External drive compatibility

My built-in superdrive stopped working, so I'm looking into external replacements. Does anyone know if the Lite-On eZAU120-08 is compatible with OS 10.4.11?
Thanks.

http://www.lacie,com

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PC to Mac external drive compatibility

Is there a way to make my PC external drive compatible with my macbook pro?

Your Mac can read & write PC Volumes in FAT-32. It can Read but not write NTFS, but there are add-ons that can allow it to write NTFS if you need it.
Windows does not acknowledge that there ARE any other kinds of computers.

Pc and external drive compatibility

My HP Compaq presario does not recognize a new usb external hard drive. Any suggestions?

Assuming the drive in question is USB, then Windows should be able to use it. The possiblity of bad USB ports or a failed external drive may come into play. Try it on a different computer to see if the drive actually works OK. If yes, then try a different USB port on the computer in question. There is a possibilty that if this new drive is really big, 3TB and the Windows is old, they might not work together. What is this new drive - make and model?
Oh yeah Windows version, too please
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This is a user supported forum. I am a volunteer and I do not work for HP.

I'm trying to find an external drive for the MacPro that will allow me to password protect the external drive in case it is taken. Any suggestions on a very reliable on that is 2TB or a third party software that is compatable with the need I describe?

I'm trying to find an external drive for the MacPro that will allow me to password protect the external drive in case it is taken. Any suggestions on a very reliable one that is 2TB or a third party software that is compatable with the need I describe?

How much of a hurry are you in, and are you considering upgrading to Lion?
File Vault on Snow Leopard only encrypts home folders you select, and doesn't work well with Time Machine.
But Lion will have "full disk encryption" of local or external disks. See File Vault 2 here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html

External DVD drives compatibility

Is there an external DVD drives compatibility list anywhere?

Go to Lacie's site
http://www.lacie.com/
Remember that almost all external drive manufactures make them for both Mac and PC. I suggest you make a Google search.
Don

Moving files to external drive - need Mac and PC compatibility in future

Hello -
I'm moving a client's video files to an external drive so they have the original files. I'm moving both the DV files (always usable with program that accepts DV files) and the Mac project files in a separate folder (in case they ever work on them in a mac - includes all the referenced files). I know they won't be able to open the latter on a PC but I'd still like to include.
BUT, can they get any external drive? If I plug it into my computer and move files, are they going to run into problems if they use then on a PC? Thinking about getting this one for them (they are paying but want a good price for them):
http://www.buy.com/prod/western-digital-500gb-my-book-essential-usb-2-0-external -hard-drive/q/loc/101/206409667.html
Thanks for your help -
Alexa

Don't have a solution for you, but I did encounter a very similar bug.
I was moving files from one iMac's external drive to another's internal drive, using a drag'n'drop move command on a directory. The move generated an error message, maybe the same as what you saw (I'm not sure), then aborted the move. Only one small file had been moved, and the source directory was gone! Not in the trash. Mac OS X 10.4.8 on both systems, an iMac DV and an iMac 24. The external drive was formatted as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)."
This sure seems to be a basic programming mistake. So, for me, it's back to doing 3 steps: copy, verify, delete. It's lousy not to be able to rely on proper execution of a basic command, but I've never won an argument with a computer.

Fix for Mavericks compatibility with Lacie external drives yet?

My last attempt to upgrade to Mavericks caused my 2 Lacie external drives to become unrecognisable to my mac. Update hung up too so I lost everything...luckily I had a third back up with CCC that saved me. Im just wondering if there is a fix for this now. I got no information or help from Lacie.

Exactly the same here. Installed Mavericks and La Cie no longer shows in Finder and Time Machine reminds me that no back up has taken place. As an iMac newbie where do I go from here. In my Win PC days I always backed up to an external HD on a scheduled basis without this sort of problem.

Having a prob importing a large file from a sony DR 60 external drive via log a transfer in FCP this is the first time this has happened have the sony plug. HDisc compatibility is sorted as the first 2 short clips are imported. Any advice will be welcome

problem importing a large file from a Sony DR60 external drive to FCP. Never had a problem before first two shot clips are captured in log and transfer but the larger 2 hour clip only downloads the first few seconds. Any advice?

