Trying to format a PC drive
having a hard time with this one particular drive, even though I have successfully formatted external drives in FAT32 before.
When I look at this drive in disk utility - it gives me two levels (as usual)
top level - Mac OS extended journaled
bottom level - FAT32
how can I change the top level so that it's either FAT32 or NTFS?
no matter what I try (in disk util) the top level is always Mac OS.
I can not read this drive in any PC or linux OS machine that I have tried, it only mounts and shows up on my Mac Pro.
any suggestions? Is there another formatting utility beyond disk util?
thanks!
w
NTFS is generally only supported in read/only mode on Macs. Two packages offer NTFS support on Macs:
http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
FAT32 formatting on the Mac is done this way:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030613121738812
Of course you can also use MediaFour's MacDrive to read Mac formatted drives on PCs:
http://www.mediafour.com/
Or network your Mac's hard drive to a PC using one of these methods while it is hooked up to your Mac:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2959?viewlocale=en_US
The advantage of Mac formatted hard drives, is that they will boot Macs, and maintain the necessary metadata to keep Mac compatible applications together.
If your drive is primarily for using Windows and Linux applications that may be when you want alternative formatting.
Similar Messages
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MacPro 1,1 Quadcore 3 GHz (2006 "Woodcrest")
32 GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5770
OS X 10.7.5 Lion
I have encountered the following behavior when trying to format a new drive with disk utility. This description has also been send via the Mac Pro feedback as a bug report to Apple.
On searching the web and forums with this particular error message and behaviour I could not find any usful results. So maybe the following description may be helpful for some users.
Best regards.
1. Drive Bay 1 contains the original 250 GB Startupdisk. It works without errors.
2. Drive Bays 3 and 4 contain each a WD Caviar Black 2 TB SATA 3 HDD. They work without errors.
3. I have purchased a third WD Caviar Black 2 TB HDD.
4. In Drive Bay 2 there has been a Seagate 750 GB HDD, which worked in conjunction with all the other drives without error.
5. I exchanged the Seagate HDD in Drive Bay 2 with the new WD Caviar Black 2 TB HDD.
6. On starting the system, it will report to initialize the new drive.
7. On trying to initialize the new drive with disk utility it reports the error [translated from German] "Erasing of the volume has failed. The device could not be opened."
8. I thought that the drive is faulty. Thus I created an RMA-Case at WD. They exchanged the drive without problems.
9. On getting the exchanged WD Caviar Black 2 TB drive I put it in Drive Bay 2 as before.
10. On trying to erase and format the exchange drive I got the same error message "Drive could not be opened."
10.1 On selecting the physical drive in the devices list, disk utility reports all information in the bottom area of its window as usual, e. g. hard disk description, connection bus, type and place, capacity, write status, SMART-status, partition scheme.
10.1 On leaving that drive selected in the devices list and clicking the info-button, disk utility will also report additional information as usual, e. g. Name, Type, partition scheme, media-identification, media name, media type, device tree, … , number of relocated sectors, etc.. All this information appears to be valid, as can be compared to the other devices information inside the other Drive Bays. Also the disk numbering scheme appears to be standard - 4 HDDs give the numbering disk0, disk1, disk2, disk3.
10.2 From that information I conclude that the SATA-bus and connectors electrically work properly, the drive has spun up and can be accessed by the system normally.
11. I powered down the computer, took out the HDDs from Drive Bays 3 and 4 and put the caddy with the new exchange drive in Drive Bay 4 [Maybe, I could have also just left it alone in Drive Bay 2, or 3].
12. After powering on the system, disk utility will quick format the exchange drive without any error message. Also, when erasing again by selecting the option to write zeros to the drive, disk utility will finish without error.
13. After disk utility finished formatting, I put back the original drives into Drive Bay 3 and 4 and put the now newly formatted drive back into Drive Bay 2.
14. After switching on the computer the system start and login proceeds without any error message. All drives appear as expected on the desktop.If anyone is reading this still looking for what caused the issue and how to fix it here is what I discovered.
