[X4U] External Disk Fails to Mount on Leopard

[Wayne Clodfelter]

John F. Richardson wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> My Buffalo external USB 2 hard drive fails to mount on my new iMac.
> 
> Desired solution: plug the little puppy in and see a cute little icon on the
> desktop.... Smile.
> 
> Hard Drive: Buffalo 320 GB USB drive
> OS: Leopard (probably OX X 10.5.3 or 4 [just opened the box]
> 
> Symptoms: 1)No disk icon appears on the screen
> 2) Disk utility fails to "see" the drive.
> 
> Note 1: The drive mounts on a PPC iMac and was originally formatted and used
> on a PPC iMac under Tiger (Hmmm, maybe Panther). So, I can access the disk
> on my old system. I can backup data using TOAST 8. I can read the CD ROM 's
> on Leopard. It just takes a week to transfer 300GB of data. This is not the
> desired solution.
> 
> The following snippet from a post on a similar problem seems to indicate
> that the following solutions are possible. So, does the earlier post seem to
> apply. It seems so. Any comments on the best strategy below or an
> alternative.
> This may also explain the July 5 thread on the 160GB smartdisk not mounting.
> 
> 1) Load backup CD's onto the new system. This has the disadvantage of
> filling up the new iMac's disk drive and wasting a week.
> 
> 2) Buy a new 500 GB hard drive, mount it on Leopard from the start, format
> it on Leopard and then load the backup's onto the external hard drive. This
> is similar to option 1. However, I have to pay for a drive ($150 - 300) and
> I still have to spend a week loading data.
> 
> 3) Do a low level format on the existing hard drive using some third party
> tool (since Disk utility will not format the drive). Perhaps a Tiger Mactel
> mini can format it using disk utility. Attach to the Leopard system. Spend a
> week loading data back on the disk.
> 
> 4) Use some LAN strategy to access the drive as a network drive. Suggestions
> and links to directions welcome. Problem is that I need both machines
> operating at the same time. Spend a week figuring out the strategy. Power
> hog and the PPC is around to test Universal Binaries and run apps no longer
> supported or sold.
> 
> If this is the case, then Apple has just told Leopard up-graders (PPC to
> Mactel) to buy a new disk or spend the equivalent in time and backup media.
> I believe from previous comments in trade journals, that GUID is a good
> thing for the future.
> 
> Solution 5: Buy a commercial disk utility for Leopard that will modify the
> existing hard drive without loosing data so that Leopard will mount the
> drive. Recommendations accepted, hopefully for apps on sale at the apple
> store.
> 
> ================ Snippet from July 3 post =========================
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: macosx-support at yahoogroups.com [mailto:macosx-support at yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Denver Dan
> Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 6:16 PM
> To: macosx-support at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [macosx] Drive Erase/Format Failure
> 
> Howdy.
> 
> Try the following steps.  For reasons known only to the gnomes in 
> Cupertino, Apple has made using some features in Disk Utility into a 
> mysterious maze of difficulty. 
> 
> 1.  Connect new external HD. 
> 
> 2.  Launch Disk Utility. 
> 
> 3.  Click the new external hard drive icon to select it. 
> 
> 4.  Do a Control click on this drive icon (or Right click).
> 
> 5.  From the menu that pops up, pick the Partition command. 
> 
> 6.  IMPORTANT!  in the resulting Partition dialog box, in the popup 
> menu below the words Volume Scheme (where it probably says "Current"), 
> click and pick "1 partition." 
> 
> 7.  Next click the Options button and from the resulting dialog pick 
> the radio button next to GUID Partition Table.  Then click OK. 
> 
> 8.  Then click Apple and proceed to erase the drive by clicking the 
> Partition button.  It should do the job in just a few seconds. 
> 
> When it's done, click the newly erase and partition drive in Disk 
> Utility and the info down below should say Partition Map Scheme:  GUID 
> Partition Table.  
> 
> The format of the drive is still HFS+ Extended but the partition needs 
> to be GUID and this is a change from PowerPC Macs to Intel and to a new 
> requirement of the Leopard system on Intel Macs.  
> 
> Denver Dan

Hmm. Worked on PPC machines but not on new intel machine. Hmm?
Go into Disk Utility and check under erase/initialize. You have to 
choose proper formatting for use with PPC or Intel machine.
If the drive contains info, you will need to back it up to a drive that 
is already readable on your new computer, reformat the drive, and 
restore the data to the reformatted drive.


HTH.


-- 
Regards,

Wayne Clodfelter
<wayneclodfelter at mindspring.com>