External Hard Drive Trouble

I use macs all the time and I have a lacie external drive that has done me proud, but I just enrolled in an editing course that teached Avid editing on a....PC...
I can't reformat my existing drive so I need a new one. I'm looking for something small, light, compact, and durable. After this course I will reformat the drive for my mac and take it abroad for a bit of a travel documentary project.
It seems all the drive that fit my description are USB 2.0 which I have always been taught never to use for video work.
Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm considering getting a Lacie Rugged drive but they are hard to find in stock in stores or online and I need the drive next week.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Matt Chach-
I find the performance of USB drives to be poor at best. FireWire drives are getting very difficult to find, especially in the discount chains.
Since you are happy with the product, have you checked the LaCie site? I found them on the clearance page: LaCie Clearance hard Drives
They are also on the Mobile Hard Drives page: Mobile Hard Drives
I use LaCie products. I always keep a spare power supply brick around.
Luck-
-DaddyPaycheck

Similar Messages

External Hard Drive troubles

I am having trouble with my external hard drive.
after formatting it to mac os x I can no longer find it on the computer. when i plug it is nothing happens and it cant be found in the disk utility either. after I formatted it it could be found but now it cant at all.

I had the same problem... But my computer ddidn't recognize my ipod either (when plugged in through the firewire port). At first it would work sporadically, then it stopped working at all.
My guess is that your Firewire ports are starting to (or have already) failed. This is what happened to my computer (of course it out of Applecare, and it cost $400 to replace the motherboard). It also happened to my parents flat panel iMac (though fortunately they were still under Applecare).
Does the device mount to other computers? I would check... But honestly, I think it is the ports When I called and talked to Apple this seemed to be a common problem.
Wanted to add... Power was always going through the firewire ports, just not data. For example, I could charge my ipods through the firewire ports, just not connect to transfer data.

Storing music library on an external hard drive troubles

I recently purchased an external hard drive to store my itunes library to for I was filling up my C drive on my PC. I moved all my music to the external hard drive. I have also backed it up to another far larger external drive just in case. I changed the settings under Preferences - Advanced - General to show that the library was now in Drive K:iTunes.
Before I deleted the music of off my C hard drive I purchased a single song to see if it would act correctly. It did. I synced my ipod (Classic 160 Gig)and it added that song to the K drive and to my ipod. I then deleted it from my C drive.
The next time I turned on my computer and opened iTunes it pulled up an empty library. My music is still on the K drive under iTunes and it is backed up on the larger external drive.
I checked the preferences, etc. again and it still says K:iTunes but it doesn't "go there" to pull up the library. It just pops up like I've never purchased or put any music in it. Help!

If you drag the files around through Windows Explorer, iTunes loses track of them. So, to remedy the situation...
Click Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab > General sub-tab
UN check "Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to library" if selected and click OK
Then click File > Add Folder to Library and add your K:\iTunes\ directory.
Going forward, make sure you always have your external drive connected to your PC and showing in My Computer prior to launching iTunes.
Also, when you purchase music from iTunes or import CD's in the future, they should go directly to your K: drive if you have that set as your default folder location in your Advanced preferences.
If you notice that you have files scattered around on your hard drives, you can go to your Advanced preferences and verify that your K: drive is still your default folder location, and the select the option to Copy Files to iTunes Music folder when adding to Library. Then, from the Advanced menu of iTunes, click Consolidate Library. This basically looks at the files in your iTunes library, and if it finds any that are not stored in that default location, it copies them there.
CG

Trouble using one catalog on an external hard drive on two laptops

I have had LR set-up trouble-free on my old laptop. The catalog and all related images are stored on an external hard drive. I was running Windows XP.
I have recently bought a new laptop (running Windows 7) and last night installed LR onto it. I plugged in the external hard drive, opened it and imported new photos. Everything was fine.
Today, I've tried to open LR and I get an error message saying "Lightroom cannot open the catalog named LIGHTROOM MASTER because it is not writable and cannot be opened. This could be caused by incorrect permissions or because another Lightroom application is using the catalog. You may try to correct the problem or you may select a different catalog." I then get three options - Choose a different catalog, Try again or Exit.
If I choose a different catalog, and try re-choosing the same folder on the external hard drive, I get the same error. If I try again, I get the same error.
It does say the catalog can't be on a network volume or in read-only folders. I noticed the read-only box was ticked when I looked at the properties of the folder (which is wasn't previously) so I unticked this and updated the folder. Is Windows 7 doing something to my folders on the external hard drive which XP wasn't?
Has anyone else had a similar problem?
How do I get my catalog on my new laptop?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Mum of Max

When you first opened the catalog on new Win7 laptop, was it the same catalog that you used on old laptop?
You may indeed have permissions set for the catalog folder. They could belong to the user of the old laptop. Did you try checking the permissions on the new Win7 laptop?

