, everything worked flawlessly. For now, I backed up my Mac via USB 2.0, but it's very slow and I definitely don't want to resort to this workaround everytime. And it goes without saying that I don't like having issues with my primary backup device in general.
I already did all the usual troubleshooting (rebooting, resetting NVRAM and SMC, ...), but the problem still persists.
Any suggestion?

I had the same issue on a rMBP 13'', brand new 2015 March.
Two thunderbolt adapter connected: one for ethernet, one for firewire Lacie drive.
and...
even after taking the ext. Firewire on the Spotlight exclude list, and also after disabling sleeping hard drives, I always got the issue.
Until I realized that touching the laptop or moving the screen was immediately leading to disconnection.
Then I exchanged the thunderbolt connectors, and now it is stable and does not disconnect again.
??? Maybe one of the ports is more "delicate" than the other?
Big hardware weakness here...

USB issues with External Drive

I am running a 1 TB Fantom drive (MDC1000) (2 Partitions) on new OS 10.5.6 MacPro via one of the back USB ports. Been using the drive for over a year with no problems.
Now intermittent issue with mounting drive. After successfully mounting and letting the drive cycle down, the USB2 connection disconnects when the drive starts back up again. I receive the Device Removal Message, then the drive tries to remount. Then I receive the message again. What is strange is that the drive seems to work fine when data is being accessed consistently.
I clicked off the "put the hard disc to sleep" checkbox in the Energy Saver preference which seemed to stabilize the intermittent problem, but now there is an issue with the machine not coming out of sleep, and I get the startup clock icon when I try to restart. The machine does not shut down with the USB connected.
I'm still trying to determine if it's the drive or the machine. I ran the disc utility and repaired the disc as the intermittent disconnections seem to corrupt the trees and directories. I am able to fix them. Is there any utility for testing the USB ports? There should BE.
Could this be due to a recent update? Or lack of firmware update from the drive manufacturer? Seemed to come out of nowhere.
Thanks for any info.
Message was edited by: jfc999

Just to follow up with this for anyone has a similar problem.
Tried new cables and seemed better for a short time, but then still would not mount successfully.
I called Micronet after I didn't hear back via their email form. The tech there seemed to suspect it was the power connection on the network card in the drive which would make some sense. He confirmed there were no firmware upgrades for the Fantom drive.
Also tried to mount the drive unsuccessfully via Firewire and it did not work.
So my conclusion is that it's not the drive mechanism but the network card in the drive. I have a sinking suspicion that there is a power issue in my office space, which may have affected the drive. I've had other machines and devices which have had power issues in the past.
Does anyone know any simple and easy way to test electrical integrity in a work/office environment?
I bought another 2tb drive, transferred the data and reformatted the old drive to see if that does anything.

ITunes library issues with external drive - HELP!

Hey guys,
I just got the Time Capsule and am using it to store my iTunes library. I went to preferences>Advanced and changed the location of the iTunes Library to my time capsule HD.
The problem I am having is that every time I disconnect from the network iTunes defaults back to user/me/music/itunes and I have to redirect it and then click yes for "organize my library" and then it updates the library, blah blah...
This is very annoying, does anyone have any suggestions?

Try this post;
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Maybe the most useful hint for you is the last paragraph "If you move your library to an external drive, you'll need to power up and connect the drive before starting iTunes. If you don't, iTunes will prompt you to either locate the library or to create a new library (which will result in an empty library)."

Library Issue: Existing External Drive - New Computer Won't Recognize

Hi,
I've had an external drive library for quite some time. I just bought a new laptop, downloaded iTunes, pointed it to F:\Music where my library is and it won't recognize the files. There are a handful of songs that come with iTunes, so I did a Consolidate to see what would happen. They are visible and available from my F: drive but none of my "original" files. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Unless I am missing something, this is a real pain the tukus. I moved all of my mp3's to an external hard drive to free up space in my c drive. My Itunes cannot find it. Do I really have to move items into Itunes folder by folder??? Is there not a search for "music files" which moves it into the itunes folder, wherever that may be? I see references where the site seems to say that the physical file doesn't need to be in the Itunes folder but only references it. I have a ton of folders. Each individually??? I have moved compied pasted and created som many folders that say I tunes, I think I must have triplicates of all files. This is a mess. Why can't I get Itunes/Ipod to find the folder where I want my files to reside-off my C drive?

