Disappearing External Drive Question

I have a G Drive mini, which I purchased at the Apple Store for my Time Machine Backup drive. When I connect the drive, it appears on the desktop and Time Machine performs a backup. If I leave the drive connected, Time Machine makes additional backups as expected. However, after several hours, the G Drive disappears from my desktop and I occasionally get a message that it was disconnected without proper ejection. What's happening?

Contact the G Drive developer/manufacturer. Sounds like it has some proprietary spindown software built-in that's affecting its performance.

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Disappearing External Drives

2 days in a row now 2 external fire wire drives have disappeared from view on our Intel X-serve. The fire wire drives are used for back-up. These are identical LaCie drives. One is connected to the Firewire 800 port on the back of the X-serve, and the other is connected to the second Firewire 800 port on the first drive. Since early January, each night both drives are ejected, using Apple Remote Desktop on another computer (the server is headless), then powered off, and one drive unplugged and carried off site. In the morning the second drive is brought back-in, connected to the first one, then both are powered up, without problem. Now, for the second day in a row, sometime during the day both firewire drives "dropped off" . The drives do not show up on the Server Monitor application, don't show up on the X-serve's desktop (when viewed using Apple Remote Desktop), and don't show up when the Disk Utility application is run on the server. However, if you run System Profiler on the X-serve, both external firewire drives are shown, with correct information.
Yesterday, I tried to correct the situation by restarting the sever. The result was nothing came up, the Server Monitor application reported the temperatures, fans, power supplies, etc. as all running normal, but also showed that the X-serve had no hard drive (external or internal), no memory, and no network ports. None of the processor status lights on the front of the X-serve came on, and no network services were available on the LAN. Only after I shut the server down for several hours and then restarted it did everything come back up normal (including the firewire drives). I am therefore hesitant to restart the server now. I tried cycling the power to the external drives after they disappeared and it made no difference.
My questions are: (1) Is there a UNIX Terminal command or some other command that might work in mounting the drives, since, if System profiler can see the drives, some other parts of the OS must be able to communicate with the drives, and (2) does anybody have any clues as to what files, caches or whatever may have become corrupted that I can clear/ reset/restore so that this does not keep happening?
Intel X-Serve Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Solved own problem. Somebody in the office, concerned about how even light contact could cause the handle for the internal hard drive bay to pop out, thought it would be a good idea to use the hardware lock. When the hardware lock is on, the system won't recognize external hard drives. Found out the hard way that when the hardware lock is on, and the X-serve is rebooted, it wouldn't recognize any hard drive, or even the internal DVD/CD drive.

Another external drive question

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've partitioned my WD 500 GB firewire 800 external drive into three partitions. My intention was to obtain a bootable backup in the first partition (100 GB) and have the other two as supplemental strorage for future use (200 GB and the remaining approx. 165 GB). After performing an immediate backup of the Macintosh HD into the first partition, I read that a "duplicate", not "backup" was required for boot purposes.
I'd really appreciate some suggestions here from those with more experience in these matters. My internal 500 GB HD has approximately 28 GB of used capacity currently (this will grow, of course, over time). Should I have created a partition for a bootable start up and "duplicated" the internal HD? Then, should I use a second partition for normal backups? What size should these partitions be configured to allow for maximum future storage, without pushing the limits on the backup/startup partitions? And finally, what are the steps to re-configure the external to achieve my desired intentions?
This is a lot of question, but I certainly appreciate the guidance provided me thus far in my early days of Mac enjoyment. Thanks.
iMac 24 2.33/3G Ram/500G HD/7600GT/BT K/M /WD 500GB FWHD Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hello! Sounds like you have thought it out well. All you need now is to clone your main drive so it will be bootable. You can do that using CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper, or you can use the Apple Disk Utility you already have. A lot of people use SuperDuper and others swear by some of the others. Below are listed Kappy's steps to do it using the disk utility. I use several bootable backups just for peace of mind. I generally clone to one and then the other so if something happens during the cloning (such as a power outage) I'll still have a drive that works. I usually make a clone about once a month and then backup any important documents every day to a flash drive, cd/dvd, or another hard drive volume. Once you make a clone you should always boot from it to make sure it's booting ok. Sometimes a clone will fail to boot. I also HIGHLY recommend obtaining and using DISKWARRIOR. Diskwarrior is the "gold standard" for disk drive directory maintenance which is the leading cause of hard drive problems. Using DW about once a month or after any force shutdown, forced re-start, or power outage will head off most disk problems. Tom
Kappy's Steps to Produce a bootable clone
Prep external FW drive:
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
8. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Verify the settings for Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only. If they are not correct then reset them.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

