OS X and ext. firewire HD

thunderpoitthunderpoit
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
i bought a 60 GB external drive today, its from ACOM Data, and it uses both firewire and usb1/2. I ran the installer that came with the hd, but os x fails to see the hd as a useable volume, with either usb or fw. has anyone had any experience w/ these drives? i tried the website, but its "under construction" and i could find anything on drivers for the HD. any help/info would be apreciated.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    squashsquash Posts: 332member
    I have an acom 80 gb firewire hd, and had some issues. I'm wondering if you used their software to partition or format the hd? If so...did it loads drivers into OS 9 or OS X?
  • Reply 2 of 11
    brianmacosbrianmacos Posts: 548member
    Damn that is crazy I was actually going to buy that same External Drive today 60 gig 5400 firewire 1/2USB... looked like a great deal did you pick it up for 179$ with 159$ after rebate? I currently have a Pockey 20 gig USB 1/2 HD and the current osx drivers don't work so I am waiting, that is the same reason why i didn't buy that drive today because I thought the same thing would happen. I walked around the store with it for a good hour but I wasn't able to break down enough to buy it. Are you able to get the drive to work in OS 9.2? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
  • Reply 3 of 11
    squashsquash Posts: 332member
    Don't be scared Brian...my straight firewire ext acom works great. I believe my problems were an extention conflict with the apple firewire ext. The acom ones were not needed at all.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    thunderpoitthunderpoit Posts: 709member
    yeah, same deal at best buy, but i get an employee discount, so i paid 155 and get a 20 mail in rebate after that im going to try it in os 9.2 after this. the usb part worked just great for plug and play on my moms imac tho, very odd
  • Reply 5 of 11
    brianmacosbrianmacos Posts: 548member
    It will work fine in 9.2 my Pockey 20 gig external USB works fine I think we just have to wait for newer drivers before are drives will work. Yeah I saw that same drive at Best Buy in Duluth, MN... I am kind of happy I didn't buy it now because I had a feeling that was going to happen keep me posted on if you can get it to work in OSX.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    squashsquash Posts: 332member
    If you used the utilities called hd speedtools that's mb your problem. I don't believe you want to format or partition the hd with their software. Try to initialize the drive in OS X using disk utility in the utilities folder. Do your formatting and partitioning with it.



    Also make sure in OS 9 that you don't have extra firewire extensions that the software loaded. they conflict with the apple firewire ext.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    thunderpoitthunderpoit Posts: 709member
    ok, heres what i did. i booted into os 9, installed the hdst sw, the installer then quit w/o telling me to restart. i launched the speed tools util, but i saw no fw drive, so i restarted, relaunched, it was there. i then formatted the drive for mac os, as aparently it was a ms-dos volume and for some reason, os x is very picky on reading those, dose anyone know why? os 9 never cared either way
  • Reply 8 of 11
    brianmacosbrianmacos Posts: 548member
    My External Drive is setup as Dos to how do I go about changing that I choose earse disk under the special menu but it won't let me change the format of the disk!!! what should I do?
  • Reply 9 of 11
    patchoulipatchouli Posts: 402member
    I have a pocket 40GB FireWire external HD that was not properly formatted for Mac and didn't mount on the desktop when I first plugged it in. I just opened up Disk Utility (in OS X) and formatted the drive with a proper Mac setup and then it mounted immediately on the desktop as a Mac drive. Just do the same to change it from DOS to Mac. Just make sure you backup all the data on the drive as you'll loose it all during the process.



    [ 07-06-2002: Message edited by: Patchouli ]</p>
  • Reply 10 of 11
    brianmacosbrianmacos Posts: 548member
    Well it won't come up in my Disk Utility in OSX or OS9.... but the HD will come up on my desktop and I am able to use it in OS9.... it will not allow me to pick a Mac format it just stays with the DOS format.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    squashsquash Posts: 332member
    If you have the hd drivers/software(speedtools)?...use it to reformat the hd. You should be able to format it to mac. Then after you reformat it, try to use the Mac OS X disk utility. Reformat it again with the Mac OS X disk utility.



    I haven't tried it ...but as i stated above, i had issues with my acom HD too. i just wish my memory served me better for you.



    [ 07-06-2002: Message edited by: SQUÅSH ]</p>
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