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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Hard Drive Setup
Cambocat - Jul 15, 2005 - 1:22 am
Hi. My technical knowledge is practically nil. You are welcome to address my question in the most basic terms.
I have an eMac running 10.3.9 with Processor: 1.25 GHz Power PC G4 and Memory at 1GB DDR SDRAM.
I have hooked up to my computer an internal hard drive (Ultra ATA/100) which has been mounted into an external case (3.5" IEEE1394 & USB 2.0). The connection is by a USB cable.
I have downloaded Apple's Back-up 2.0.2. I tried going to Applications to Disk Utility to set up the external hard drive, but it didn't appear along with 76.3 GB Maxtor... and the MacIntosh Hard Drive.
I know that the external drive is powered up, because I can put my hand on it and feel it hum and click a bit.
I have no idea what to do to get it working so that I can use the hard drive for back up.
A couple of related questions:
Would it be better if I hooked this up with fire wire cables?
Would it be to my advantage to load Tiger onto my system before setting this up?
Since I started writing this the hard drive has become noisier. I can hear a constant clicking. It started beeping a little while ago. I had to turn it off twice for the beeping to stop. Now it's just clicking.
I'm grateful for any suggestions and guidance you can provide.
Cam
I have an eMac running 10.3.9 with Processor: 1.25 GHz Power PC G4 and Memory at 1GB DDR SDRAM.
I have hooked up to my computer an internal hard drive (Ultra ATA/100) which has been mounted into an external case (3.5" IEEE1394 & USB 2.0). The connection is by a USB cable.
I have downloaded Apple's Back-up 2.0.2. I tried going to Applications to Disk Utility to set up the external hard drive, but it didn't appear along with 76.3 GB Maxtor... and the MacIntosh Hard Drive.
I know that the external drive is powered up, because I can put my hand on it and feel it hum and click a bit.
I have no idea what to do to get it working so that I can use the hard drive for back up.
A couple of related questions:
Would it be better if I hooked this up with fire wire cables?
Would it be to my advantage to load Tiger onto my system before setting this up?
Since I started writing this the hard drive has become noisier. I can hear a constant clicking. It started beeping a little while ago. I had to turn it off twice for the beeping to stop. Now it's just clicking.
I'm grateful for any suggestions and guidance you can provide.
Cam
rgbrock1 - Jul 15, 2005 - 8:29 am
Hi Campbell,
You may say your technical knowledge is nil but it doesn't sound like it the way you've explained things!
Anyway, it does sound like the external drive is bad, especially with the noises it's making as you describe.
Can you get to a PC with USB ports? If so, connect the external drive to the PC and see if it sees the drive.
Also, do you know what format the external drive is in?
Where do the external drive, which used to be internal, come from?
Once you answer these questions we can explore the issue further.
Richard
You may say your technical knowledge is nil but it doesn't sound like it the way you've explained things!
Anyway, it does sound like the external drive is bad, especially with the noises it's making as you describe.
Can you get to a PC with USB ports? If so, connect the external drive to the PC and see if it sees the drive.
Also, do you know what format the external drive is in?
Where do the external drive, which used to be internal, come from?
Once you answer these questions we can explore the issue further.
Richard
Cambocat - Jul 15, 2005 - 11:47 am
Hi, Richard.
Thanks for your quick reply!
I guess I don't give myself credit for my growing grasp of computer technology, which has been proceeding at a snail's pace.
I've realized that I should take this hard drive, which was brand new out of the box, back to CompUSA and see if they'll run some tests on it. I described it as an internal hard drive because that's what it says on the box, but the salesman said I'd make it external by putting it into the case.
I have no idea about the format business. The scant information in the papers that came with the products don't help me much, but there is a lot of stuff about Windows in the Hard Drive guide, so I guess that means its that kind of format. The sales guy told me it would work with Mac. I figured I'd plug it in and an icon would appear and it would all unfold easily through a number of points and clicks. Not so.
I will let you know what I find out. Maybe CompUSA folks will get the matter straightend out. In any case, I'll let you know.
Campbell
Thanks for your quick reply!
I guess I don't give myself credit for my growing grasp of computer technology, which has been proceeding at a snail's pace.
I've realized that I should take this hard drive, which was brand new out of the box, back to CompUSA and see if they'll run some tests on it. I described it as an internal hard drive because that's what it says on the box, but the salesman said I'd make it external by putting it into the case.
I have no idea about the format business. The scant information in the papers that came with the products don't help me much, but there is a lot of stuff about Windows in the Hard Drive guide, so I guess that means its that kind of format. The sales guy told me it would work with Mac. I figured I'd plug it in and an icon would appear and it would all unfold easily through a number of points and clicks. Not so.