The antivirus program our company uses, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, was causing some of the PDF files not to open. After troubleshooting the different modules and settings the culprit was..
Scan SSL in Privacy Control Settings. Turning it OFF solved the problem and all the PDF files that previously would not open now open just fine. This issue has been sent to Bitdefender for them to review. If you use a different antivirus program and are having this issue try locating the Scan SSL setting and see if turning it off solves the problem. -
Hi, Ihave a macbook pro about 2 years old running 10.6.8 and i'm trying to format a usb drive. i dont have disk utility on my computer anywhere, what can i do?
Reinstall Snow Leopard. Or you can try to extract it from the DVD.
How Restore Deleted or Missing OS X Components
A few of the basic OS X installed applications can be restored from the Optional Installs installer located in the Optional installs folder on your Installer DVD. However, if what you need is not there then follow the instructions below.
How to Use Pacifist to Restore Deleted or Missing OS X Components
Insert the OS X Installer DVD into the optical drive. Use a simple utility like TinkerTool to toggle invisibility so you can see invisible items. Alternatively, open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder and at the prompt enter the following:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles Yes
Press RETURN.
To turn off the display of invisible files repeat the above command substituting No for Yes.
The install packages are located in the /System/Installation/ folder on the DVD.
Download the shareware utility Pacifist. Use it to extract a fresh copy of the missing item(s) from the file archives on your OS X installation DVD. The file archives are in the /System/Installations/ folder (use Go to Folder option in the Go menu of the Finder.)
Here are Four Basic ways to use Pacifist (courtesy of George Orville.)
A. Drag a .pkg icon onto the Pacifist window .....proceed to step 7.
B. Click on “Open Package ....” and navigate to package desired and click “Open” in
the open/save window.....proceed to step 7.
C. Insert Mac OS X installer CD and when it mounts, navigate to .... Menu->Go->Go
to Folder. In the path field enter or paste ....
/Volumes/disc name/System/Installation/Packages (where disc name is the name of the CD/DVD that you inserted.)
Click on the "Go" button ..... • Drag a .pkg to Pacifist..... proceed to step 7.
The package you'll need will have to be discovered by trial and error, but for most applications you should start with the Essentials.pkg and/or Additional Essentials.pkg.
D. Insert your Mac OS X install disk 1 .... and open Pacifist.
1. In Pacifist, select "Open Mac OS X Install Packages" ... dialog may appear asking for disk 2, then disk 3 and finally disk 1 again.... {if DVD is not used)...If “Stop Loading” is selected...the procedure will stop!!!
2a. When loading is complete, a new window appears, click the triangle to display contents of each package...Select item and proceed to step 7.
2b. or click the “Find” icon in the Pacifist window and type the name of the software you need.
3. In the list that comes back, click the top most entry for the item that you want. ..... that is the one for the English language.
4. On the top of the Pacifist window, click “verify” .... you will probably be prompted for your password.
5. Enter checks for.... “verify permissions” and “verify file contents.” and click “verify” ....enter password when prompted.... you will get back output which may look like this:
20 files were scanned. 20 of 20 files were present on the hard disk. 0 of 20 files had file permissions that did not match those specified in the package. 0 of 20 files had checksums that did not match those specified in the package.
6. Click “close”. Go to step 7.
Extract or Install........
7. In the Toolbar (upper left), you now have the option to extract or install. Click a file in the lower list and those two icons will be enabled.
8. If “Extract to...” is selected.... navigate to the location where the file will be placed, select “choose”, select “extract” in new dialog that appears,authenicate , if prompted, click “OK”.
9. In the next dialog, click “Extract”.
10. If “Install” is selected... dialog will appear with the location/path of the installed software. Click “Install”
11. Type in your password, click “OK”
Pacifist will begin to extract files.
12. In steps 8/10ß.... you also have the choice to “cancel”
Notes: Pacifist may find that a file it is installing already exists on the hard disk. Pacifist will present you with an alert panel....
