Unable to format or partition Toshiba External HD

Hello, hoping someone can help. I had a WD external HD that I was using as my Time Machine backup for my iMac. It crapped out and since that was the second Western Digital that had died on me in 2 years I decided to go with another brand. I got a Toshiba Canvio Slim 500 GB, one that just attaches right to USB port without external A/C adapter for power.
I plugged it in, it was immediately recognized and mounted, and time machine backed up my Mac in about 45 mins. Time machine seemed to be working fine on it for about a week, then all of the sudden it wouldn't recognize it anymore. Wouldn't show up on the desktop, disk utility, nothing. I read a few articles that seemed to suggest it might be a power source issue by the drive trying to draw too much power for the USB cord to handle. So I tried to remedy that by buying a USB hub. I hooked that up, now the drive shows up in disk utility but still won't mount.
I then tried to format the disk in disk utility but that failed giving me an error message that "file system formatter failed." I then tried to partition the disk into one partition and use the GUID partition table as I have an Intel-based Mac. The partition also failed with the same error message that "file system formatter failed."
Any thoughts??? I need help. I can't return it because it has all of my hard drive contents on it now which I don't want to hand over to someone else. But I can't even figure out how to format it and erase it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am running version 10.9.5 of Mavericks.

Does the hub have it's own power supply?
Test with & without the hub.
You have tried different USB ports?
You have disconnected other inessential USB devices?
Is it a custom cable? Can you try another?
I'd also try recovery mode (cmd+r at boot, select Disk Utility) to see if that works any better - that could indicate the OS is at fault.

Similar Messages

Disk Utility unable to format or partition external HD

Last weekend I bought Leopard and prepared everything in my iMac (PowerPC G5, 2.0 GHz) to install it. One of the things I tried was to repartition an external USB hard drive (Iomega 120 GB P/N: DHD120-C) for use with Time Machine. This drive was already formatted with HFS+ but I noticed that was using MBR, and I understand that for use with Time Machine you have to connect a disk using Apple Partition Scheme. Well, I used Disk Utility (still on Mac OS X 10.4.10), selected Partition, Options, Apple Partition Scheme instead of Master Boot Record and tried to apply changes to the drive. Disk Utility froze, I left it for more than one hour until I had to force quit it.
When my iMac rebooted an screen appeared saying that I had a drive not recognized and gave me the option to initialize it. A second failed attempt, Disk Utility froze again.
Finally, I decided to move to Leopard and try to fix the problem later. Everything went fine and while I was waiting I used a Windows machine to partition my external USB disk drive (used DISKPART to create a primary partition) and formatted it with NTFS because Windows told me that the drive was too large to use FAT32. In Leopard, I connected the drive, it mounted OK and used disk utility again to try to repartition it using Apple Partition Scheme and Mac OS Plus (which I understand is the same than HFS+). Disk Utility froze again, more than a couple of hours later I had to force quit it and now I'm using MacDrive in a Windows computer to format the drive, after creating again a primary partition using DISKPART, it seems to work without issues, formatted it using HFS+ in less than a minute. For me, the drive is working fine.
I'll test it with my Leopard iMac later, I'm sure it will mount OK but I'm also pretty sure that it will be recognized as Master Boot Record, which most certainly will give me problems if I try to use it with Time Machine (or not?). Can anybody please explain me what's happening between my iMac and the external hard drive?
Thanks in advance.

As expected, the disk formatted with MacDrive was recognized OK by my iMac. As soon as I connected it Time Machine offered to use it, I accepted and my first backup completed some time last night (I left it working and went to sleep).
Any ideas about what could be happening with the hard drive?