I am having trouble on transferring photos from iPhoto to my Seagate External Hard Drive

Im new to Mac and I was doing fine with my new laptop but somewhere along the way I have reach to a point where I cant continue my work. I am having trouble on transferring photos from iPhotos to my Seagate External Hard Drive, even when the hard drive is compatable with my MacBook Air. Some how I have trouble trying to drag my photos to my drive and it is not letting me to do so. Pls. help me in my sistuation or derect me to a website that will answer my questions. I am getting really upset and frustrated; so I'm out of ideas.

even when the hard drive is compatable with my MacBook Air.
What is the file system on that drive? Is it formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled)?
And what is your iPhoto version? iPhoto 9.5.1?
Some how I have trouble trying to drag my photos to my drive and it is not letting me to do so
What exactly happens when you try to drag photos to your drive? Are you dragging from iPhoto's window to the drive?
Can you export your photos, when you select the photos on iPhoto and use the command "File > Export"?

I have a macbook and I'm having trouble backing up my pictures on an external hard drive. The Macbook won't install the backup drive soft ware? It is a new Sea Gate hard rive from costco.

I have a macbook and I'm having trouble backing up my pictures on an external hard drive. The Macbook won't install the backup drive soft ware? It is a new Sea Gate hard rive from costco.

You don't want to install the software that came with the drive, you don't need it and it will be problematic. Connect the new drive, open Disk Utility, select the new drive and partition it using the GUID partition scheme, then format it as Mac OS extended journaled and it will be easy to use with your Mac.

I had trouble connecting my External hard drive

I had trouble connecting my External hard drive (My passport WD) with my macbook. It worked before but not now. The external hard disk is blinking and is spinning but just not showing up on my computer. I tried looking in disk utility and no theres no sign of the disk showing up.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Yes, I saw a post on one of these threads about a powered USB hub so I ran over to Office Depot and picked one up. I was finally able to see the HD in the Airport Utility. Yay!

Trouble with external hard drive. help.

I was formatting my hard drive to allow larger GB files with a lot of trouble so I got my other hard drive which I have previously formatted to find the program that worked. It was formatted with NTFS so I downloaded NTFS 3G and restarted my computer (iMac intel) after trying to format my portable hard drive to ntfs the software didnt work so I uninstalled it. Now my external hard drive will not read on my iMac but it will on my TV and Windows computer. When I installed the software a little error message popped up but i made no changes to the external hard drive and now it wont read on my mac.
The hard drive is a Western Digital My Book 1TB

Did you read this section of the ntfs 3g website? I don't use the program but it may have left pieces of itself on your mac causing your current problems.
You can type the following in a terminal window to see what "non-apple" drivers are still loaded on your system.
kextstat | grep -v com.apple
Post the results if you need to
2.2 Uninstalling Tuxera NTFS for Mac
Tuxera NTFS for Mac can be easily uninstalled using the Uninstall Tuxera NTFS... button in the Tuxera NTFS preference pane, which will be available in System Preferencesonce you have installed the package. See section 4 for a description of the other features in the preference pane.
If this should fail for some reason, an uninstall script exists at the following location:
/System/Library/Filesystems/fusefs_txantfs.fs/Support/uninstall-package.sh

Macbook pro, trouble with external hard drives

I just got the drive on my mid-2010's macbook pro replaced at Apple. I am now experiencing a new problem.
My macbook is having trouble with ALL my external hard-drives. After a few minutes of being plugged in I click on them to open and the finder window is blank. Its not allowing me to veiw the content stored on the drive. If I keep trying my computer will freeze. I try to 'Force Eject' the drive and it doesnt eject so I have to unplug then start over.
This seems to happen roughly about 5 minutes after I plug them in. They work fine the first 5 minutes. Its becoming extremly annoying. All my drives are different makes, sizes, etc.. so I pretty sure its the macbook.
What might the problem be?
Thanks,
Shane

Start with SMC and PRAM resets:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT3964
http://web.archive.org/web/20140711222006/http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
These are external HDDs that worked prior to the install of the new internal HDD?
Ciao.