• Stop
• Leave original alone
• Update .....
• Default selection
• Replace .... (Replace option should only be used on full install packages) -
I have tried to format my flash Drive usb
Hi Good People
I have tried to format my flash Drive USB. and i keep getting a windows message
I have also tried formatting my flash Drive USB through windows explorer to no avail.
but when I populate the volume on the E:\ the drive registers after about 3 mins
I must do doing something wrong I have never had this trouble before
Can anybody help me please
Kind reards
Gary
Gary SimpsonHi Again Fangzhou Chen
Thanks again for suggesting the above. Here is a picture of what i have done in the command prompt:....
I put the flash drive in the USB port. and a message shows you need to format E:\ so I click format after about 4 minuets I get another Message saying:.....
Windows Cannot format drive E:\
I then Started the Command Prompt
I typed List Volume ......... the top part of my picture showed volume 3 letter E no label no FS type
it was removable size 0 .. No Media Blank info
I removed the flash drive then re-inserted the flash drive... The first message came up again you need to format E:\ This time I pressed the cancel Button and went to the Command Prompt I typed In the Command Prompt again List Volume this time the CMD
said Volume 3 .. Letter E .. No Label .. No FS ..Type was Removable .. Size 14 GB Unusable
Then In DiskPart I selected Volume 3 then type List Partition .... ...It then said There are no Partitions on this disk to show...
I then typed Create Partition Primary........
It then said...Diskpart has encountered an Error: The System cannot
find the file specified see the system event log for more information ...... I look In the system event
log It say's nothing.
So As I said previously "The Flash drive is destined for the bin
Best Regards
Gary
Gary Simpson -
Trying to format an external drive for imac
Hi I am new to this and have just bought an external drive to back up my imac, 9,1 via time machine. I have followed the instructions in disk utility to erase and reformat, but it is coming back with an error message " could not unmount disk" - can anyone help me get round this please?
An iMac running OS 9.1.x? If so, post to http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=99. If not, since you're mentioning Time Machine, correct your profile information. From Finder->Help->Mac Help: *erase a disk*, returns:
*+To erase a disk:+*
+Open Disk Utility, in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.+
+Open Disk Utility+
+Select the disk in the list at left, and then click Erase.+
+For more information about erasing, click the Help button (looks like a question mark).+ -
Formatting PC formatted external hard drive
My old laptop, a largish screen iBook G4 now belonging to my sister, is having hard drive problems. When it is booted up, it flashes a file folder with a question mark and the split face mac logo. Does this mean that the hard drive is dying?
I just bought an external hard drive to back things up. It is PC formatted and I was having difficulties in disk utilities in reformmatting it (journalled) for mac. It kept dumping out of the formatting utility. Finally I turned on Time Machine and initiated a backup. I am wondering if the backup is valid, since it is unclear to me if the external drive actually reformatted for mac. When I left my sister's it was more than 1/2 backed up according to Time Machine.
I am grateful for your help.
Cheers,
JohnI tried to format the external drive using the disk utility on the hard drive of the ibook, not the install DVD.
Is the boot problem a hard drive problem or some sort of system software problem?
Thanks for the article reference. I will study it and try to execute these suggestions in the AM.
Cheers,
J -
I've got a beachball midway through formatting my hard drive. It is stuck at 'preparing to erase'
I was trying to format my hard drive for a clean install of Mountain Lion. It was going fine until I got a beach ball when the status hit "Preparing to erase". What should I do?
You're just going to have to do a hard reset to shut your computer down and power it back up with the Command and R keys held down whilst booting. This will get you back to your Recovery partition and you can try erasing your hard drive again for a 'clean' installation of Mountain Lion.