I can think of 2 things to check.
1. The Scratch disc has plenty of space.
2. System Settings>Scratch Disc does not have a restriction in the Limit Capture/Export File Size Segment To:
Al

AirPort Extreme External Drive Not Recognized

I have an AirPort Extreme 802.11ac and am hooking up a Seagate 1.5TB external hard drive (USB 3.0 with backward compatability) to the USB port but it is not being recognized by Airport Utility. Does this need a power source? What am I doing wrong?
I did reformat the external drive from NTFS to be Mac compatible (Mac OS Extended - Journaled) and when I plug the external drive into my MacAir, it shows up and is completely usable. Once I plug into the AirPort Extreme though, it goes into the netherland and I can't find it at all.
Help?

I have the HGST Touro USB3 drive that works fine with apple airport routers.
I did try and establish a sort of database.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5912861?tstart=0
Contributions are sadly lacking but it already shows.. some work some don't.. some work with hubs some don't.
To OP..
As per Bob's comment.. you are now in Limbo.. since you don't know if the problem is the hard disk or the usb hub. And it is possible either or both are at fault.
Look at OWC as they seem to specialise in external drives for Mac/Apple world. They sell hundreds of different USB drives.. I recommend you ring and ask their sales staff .. explain the problem and what you want.. a disk that works with model xyz airport.. like the Apple document show.
Even from Australia we buy stuff from OWC as they have first class knowledge of apple systems. And if you look for specials they are excellent.. !!

Unable to write to external drive after drive sleeps

This topic seems to be all over the place. I want to know if there is a fix.
I have a number of external disk drives. They are connected via USB and firewire. About 30% of the time, if a drive has been put in sleep mode and then later awakened, I am unable to write to it. If I try to dismount the drive I get a -50 error that the drive is in use. But that is not true because nothing but the finder is running. If I look the console log there are lots of the following messages.
Dec 6 15:50:43 squid fseventsd[45]: disk logger: failed to open output file /Volumes/Calvary1TB/.fseventsd/63657332a56b8d30 (Invalid argument). mount point /Volumes/Calvary1TB/.fseventsd
Dec 6 15:50:50 squid UnmountAssistant[1463]:
The drive in question is the CAXM Calvary1TB drive. BTW when I received the Calvary disk drive, I reformatted it OSX journaled with a GUID partition before using it. All my other 8 TB of storage is formatted the same way and I had no problems before Snow Leopard. Anyhow, If I force a dismount, all returns to normal. OR if I disable sleep the drive drives options in the energy saver preferences, the problem disappears. But then none of the drives ever spin down.
Once every 50 or so forced dismounts (it happens a lot), OSX will crash with the kiss of death display.
This problem did not exist in pre Snow Leopard, so obviously changes were made to the file system and not properly tested. Anyone have any idea when this will be fixed.

The drive in question is the CAXM Calvary1TB drive.
Calvary lists this drive series only in its "Windows PC" section at http://www.cavalrystorage.com/pr_index.htm. This could be a problem because different manufacturers use different methods to implement wake-from-sleep (or more generally, energy management features) in the support circuitry of external drives. IOW, there are no universal standards for this, so manufacturers may or may not design their implementations for cross-platform compatibility.
Unfortunately, since Windows PC's dominate the market some manufacturers use energy management methods in some or all of their designs that work reliably only with that platform. For this reason, there is always some risk of unexpected behavior when using external drives not specifically marketed as Mac OS X compatible with a Mac. (This is not a problem with "raw" internal drives directly connected to a Mac's SATA interface because there is no support circuitry involved.)
Since you already have invested in these drives, your best bet is to contact Calvary & see if they can offer a solution. If you are lucky, they may have a firmware updater for the CAXM series that works reliably with Snow Leopard; if not, they may simply tell you not to let the drives sleep, or that they don't support the CAXM series with Macs & you are on your own.

Format an external drive from mac to pc

How do I format an external drive (My Passport) from mac to pc (iOS Snow Leopard) without losing my data?

kwnola wrote:
How do I format an external drive (My Passport) from mac to pc (iOS Snow Leopard) without losing my data?
1: Remove the data off the drive
You can do this by installing MacDrive on the Windows PC to access the Mac HTFS+ format
Or you can use a Mac to remove the data.
2: Format the drive on the PC (preferably) by right clicking on the drive and choosing format
A: If data on the drive will have larger than 4GB sized files, then the format you want is exFAT
(if your using Windows XP, you can download exFAT from Microsoft)
B: If the data on the drive will always have less than 4GB sized files, then you should choose FAT32 for most compatibility with all other machines.
3: If you can only format the drive on the Mac then open Apple's Disk Utility in the Utilities folder
Select the drive on the far left, it should have the makers name and a size, then click Partition.
Now select the box and click Options: MBR Then select Format: exFAT or MSDOS (FAT32) and click Apply.
4: If any chance you need to secure delete any data remaining on the drive form being recovered, use the Erase with Zero (or 7x for very secure) before formatting.
Note: Formatting a drive on the PC there will be a option for NTFS, this is for access by Windows only, but software can be installed on the Mac to read/write this format.
If you use exFAT or FAT32, the Mac can read and write this format just like Windows can, no need for extra software.
Linux can read/write just about any format.

