How long to erase 3TB external hard drive 7x with disk utility?

Just wondering, started Sunday afternoon and its still going 2 days later.

The 7x erase formatting was added to Disk Utility because of government agencies who have it as a requirement for their security. For most people a 1x erase and zero all data is sufficient. Do you really need to do the 7x?
Best of luck.

Similar Messages

  • Can't modify external hard drive partition with Disk Utility

    Hi,
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    I would like to create a new partition in the free space without losing the data I have in the disk, and format the new partition as Mac OS Extended to use it for Time Machine backups. Presumably Disk Utility can do it, but when I go to the "Partition" tab it says "This partition cannot be modified" and the "+" sign below it is grayed. Can anybody help me repartitioning my drive without losing my data?
    Thanks!!!

    That would likely be because the drive is partitioned MBR and not GUID. You cannot repartition an MBR partitioned drive on the fly. What you need is a drive that is partitioned using GUID (GPT) with on partition formatted for the Mac and the other formatted FAT32. But to do that you must start the drive from scratch:
    Drive Preparation
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Select the entire partition in the rectangle by clicking on it (the lines will turn darker blue) and click on the [+] Add button. The volume will be divided in two. Select each volume and resize as your require.
    5. Select one of the volumes you just created. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Erase button.
    6. Repeat Step 5 using MSDOS as the format type.
    This will work with any PC that understands the GPT partition scheme which is Vista and Windows 7. Otherwise, you should just leave the drive as it is and forgo using Time Machine or purchase another drive for Time Machine.

  • How do you fix bad blocks on an external hard drive without using disk utility

    so basically does anyone know how to fix bad blocks on a external hard drive without using disk utlility please

    Oh...if you have data you are trying to save then its best to try cloning the drive to another one, which should save its data as-is to another drive. Hopefully you can do so without there being hangups around the bad blocks and keep at least most of your data intact. I'd recommend you try using Carbon Copy Cloner to do this, but you will need a secondary drive that is at least the size of the data on the problematic drive.

  • How can I erase my external hard drive?

    So I've been having this problem for a while now. Here's my setup: Macbook OS X 10.5.8 and a WD 10EAVS 1TB External Hard Drive. That's all. I was given this by a fellow student on campus who was graduating. So I want to use this to store my iTunes Library (my Macbook's hard drive ran out of space). Here's what I do:
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    - It is not readable so I open it in Disk Utility (the hard drive is listed/recognized)
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    Basically, I need my computer to recognize this hard drive whenever I plug it in and to run smoothly as "extra space" to store my music on.
    I haven't had A LOT of experience with external hard drives but enough to get things done. But this problem is a killer.
    Any help would be greatly appreciated!
    Please don't hesitate to ask for more info in order to figure it out. I'll do my best with the knowledge/information I have
    Thanks so much!

    Read carefully to the end, it is not a long text.
    Let us resume the required steps, after putting inside a new, virgin disk:
    1. Start up machine and as soon as possible put CD/DVD, press key C to force boot from CD; if the sequence is not fast enough and machine passed over the initial phase, and ? was displayed, force shut down by pressing button key, then start again, with CD/DVD inside
    2. Press key C after start, and wait until the Apple logo in displayed, wait
    3. You will see a list of install language, choose one, and
    4. Go to Apple bar and choose Disk Utility; on the left side, you will see the disk, select it, then, on the cenral-lower part of displayed windows go to Options and choose Apple Partition Map (APM), go back and choose, if not already chosen by default, Mac OS Extended Journaled (HFS+), 1 partition (or more, some prefer more than one), click to partiion/erase disk. Note that you MUST have both conditions achieved: APM and HFS+
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    If you do not see the disk on the left side of Disk Utility, then disk is damaged or badly connected.
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    - for external disks or flash drives intended to smoothly work with Windows, format should be FAT 32 and Master Boot Record; NTFS may be done with an additional utility like NTFS-3G or NTFSmounter

  • How do you erase an external hard drive which will not show up on your computer?