Issues with external drive on Mac Mini / Lion

I'm using an external SATA drive in a Newer Technologies Voyager dock (which I like to call the "toaster") with a brand new Mac Mini i5 2.3G via FW800.
The drive was formatted using Disk Utility on a G4 running Tiger (10.4.11)
With the drive mounted, the Mini's performance seems to slow down, and it randomly dismounts the drive, with the usual warning, "you disconnected your drive without dismounting it first, bla bla...)
I think I remember when Leopard was new, there was a firmware issue that had to be dealt with, and when moving drives from OS 9 to X and back to 9, I lost access to the data on the drive.
I'm also aware of the partitioning scheme difference when formatting drives for use on the Intel machines.
Could either of the above have anything to do with the problem I'm having here?

I'm not an expert in this, but as far as I know, GUID only comes into play if you want to boot from it, but...... you never know, it could - here is an excerpt from Disk Utility:
If you’ll be using the disk only with Mac computers, choose GUID Partition Table.
Another thought is: how old is that drive? All hard drives fail sooner or later - have you tried to check it with Disk Utility or something like Disk Warrior?

How do I migrate from a former user account on an external drive after a clean install?

This question has been partially answered before but not to my satisfaction and, from what I've found, not for Mountain Lion.
My MBPr was running fine for a week after I transfered my User account to an external drive. After some reorganization I decided to move the acount to a different external drive. I blundered and, for whatever reason, was unable to log in to any account on my MBPr. Not even my backup account - which suprised me. (I tried repairing disks, permissions, etc...) I tried to resolve it on the phone with Apple to no avail. Finally, I gave up. I booted into recovery and did a reinstall. After 12 hours I came back to find that it wasn't a clean reinstall. And I still couldn't log in to anything.
I then did an erase and reinstall. After another 12 hours I now have a clean install of Mountain Lion on my MBPr. I have an external drive with my former working user directory (Home:Users/mrmoose) on it. (BTW, It is LARGER than my internal SSD drive, it is not bootable, AND I have no backup of it in Time Machine format.)
My current user account is Macintosh HD:Users/bullwinkle
1) Is there a way to "reclaim" my user account on the external drive - possibly without even copying or migrating?
2) Can I copy the contents of bullwinkle (excluding some of my folders under Documents so it fits) to Macintosh HD Users/bullwinkle? Including the Library folder? I have audio plugins, etc...
I'd still like my User directory on an external drive. But I will settle for keeping it on the internal drive. I just want my info back.
Why, oh, why does Migration Assistant require your data to be in TIME MACHINE format only - why can one not migrate from a full copy on an external drive? Why can't it look at the darn thing and say, "Hey, that's a copy of an OSX User directory. I can migrate data from that."?
I would greatly appreciate a detailed response. THANK YOU. Lama Out.

~/Library is probably the one you don't want to move back because it may bring the issues back along with it.
All your own data you can drag & drop. You can drag the contents of any folder Movies, Music, Pictures, Documents (or as much as you want).
Rather than try to replace the Library you can take ~/Library/Application Support, Mail, Safari and any other folders you need.
To access your hidden ~/Library folder go to your Finder "Go" menu hold the option key to choose "Library".
Then you can drag it to the Sidebar for easy access.

Events on External Drive not showing up in Event Library

Hi,
I spent several hours last night importing nearly a Terabyte of iMovie events into FCP X. It took forever, but seemed to work - all my iMovie events appeared in the FCP Event library.
Today, when I started up FCP X, my external drive appears in the list, but none of events on that external drive appear. There is a directory called "Final Cut Events" directory in the root directory of that external drive and this directory seems to contain everything. Any idea why aren't these events showing up in the Event Library?

I have the same issue. I have two external drives, both from WD, both formatted "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", both connected via firewire 800. Sometimes the first one appears in the Event Library, sometimes the second one. After starting Final Cut both volumes displayed for the split of a second before one of these disappears.
I have filmed that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLzJH6vQAyo

Can't find any of my HD Video on a PC external drive

Just got my new MacBook aluminum ten days ago as my first Mac. I have a Maxtor Onetouch 300G external hard drive that has hours upon hours of HD video shot with a Sony handicam and imported and saved to the Maxtor through my old PC laptop.
I plugged in the Maxtor to my new Mac... "Do you want to install?" from the preloaded Maxtor software on the drive.
"yes"
At NO point did it say anything at all about formatting the disk. It installs and TimeMachine instantly clicks on and starts backing up my system. Ok, no problem. It finally finishes it's thing and I click on the Maxtor icon for the drive and all of my video is gone. OR I should say I can't see it.
I plug the Maxtor back into my PC "This drives needs to be formatted. Would you like to format it now? If you do, all of the contents will be erased." NO! I DON'T!
So I unplug the drive and cal Apple Care...
"You need DiskWarrior 4. Here is the website"
Ok... $108 later DiskWarrior "rebuilds the directory" on the external drive... nothing... it is the exact same files that I was seeing before so I just took $108 and lit it on fire.
When I originally called Apple Care I somehow managed to get into the enterprise support area and the guy I spoke to there very briefly said that it sounded like all of the files were there by my MAc simply couldn't see them. He asked if they were in Fat-32 or N... something format. I have no idea what format they're in.
Anyone have any ideas??? Sorry to sound pathetic but this is every hour of video we have taken of our kids since they were born... first steps, first b-days, etc etc. And yes... I know... I'm an IDIOT for not having that stuff somewhere else backed up.

