Having Trouble Formatting a 4.0 Buffalo External Hard Drive

Try using http://gparted.org/

I'm trying to format one of my "no longer in use" 4.0TB Buffalo drives that I was using for a backup with (Shadow Protect), but it's giving me a hard time. Only part of it will let me format, the other unallocated section seems stuck, or locked or something. All the options are greyed.
Any suggestions?
This topic first appeared in the Spiceworks Community

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Having trouble importing mpeg videos from an external hard drive to iMovie or iPhoto. Keeps saying unrecognizable format. How do I get it to work?????

I have always had a dell computer. But after the 3rd crash, we decided to throw it out and get a mac. We bought this computer a week ago. I was able to save all our family pics and videos from the dell to an external hard drive. So when I got the new Mac set up, I plugged the hard drive in and had no problem importing all our pictures. But when I tried to import our videos, I ran into some problems. We have had 3 different cameras with each having a different video format. All our videos are either avi, mpeg, or mov. All the avi videos imported successfully but the others will not. I tried importing them into imovie and iphoto and neither one will recognize the format. iphoto says unrecognizable format and imovie just completely freezes and I have to force quit. Here is what is funny. I took the hard drive to my local store and when they hooked it up to their computer, they imported beautifully. Why won't it do the same for my brand new computer? Thanks!

I have always had a dell computer. But after the 3rd crash, we decided to throw it out and get a mac. We bought this computer a week ago. I was able to save all our family pics and videos from the dell to an external hard drive. So when I got the new Mac set up, I plugged the hard drive in and had no problem importing all our pictures. But when I tried to import our videos, I ran into some problems. We have had 3 different cameras with each having a different video format. All our videos are either avi, mpeg, or mov. All the avi videos imported successfully but the others will not. I tried importing them into imovie and iphoto and neither one will recognize the format. iphoto says unrecognizable format and imovie just completely freezes and I have to force quit. Here is what is funny. I took the hard drive to my local store and when they hooked it up to their computer, they imported beautifully. Why won't it do the same for my brand new computer? Thanks!

Having trouble transferring itunes library to an external hard drive. All of my music is in the main ITUNES library and every site and answer I get says tranfer my library/user name/ da da da da da.... I am not familiar with this-need a simple way-thx

HELP! I have looked at video sites, looked on here, to no avail. Please dont talk negatively about my question (as I have seen some pretty mean responses to topics ) I am trying to copy my itunes music to an external hard drive. Here is my situation: All of my music is in the main ITUNES location. I have been told to save the "user library". I really need an elementary step by step way. I plan to visit the library in town tomorrow to get a book but worried because my computer is having issues TONIGHT. Thanks for any help.... This is so helpful to know there may be help out there.

iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option (shift on Windows) key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.
To see your iTunes folder click on the Music folder icon in your Finder sidebar.

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

HT4236 I HAVE 2 HARD DRIVES ON MY LAPTOP. MY PHOTOS ARE ON 1 HARD DRIVE & MY ITUNES IS ON ANOTHER HARD DRIVE. I AM HAVING TROUBLE SYNCING THE PHOTOS FROM THE SEPERATE HARD DRIVE ONTO MY IPOD TOUCH. ANY HELP?

I HAVE 2 HARD DRIVES ON MY LAPTOP. MY PHOTOS ARE ON 1 HARD DRIVE & MY ITUNES IS ON ANOTHER HARD DRIVE. I AM HAVING TROUBLE SYNCING THE PHOTOS FROM THE SEPERATE HARD DRIVE ONTO MY IPOD TOUCH. ANY HELP?