Good luck,
Clinton -
I have a tried to format my seagate free agent 1TB external hard drive so I can use it, but I keep getting an error message saying it failed. Can n e 1 help me plz
This article has a link for more information on finding your profile directory: [[Fix the "Could not initialize the application's security component" error message]]. On Windows 7, you can try this (either in a Windows Explorer window address bar or from the start menu search box):
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
You may see one folder in there and that's the one you want. If you see more than one, look for the one with the most recently modified files. -
Trying to format external drive
Hi,
I am trying to format an external 1TB Maxon hard drive for use with my airport extreme as a wireless Time Machine backup. I plug it into my Mac Pro through usb and run Disk Utility, select the drive, select Erase, select Mac OSX Journal, select Zero Out Data and run it.
Well, after doing this twice now, and after each process taking around 13 hours I keep getting "Disk Utility Lost Connection" Error message. Is the drive bad? Is there a way to do a quicker erase and format?
I checked the forums and this seems to be an issue from back in 10.3?? Also, I just installed an internal 1TB in my Mac Pro and went through the same steps, works great, took about 2-3 hours for the whole process??
Any help would be appreciated.Follow this procedure:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive. -
I need help trying to format an external hard drive. My Mac won't recognise it anywhere other than System Profiler.
The problem is that it is a Western Digital 3.5 inch internal hard drive housed inside a hard drive caddy. So the only way to connect it to my computer is through a dock.
-
When trying to format my internal hard drive, it's greyed out in Disk utility?
I'm trying ot format my computer and wipe everything off before giving it away, but Disk Utility has everything greyed out and won't let me choose my hard drive. I have the original CD and everything that came with the computer. How do I fix this fast?
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it.
1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. -
I have an OS X 10.6.6 MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard) and i am trying to format my whole hard drive (back to factory settings) from the original CD.
Can someone please give instructions?Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
To restore the MacBook Pro to factory settings:
1. Make a backup of your files because everything will be erased.
2. Insert the Snow Leopard disc and press the C key while your Mac is starting to start from the DVD.
3. Go to Utilities menu > Disk Utility, select Macintosh HD on the sidebar, go to Erase tab and erase the disk.
4. Close Disk Utility and install Mac OS X -
Errors in dmesg when trying to format a usb flash drive
I'm trying to format it using `mkfs.ntfs /dev/sdb1`, the progress freezes after some seconds and dmesg starts to print a bunch of errors. Aparently at a certain point the device gets removed from the system (not listed in /dev anymore).
Here is dmesg log from the point where I plug the flash drive and start the command up to when /dev/sdb disappears:
http://pastie.org/9932469
I tried this: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=149384 but it didn't help.File formats aren't compatible based on filesystem. It's just data to the filesystem. Compatibility is at the application level, which is where the files are opened and read. Any file can be put onto any drive, assuming it is within the filesystems limitations (i.e. FAT32's 4GB size limit).
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Trying to format a WD My Book 6TD hard drive.
I have just tried to format a WD My Book 6TD hard drive. I have tried to erase and partition the disc as suggested in other responses but I get - in both cases - the message back "Partition (or erase) failed - couldn't unmount disc." Please could anyone help
Did you plug in the WD drive and then launch Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities)? That way, it should show up in the left column of DU; you need to highlight the top most entry for it, most likely something like WDxxx. That should then show the Partition tab in the main window.
Or, first try the erase tab to see if you can do that - WD includes some unnecessary and sometimes not really compatible software with their drives (even my OWC does - I just erase it, format, and then I'm ready to sue it). -
So i have a bit of a problem...
im using a Mid 2009 13 Inch Macbook Pro in dualboot.
Im running OSX Lion and Windows 8 Consumer Preview in dual boot, no problems...
However i only have bootcamp 3.x software on my Windows install and i want to install 4.x ...
i know that to get the 4.x software i have to use the Bootcamp utility in Lion to download it, here is where the problem is...
i run the utility and check the box next to download support software and uncheck the rest (i dont want to format my install or remove it) and im prompted for a save location, which i set to my desktop (because i can read it from windows). it then informs me that its trying to format my Drive... My System drive!? all i want is the software, nothing else...
is there a way i can download it directly? such as i direct link to the software from the servers?Read carefully. You have to download the software to a FAT32 formatted USB flash or hard drive.
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