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TICKET ARCHIVE -> External Usb Drive Doesn't Mount

geeb - May 16, 2005 - 2:31 pm

Hi,

I have an external USB drive that I use on PC's. It would be nice to be able to mount it on my Mac Mini (Panther). Is there a way, if it doesn't happen by itself?

Thanks, best,

g

paulogdenfletcher - May 16, 2005 - 4:11 pm

Many of the external drives will work right off the bat with Mac & PC. Although if your format the external drive on the PC/Mac it will only mount on that computer unless you format it back again. Did you already format the USB drive?

Thanks,
Paul Fletcher

geeb - May 16, 2005 - 4:15 pm

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the reply. The drive is formatted, but I don't mind reformatting it if that solves the problem. If I understand you correctly, I would have to format it on the Mac, but I don't see how I can do that if the Mac doesn't see it.

Thanks,

g

paulogdenfletcher - May 16, 2005 - 4:25 pm

Are you planning on using this USB device cross platform, or are you going to use it only on MAC / PC.

Thanks,
Paul Fletcher

geeb - May 17, 2005 - 1:30 am

Hi Paul,

I was planning to see to use it cross platform if I can.

Thanks,

g

paulogdenfletcher - May 17, 2005 - 8:06 pm

I'm not sure if you saw this, another tech sent this message to me.

[TECH COMMENT] well, if you're planning on using it on both a PC and the Mac, then it will need to be formatted in PC format because PC's cannot read Mac formatted drive, though Macs can read PC formatted drives. Performance will be degraded though on the Mac.

The other thing to keep note of is that Windows does not like certain characters in filenames (e.g., \/*:"?<>| ). if you use iTunes, some song/album names will have semicolons or quotation marks. if you try to do anything with these files with the PC, Windows will complain that it cannot find these files and will cancel the entire copy or move process you are trying. just something to keep in mind.

____________________________

You could insert your USB drive in a windows computer, and then format it using FAT32, it will be able to be read both by Mac & Windows.

Thanks,
Paul Fletcher

geeb - May 18, 2005 - 2:11 am

Thanks paul,

i'll try that.

g

paulogdenfletcher - May 18, 2005 - 7:17 am

Let me know how it goes.

geeb - May 18, 2005 - 5:18 pm

Hi Paul,

Doesn't seem to work. The disk is now formatted to FAT32 on a PC. When
I connect it to the Mac it still doesn't mount. According to the System Profiler, the OS knows about it. I placed a screenshot at the following address:

http://szncs.com/~gbohus/screenshot.tiff

Best,

g

paulogdenfletcher - May 18, 2005 - 5:41 pm

I've never had that happen before, I've always had it work using Fat32. Does it appear in Disk Utility?

You might also want to try and format it to the "normal / default" format used with IBM. Whatever their suggested format is, try formating it using that format.

I will check my notes on this topic, and get back to you when I find something new, let me know if it works.

Thanks,
Paul Fletcher

paulogdenfletcher - May 18, 2005 - 5:47 pm

If you can see your usb device in Disk Utility

http://forums.macosxhints.com/attach...tachmentid=553

You can format it to Fat32 by selecting the option showed above.

Thanks,
Paul Fletcher

--> I've double check my notes it will read on PC / Mac if its formated using Fat32. I will double check some more for possible problems.

paulogdenfletcher - May 18, 2005 - 5:53 pm

Sorry to keep sending you messages, I just want to see your problem get fixed. Could you send me the specifications of your external usb drive.

Thanks,
Paul Fletcher

--> If we have no luck fixing this I can send your question back to the pool, and maybe someone else can help you out, or we can just keep working on it.

geeb - May 21, 2005 - 1:28 pm

Hi Paul,

I have made some progress. First I need to apologize, since I have now found a driver on the minidisk which came with the casing. The Mac driver was buried in the Windows stuff, which I didn't need since it is only necessary for Win98, the newer versions work without it.