MDT 2013 Fails to Format or Partition disk on Surface Pro 3

I have been trying to image a Surface Pro 3 using MDT 2013 and have been unable to get past the Format and Partition portion of the deployment. At first I would get an error that it was unable to format or partition the drive and then after that it
just reboots after trying for so long. I am able to image any other device with the same task sequence and have no issue just having an issue with the Surface Pro 3. Any help would be great.
Thanks in advance.
I am getting the error FAILURE (5210)
ZTI Error - Unhandled error returned by ZTIDISKPART: Object required (424)

I think our problem is also hardware failure although without re-imaging a working surface pro 3 I can't be sure.
I tried what imfusio suggested in this thread.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/d31384bc-4e96-4a5b-a400-637bd6006d81/failure-5456-unable-to-determine-destination-disk-partition-and-or-drive-surface-pro-3?forum=mdt
Unfortunately the deployment failed with the same ZTI Error - Unhandled error returned by ZTIDISKPART:
Object required (424)
I then rebooted into WinPE and ran diskpart, I could see the two volumes (EFI and OSDisk). I then tried to format the OS disk volume using diskpart. I got a paramater is incorrect error and the disk was no longer visible with a 'list disk' command. So it's
like the format is putting the disk offline. I'm going to try restore one of these surfaces, apply all firmware updates then re-image. If that doesn't work I'm out of ideas.

External drive, how to format and partition?

Hey everybody!
I'm about to buy an external drive for my mac. I am reasonably capable on a computer, but I've never done formatting or partitioning so I have two questions:
1) I just want to check that I do not need to buy a mac-formatted drive. A little big of googling told me I could do the formatting myself with Disk Utility, just wanted to double check that that was true.
2) Once I get my external drive, what I want to do is create two partitions within that drive, one for my Time Machine backup and one for random files and movies. I'm not sure how to do that (apparently I might need to pick different formats for each in Disk Utility?) so if anybody could help out that would be brilliant.
Thanks
(if that helps, I have a MacBook Pro with a 512GB hardrive, and I want to buy a 1TB external drive)

Hi,
Here is a link that will help you set up your external drive. http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-set-up-an-external-hard-drive-for-use-with-os- x/
You won't need different formats for Time Machine backups and storage space partitions. However, given the size of your hard drive, 500 gb for Time Machine may not be enough. You could buy a separate one for Time Machine, budget permitting.
Check the size of your startup disk, and if it is only 250 gb or less, then 500 gb for Time Machine may be OK, for a while. It will soon fill up, but the older backups will be erased.
Regards.

Unable to format/partition hard drive

So I've recently decided my previous three partitions, including a partition with windows on, are not needed so backed up the files and am trying to simply format the whole hard disk. It lets me format two of the old partitions, but not the one with windows OS on it (erase is greyed out).
In terminal I tried
diskutil reformat /dev/disk2
but get
disk2 does not appear to have a valid file system format
Usage: diskutil reformat MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode
Completely erase an existing volume with the same name and format as the
original. Ownership of the affected disk is required.
You cannot erase the boot volume, nor can you reformat any device which
does not have a valid file system (instead use diskutil eraseVolume).
The partition table is master boot record for the HDD. That's about as far as I can get. Anyone?

Hi there LazyGenious,
At this point you may need to boot into the Recovery HD to repartition and reformat your HDD, then reinstall OS X.
To boot in the the Recovery HD, choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears), hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys. Once booted, you should be able to launch Disk Utility. At this point you will want to repartition the HDD using the steps outlined in the User Guide below. If you are going to be reinstalling OS X, make sure to select the GUID Partition Table option.
Partition a disk - Disk Utility Help
Partition a disk
Select the disk in the sidebar, then click Partition.
If you’re partitioning an external disk, make sure it’s connected to your computer.
Click the Partition Layout pop-up menu, then choose the number of partitions.
You can enter a size for each partition or drag the divider between the partitions to change their sizes. If a partition’s name has an asterisk beside it, it’s being shown larger than its actual size so the name can be displayed clearly.
Click each partition, then enter a name for it.
For each partition, click the Format pop-up menu, choose a format, then enter a size.
Mac OS Extended (Journaled): Uses journaling to protect the hierarchical file system integrity.
Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled): Uses journaling and is case sensitive to folder names. For example, folders named “Homework” and “hoMeWOrk” are two different folders.
MS-DOS (FAT): Use for Windows disks that are 32 GB or less.
ExFAT: Use for Windows disks that are over 32 GB.
Free Space: Use to extend the free space for the disk.
Click Options, then choose one of the following:
GUID Partition Table: Choose this partition scheme if you’ll be using this disk only with Mac computers.
Apple Partition Map: This partition scheme should only be used if you’re working with Mac computers using Mac OS X version 10.4 or earlier.
Master Boot Record: Also known as “fdisk,” choose this partition scheme if you’ll be using the disk as a secondary disk for the Windows operating system you installed using Boot Camp, or for an external disk you’ll be using on a Windows computer.
Click Apply.
Once this is process is complete, quit Disk Utility and reinstall OS X using the steps outlined in the article below, starting from step 2.
OS X Mavericks: Erase and reinstall OS X
-Griff W.