Backup to external drive question

Alright, so I have been trying to partition my Macbook HD for a little while now (to install Bootcamp), but it is now telling me to backup all data and format my HD.
So, after looking around for a little while, I found a backup program on the Apple download site called "SmartBackup". It says that I should be able to backup my information to any external HD. I have a 250GB external HD that is in NTFS format (so I can use it on my Windows Desktop, too).
My question is, will I have to partition the external drive to be in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format to do a proper backup? I've been a Mac user for a while, and this is my first time doing a full backup to an external HD. Also, if I partition my external drive, do you know if it will erase the data currently on the external drive?
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,
may I suggest a setup for the external HD with two partitions, one for OSX and one for NTFS:
Open Disk Utility (found in Applications / System Applications) - choose your external drive from the left pane - go to the Partition Tab - from Volume Scheme choose two partitions - set the size of the partitions - click on Options to verify that GUID is set - click on the first partition and choose HFS+ as file format - click on the second partition and choose MS-DOS (is FAT32) as file system
Start the process by clicking on Partition.
To get NTFS (if wanted) for the second partition you have to reformat it while in Windows since Disk Utility can not do this.
Use SuperDuper http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html to make a full bootable backup of your internal OSX system to the external HD (makes it easier to do what you need).
Caution: Using the a.m. procedure will delete all files that curently are on your external harddisk !
Regards
Stefan

Simple external drive question please

Hi all, quick and probably rather basic question here....
I have a mac mini which we use as a family internet channel, email and the occasional synching of an Iphone and iPod Touch. I am getting memory almost full messages from my mac mini. It is. However rather than going through files and deleting I would like just to be able to expand the mini with one of the stackable external drive options.
The apple 500Mb Time Machine looks expensive compared to the IOMEGA Tb, does anyone have any advice/ recommendations...I have no other back up source so upgrading the internal drive is going to get messy.
Hope you can help, I would like to purchase and get this issue resolved asap.

First off, you'd be wise to address this issue ASAP: OSX gets very unhappy when it runs out of space on the hard drive.
I'd recommend that you get an external hard drive that connects via Firewire. (Most of these will also have the option of connecting via USB, but you should use the firewire connection for best speed and reliability.)
You can simply connect the drive and then use DiskUtility to erase and reformat it as Mac OSX Extended (Journaled). If you have a PPC Mini (2 USB ports on the back) be sure to use the Apple Partition Map. If you have an Intel Mini (4 usb ports) be sure to use the GUID partition scheme.
Once properly formatted, you can clone your internal drive to the external using the free feature of SuperDuper! . I would then use System Preferences > Startup Disk to set the external as your startup drive.
Be sure to verify the health of your internal with DiskUtility before you clone it.
I'd also be sure to get as much free space as possible on your internal before starting any of this procedure, as OSX doesn't treat you well if you run out of space in the middle of an important process.
BTW I run my Mini exactly as I describe above, booting from a 250 Gig firewire external drive.
SuperDuper! is available for download here:
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/
the cloning feature is free.
There is a decent selection of firewire externals at OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/
Another option would be to let OWC handle the whole cloning process. For a $99 fee (plus parts cost) they will install a larger internal drive (and other options) and clone your old drive onto it:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/install/
You can get up to a 500 Gig internal for the Intel Mini this way. (Smaller if your Mini is a G4 model.)

Simple Maxtor External Drive Question

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can share.
I just bought and setup a Maxtor One Touch 4 Plus External Drive. I have it all set up to work with TM and everything seems to be fine.
My question is -- should I leave the drive on 24/7 or shut it off? My Mac is normally off all day while I'm at work. I don't want to burn the drive out, but I don't really see an on/off switch on it...
Any ideas?

I have one left over from my PC days and was wondering if I could use it with Time Machine.
Yes, you can, as long as you partition it with GUID or APM partition type. Instructions for them are in several places, for example
http://www.macobserver.com/tip/2006/08/16.1.shtml - either USB or firewire drive will work for Time Machine (when partitioning, give it a short simple name with no spaces, special characters etc).

