External HD problem

[BART]

I just bought a new MAC laptop and decided to use my 2TB external HD to set up time machine. It informed me that the HD would have to be erased and reformatted in order to be used with time machine. I set upon doing this and part way through got an input/output error, I disconnected the drive and reconnected it only to see "this drive is not recognized, would you like to initialize it?", when I choose yes I get an input output error. I know for a fact the drive works because I just used it to transfer everything from my old MAC to the new one and have also recently used it on my XP laptop. I try it on XP now and XP completely ignores it. My guess is that it has something to do with the fact that I had both OSX and windows files on it (just a guess) so my question is, is there a back door into this drive or something so that I can get it going again? In OSX disc utility it shows up as an unformatted 2TB external usb storage device.

[GearHeadV8]

try delteiing the software on the computer and reinstalling it.

or go into my computer and look for the drive if no luck.if it asks you to intilize just close it and go into my computer


off topic:why didnt my post about my keyboard show up yet but urs did HErrrm

[xmodificationer]

I got a question here, sorry if I jack your thread. My computer has less than a GB of hard drive space left (around 600mb) and I was thinking about a 500gb external hard drive for $100. Is it just like a big flash drive? Like I just save the stuff to there instead of the harddrive? Any idea's on what I could do to maybe get some more space?

[BART]

Originally Posted by crazyxmoder

try delteiing the software on the computer and reinstalling it.

or go into my computer and look for the drive if no luck.if it asks you to intilize just close it and go into my computer


off topic:why didnt my post about my keyboard show up yet but urs did HErrrm

I covered all of this in my original post, I'm using a MAC (no "my computer") and when I do plug it into windows it is not recognized.

Originally Posted by xmodificationer

I got a question here, sorry if I jack your thread. My computer has less than a GB of hard drive space left (around 600mb) and I was thinking about a 500gb external hard drive for $100. Is it just like a big flash drive? Like I just save the stuff to there instead of the harddrive? Any idea's on what I could do to maybe get some more space?

It is an actual HD in a case.

[GearHeadV8]

Originally Posted by ZX9RBART

I covered all of this in my original post, I'm using a MAC (no "my computer") and when I do plug it into windows it is not recognized.


It is an actual HD in a case.

sorry im trying to help.

ok unplug it from your MAC and plug it into your old mac and see if it works

and did it come with software


@xmodification: DO NOT turn off your computer my old computer had areound 1000 mb and i shut it off to move it and it did not have enough memory or cpu power to start.

try to delete some stuff so you have around a gig of space

and all it is a hard drive in a case that is externtal lol. most come with software that can be set to save stuff to the external. if it doesnt then it is like a big flash drive

[Azngtboi88]

Originally Posted by ZX9RBART

I covered all of this in my original post, I'm using a MAC (no "my computer") and when I do plug it into windows it is not recognized.


It is an actual HD in a case.

Okay couple of questions first:

Does your mac recognize it?
Have you done anything on Disk Utility to the HD?

I've had a mac pro for 3 years now and have two externals, so hopefully I can help you out some lol.

[BART]

Originally Posted by Azngtboi88

Okay couple of questions first:

Does your mac recognize it?
Have you done anything on Disk Utility to the HD?

I've had a mac pro for 3 years now and have two externals, so hopefully I can help you out some lol.

The mac detects it but says it cant recognize it and asks if i would like to initialize it, I say yes and after 30 seconds get an input/output error. In disc utility it shows up and is listed as an unformatted 2TB usb external drive.

[texan_idiot25]

Do you have a program (EX: PowerISO) that can burn an ISO image onto a disk? I have something for windows that could access the drive.

[BART]

Originally Posted by texan_idiot25

Do you have a program (EX: PowerISO) that can burn an ISO image onto a disk? I have something for windows that could access the drive.

No, I do have Linux however at work (waiting for B1G to jump in and tell me thats the way to fix it).

[texan_idiot25]

I can email both and give you some stuff.

It's called ERD command, when burned onto a disk it acts like a mini-OS, and is impartial to windows and MAC files on any HDD. I used it to recover just about everything when my other Harddrive died. It will access a drive, format, clean, fix, whatever with out any OS BS.

[BART]

Originally Posted by texan_idiot25

I can email both and give you some stuff.

It's called ERD command, when burned onto a disk it acts like a mini-OS, and is impartial to windows and MAC files on any HDD. I used it to recover just about everything when my other Harddrive died. It will access a drive, format, clean, fix, whatever with out any OS BS.

So will my linux disc work?

EDIT; send them, you still have my email?

[Azngtboi88]

Originally Posted by ZX9RBART

The mac detects it but says it cant recognize it and asks if i would like to initialize it, I say yes and after 30 seconds get an input/output error. In disc utility it shows up and is listed as an unformatted 2TB usb external drive.