Unable to Format External Hardrive

Hello all,
This is kinda long winded. In short I can't format a new Maxtor external hard drive with Disk Utility because it hangs. It doesn't just hang when I select the Maxtor, but also when I select the internal. Is there a way that I can format it without using Disk Utility so I can start using the external drive? I just need to back everything up so I can wipe my system clean.
The long version is: nothing seems to be working on my computer. Everything seems to hang like I can't update anything, I can't install any software, and now my DVD drive won't burn. I probably need to do a system restore or something. If there is no way to get my external to work without Disk Utility, is there any other way to back my files? Could this be a font issue as well? I have poor font management.
This is for a G5 1.6 single PowerPC

Hi-
Welcome to Discussions!
Sounds like you have either damaged your hard drive(internal), or, you are having third party or font conflicts.
Start troubleshooting by trying a safe mode boot. To start up into Safe Mode (to "Safe Boot"), do this:
-Be sure the computer is shut down.
-Press the power button.
-Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key.
Tip: The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone but not before.
-Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple and progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
If able to start, log in and run Disk Utility. If errors are reported, run repair while booted from OS install disk. If no errors are reported, you will need to look at your startup items and fonts, to find the conflicting item(s).
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392
If unable to boot in safe mode, try a single user boot, and run fsck. Please refer to the following document for full instruction:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
After single user boot, depending on the report from running fsck, you will either be able to boot normally, or you will require help from Disk Warrior to properly repair your hard drive;
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
G4AGP(450)Sawtooth, 2ghz PowerLogix, 1.62gbRAM, 120gb+160gb HD, ATI Radeon 9800 Mac OS X (10.4.8) Pioneer DVR-109, LaCie 160gb, 23"Cinema Display, Ratoc USB2.0, Nikon Coolscan

Unable to format partition, disk may be damaged

I was experiencing a problem with my Windows XP installation on Bootcamp. The Windows side kept restarting, and I could not find the reason, so I formatted with the Windows XP disc and tried to re-install it, but it didn't work. I forget the exact error as to why. So I went back to the Mac side and re-formatted the partition sing Bootcamp, and now when I try to re-install the Windows XP on the Bootcamp partition, I get the error:
Unable to format partition, disk may be damaged
What can I do? I don't understand, because this disk has worked before and I am on the mac side right now, so the actual disk does not appear to be damaged. What can I do?

Do a full format as it will check for errors and mark bad clusters if it finds any (full format = quick + chkdsk /x ), but only create one OS partition e.g like 30GB or something , this will be plenty enough for the os ,instead of the whole drive . Will save you time .
Wait with partitioning the rest of the drive as an extra partition until the OS is installed using diskmanagement .
Also make sure sata-dma is enabled in bios .

I am unable to pick a partition to format.