Running audio from an external drive question

HI there,
i am waiting the delivery of a high quality firewiredrive to run my audio tracks for my g5 imac.
I am a beginner at logic and i have logic express7.0 with logic pro 8 on its way.
In fact am a beginner at computer music. For the last 5 years i have been recording on an akai dps16 so this is a big learning curve right now, thought i have already made my 1st c.d. on logic express. Logic is awesome.
so
i am trying to get my head around running audio from an external drive as everyone recommends and instead of waiting for the new firewire drive to arrive i thought i'll learn this using my 500gig maxtor usb2.0 drive.
i have sussed out the record path business and all seems well. I have created 24 tracks of audio and i can see them in the audio folder in my logic project in my maxtor drive. So (i think) i have learned how to run audio from the maxtor, but what seems a bit odd to me is that when i run the exact same song from the internal drive ( I copied it from the maxtor drive) there doesnt seem to be any increase in the load of the system memory or the cpu as seen on activity monitor or logics audio performance meter.
I would have expected the identical song running from the internal drive to be more taxing on the computer.
Maybe i am doing something wrong but i dont think so.
Any help would be greatfully appreciated
Tom

The problem with internal drive is that is accessed by the OS and by Logic.
With a powerful Mac 24 tracks recorded at 16 bits and a sampling rate of 44100Khz are not n issue but increasing these values or the number of tracks the problem will appear and you will see the disk I/O meter going up very fast.
At that point you will begin to experiment audio hiccups before and a song stop later.
The same problem appears with drivers that have a reduced band (like USB 2.0) while firewire ones are faster, more stable and don't load the CPU.
cheers
rob

Loading 10.5 to External Drive Question

Hi All.
I've got a clean Lacie 200 gig Extended (journaled) formatted external drive I would like to install 10.5 on and use as an alternate boot to my 10.4 internal Macbook drive.
I've read a couple of threads and it seems a little scary - maybe that's just me.
When I hold down "C" and restart with 10.5 in the drive - Leopard comes up, but I'm not sure how to identify the external drive and make the installation. I'm hesitant to go further, because I really don't want to upgrade 10.4 on the internal drive.
Once it is installed, how do I select which bootable drive to start from?
Thank you in advance.

What is the source of the Leopard installer? If it is a copy that came with another computer it will only install on that model computer. It may not even boot another model. The black colored retail installer is what you need.
Apparently [Macbooks are USB bootable|http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/faq/macbook-pro-boot -from-external-firewire-or-usb-drive.html] though it is advised to use Firewire.

Library/external drive question

Hi all. I think my cds are loading to both my C drive and the external. I set it to load to the E. My C drive reads nearly full. I tested by deleting an album, and it looks like it came off both drives. How do I load only to the E drive? I'm assuming that I set up something wrong. I need to delete everything off the C. Thanks!

Are you sure it's not just a link to the song on your C drive? A way to test this is to turn off your external drive. Try to play a song. If your computer can still play the song, the file is on both drives. If it can't and it wants you to search for the file, then you know the information on the C drive is just the file path to the song on your external drive.
If it turns out that the song files have been duplicated (are you adding file paths to the iTunes library OR paths and song files?), I would turn off my external drive and then delete all of the songs on your C drive. (That way you'll be sure not to delete anything on the external drive by mistake.) When you turn the external drive back on, iTunes may not know how to find your song files--if it was using the C drive. You'll have to browse to the external location for the songs to let iTunes know the new file path.

Two Part External Drive Question

I was using an Ext. HD on my Toshiba Satelite. The laptop went into a comatose hibernation and I could never get it to "wake Up". So I bought a new ASUS and it reads the External HD but some Folder ar written in GREEN text (others in black) The GREEN ones can be seen but not moved, viewed or anything. How do I get these files over to my new PC in a useable manor? I have played with the permissions and changed it to reflect my new name on new pc without luck.
Second question, my entire ols system is backed up on this Ext HD - Dont I need the original software that helped me back it up in order to restore it to a new laptop? This NEWB Will Appreciate All Responses. Rob Thanks You.

