2TB hard drive

go5


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Hello all,

First post, looking for some help.

I have an external HDD (2 TB) and it was installed/running on my NAS. The hard drive started having trouble (not reading files correctly).

Now all I have is a MacBook Pro so hence the reason I am posting on this forum.

When I plug the HDD into an external dock Mac OS reads it as a 4GB external drive only.

Disk Utility has no first aid options (greyed out). Any suggestion what I can do? It is a seagate drive and they only have windows applications.

Thanks for any help
 
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Perhaps you can download appropriate software from Seagate to operate on MAC?
They certainly work with Macs.
 
C

chas_m

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What you may have there is a "hybrid" drive that is not Mac-compatible. You'll have to check with Seagate about that, they make tons of drives that are Mac compatible but this one may not be (Western Digital has this problem too).

Dear drive manufacturers: It's 2014, knock it off with the "windows only" BS. If you don't have proper drivers for both major operating systems, your product is NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME and will hurt your business reputation. Cheers.
 
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go5


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Perhaps you can download appropriate software from Seagate to operate on MAC?
They certainly work with Macs.

Thanks for the reply. As mentioned Seagate has no Mac applications (on their website, pc only)
 

pigoo3

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Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Was this drive originally used with Windows computers only (no Mac's previously). If so...it may be a HD formatting issue. The HD may need to be formatted for the Mac to use/"see".

If you don't have any issue with this (no important files/apps on the drive that will be lost). Launch Disk Utility...then format/reformat the drive "Mac OS Extended Journaled"...and see if this helps.

- Nick
 
C

chas_m

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The fact that his machine sees it as a 4GB drive (the size of the SSD portion) tells me this is a hybrid drive. Because of the way these hybrid drives swap out what's needed between the 4GB SSD and the 2TB HD, they require management software that imitates what Apple's "Fusion Drive" does automatically. Some very stupid manufacturers sell these drives without making this CRYSTAL CLEAR to buyers that the management software is Windows-only.

I suspect the OP has this problem, and the solution is to call up Seagate, verify that this is the issue, and then tear them a new one.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
15" rMBP Mid-2014 ~ iPad 4 16GB ~ iPhone 6 Plus 16GB
I see a couple of potential problem sources:

  • You state that the HDD had an issue in the NAS drive, possibly failing - maybe it has failed, or on the way out.
  • If it was in a NAS, which may very well be a Linux-based system, you're likely looking at a series of EXT partitions, plus possibly a FAT32, which may be the partition you're seeing (I'm no Linux expert).

My 2012 MBP runs off a 750GB Seagate SSHD and runs quite happily...

Also: you shouldn't need the Seagate Software to use the drive, unless you want to use their NTFS driver.
 

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