There is a whole lot of bad going on there.
There are problems both drive errors and USB errors. I don't believe it.
I have a hunch the drive is starving for power.
USB devices are supposed to function all the way down to 4.25V. Not all do.
USB ports are supposed to be able to deliver 4.25V at the end of the cable at 500mA. Not all do.
USB 2.0 devices are not supposed to draw more than 100mA unless they negotiate for more. Some violate that.
USB 2.0 devices are never supposed to draw more than 500mA. Some violate that. Especially disk drives.
My guess is that your drive is drawing excess current and the voltage drop through the port and cable are dropping you below 4.25; or at least below the voltage that your drive goes "Tango Uniform"[1]. Does your drive have the option for external power? If so try it. Following up on wtx's comment; USB 3.0 is capable of delivering more power. Also, some drives have used a cable that violates just about every aspect of the USB specification: A "Y" cable that plugs into two host ports to provide more power to the guest. I despise this solution with every fiber of my electrical engineering existence; never-the-less, you might try one.
edit: [1] Teats Up.
Last edited by ewaller (2015-04-04 17:02:04)

My final cut is running extremely slow after having for 6 months. I use external hard drives and save nothing on my computer. it takes a long time to render now. do you think something is wrong with computer. took it to mac store but they fail to help

my final cut is running extremely slow after having for 6 months. I use external hard drives and save nothing on my computer. it takes a long time to render now. do you think something is wrong with computer. took it to mac store but they fail to help me. I have a 13 inch mac book pro 10.6.8 8gb 2.3 gfz intel core i5

What did Apple tell you about what they did (or did not) find here?
See if working on the main disk is any faster.
USB2 is glacial, as I/O interconnects go. And USB2 disks have been known to fail, or sometimes to drop back to USB1 speeds, too. FireWire 800 is substantially faster than USB2, but still not as fast as the internal drive connections can provide.
Put another way, start varying your configuration, and see which configuration changes (still) have the problem, and which don't.

I recently added my old mac hard drive to a new macbook with an SSD as my main OSX drive. I am having trouble with permissions in viewing my old hard drive. What is the best way to get complete access to my old hd installed in my new Macbook?

I recently added my old mac hard drive to a new macbook with an SSD as my main OSX drive. I am having trouble with permissions in viewing my old hard drive, when I save a permission when I reboot the full access is changed again . What is the best way to get complete access to my old hd installed in my new Macbook?

Open the Get Info window for the old drive. Click the Lock icon on the bottom of that window and type in your password. In the permissions area click the Plus sign ( + ) and Add your Username to it and set it to Read & Write. Close that window. you should now have full access to all the files.

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?

What format is best for an external hard drive for video editing on a mac?

What's the best format for an external hard drive for video editing to be use with a mac only? I need to format my new hard drive and want to be sure I choose the right format.

I concur with Kappy. His suggestion is correct.
Allan

Trouble uploading my iTunes library to external hard drive.

I have a iMac OS X Version 10.6.8 and am trying to upload my iTunes library to an Seagate GoFlex Home 2TB external hard drive. I can only upload one song at a time. Very frustrating. When I try to "drag and drop" multiple songs/albums, it tells me I need Java plugin version 1.5 or higher. But I've got that and it still won't let me "drag and drop." Advice?

Presumably you have formatted the Seagate as HFS Extended (Journaled)?
Our iTunes guru Terence Devlin advises the following:
1. Quit iTunes
2. Drag the iTunes folder from your internal hd - located in ~/Music folder - to your external hd. DO NOT delete the original one from your internal hd... yet!
3. When the transfer is complete, press and hold the Option(alt) key and fire up iTunes.
4. A "Choose iTunes Library" window will come up. Click on the "Choose Library" button.
5. Navigate to where the iTunes folder is located in the external hd.
6. Within the iTunes folder, select the iTunes Library file and click Choose...
That's it. iTunes will now display all your playlists, songs, movies, podcasts etc. At this point, should you wish, you can delete the iTunes folder from the internal hd to free up space.
More info:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
Or if you prefer a more complicated explanation:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive

Having Problems with Kernel Panics and an External Hard Drive

I've been having Kernel Panics for a month now and have yet to resolve the issue. I know about Dr. Smokes guide to resolving them, but I'm working on a time-sensitive editing project in Final Cut Pro and therefore have not had time to fix my computer.
I am using an OWC external hard drive for the project, and today when I had a kernel panic and I rebooted my computer as I normally do. But, this time, my external hard drive icon was not on my desktop, and a message popped up that said, "The disc you inserted was not readable by this computer." Is there anyway to remedy this so that my computer reads my hard drive?