1. Since you don't tell us anything about your new machine, suffice it to say "take ownership" of the folders in question.
2. You didn't tell anything about the backup program either. But the answer is no doubt Yes, you need it to restore. You would want to boot from the disc (or thumb drive) you made to restore the whole system.
We are not telepathic.
-Jerry

External drive question: 5400 vs 7200

I just received my new MacBook Pro, which I will use as both a music server (iTunes) and Garageband box (with a PreSonus FirePod).
I want to get an external hard drive for both apps. My question is: is there much of a diff between a 7200 and 5400 rpm drive for these apps?
I am considering the Lacie Little Big Drive 160 Gb (FW 800/400/usb 2.0), which is a 5400 rpm drive, and far less expensive than thes slightly larger 200 Gb version (7200 rpm). Thanks.

I don't see any FW800 enclosures today, nor do I think I've ever seen a 7200RPM drive in an enclosure that was bus powered (if you have a link, please post it, I'd like to see), but Staples is having a pretty awesome looking sale for the next few days.
250GB for $80 A/R
http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesCategoryDisplay?PID=5521 79&ddkey=StaplesBeFree&jspStoreDir=Staples&catalogId=10051&interceptedCatEntryId =154649&identifier=BI9826&SID=260321-1-0-ARTICLE-0&AID=10422268&storeId=10001&dd key=StaplesProductDisplay
For the record my FW400 enclosures work flawlessly (I think there's around 8), and the one I dedicated to GB has had GB projects with over 50 tracks on it (YMMV, everyone else's does)
~~HangTime V1.9.9.9.7 [Will Compute for Food] B-)>

Multiple external drive question

i use my mini primarily for media, and rip all my dvds to it.
i have a 1.5Tb external hdd, onto which i rip the dvds and each rip is between 4 and 9Gb.
i am soon going to run out of space, as i have only done about 200 of my dvds, so i want to add another hard drive, but the mini only has one firewire.
so how do i connect two external hard drives? if i use a hub like the belkin one, can i still see/access each drive individually?

Hi thermal-
The absolute best way is to use a FireWire hub. Doing it this way you will be able to see both drives at the same time.
You can also "daisy-chain" the drives. Generally a FireWire drive has two FW ports on the back. You can connect one port of the first drive to the Mac and he second port of the same drive to the second drive. Things will generally work well this way.
Daisy-chaining is considered a less reliable method, as a problem with one drive can affect the other drive(s) on the chain as well.
Luck-
-DP

Saving large files to external drives question

I work with large video files. When I save files to a drive it would be very helpful if, when I navigate to the drive, there was a note telling me how much space was available, before saving and then only to be told ten minutes later the drive is full halfway through the file export.
Am I missing something? Is there an option to switch this option on in the finder somewhere?

Marc,
It's not automatic but what is the problem with highlighting the drive and pressing Command+I ('eye). That will give a box with the details in it? On this Mac pro I have 'iStat Menus' installed. There are four volume partitions on an external for backups, a Time Machine drive and the system HD. iStat Menus gives me drop down icons in the menu bar and one of them displays, on click, the full set of volumes with their 'Free' and 'Used' and the volume names. The app also has all sorts of other information on component temperatures and wattages and a graphical rpresentation, changing with time , of disk usage. What you display is controlled by a preference pane. "iSlayer' are the writers.

Booting to external Drives question

I want to set up a Maxtor One-Touch III drive (FW 400 + USB 2.0) with a HPFS+ partition, and an NTFS partition, so I can use it to back up my Mac and my PC.
Will a partitioned drive be bootable? Will I need to create the Mac partition first, so it's at the beginning of the drive?
If you have any advice I'd appreciate it.

i forgot to mention. another option is to format the drive as HFS+ (the mac standard) and use something like MacDrive on the windows side to communicate w/ the drive....
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive6/
cheers

External Drive Question

How do I go about formatting one?
Does the Mac use a special format different than Windows?

Salvador,
To format a disk, use Disk Utility located in the /Applications/Utilities folder.
Mac OS X can use a Windows (MS-DOS) formatted disk, but the "native" format is Mac OS Extended and is the recommended format and supports special Mac OS X features.
Mac OS X can use drives formatted for UNIX (UFS) and Windows.
Jim R.

Disappearing External Drive Question

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