    I bought a LaCie porsche design 2TB external hard drive  from the Apple Store to use with time machine on my MAC 2 months ago. It will no longer show up on my desktopn. After speaking with LaCie, they sent me a replacement. However, I have to send the brooken one back to them and since we could not erase it or anything on my Mac is there anyway to erase the hard drive before sending it back to them with all my information on there?
    Message was edited by: carolsh

    I know. But after Yahoo, Target , Neimans and others. But I agree. They even sent me a more expensive replacement as they did not have my model in stock and is backordered. So, a win win situation. I was impressed that the tech person spent about an hour on the phone with me trying a variety of options. At first, they were going to charge me shipping- but then she changed her mind and shipped the replacement 1 day fed ex. I guess that is why I always buy LaCie vs others. My older LaCie which I still had but was smaller- I plugged in and did a back-up and I had just enough room on it so I have that for safe keepings now as well.
    Thanks again for your pleasant response. I guess I need to limit my profile to "registered members" only. I hope Apple monitors these discussions and people's responses periodically.

  • External hard drive seen in Disk Utility, but will not mount.

    My external hard drive has power and is spinning, but will not mount.  It was fine yesterday.  It shows up in Disk Utility and is verified and repaired.  Tried the drive on 2 other macs with same result.  Tried a new enclosure and that did not work.  Tried all ports...usb and firewire.  Any way to save my data?
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    Hi Dominic,
    If this is still not mounting, it may be worth trying a PRAM reset...
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
    Ben

  • Can't find External Hard drive in Finder / Disk Utility.

    I have a Seagate 3TB drive that I have split between Time Machine and general storage.  The drive is no longer able to be found in Finder or Disk Utility.  I've restarted the drive, reset the PRAM and SMC (another thread suggested this) and it still has not worked. Any idea how to view this drive?

    Is it a USB drive?  Is it detected in another port?
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  • Why won't my external hard drive mount in Disk Utility even when it shows up on the list?

    Hey all,
    For the last few years I've used a Samsung S2 1TB external harddrive to back up all my files, this includes photos, music and a vast amount of resources required for Uni. However I plugged it in for the first time in about two months and discovered that neither my Macbook Pro (late 2011) or my Mac Mini (early 2013) are able to mount the hard drive.
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    I've read a fair amount on this forum that suggest that Mavericks has caused quite an issue with harddrives and although I don't know for sure, the harddrive did stop working at a very similar time to when I updated. I've sinced used the basic version of 'Disk Drill' on the harddrive and all the files show up perfectly which leads me to believe that perhaps the issue isn't with the harddrive itself but perhaps a compatibility issue.
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    Because there's a problem with the disk's directory structure; these are often the result of improperly unplugging drives or forcing a computer to shut down. Proceed as instructed, or try using a more powerful utility such as DiskWarrior to repair it.
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  • External Hard Drive showing in Disk Utility - but not desktop.

    A little background:
    Yesterday, I moved my shelf where I have my modem, Airport Extreme, Airport Express and an external HD connected to the extreme to be a wireless HD for all users to access. Everything worked great - no problems whatsoever.
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    I don't know if this may have caused the problem, but I carelessly, unplugged the power bar for which all the above mentioned hardware plugs into when moving the shelf. Now, everything works as it did, except I can't get the express to show up once it is configured (but this isn't surprising as I had to fight with it the first time I configured it - not uncommon I am told), and the HD is no longer accessible via the network, or when directly connected to my macbook.
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    From the Disk Utility, select the drive and click on the Repair Disk(not Repair Permissions) button. If the Disk Utility finds a problem it can't fix, DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro will likely succeed.
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  • Cannot see external hard drive except in disk utility

    when i open it in disk utility, all the buttons are grey, and i cannot verify or repair the disk. This happened once i updated it to mavericks.

    Hi Dominic,
    If this is still not mounting, it may be worth trying a PRAM reset...
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
    Ben

  • How to transfer files to external hard drive

    How do I transfer Imovie folders to an external hard drive?

    Use Disk Utility to clone the Time Machine backup from the Iomega to the WD. Both drives need to be running and mounted on the Desktop.
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      1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.
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      4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag
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      5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
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      6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    Destination means the WD drive. Source means the Iomega drive.
    Disk Utility will erase the WD drive before starting the cloning operation. If you have data on the WD drive it will be lost.

