Mounting an External Hard Drive

cranfordrw · cranfordrw #1 (**permalink**)

02-06-2010, 01:37 PM

I just purchased an external hard drive that says its Mac compatible. I have it connected to my mac via USB. I can see the drive in Disc Utility, but it will not mount, verify, repair, or anything. I am a relatively new mac user and I'm using 10.4.11.

Its trying to verify some MS-DOS thing that came on the hard drive. I know this isn't right.

I can usually figure this stuff out, but this one has me stumped.

Please help!

chscag · chscag #2 (**permalink**)

02-06-2010, 02:17 PM

Who is the maker of the hard drive? If Disk Utility can see the drive but refuses to verify or repair it, it may be formatted as NTFS or it may be a bare drive with no format. If it's a bare drive it will have to be formatted first before it will mount.

Regards.

cranfordrw · cranfordrw #3 (**permalink**)

02-06-2010, 02:20 PM

it is a cirago 750G

it won't erase, repair, verify, or anything. It has a MS-DOS volume on it and it wont erase that?

I'm so confused

cranfordrw · cranfordrw #4 (**permalink**)

02-06-2010, 02:22 PM

it wont format either...

chscag · chscag #5 (**permalink**)

02-06-2010, 02:33 PM

If Disk Utility refuses to erase the drive and the drive has a MS-DOS partition on it, the drive may be defective. The MS-DOS partition is very likely a large FAT-32 partition which is unusual. I would have thought a drive that large would have come formatted as NTFS from the factory.

Where did you buy the drive at? If you can return it, buy a different brand of drive. I don't know anything about Cirago drives but it looks like they're not rated very well. Buy a Western Digital, Seagate, or another popular brand that is known to work with OS X.

Regards.

cranfordrw · cranfordrw #6 (**permalink**)

02-06-2010, 02:45 PM

thanks for your help. i bought it on amazon. this is so ridiculous. do you think it would help if i connected it to a PC first?

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cranfordrw #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Feb 06, 2010 Posts: 4	02-06-2010, 01:37 PM I just purchased an external hard drive that says its Mac compatible. I have it connected to my mac via USB. I can see the drive in Disc Utility, but it will not mount, verify, repair, or anything. I am a relatively new mac user and I'm using 10.4.11. Its trying to verify some MS-DOS thing that came on the hard drive. I know this isn't right. I can usually figure this stuff out, but this one has me stumped. Please help!
	QUOTE Thanks

chscag #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 23, 2008 Location: Fort Worth, Texas Posts: 31,968 Mac Specs: 21.5" iMac 2.5 GHz i5, iPad 3rd Gen., 3 iPods	02-06-2010, 02:17 PM Who is the maker of the hard drive? If Disk Utility can see the drive but refuses to verify or repair it, it may be formatted as NTFS or it may be a bare drive with no format. If it's a bare drive it will have to be formatted first before it will mount. Regards.
	QUOTE Thanks

cranfordrw #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Feb 06, 2010 Posts: 4	02-06-2010, 02:22 PM it wont format either...
	QUOTE Thanks

chscag #5 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 23, 2008 Location: Fort Worth, Texas Posts: 31,968 Mac Specs: 21.5" iMac 2.5 GHz i5, iPad 3rd Gen., 3 iPods	02-06-2010, 02:33 PM If Disk Utility refuses to erase the drive and the drive has a MS-DOS partition on it, the drive may be defective. The MS-DOS partition is very likely a large FAT-32 partition which is unusual. I would have thought a drive that large would have come formatted as NTFS from the factory. Where did you buy the drive at? If you can return it, buy a different brand of drive. I don't know anything about Cirago drives but it looks like they're not rated very well. Buy a Western Digital, Seagate, or another popular brand that is known to work with OS X. Regards.
	QUOTE Thanks

cranfordrw #6 (permalink)
Member Since: Feb 06, 2010 Posts: 4	02-06-2010, 02:45 PM thanks for your help. i bought it on amazon. this is so ridiculous. do you think it would help if i connected it to a PC first?
	QUOTE Thanks

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