Can I boot from an external drive with a "Virtual CD"

I just purchased a Hitachi LifeStudio external hard drive for use as my Time Machine backup. When I plugged it in to my MacBook running 10.6.4, I realized that it had one of those "Virtual CDs" that contained the manufacturers crapware, similar to Western Digital's MyWare or whatever its called. It shows up in disk utility as an actual separate disk and not just another partition that can be wiped.
I reformatted the drive using GUID and and created 3 HFS+ Journaled partitions. One was going to be for the 10.6 installer, one for the 10.6 boot, and one for my time machine backup. I restored a 10.6 install dvd disk image I created using disk utility to the 10.6 installer partition (with erase destination checked) then option booted my mac and the partitions did not show up. The only thing I could see was my internal hard drive.
I have done this many times before and it has always worked so Im trying to figure out what Im doing wrong. The only thing I can think of is that the "Virtual CD" that Hitachi put on this external drive is stopping the Mac from seeing the bootable partitions I created. I even went into system preferences>startup disk and blessed the 10.6 install partition. That didn't work either, the computer just booted to my internal drive.
So my questions are. Is it because of this "Virtual CD" that I can't boot from my external drive? If so, is there a way around it? I already searched their web site and emailed their tech support asking for a firmware update to remove the virtual cd.
Thanks in advance.

Yes, it's a known issue. You've already referred to the issue with WD systems. WD has a long list of products that are either not compatible with Macs or won't boot a Mac.
There are practically no problems with bare drives, but once installed in an enclosure there is no guarantee that the package will function as a bootable device. This is especially the case if the manufacturer uses some sort of "virtual" scheme intended for using the device as a sort of one button backup device.
External drives don't have to specifically say anything about being Mac bootable or compatible. It's up to the consumer to verify compatibility and usability.

Need more storage - larger internal drive, or external drive?

Good day...here's a little background before I head into my question.
I have a mid-2010 Macbook Pro with a 320 GB hard drive. I have an 2 GB WD External Hard drive...I've partitioned 500 GB that I use for my Time Machine backups and use the remaining 1.5 TB to store additional files, mainly music and video files. I rarely keep it plugged in to my MBP....I'll plug it in to do the odd Time Machine backup every couple of weeks, but that's about it. I like taking the MBP to the living room to use and the idea of having to plug and unplug an external hard drive several times a day is something I've decided not to do. Additionally, I access most of my photos/music/video through my Apple TV to play them on my TV/receiver. I also have no need to use the cloud as I don't require access to my media files when I'm out of the house.
My internal hard drive has been filling up over the last year and as it has, I've been dumping video files to my external hard drive. If I need them again, I'll simply transfer the odd one back to my MBP and add it back to the Itunes library. However, even with the odd purging, my internal drive is now filling up, mainly due to photos and videos of the little kids. The time has come, I need to do something.
I know that I have the option to store my Itunes library on an external drive (and this would quickly fix my storage issue as about half the 320 GB of space is my Itunes library), but I've been hesitate to do so. I do have an Airport Extreme Base Station downstairs and a PC Desktop as well. In reviewing these forums, I understand that I can transfer my Itunes library to my external hard drive, connect it right to the AEBS and access my Itunes files on my MBP from there. However, as I buy new music/videos from Itunes or add other media files to my Itunes on my MBP, would they automatically transfer to the Itunes library on my External, or would I have to add them each time? Is it still pretty seamless to transition to having my itunes library on an external hard drive without a lengthy list of things that you have to "put up with"?
In an effort to resist too much change, I've been thinking about simply replacing my 320 GB internal drive with a 1 TB internal drive so that I can keep things pretty much as they are...keep the Itunes library on my MBP and continue using the 2 TB external for backups and some additional storage space.
So, with that, I'm curious to hear any feedback on how to approach this...am I complicating things, are there any suggestions on how I could be organizing things way better? And finally, is your advice to increase the internal hard drive, or should I quit overthinking this and just move the ituens library to an external hard drive?
Thanks!
Lee