  • Help needed. I have a 3TB external hard drive partitioned into 1TB's. I used one partition as backup for the main computer hard drive. But now it is greyed out as shown in the disk utility and its name changed, i dont know how that happened, i tried verif

    Help needed. I have a 3TB external hard drive partitioned into 1TB's. I used one partition as backup for the main computer hard drive. But now it is greyed out as shown in the disk utility and its name changed, i dont know how that happened, i tried verifying and repairing it but had no luck. I also tried mounting and unmounting it but still no solution. Anyone to help please?

    Looks bad. I would strongly advise backing up the stuff on the other two partitions as soon as possible in case the rest of the drive goes wrong.
    Beyond that, Disk Utility has limited abilities to repair disks, DiskWarrior uses a different approach and might, emphasis might be more successful. It has certainly done the job for me in the past when Disk Utility could not.
    See http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/

  • I have iMovie 09. I just erased my external hard drive, but it is still formatted for the mac. However, iMovie will not recognize the hard drive. It shows the only hard drive available is the computers. How do I get the external hard drive to show up?

    I have iMovie 09. I just erased my external hard drive, but it is still formatted for the mac. However, iMovie will not recognize the hard drive. It shows the only hard drive available is the computers. How do I get the external hard drive to show up?

    In Finder's Menu, select Go menu>Go to Folder, and go to "/volumes". (no quotes)
    Volumes is where an alias to your hard drive ("/" at boot) is placed at startup, and where all the "mount points" for auxiliary drives are created for you to access them. This folder is normally hidden from view.
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    If it does contain data...
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2474

  • Is a WD My Book Studio Desktop 3TB Hard Drive - FW 400/800, USB 2.0, Apple Time Machine Ready external hard drive bootable with my Powerbook G4 12" PPC 10.5.8?

    Sirs or madams,
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    If this particular external hard drive won't, for certain, be bootable with my computer, can you advise as to what readily available brand/model would be in the 3TB range for a similar price, roughly $150ish??
    Thank you very much.

    Mr. BGreg,
    Thank you very much. "...under the covers...". I think you meant "under the hood", as in a car. I suppose "under the covers" would be man/woman interfacing, which I am familiar with!
    Actually, I'm back in the US now for a few months. I looked at the OWC web site, but only cusorily so far. I'll contact them; they appear knowledgeable about Apple computers.
    As to what you wrote about Western Digital's cases, I certainly wouldn't want a poor case. In China I had over time gotten 3 different external drive cases, 3 different Chinese brands, and separately bought Hitachi brand disk drives that 'simply' plugged into the cases. The drives are roughly 80GB 120GB and 320GB. The two larger ones are in cases that have Firewire plugs/jacks, which are bootable with my computer.
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    Naturally, OWC should be able to address this, but your thoughts are also welcome. You mentioned the OWC cases are good with Apples. Would the disk drives OWC supplied with the cases also be of relatively dependable quality?? From my so far only cursory look at their web site they appear to have various options, including case only options where I could insert my own or their own drives. These sorts of options seem preferable, also along with quality components. 
    My Powerbook has been in use since 2004. In China I put in a 1.25 memory 'chip' in the bottom and installed the 10.5.8 operating system, which I understand are the maximum workable with my Powerbook. When I inquired with Chinese friends if my 1.33 GHz processor could be taken out and a more powerful one put in, they said it wasn't feasible because in my particular computer my processor was, as I recall them saying, soldered/'permanently' connected with the 'motherboard', that it would just be easier to get a new computer.
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  • How can I use one external hard drive for both Time Machine and iPhoto Library?

    I have been using a 1 TG LaCie external hard drive for Time Machine backups.  My (older) Mac has 160 GB and is almost full.  I would like to move my iPhoto Library to the external hard drive, but I've heard Time Machine doesn't share one space well.  Should I
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    You are getting incorrect information from your ASP. If you look at drive specifications the heat generated is no different for high vs low capacity drives.
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