portable hard drive

[Nafoff]

ordered this the other day

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/2146/1...rd-Drive-Silver/Product.html?searchtype=genre

turns up today and it doesn't work with my mac, am sure on the site it says nothing about only being windows compatible but after i had opened it i noticed on the reverse it says windows vista xp...

there is no way i am getting it working is there?

 

[Gavin.]

im not to sure on macs, does it not even appear in any device settings?

 

[Greeny.]

I assume it might be to do with what file system its been formatted as? NTFS or FAT32? I know nothing about macs so dont know if they can read both?

 

[oska]

I think they are specific after looking at a couple of reviews. They mention that there is a Mac version and a Windows version, sorry fella.

I may be wrong though.

The Mac version of the Go drive ($160 for 250 gigabytes and $190 for 320 gigabytes; a 500-gigabyte version is in the works) is preformatted for Mac OS X and works with Time Machine, Apple’s backup software.
The Windows version ($120 for 250 gigabytes, $150 for 320 gigabytes and $240 for 500 gigabytes) is compatible with Windows Vista and XP. It also has software for automated backups, encryption and password protection. So even if you lose your data, it will be hard for anyone else to find it.

 

[sneeks]

The supplied software is for XP only but you can format the drive and use it purely for storage on the Mac according to one review I read.

The Free Agent Go software and drive is formatted to work out of the box with Windows operating systems--including Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000--but the drive can easily be made Mac-ready in a few minutes with Mac OS X's Disk Utility.

 

[Nafoff]

well thats what i thought sneeks so i went on the seagate website..... couldn't see anything

and my disk utility wouldn't run / recognise it

 

[sneeks]

Some other info from people in the same situation as you.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8834607

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=626856

 

[Renshaw]

try using disk utility in the utilities folder to erase and re-format the hard drive. thats what i had to do when i got my freecom mobile hd

 

[DMS]

If it's pre-formatted as NTFS, MAC OS can't read it.
You need to open up disk utility and format the drive as HFS+ (Journalled) if this is the case.

 

[Nafoff]

i seem to have loads of options when i open Disk utitlity, its giving me options everywhere to change thinks, 1 think a bit worryingly though is that i noticed it already said Mac OS X (journaled)

 

[sn00p]

If it's pre-formatted as NTFS, MAC OS can't read it.
You need to open up disk utility and format the drive as HFS+ (Journalled) if this is the case.

OS X can read NTFS, it cannot write to NTFS drives without installing a third party filing system like MacFUSE.

 

[Nafoff]

think i have got it, now to duplicate my whole mac's hardrive onto it so i can work from there now.....

 

[Nafoff]

nope its giving me s**t, taking way to long to load when i plug it it, i can't get a usb for it, i have looked at sending it back to play.com but they said i can't do that

i am well happy now that i have got a £90 drive that don't really work...ffs

 

[18tooo]

i can't get a usb for it

what do you mean by this?

you also say its taking too long to load, by the sound of your other post above, are you trying to run OS X off of it as like your main OS drive?

you should be able to remove the actual hard drive from the FreeAgent casing and (if youre using a macbook) install it straight into the macbook or otherwise look at an external firewire enclosure and stick the drive in that. both will be faster than USB and wouldnt mean £90 wasted

 

[PinkoCommie]

nope its giving me s**t, taking way to long to load when i plug it it, i can't get a usb for it, i have looked at sending it back to play.com but they said i can't do that

i am well happy now that i have got a £90 drive that don't really work...ffs

How are you plugging it in? The windows version does not support firewire, so it has to be connected with USB

 

[Nafoff]

what do you mean by this?

you also say its taking too long to load, by the sound of your other post above, are you trying to run OS X off of it as like your main OS drive?

you should be able to remove the actual hard drive from the FreeAgent casing and (if youre using a macbook) install it straight into the macbook or otherwise look at an external firewire enclosure and stick the drive in that. both will be faster than USB and wouldnt mean £90 wasted

pmsl....i was meant to say i can't get firewire for it.....

i spoke to some guys at work and after iu changed the format of it he took it and partitioned it in a certain way.....it works again

yey

 

[18tooo]

ahh that makes more sense! glad to hear you got it working mate