Partition drive with a 49 Gb partition with boot camp, insert windows xp pro disk and error message "No disk found....Free space 131072GB".
I am unable to pick a partition to format.
ALL info I have found relates to Windows 7 or vista but NOT XP.
ANY help would be GREAT !!.
Thanks

Thanks for your replies.
I have had to reformat the Apple disk to remove the XP as it does not have service pack 2 on it.
Installed Windows Vista and that removed ALL the Apple stuff
Now zero out the drive and reinstalled Apple os
Now using my wife's laptop...must get mine fixed. Would rather have a MacBook but just too much !!
Think the fan stopped which cooked the chip...opppps !!
Thanks again for your help

I would like to partition an external hardrive that is formatted to windows?

I would like to partition an external hardrive that is formatted to windows (Windows NT Filesystem) but the '+' box is greyed out, can anyone help? I have existing data on it and i would like to partition it to use with time Machine.
Cheers,
Mike

Hi,
Cheers for that. Do you know of any way I can format without erasing data?

Portege R100: 4GB SD card runs very slow - unable to format

Laptop working fine, no issues when using 1GB SD card. When 4GB SD card inserted PC runs very slow. Eventually I am able to run Toshiba SD Memory Card Format software (latest download version). It doesn't seem to recognise 4GB card. Unable to format. When tried later with 1GB card everything works well.
Has anyone been able to get a 4GB SD card working ?
I am not sure whether the laptop software needs a patch, or if 4GB card is not fully compatible with SD card standards, though it was bought from reputable supplier.
Graham

Hi
I think its nothing wrong with the software but the SD card is simply not 100% compatible.
In the last time the SD card sizes increase rapidly.
I think the card reader and the software were not designed to handle such big SD card like this one.
How about buying an external SD card reader?
Such devices are not very expensive and I think the newest generation should be able to handle also the 4GB SD cards.

•I have just bought a Toshiba external hard disk to back up all my work from my macbook and its not working! I have checked the hard disk

•I have just bought a Toshiba external hard disk to back up all my work from my macbook and its not working! I have checked the hard disk

its not working: (sorry for being so ambiguous), the computer recognises it, it comes up on my desktop, when i open it and try and drag a file across, it is unable to go into the drive, there is just a symbol indicating 'no' (i've read the instructions from Tosheba and there is no help). I have not partitioned the drive using the GUID partition scheme - i dont know what this means?!

Unable to resize a partition.

Hello everyone
I `ve recently created a new partition on my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.9.4, and that was for install the public Beta of Yosemite, then i decided to delete that partition with Utility disks, then that space now appear gray, but the problem is when i tried to resized the partition dragging the lower right conner above, and then i clic "apply", nothing pass, So i was unable to resized the partition.
Could someone please help me .
here is a picture of UD.

As I suggested on your first post of this topic:
Install Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion Using Internet Recovery
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.
Partition and Format the hard drive:
Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
After DU loads select your newly installed 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.
Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion. Mavericks: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
After you have installed OS X you can use Boot Camp Assistant to create a new Boot Camp partition for Windows. Do not attempt to use Disk Utility or Boot Camp Assistant to create a third partition. You can have at most two partitions: OS X and Windows. You created a third partition which you then removed, and that is why this problem arose.

HT201250 What does it mean to "partition" an external hard drive? Is it something that I want to do?

What does it mean to "partition" the external hard drive? Is it something I want to do? How do I save files from another hard drive to the new one? I have to reformat the old one as it was not set up correctly. The drive I have is Seagate but not specifically for MAC, so I have to format it.. never have done this before. Don't know the jargon. I read that Time Machine will back up automatically but I want to take files from the old drive to the new one. Do I have to take them to the computer first and then to the new drive? I need more memory on my computer. It's way too cluttered and congested. HELP!