Trouble opening iPhoto library in Aperture that has been transferred to an external hard drive.

I am having trouble opening my iPhoto library in Aperture now that it has been transferred to an external hard drive.
Versions being used:
MacBook Pro 13-inch mid-2010
OS X v. 10.9.1 Mavericks
Aperture v. 3.5.1
iPhoto v. 9.5.1
Order of events: got MacBook > took pictures > created an iPhoto library > upgraded to Mountain Loin > added more photos to iPhoto library > upgraded to Mavericks > purchased and downloaded Aperture > copied iPhoto library to a 750 GB WD My Passport.
When attempting to switch to this iPhoto library while using Aperture an error stating, “Unable to Switch to Library. Aperture cannot switch to the selected library because the file system of the library’s volume is not supported.” iPhoto can access this iPhoto library with no problem. What is missing? Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

“Unable to Switch to Library. Aperture cannot switch to the selected library because the file system of the library’s volume is not supported.”
Aperture 3.5.1 is checking for file system compatibility, iPhoto not always.
copied iPhoto library to a 750 GB WD My Passport.
Check the filesystem on your WD drive. Did you remember to format the drive for MacOS, before you copied the library there? It needs to be formatted MacOS X Extended (Journaled) to be used with any photo library. iPhoto may be able to open the library, if the filesystem is not supported, but you are risking data loss.
You can reformat the drive with Disk Utility, if the file system is wrong (after backing up your iPhoto library to a different drive). See:
iPhoto: Issues with FAT32-formatted drives
Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture
Regards
Léonie
You see the File System in the Finder's "File > Get Info" panel, when you select the drive in the Finder and use "File > Get Info" from the main menu bar or press cmd-I.

Trouble booting my eMac from an external hard drive

My poor eMac's hard drive finally gave up the ghost the other night and died. My brother attempted to load OS 10.4 onto my external hard drive (Western Digital 320 GB My Book, Studio Edition) so that I could boot the computer up from there for the time being, but soon discovered that while my external can be used as a bootable drive from an Intel Mac, my Power PC was not supported.
Would another external hard drive, such as the LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Drive, boot from my PPC eMac? I found this note in the product description and want to make sure my computer is capable of this:
+** Bootable on PC or Mac (using FireWire or eSATA). To take advantage of the bootable feature, the LaCie d2 Quadra must be formatted as a bootable drive in accordance with the operating system being used. The computer must include a BIOS or an interface card that supports bootable functionality with an external hard drive.+
If so, I am going to try to ask the Apple Store to exchange my WD external for one that will (it's new, but just past the return date) so I can do this.
Yes, I'm sure it would be easier to just buy a new computer! Thank you for any help you can give!

He's taken the original iMacs apart to access their hds and doesn't relish dealing with that again. On top of that, I can't help but think that spending at least $200 on parts and service on a 6-year-old computer is really that worth it. It'd have a new internal hd, but old and busted processor and everything else. That's why I was aiming for an external set up.
Kitty,
I should have guessed the hd was failing, but didn't think about it.
I run S.M.A.R.T. Reporter on all my machines:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23232
What I need is to know if I'm going to run into this problem with most externals, or is it just the WD that cannot boot from a PPC.
Well like I say I've had two and both boot. I can't say I've ever had a problem with any firewire external.
I see some one else is having the same problem with that drive. Re:
Topic : Trouble accessing Western Digital My Book External Hard Drive
in this same forum.
I realize this would be a sticking point with the store and will totally understand if they tell me "too bad." If the store won't be really nice and help me out, I'll probably just take my lumps and buy a new computer. It was going to happen eventually, I'm just miserly with my money
Well see if you can talk your brother into doing the job. It's a bit harder than the old iMacs (That I can do in about 4 minutes - I even use my power screw driver ). If you email me I can send you instructions.
Too bad you're not near Chicago. I repair and donate Macs to schools in the inner city here.
Richard

Having trouble getting Time Machine to back up my external hard drive. Any suggestions?

I'm running Mountain Lion on my iMac and I've been using Time Machine to back it up to my Time Capsule. Recently, the iMac's hard drive filled up, so I moved my iTunes library to a new Airport Time Capsule. But I can't seem to get Time Machine to include the new Airport Time Capsule in its back up.
The only suggestion I can find is to make sure it's not excluded in the Time Machine options, and I can see that nothing is excluded. However, when I go into Time Machine, the Airport Time Capsule is greyed out in the Finder window.
Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance, I'm a little nervous about having my iTunes library hanging out there without a back up...