The driver for OS 9 worked on my old Mac which I needed to use anyway, since it's not possible to use the minidisk in the Mac Mini. 8-)

I copied and installed the driver for OS X and these are the diagnostics in the System Profiler:

GeneIOUSBIDE:

Version: GeneIOUSBCFSubclass version 1.0.0d1
Last Modified: 1/9/70 9:49 PM
Get Info String: GeneIOUSBCFSubclass version 1.0.0d1, Copyright 2000 MySoftwareCompany, Inc.
Location: /System/Library/Extensions/GeneIOUSBIDE.kext
kext Version: 1.1.0
Loaded: No
Valid: Yes
Authentic: No
Authentication Errors: File owner/permissions are incorrect
Dependencies: Incomplete
Dependency Errors: com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass: No valid version of this dependency can be found

As you can see there seem to be two problems: owner/permission and dependency. I tried to change the owner/permission stuff to what all the others are (root/wheel) but then it did not even show up in Extensions.

The other problem is with IOUSBMassStorageClass whose diagnostics are:

Version: 1.3.2
Last Modified: 3/31/05 6:23 AM
Get Info String: 1.3.2, Copyright Apple Computer, Inc. 2000-2005
Location: /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext
kext Version: 1.3.2
Loaded: No
Valid: No
Validity Errors: Kext has a kernel dependency prior to version 6.0 and CFBundleVersion does not match executable's MODULE_VERSION
Authentic: Yes
Dependencies: Satisfied

So it seems that I have a problem with my IOUSBMassStorageClass extension.

Thanks for bearing with me,

geeb

paulogdenfletcher - May 22, 2005 - 12:22 am

I'm not 100% sure how to fix this particular problem (IOUSBMassStorageClass). I will re-open your question in the tech pool, and hopefully someone else will be able to help you.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks,
Paul Fletcher

geeb - May 22, 2005 - 5:22 am

Thanks for all your help Paul.

Best,

g

Saxphile - May 22, 2005 - 8:32 pm

Hi Geza,

You shouldn't need to install drivers for external hard drives in Mac OS X. Your error is caused by a very new version of IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext (Tiger?) no being recognized by the 3rd party driver. Try removing that before proceeding.

If you've sucessfully removed the driver and rebooted. Open Terminal and type the following commend:

ls -l/dev/disk*
ls -l /dev/rdisk*
ls -l /Volumes/

Give me the output with AND without the USB HD attached. Also type those commands (doesn't matter if the USB HD is connected):

id
ls -l /Applications/Utilities/Disk\ Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/Disk\ Utility

Look forward to hear from you.

Charlie

--------
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. -- Pablo Picasso

geeb - May 23, 2005 - 1:37 pm

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for dealing with this. I have put the output of the commands here:

http://szncs.com/~gbohus/log.txt

As you suggested I first removed the driver which came with the disk. As you can see the output is the same with and without the disk attached. (Just in case you see some difference, the first one is with the disk attached.)

My worry is that there might be something wrong with the IOUSBMassStorageClass extension, as you can see from the diagnostic given by the System Profiler:

IOUSBMassStorageClass:

Version: 1.3.2
Last Modified: 3/31/05 6:23 AM
Get Info String: 1.3.2, Copyright Apple Computer, Inc. 2000-2005
Location: /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext
kext Version: 1.3.2
Loaded: No
Valid: No
Validity Errors: Kext has a kernel dependency prior to version 6.0 and CFBundleVersion does not match executable's MODULE_VERSION
Authentic: Yes
Dependencies: Satisfied

In the "Loaded" and "Valid" columns there are two "No"-s next to its name
8-(.

Thanks again,

Best,

Geza

Saxphile - May 24, 2005 - 12:31 am

Hi Geza,

That output does looks a bit hopeless - it looks like the system didn't even see it as a hard disk at all. I just looked at your screenshot from earlier - did you connect the hard drive DIRECTLY to the Mac Mini? It looks like it went through an unpowered USB 1.1 hub. If so, that might be the problem.

I'm really not sure about the IOUSBMassStorageClass thing. Do you have access to another Mac? Can you copy the IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext from there and put it on your computer? Only do this after you've exhausted all other options, however.

Let me know if this works.

Charlie

--------
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. -- Pablo Picasso

geeb - May 24, 2005 - 1:36 am

Hi Charlie,

I have an older Mac (Sys 9.*) which does see the drive using the same (powered) hub, so that should be ok. Unfortunately the housing needs two usb ports, so I can't connect it directly to the Mac as it only has two usb ports and either a keyboard or a mouse is necessary.

I will get a kext from someone and try it with that. Thanks for the help. I will post the my progress here.

Best,

Geza