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).

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HP Simple Save external drive

Hi, we have an HP Simple Save external drive. At the begining it worked fine then we had problems to open it as it took quite a while for it to appear on the finder, but eventually it show and we were able to keep using it for back up. However now we are trying to access our info and we just can find it on the finder, besides the annoying launcher icon. Can someone please help me access my info through any other way? should I try this on a Microsoft desktop?

Are you using HP's software to back up? If so, see what instructions/help/support/forms they have. You're not likely to find folks here that know much, if anything, about HP's software.
If you're using Time Machine to back up, try repairing the backups, per #A5 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).

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.)

Computer won't startup after Tiger install with Maxtor external drive

I just upgraded to Tiger on my G4 Dual 450. The computer will not startup with my Maxtor 200 MB external hard drive connected. When it is connected I get a message to restart my computer. The computer starts up and runs with no problems when the Maxtor is not connected. When I connect the Maxtor after the computer is started I get a gray screen to restart my computer. I can connect the Maxtor to another G4 in my office with no problems. Does anyone have any ideas?
G4 Dual 450 MHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hi, platteau1. Welcome to the Discussions.
You wrote: "When it is connected I get a message to restart my computer."You are describing the following message:
That indicates a kernel panic.
1. First, I suggest you contact Maxtor as there may be a problem with the external drive or it may require a firmware update.
2. Next, see my "General FireWire troubleshooting" FAQ for advice that may help you troubleshoot the FireWire drive. It may be as simple as a bad FireWire cable or FireWire port on your Mac.
3. Finally, see also my "Resolving Kernel Panics" FAQ. This FAQ includes step-by-step instructions for identifying and resolving some of the most common causes of kernel panics. The FAQ is a roadmap: start at the beginning and work systematically through the end, i.e. the "If all else fails..." section.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

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

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

Maxtor External Drive Won't Mount!

Here is my problem.
We got a Maxtor One Touch III 1 TB external drive. I loaded about 850 GB of media onto it, passed it off to my partner to continue to edit our video project. Everything was running fine on my macbook pro 2.2 core duo. He edited for a day on his macbook 1.83 core duo. Said everything was fine.
That night he shut the machine down without unmounting the drive. He said the drive kept blinking so he shut it off. In the morning he tried to connect the drive to a g4 tower running 10.3.9. (I never realized he was so tech-vapid). He said the drive wouldn't mount. Then he moved it back to his macbook. Still wouldn't mount. Now it won't mount on my macbook or any machine. He then wonderfully told me he once had the same problem with a G-Drive 500 GB external. Wouldn't mount after switching it to his g4 and back. G-Tech told him the drive was dead so he sent it back. Maxtor told us this drive is dead, but I just think it sounds fishy.
It is still spinning, but there is no light on. Have tried every different kind of connection and updated drivers, same result. A friend said if it got unintentionally unmounted it might take the OS hours to fix it up because it's a RAID 0, suggested leaving it connected for a few hours and see what happens, but that happened once with my G-RAID and it didn't need time to fix itself. I am stupid for buying a maxtor it seems, but it doesn't change my dilemma.
Someone help.

Check the /Volumes/ folder for a broken alias to the disk. The folder is invisible so you need to use the "Go" menu to open it.

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.

Do I need to load Maxtor External Drive software?

I just bought a Maxtor OneTouch III external hard drive. Is it really necessary to load the accompanying software? Can't I just connect the drive only?

No need to install it. It is likely just Windows software anyway.
If it does come with Mac software on the disk, it is probably the Retrospect Express backup software. You can try it, but a lot of people here - including myself - use SuperDuper instead.

Firewire, kernal, Maxtor External Drive

I know this discussion happend a while ago, and is closed, this is the link:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3453370&#3453370
The problem is it didn't resolve anything for me, I didn't understand the "chip" answers.
I wrote down what the kernel said - it's about "Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependiencies): com.maxtor.iokit.10FireWireFamily(2.25).... " and it goes on.
Is this telling me to go to the Maxtor site and download the module firewire family? This kernel doesn't happen with usb, but I really prefer the speed with the firewire.
Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
17" PB G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 12" iBook G4, PowerPc G4, 2 iMacs G3, 5 iPods - Computer? Get protection

Just in case there are others out there with this problem, I thought I should post this.
I found a driver download at Seagate, here is the link:
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=MaxtorOneTouch_Mac_OS_X_DriverUpdate&vgnextoid=cd6d8b9c4a8ff010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD
It's lengthy so you'll need to copy and paste the url.
Thus far the external is mounted with the firewire, so I hope it continues to work.
17" PB G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 12" iBook G4, PowerPc G4, 2 iMacs G3, 5 iPods - Computer? Get protection

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

G4 400Mhz 10gig and Maxtor external drive

I have had my mac a quite a few years now. I have bought an external Firewire Maxtor 300gig. Now Im not sure if I can initialise the drive so i can have applications etc on this as well as my hardive? I am down to 1gig on my hardrive mainly made up of applications already. I have also a lacie Firewire drive with other work etc..could anyone please help...
Thanks..
Lister
G4 Sawtooth Mac OS X (10.4.8)

It is not advisable to use an external hard drive to load applications on. External hard drives are primarily backup data sources. If you need more space internally you have several hard drive bays, and the option to add a Sonnet ATA card which supports larger than 120 GB hard drive partitions on internal hard drives.

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-)>

Simple Maxtor External Drive Question

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