I will let you know what I find out. Maybe CompUSA folks will get the matter straightend out. In any case, I'll let you know.
Campbell
rgbrock1 - Jul 15, 2005 - 12:08 pm
Campbell,
The problem is more than likely that the hard drive is either not installed correctly in the case OR, it's formatted for the PC and the Mac doesn't see the format. (More than likely NTFS.)
If you take the drive back to CompUSA (oh they of much misinformation) ask them to delete the partitions on it and leave it "unallocated". This will ensure the Mac will see the drive.
If they won't do that (which wouldn't surprise me, oh they of much misinformation and unhelpfullness) then let me know and we'll take it further.
Richard
The problem is more than likely that the hard drive is either not installed correctly in the case OR, it's formatted for the PC and the Mac doesn't see the format. (More than likely NTFS.)
If you take the drive back to CompUSA (oh they of much misinformation) ask them to delete the partitions on it and leave it "unallocated". This will ensure the Mac will see the drive.
If they won't do that (which wouldn't surprise me, oh they of much misinformation and unhelpfullness) then let me know and we'll take it further.
Richard
Cambocat - Jul 15, 2005 - 6:07 pm
Richard,
This is more perplexing than I thought. The technician who works in the CompUSA repair room came out. He hooked my external hard drive to a display Mac. He went to utilities and disc repair and after reconnecting the USB cord a couple of times found that it appeared. He did the erase command which he said would format it automatically to the Mac. He titled it "back-up" for me.
Now that I have it back home, again, it's not working right. It's not appearing in my disc repair window, and the clicking is back. A green light on one end of the unit is flashing in time to the clicking (I wasn't aware of this light before because I had the unit set up on that end). There's also a little red light which is constant, which must be the power-on light.
I keep disconnecting and reconnecting cords, because that's all I can think of to do. Any ideas?
Thanks.
Cam
This is more perplexing than I thought. The technician who works in the CompUSA repair room came out. He hooked my external hard drive to a display Mac. He went to utilities and disc repair and after reconnecting the USB cord a couple of times found that it appeared. He did the erase command which he said would format it automatically to the Mac. He titled it "back-up" for me.
Now that I have it back home, again, it's not working right. It's not appearing in my disc repair window, and the clicking is back. A green light on one end of the unit is flashing in time to the clicking (I wasn't aware of this light before because I had the unit set up on that end). There's also a little red light which is constant, which must be the power-on light.
I keep disconnecting and reconnecting cords, because that's all I can think of to do. Any ideas?
Thanks.
Cam
Cambocat - Jul 15, 2005 - 10:01 pm
Hi, Richard.
I ended up returning to CompUSA and consulting another tech guy. It turns out the problem was that the case/enclosure could not handle the voltage requirements of the substantial hard disc. The other salesman who's long gone sold me an inadequate enclosure. The tech guy picked out an Acomdata case that was right for the job, and now everything is working fine. He figures that the one instance where the hard disc and the old enclosure worked during an earlier visit to the store was a fluke. I mean, I got home and it started acting up again. When I brought it back to CompUSA the second time, the guy plugged it in and heard the clicking and saw the flashing light. At first he thought it might be a bad hard drive, but then he tested it in enclosures with greater capacity and found the answer.
Thanks for taking the time to address my concerns.
The next step in my learning curve I think is to figure out partitions. This hard drive is much larger than my computer's, so in addition to backing up all my files and settings, I can also store a bunch of stuff. I think that involves making what they call partitions. Can you direct me to where I can find some basic knowledge about that?
What a great feeling it is to get something like this solved. It's a step in the direction of getting over my technophobia.
Cam
I ended up returning to CompUSA and consulting another tech guy. It turns out the problem was that the case/enclosure could not handle the voltage requirements of the substantial hard disc. The other salesman who's long gone sold me an inadequate enclosure. The tech guy picked out an Acomdata case that was right for the job, and now everything is working fine. He figures that the one instance where the hard disc and the old enclosure worked during an earlier visit to the store was a fluke. I mean, I got home and it started acting up again. When I brought it back to CompUSA the second time, the guy plugged it in and heard the clicking and saw the flashing light. At first he thought it might be a bad hard drive, but then he tested it in enclosures with greater capacity and found the answer.
Thanks for taking the time to address my concerns.
The next step in my learning curve I think is to figure out partitions. This hard drive is much larger than my computer's, so in addition to backing up all my files and settings, I can also store a bunch of stuff. I think that involves making what they call partitions. Can you direct me to where I can find some basic knowledge about that?
What a great feeling it is to get something like this solved. It's a step in the direction of getting over my technophobia.
Cam
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