large external HD
A computer should never be considered a data storage device, only a data creation/ sending/ manipulation device.
All mega-storage should be a "grab and dash" item to store in a fire vault etc. Easily unhooked from a main computer capable of lightning strike, failure, easy erasure, etc.
And never ever rely on one backup ever. Recipe for disaster.
There are currently only 3 HD manufacturers, WD, Seagate, and Hitachi/Toshiba (recently acquired by WD).
No such thing as a "windows" Hard Drive either, .....only a Win formatted HD. A HD is a HD ... whatever it says or is formatted in when you buy it,... you can format it for Mac OSX extended journaled.
All personal conjecture aside, Hitachi/Toshiba are the best 2.5" HD, same used by Apple inside the Macbook Pro
..... also those running literally 1000s of HD in server farms agree on this.
That being said, WD are not recommended as an internal HD for a Mac.
Most reliable 3.5" class HD are Seagate
The LaCie drives carried in the Apple stores contain 3.5" Seagate HD
Most reliable 2.5" class HD are HItachi/Toshiba (same as used by Apple in the macbook Pro).
MUCH empirical data (and my own as well) says that Western Digital are the worst
WD has some compatibility issues with Mac.
Best bang for the buck in external 2.5" HD, is the Toshiba Canvio Basics HDTB120XK3CA 2 Terabytes 2.5" External Hard Drive
I have 4 of these tiny 2TB drives, ....theyre highly rated, and phenomenal
Currently theyre $120
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-Portable-HDTB120XK3CA/dp/B00ARJD56K
People running server farms and see 1000s of HD, and failures will all tell you the same, in 3.5" class, get a Seagate, and DONT get a WD.
7 out of 10 HD failures have NOTHING to do with the HD.......if a HD fails (and they all fail) , its usually first 3 months or less
7 out of those 10 failures AFTER 3 months is NOT a bad HD, but a cheap/junk SATA connector and circuitry which connects the external HD to your computer.
Seagate large BACKUP HD 3.5" had gotten, for a while a bad reputation, but it had nothing to do with the HD, rather the cheap SATA connector interface that it was plugged into in the external casing.

External Drive Reformatted Itself

I have an external drive that used to be a 3TB USB 2.0 WD MyBook. A while ago I upgraded my MBP to a 2012 model that has USB 3 so I bough an USB 3 external drive case, took apart the MyBook and swapped the drive to the new case. It worked flawlessly for months. About a week ago I updated OS X to Mavericks and I tried and used the 3TB drive for the first time with Mavericks today. I plugged it in, it mounted for a second with the correct volume name "Goliath". Then after about a second or two it disappeared - unmounted itself, presumably - and then it mounted itself again after another two seconds as a blank 3TB volume named "MyBook" and that's it. My 2,5TB of data are gone....or so it seems. I tried to restart the drive, the computer, PRAM reset, nothing worked....any suggestions? Not sure if the issue is Mavericks-related, but it's suspicious at least.
I found only this in the Console, but it does not tell me anything...:
2013-11-06 21:37:18.871 HazelHelper[290] Received unmount notification from unknown filesystem at /Volumes/Goliath.
2013-11-06 21:38:52.428 HazelHelper[290] Deregistering...
2013-11-06 21:38:52.429 HazelHelper[290] Done

Western Digital said that their apps have got a bug that causes the lose of data from their external drives in Mavericks, so you are one of the affected users.
Now, the only thing you can do is to try to use file recovery services or applications, but they might be expensive and it's possible that they don't work.
Before upgrading Mac OS X, always check that there won't be any compatibility issue, because things like this may happen. At the moment, what you can do is to uninstall the Western Digital applications

Can I use Mavericks on an external drive?

I need to keep 10.6.8 on my iMac to use AppleWorks, but I'd like some of the features of Mavericks denied me such as compatibility with OS7 on my iPad. Is it feasible to clone my hard disk to an external drive and upgrade that to Mavericks and switch to that for some operations? Thanks.

Jim
Thank you. What I'm concerned about is that others have found that if they put a bootable copy of their HD on an external drive and then upgrade it it becomes no longer bootable.
Could this happen? And if it did how could it be made once more bootable?
Maybe an article somewhere on this (?)

External drive compatibility

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