Okay, well the thing is when you connect a hard drive to mac you have to reformat it so that only the mac recognizes it. Your going to have to get into disk utility and reformat it to the mac. It will say like Mac OS Journaled or something like that. That will make it so that you can use it on a mac, but you wont be able to connect it to a windows.....and probably not a linux (never tried)

Oh and that will erase everything on the hard drive. Oh and you might have to partition the hard drive too.

[BART]

Originally Posted by Azngtboi88

Okay, well the thing is when you connect a hard drive to mac you have to reformat it so that only the mac recognizes it. Your going to have to get into disk utility and reformat it to the mac. It will say like Mac OS Journaled or something like that. That will make it so that you can use it on a mac, but you wont be able to connect it to a windows.....and probably not a linux (never tried)

Oh and that will erase everything on the hard drive. Oh and you might have to partition the hard drive too.

I did all of that (first post) and just keep getting input/output error, up until it died I was able to use it in OSX,Windows, and Linux. I got windows to recognize it through discmgmt.svc and it will format but in the end says the operation could not be completed. I think it's a fancy paperweight now.

[kendallcschm]

intalling a disk image onto and external hard drive is useless... just format it useing disk utility... then all files will be erased and all registry errors or connection problems should be resolved... make sure you format it as FAT32 because then it will function with both windows and mac. and the kid with no hd space left... go to this link and get an internal hd... and give me your pc specs so i can look you up an hd and ill post the link :-P

[xmodificationer]

For Kendal.

[Azngtboi88]

Originally Posted by ZX9RBART

I did all of that (first post) and just keep getting input/output error, up until it died I was able to use it in OSX,Windows, and Linux. I got windows to recognize it through discmgmt.svc and it will format but in the end says the operation could not be completed. I think it's a fancy paperweight now.

hmmm.....sorry man, i dont know what else to say.

[kendallcschm]

for xmodificationer.... got to the manufacturers web site and look up specs there.... or tell me your pc's serial # model # and company and ill look it up... and if you want ti to be installed and you can do it your self id love to do it for you... :-)

[lilskipro587]

Originally Posted by crazyxmoder

sorry im trying to help.

ok unplug it from your MAC and plug it into your old mac and see if it works

and did it come with software


@xmodification: DO NOT turn off your computer my old computer had areound 1000 mb and i shut it off to move it and it did not have enough memory or cpu power to start.

try to delete some stuff so you have around a gig of space

and all it is a hard drive in a case that is externtal lol. most come with software that can be set to save stuff to the external. if it doesnt then it is like a big flash drive

You really have no idea what you are talking about....

Okay I don't know how much help I can be because I have never experienced anything like this before. One thing you might just want to double check is, what drive letter is your External and what drive letters are currently being used on your MAC. I assume that this is not the problem but it has happened to me before so it doesn't hurt to check....
Also, I was thinking that you could have some corrupted files on it. Now when you plug it into the Mac you said that it showed up but nothing could be done to it... as I said, this sounds like the HD has corrupt files. If you can get it to show up on a PC at all as a drive just run a disk derangement on the drive. Question, have you turned Journaling on from the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder? From what I can tell this has to be turned on before you can use it on a Mac? Correct me if I am wrong?
Lastly and probably most important, what file format was the drive written in?

[kendallcschm]

i like this ski kid.... he's the only pc tech here besides me :-)

[BART]

Originally Posted by lilskipro587

You really have no idea what you are talking about....

Okay I don't know how much help I can be because I have never experienced anything like this before. One thing you might just want to double check is, what drive letter is your External and what drive letters are currently being used on your MAC. I assume that this is not the problem but it has happened to me before so it doesn't hurt to check....
Also, I was thinking that you could have some corrupted files on it. Now when you plug it into the Mac you said that it showed up but nothing could be done to it... as I said, this sounds like the HD has corrupt files. If you can get it to show up on a PC at all as a drive just run a disk derangement on the drive. Question, have you turned Journaling on from the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder? From what I can tell this has to be turned on before you can use it on a Mac? Correct me if I am wrong?
Lastly and probably most important, what file format was the drive written in?

I forget what format it was in but I was using it with no problems on mac and pc. There are no drive letters on mac but on the pc it is F. It is also being misrepresented on both as a 2tb drive when it is actually 300 gb, it also shows as full (I had about 2gb of pics on it). On the pc I can get it to format but at the end it says the operation could not be completed. The mac just shows input/output error after saying that it cant be read and needs to be initialized. It worked perfectly on both until I tried to set up time machine with it. I tried searching for free HD repair/restore programs and came up with crap.