Have you tried using Disk Utility to repair your ext. hard drive as shown in Dr.Smokes Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption?
Cheers!
DALE

What is the best format to use on an external hard drive so I can both back up my Macbook Pro and also put movies on it from another hard drive (PC)?

I am looking for a solution to whether if it is best to get two hard drives or one that can do two things that I want.
I am looking for a hard drive format that can both back up my 500GB Macbook Pro but I was also wondering if I could also put movies on it from another hard drive that is PC based. Would partitioning the hard drive work for this? I don't know what are the best formats to use.
If this is too hard it might just be easier having a separate 500GB hard drive for back up of my Mac and another bigger hard drive for the movies etc (the files are probably bigger than 4GB). Any help would be greatly appreciated as I need to make a decision soon!

Csound1 wrote:
Microsoft has not released the official exFAT file system specification, and a restrictive license from Microsoft is required in order to make and distribute exFAT implementations. Microsoft also asserts patents on exFAT which make it impossible to re-implement its functionality in a compatible way without violating a large percentage of them.[13] This renders the implementation, distribution, and use of exFAT as a part of free or open-source operating systems or of commercial software, for which the vendors could not obtain a license from Microsoft, not only technically difficult, but legally impossible in countries that recognize United States software patents.
Can't help with that, if one is using a Windows machine then they are subjected to their rules and control.
Limited support outside Windows and Mac OS X operating systems as of 2012, when most consumer electronic devices could only handleFAT12/FAT16/FAT32, rendering exFAT (and flash memory formats using it) impractical as a universal exchange format.
The OP said they plan to store movies on the external drive.
Many movies today are well over 4GB in size, thus exFAT has to be used and formatted on the PC, which the Mac can then read.
Older Windows NT versions up to Windows Vista without Service Pack 1 do not support exFAT.
Irrelevant, Microsoft provides a free download of exFAT for Windows XP, and Vista shouldn't be running on pre SP1 anyway.
Some distributions of Linux have begun to include support for exFAT. It is however, only available as a file system in user space, as it's not supported by the kernel.
Irrelevant, OP is using Windows and OS X, not Linux and if they did Linux can read the files at least and transfer, which is all they care about really.
Windows Vista is unable to use exFAT drives for ReadyBoost. Windows 7 removes this limitation, enabling ReadyBoost caches larger than 4 GiB.[14]
Irrelevant, the OP's is intending to use it as transfer drive between Mac's and Windows for movies.
The standard exFAT implementation only uses a single file allocation table and free space map. FAT file systems instead used alternating tables, as this allowed recovery of the file system if the media was ejected during a write (which occurs frequently in practice with removable media). The optional TexFAT component adds support for additional backup tables and maps, but may not be supported.
Some relevancy, but only exFAT can handle 4GB+ files between Mac's and PC's, so the need outweighs the possible problem.
The OP needs to follow the standard Windows practice of "safely removing hardware" before physically disconnecting the external drive. If a write is occurring, it won't allow disconnecting until the write is finished.
Support for up to 2,796,202 files per subdirectory only.[1][nb 3] Microsoft documents a limit of 65,534 files per sub-directory for their FAT32 implementation, but other operating systems have no special limit for the number of files in a FAT32 directory. FAT32 implementations in other operating systems allow an unlimited number of files up to the number of available clusters (that is, up to 268,304,373 files on volumes without long filenames).[nb 4]
Not a issue, only in extreme cases of a lot of small files. The OP plans to use it for movies which are usually large and take up a lot of space on the drive.
IMMO It looks like you just ran off and copied something to argue your point when all the points are basically irrelevant.
There is only one format that can easily share 4GB sized files between Mac's and PC's without further complications.
It's ALSO possible to install MacDrive on the PC and format the drive on the Mac HFS+, but I didn't recommend that because I know it's a hassle just like third party NTFS writing software is a hassle on Mac's.
If you so anti-Microsoft format, then you must know Paragon has to pay a license fee to Microsoft for using the NTFS format.
At least with exFAT there is no fee to Redmond, at least not yet.