Whoa! Slow donw. TRhere's a lot here. I would suggest you buy a good book on computers in general or macs in particular, one is "OSX the missing manual".
What does it mean to "partition" the external hard drive?
It means you take one large drive and make it into more than one volume. This means that it might show up as 2,3 or 4 inde[pendenmt drives. Each one could have, for example, a different operating system on it. Its a good thing to do if you want to use a drive for several purposes
Is it something I want to do?
beats me, you didnt way what you're trying to accomplish. Sorta like sking "should i turn left?" Depends on where you want to go.
How do I save files from another hard drive to the new one?
See advice n book above. Copy them in finder. Copy them in unix. Use a backup or sync utility. No different from Windows in that respect.
I have to reformat the old one as it was not set up correctly. The drive I have is Seagate but not specifically for MAC, so I have to format it.. never have done this before. Don't know the jargon.
Hook it up. Run disk utility. Partition 1 or more partions. GUID map. Format each partition Mac OS extended, Journaled. for more, read book, above. Seriously - we could give you more tips, but you really should learn enough to be comnfident.
I read that Time Machine will back up automatically but I want to take files from the old drive to the new one. Do I have to take them to the computer first and then to the new drive?
I have no idea what you are asking.
I need more memory on my computer. It's way too cluttered and congested. HELP!
What kind of memory and why? RTAM? Hard drive space? Explain. By the time you are done explaining, i suspect you will have ansered your own question.
Good luck,
Have you read the PDF manual for your cmputer?
Have you used a search engine to look for info, for example, in two seconds i got this from google and wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_partitioning
Grant

I have an IMAC and I'm running OSX 10.9.2. I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries to an external hard drive. In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the externa

I have an IMAC and I'm running OSX 10.9.2. I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive. In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the external library drives. Is this possible? Can I set up a RAID 5 format for redundancy?

I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive.
That is fine and recommended.. use the fastest disk you can afford.. ie Thunderbolt>USB3>FW800>USB2.
In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the external library drives.
Let me be clear.. you want to partition the one disk.. use it for TM and move your files to the external disk.. and then backup to the same disk.. You can do it.. but that is not a backup.. that is an experiment in how long you can get away with running files and backups on the same disk before you lose everything.. like Russian Roulette.. pull the trigger enough times and laws of probability will do you in.
You must have backups on a different disk .. otherwise it is pointless.
Can I set up a RAID 5 format for redundancy?
No.. you can buy special USB and Thunderbolt external drives that support RAID..
BUT that is still not a backup.. let me show why.. you make a silly move and corrupt your file in aperture.. it is not that rare.
Raid will corrupt all copies of the files.. it is replicated across all disks.
Delete a photo it is deleted across all disks.. you have no recovery.
Alway, always consider RAID system one disk.. backup onto another disk.. and if the photos or movies are at all important to you.. ie your family .. make another copy and store in a relatives house.. There is no such thing as too much redundancy.

How to set up a Toshiba external hard drive on my Macbook Pro?

Hi there,
I just bought a Toshiba external hard drive that says on the package it is compatible with Macs. I plugged it in, installed the Pogoplug PC for Mac (no idea what this is) and Tuxera NTFS for Mac (it was in the "Mac Driver" folder). Now what? Is my data now automatically going onto the hard drive? Do I need to install anything else? This seems too easy! What am I missing here?
Thanks!

New hard drives out of box should be formatted for your Mac
go to DISK UTILITY and verify what it says your HD is formatted as under the "ERASE" tab
HFS+ above is the "mac format"
Format (erase) it in "mac osx Extended journaled"
AFTER THIS YOU CAN DRAG AND DROP FILES AS YOU LIKE
To show HD on desktop
go into FINDER at top then PREFERENCES then GENERAL tab
then check "hard disks" and "external disks"
There is no such thing as a MAC or PC hard drive,.....they can all be formatted as you wish for either PC or Mac (or both)
FORMAT TYPES
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
Maximum file size: 4GB.
Maximum volume size: 2TB
You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
Maximum file size: 16 TB
Maximum volume size: 256TB
You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
HFS+ ((((MAC FORMAT)))) (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
Maximum file size: 8EiB
Maximum volume size: 8EiB
You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
EXFAT (FAT64)
Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
Not all Windows versions support exFAT.
exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
Maximum file size: 16 EiB
Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.

Unable to format or partition Toshiba External HD

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