Iomega 500 GB Drive Mounting Issues

Hi-

So after being convinced that it would be the responsible thing to do to back up my laptop, I went out and bought an Iomega eGo Helium 500 GB drive. Followed instructions that basically said plug and play... no dice. The little blue light blinks and I get a beeping noise but no mount.

Help??

Thanks-
S

Sounds like you may have a formatting issue.

First, open up Disk Utility. This can be found in your /Applications/Utilities folder.

See if the drive is listed here. If it is, you want to format the drive for your Mac:

1) Select the drive
2) Click on the 'Erase' tab. You want to chose Volume Format 'Mac OS Extended' (This should be the default)
3) Give the drive a name in the Name: text field
4) Click the 'Erase..' button

After this is complete, the system should mount the drive under the name that you gave in step 3.

If the drive does not show up in the utility, you either have a hardware issue, or the drive may require special software to use. You would have to consult the documentation for your particular drive.

Thanks for your quick response!

Just tried your solution and sadly it doesn't look like the Disk Utility is even acknowledging that the external drive is there.

I've read on several boards that the blinking/beeping could mean that the external drive is not getting enough power. Has anyone else had this experience?

It's likely possible that the drive isn't getting enough power. Does it come with an AC cable? If so, make sure that's plugged in. If not, it may come with a USB cable that has 2 USB plugs. If so, plug both of them in (in this instance, the drive is drawing power from your Mac through the USB port(s)).

What notebook do you have?


FYI for others: Only has a single USB cable, draws all power from USB - e.g. no external power source and is pre-formatted HFS+.

Your drive should have a supplemental USB cable in the box as vansmith noted. You may have to use both of them to get enough power. If you've plugged the first USB cable into the port with the lightning bolt on it - that port supplies power only - it does not provide access to the drive.

imho: If you can't get it to work - take it back and get something other than Iomega. For backup purposes, I highly recommend you get a device that requires external power, not one drawing it's power from USB. These are best used for on the go, transferring of files from home to the office, etc.

Thanks all for the insight- I decided last night in a fit of frustration to return the drive. Pretty sure that it's not that the drive is defective- just that my laptop does not generate enough external power. (Just for the record anyone else considering this drive, I'm using a PowerBook G4.) Will look for something with an external power source!

Best,
S

iomega back up problems

Hi
I've been using my portable eGo iomega hard drive with time machine for almost a year with no problems. Then all of a sudden, it is not reading the disc and when I plus it in, it sometimes beeps and the light flashes. I can feel it spinning but there it no longer comes up and says "Time Machine could not complete the backup. The back up disc is not available".
I was able to see all my previous back ups today finally so I know it WAS working before!
I have not converted to Lion or icloud yet either so that's not the issue.
Any suggestions here would be appreciated. I am not a computer wiz either btw... : /

Thanks!