Having two LR catalogues and using an external hard drive?

I use LR as my primary image storage/editing application and have gathered about 250 gb worth of photos on my macbook pro internal drive. I need to transfer everything to an extenral hard drive and just edit the images from there, but have a question about this workflow. (I have this external hd in mind: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/810936-REG/Western_Digital_WDBC3G0030HAL_NESN_My_Boo k_Studio_External.html)
Specifically, would it be possible to maintain two lightroom catalogues: one on the drive, and one on my laptop? All of the images would ultimately be on the external HD, but if I'm on location/etc where I don't have access to the drive, I'd like to option to always be able to upload the images to my laptop and then move them to my main catalogue on the external HD at a later time.
Also: would formatting said external HD as FAT32 be a good idea if I ever plan on viewing/editing them on a windows machine?
Any way, is this a reasonable workflow? Any suggestions regarding this or working from an external HD in general?
Thanks

Yes and/or no.
You can use two catalogs (1 on Laptop and 1 on External HD). Transferring files and data is not difficult once you know how. So it a question of comfort level.
If working on both platforms is something that you plan to do on a regular basis then you may simply want to put the catalog and its associated preview files in a Dropbox folder. Install Dropbox on both machines and the catalogs will be in sync on both machines. This eliminates the exporting and import from another catalog.
Terry White has a good write up here.
Personally I use it to store my presets so when I create a new preset on the road, its available on my home machines.

Trying to upload "actions" to photoshop elements 10 but I am having troubles because things are not on my hard drive that need to be there??

I am trying to upload "actions" to photoshop elements 10 but I am having troubles! I watched the YouTube tutorial but seem to be missing "Adobe" in my Hard Drive! Help me I am stuck....

I just loaded my actions using the PSE 10 from the App Store.
Close PSE.
Access the System library location from Finder menu, click "Go" in the menu bar then select "Go to Folder...". Type in "~/Library" and click Go.
The systems Library will open up and then you take this path:
Application Support > Adobe > Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Editor > Presets > Actions (The Actions folder is where you move your actions file to)
Then go to the Photo Creations Folder > Locales > en_US and delete the MediaDatabase.db3 file (move it to the trash)
The next time you launch PSE your Actions DB will be rebuilt with the new actions installed.

Formatting WD MyBook 1 Terabyte External Hard Drives

I recently purchased two WD MyBook Personal Edition 1 TB hard drives. These come formatted as MS-DOS FAT32, which is pretty useless for a Mac-only system. They are connected to my Mac Pro via a FW400 daisy chain.
When I went to format these drives with Disk Utility, I wanted each to have a single partition, formatted as HFS+ (Mac OS Journaled). Each time I tried to format, I got an error that the disk could not be formatted due to a file system error. However, I have no problem formatting these drives into two or more partitions using the preferred file system. If I want to have a single large partition, the only way I can have that is if I format the drives as FAT32.
Is this a problem with Mac OS - that it won't accept HFS or HFS+ partitions over a certain size? This doesn't see right, since I can buy Mac formatted LaCie drives with the right file systems.

Just want to let everyone know that I have been able to format the 1 TB drives as HFS+, in a single partition. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.
By changing to a single partition, then selecting the "option" button, I switched the partition map scheme to GUID, and then executed the new partitioning. It is worth noting that I accomplished this via screen sharing - from my laptop in my bedroom, three floors above my home office.
Just to fill in the blanks for other contributors:
Selecting the upper drive icon in the list of drives before partitioning results in the error message. Selecting the lower icon results in an endless looping process of reading the drive and doing nothing. The issue is the partition map scheme. I purchased these MyBooks from Costco - the price was about $150 cheaper than the Apple Store. I have been using a 500 gb WD MyBook to as the target for a SuperDuper! clone of my boot drive for about a year, without any problem.
Thanks to everyone.

Having Trouble Formatting a 4.0 Buffalo External Hard Drive

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