Uhhhhh... Thank GOD... Got all of my files.
Spent some time on the phone with Apple Care... who was great to deal with but actually... not as helpful as I was hoping. It was suggested that I try DiskWarrior 4 to try to recover the files. $108 later, I had no files.
More calls with Apple Care and they were pretty sure that everything was gone since once the External drive was installed, like a moron, I let TimeMachine go ahead and back up my new MacBook... so it overwrote who knows how many gig that was my entire MacBook.
I wasn't giving up so I called Maxtor, the manufacturer of the external drive itself. They suggested file recovery software from I365... which is also a Seagate company (the makers of the drive). The suggested I simply use their demo because the demo version would find the files. If it found them, I could buy the software to restore them.
It found them! Another $129 after and I was able to restore all of them back to my old PC laptop.
NOW, I just need to figure out how to get the 50gig of HD video files off of my old laptop now and into my Mac and IMovie so I can actually make some DVDs out of them!
I get that Macs and PCs are different formats but I think it is ridiculous that formatting still means basically just wiping out or at least treating massive lots of old data as if it isn't there. There's gotta be a better way to do that.

External Drive for iTunes new MacBook Air

I recently upgraded from a MBP (2009) to a new MBA. I have always had my iTunes directory on an external drive. (For the last 3 MacBooks I have had...) so I know how to properly map iTunes to the drive, etc...
When I finished setting up the new MBA - I attempted to access the External Drive hooked up to my new TimeCapsule. However iTunes would not recognize the database. (I set the new location as directed)
I then disconnected the External Drive, and connected directly to the MBA - and attempted the same - with no luck.
The only way I seem to be able to access anything on my iTunes is via iTunes Match.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you in advance..

Choose Go to Folder from the Finder's Go menu, provide ~/Music/ as the folder's path, and drag the entire iTunes library, including the database files, to it.
Alternatively, you can drag the entire library to any location on the internal drive, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and choose it.
If you only put the songs and not the database files on the external drive, drag it to the internal drive and from there to the library in the open iTunes application window.
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Using Disk Warrior on external drive causes MacBook crash

I work on MacBook System 10.6.7, I back up to LaCie external drive, which I partitioned so that one partition is only for backup, the other is bootable. On this partition I have a clone of Disk Warrior (4.1), to use on the MacBook .
Today I ran DW from the MacBook on the external drive for the first time, because lately it happens that the backup partition does not always appear in the finder (still performs back up though). I applied it first to the boot-partition, and it told me there were some problems. When it got to replacing the directory, the computer crashed mid way.
I performed Disk Verify on that partition through Disk Utility, and it said that it needed repair, and then that it did repair it. Checked other partition, no problem.
Tried again to rebuild directory for the external drive, and both partitions caused the MacBook to crash. I then booted from the external drive to see if it works, and ran DW on the MacBook, and had no problem there.
Anybody can tell me if it is the MacBook that caused the crash, or if the problem is with the external, and if there is anything else I can try to sort it out?
thanks,

I work on MacBook System 10.6.7, I back up to LaCie external drive, which I partitioned so that one partition is only for backup, the other is bootable. On this partition I have a clone of Disk Warrior (4.1), to use on the MacBook .
Today I ran DW from the MacBook on the external drive for the first time, because lately it happens that the backup partition does not always appear in the finder (still performs back up though). I applied it first to the boot-partition, and it told me there were some problems. When it got to replacing the directory, the computer crashed mid way.
I performed Disk Verify on that partition through Disk Utility, and it said that it needed repair, and then that it did repair it. Checked other partition, no problem.
Tried again to rebuild directory for the external drive, and both partitions caused the MacBook to crash. I then booted from the external drive to see if it works, and ran DW on the MacBook, and had no problem there.
Anybody can tell me if it is the MacBook that caused the crash, or if the problem is with the external, and if there is anything else I can try to sort it out?
thanks,

Directory Issues on External Drive?

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