Linc Davis wrote:
You can't back up the internal drive of the Time Capsule with Time Machine. It will only back up locally attached storage devices, not network devices. There's no way around it. You may be able to back up the TC with third-party software such as "Carbon Copy Cloner," but it will be very slow. The internal drive of the TC is only suitable for use as a backup device. It's not suited for storing original data.
yeah well you can use the external hard drive as a data extension to the time capsule internal hard drive. like a RAID in effect...

Same trouble, problem moving my itunes library to an external hard drive

sorry to post this again, but my original question got confused with another in its proper thread.
hi, i recently bought an external hard drive to save space on my internal HD, i tried to move my ITUNES music folder to the new external drive, which i did after following this article entitled 'how to move your itunes music folder':
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748.
but, after i consoidated my library and the files had been copied to the new location on the external drive, i found that only about 30% of the music had been moved and i have no idea why. therefore i restored the location to its original default place on the internal HD, and then had to manually relocate lots of songs which itunes lost in the process. changing the location of your itunes music folder should be a pretty painless process, can anyone explain why its gone wrong for me?? thanks a lot.

Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
If you are just testing, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location.
Additional info...
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Cheers,
Patrick

Troubles deleting files from external hard drive!!

I had my external hard drive plugged into my Macbook but i cannot delete any folder or file in it! There is not 'Move to Trash' option from the drop-down menu! Does this have anything to do with 'Folder Action' thing? please help! sorry i jst switched to Mac from Window recently so still trying to find my way through! Thanks

Hi,
Mac OSX can read and write/delete files and folders on harddisks that use the FAT32 file system.
Mac OSX can only read and not write/delete files and folders on harddisks that use the NTFS file system.
Use Disk Utility to check what file system your HD uses.
To enable write access from OSX to NTFS drives, you can either use NTFS-3G http://www.ntfs-3g.org/ or buy Paragons NTFS for OSX http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
Regards
Stefan

Disk Utility and DiskWarrior trouble with external hard-drive.

I got an external hard-drive that doesn't show up on finder. On both Disk Utility and DiskWarrior it keeps mounting and unmounting. Disk Utility when trying to repair, spits this out when it unmounts...
2011-07-28 22:43:43 -0700: Problems were encountered during repair of the partition map
2011-07-28 22:43:43 -0700: Error: Some information was unavailable during an internal lookup.
2011-07-28 22:43:43 -0700: : Some information was unavailable during an internal lookup.
2011-07-28 22:43:43 -0700: [DUDiskController mountDisk] expecting DUDisk, but got nil
On DiskWarrior it simply says 'Directory cannot be rebuilt due to disk hardware failure (-36,2747)
Earlier today it would stay mounted and Disk Utility would spit out...
Verify and Repair volume “Back-up Hard Drive”
Checking file systemChecking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking extents overflow file.
Checking catalog file.
Invalid sibling link
Rebuilding catalog B-tree.
Invalid node structure
The volume Back-up Hard Drive could not be repaired.
Volume repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
while DiskWarrior would try to fix it, but on
Step 5: Locating directory date...
Speed reduced by disk malfunction: 339,474, er make that 340,239, er make that 341,327
and I finally gave up there.
I try to fix the Invalid sibling link error via Terminal and I get this...
imac-2:~ Migrated$ fsck_hfs -r /dev/disk2s2
** /dev/rdisk2s2 (NO WRITE)
Can't open /dev/rdisk2s2: Resource busy
Is there ANY THING I can do to get it to stay mounted and possibly fix this? This is my back-up hard-drive!!

It's the cord that's being used that decides if it shows up, or if it shows up and then goes away over and over. Using a cord where it stays on in the programs, when I run Disk Utility of the darked out part of the hard-drive, it spits out...
Verifying and repairing partition map for “MICRONET”
Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Checking for an EFI system partition
Checking the EFI system partition’s size
Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
Reviewing boot support loaders
Checking Core Storage Physical Volume partitions
Updating Windows boot.ini files as required
The partition map appears to be OK
while the part of the disk just below it that's light spits out
Verifying volume “Back-up Hard Drive”
Checking file system
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
Verify and Repair volume “Back-up Hard Drive”
Starting repair tool:
Checking file system
Volume repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
Disk Utility stopped repairing “Back-up Hard Drive”: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
while DiskWarrior tries to rebuild it and spits out a memory error.

External Hard Drive Trouble

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