AppleInsider › Forums › General › Genius Bar › External USB Storage Problem
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

External USB Storage Problem

post #1 of 16
1/1/07 at 7:09am
Thread Starter 
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz with 1GB (doubling to 2GB yet today)

I have a plain old CompUSA usb external hard drive enclosure that I'm trying to use for occasional storage and iTunes backing up.

I've tried a couple of different drives, with different master/slave jumper combinations, but I keep having problems. Both drives are only a year old at the most, and were rarely used

WIth one drive, it won't copy all +9GB of iTunes. It just freezes up. It's ok for smaller files/folders though.
Then when I am finished with the copying of files, I normally shut it off, but it won't eject. Or, when I go to use it again, it won't recognize it. Disk Utility says that it can be ejected, or isn't usable.

I just copy my data to it, then shut it off (ejecting it first). Should I be leaving it on all the time, or should I be looking at an alternative external drive solution, it, MyBook or something like that?
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
post #2 of 16
1/2/07 at 7:35pm
ntel Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz with 1GB (doubling to 2GB yet today)

I have a plain old CompUSA usb external hard drive enclosure that I'm trying to use for occasional storage and iTunes backing up.

I've tried a couple of different drives, with different master/slave jumper combinations, but I keep having problems. Both drives are only a year old at the most, and were rarely used

WIth one drive, it won't copy all +9GB of iTunes. It just freezes up. It's ok for smaller files/folders though.
Then when I am finished with the copying of files, I normally shut it off, but it won't eject. Or, when I go to use it again, it won't recognize it. Disk Utility says that it can be ejected, or isn't usable.

I just copy my data to it, then shut it off (ejecting it first). Should I be leaving it on all the time, or should I be looking at an alternative external drive solution, it, MyBook or something like that?[I]

did you format the hdd? what do you mean by Plain old? is it old? No you dont have to leave it on. When you mean eject, you mean righ click eject? When you immediately plug in the USB, do you see the icon on the desktop?
LIFE IS SHORTER THAN YOU THINK
Reply
LIFE IS SHORTER THAN YOU THINK
Reply
post #3 of 16
1/2/07 at 7:55pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by fatcatdj View Post

ntel Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz with 1GB (doubling to 2GB yet today)

I have a plain old CompUSA usb external hard drive enclosure that I'm trying to use for occasional storage and iTunes backing up.

I've tried a couple of different drives, with different master/slave jumper combinations, but I keep having problems. Both drives are only a year old at the most, and were rarely used

WIth one drive, it won't copy all +9GB of iTunes. It just freezes up. It's ok for smaller files/folders though.
Then when I am finished with the copying of files, I normally shut it off, but it won't eject. Or, when I go to use it again, it won't recognize it. Disk Utility says that it can be ejected, or isn't usable.

I just copy my data to it, then shut it off (ejecting it first). Should I be leaving it on all the time, or should I be looking at an alternative external drive solution, it, MyBook or something like that?[I]

did you format the hdd? what do you mean by Plain old? is it old? No you dont have to leave it on. When you mean eject, you mean righ click eject? When you immediately plug in the USB, do you see the icon on the desktop?

Yes, the drive was formatted.
Plain old = nothing fancy, yet not very old.
Eject = drag the icon to the trash can.
Plug in = I don't immediately see the icon. Usually, it doesn't show up in disk utility or on the desktop.

I just ordered a LaCie 300GB Brick (like a big Lego). I should have it tomorrow. I hope that one works better. Maybe the CompUSA encloser is just not very good, however, dare I say it, it worked fine on my pc.

I'll also try reformatting the drive again to see if that's any better.
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
post #4 of 16
1/2/07 at 8:10pm
yes you re-format the hdd again. you did use it for a PC? then definately re format. you know how to do that, right? if not let me know I can help you
LIFE IS SHORTER THAN YOU THINK
Reply
LIFE IS SHORTER THAN YOU THINK
Reply
post #5 of 16
1/3/07 at 2:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by iMick View Post

just ordered a LaCie 300GB Brick (like a big Lego). I should have it tomorrow. I hope that one works better...

The new Lacie 300gb should work great. Enjoy. Any issues, check with Lacie support. Reformat drive in Disk Utility before starting, just to be sure.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 16
1/3/07 at 4:31am
Thread Starter 
The word is actualy, "erase", right? That's what I tried doing again last night but it didn't work. As soon as I turned the drive on, the icon appeared and I was able to access files, but when I tried to erase it, it just sat there doing nothing for a long time (15 mins). Then I shut it off.
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
post #7 of 16
1/3/07 at 2:38pm
you may have a corrupted file or nad hdd. if you have a friend with a mac, you can format the hdd on their computer.
if it does the color wheel thingy, then for sure you have a corrupted hdd. hdds dont last forever and noone knows when they will fail.

to double check if its a hdd failure, try formating it on a pc. if it formats without a hitch then its a corrupt file somewhere on your itune library.
always do checks to make sure hardware runs properly, because alot of the time the culprit is a corrupt file.
LIFE IS SHORTER THAN YOU THINK
Reply
LIFE IS SHORTER THAN YOU THINK
Reply
post #8 of 16
1/3/07 at 7:51pm
Question: what is the partition type right now?
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 16
1/4/07 at 4:42pm
Thread Starter 
I'm certain that there must be a corrupt file, somewhere. I bought the new LaCie Brick, copied some directories to it including my iTunes directory. Then when I tried to delete something from it, I got the pinwheel thingy and eventually had to reboot.
So far, that's two different ide hard drives in a simple CompUSA enclosure, and a brand new LaCie Brick.
How would I go about trying to determine what is corrupt?
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
post #10 of 16
1/4/07 at 4:51pm
Hook them up to another computer and check the drives.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 16
1/4/07 at 4:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by smax View Post

Question: what is the partition type right now?

I'm not sure, but I think it's Master Boot Record, right?
Here's a snapshot of the Disk Utility window:
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
post #12 of 16
1/4/07 at 4:55pm
404'd!

But I don't think it really matters that much. As long at it's not NTFS you'll be able to read and write (for the most part) and I'm sure it isn't since you can write to the thing. It sounds to me like either a hardware issue somewhere along the way (bad USB controller?) or a bad system file somewhere.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 16
1/4/07 at 5:00pm
Thread Starter 
Sorry - fixed.
Also - I partitioned it to Mac OS Extended (journaled) - I don't know what that means though, but I just did it.
How do I format it? Is that the same as erase?
Forgive my Mac Rookie-ness........
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
post #14 of 16
1/4/07 at 5:07pm
Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is probably what you want and what is best for you, unless you plan on hooking this drive up to a PC to transfer files or something. I don't think the partition type would have anything to do with the problems you're having though.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 16
1/4/07 at 5:09pm
Thread Starter 
Dang. I also just checked the ide Maxtor drive that I have in the other encloser, but it is set to the Max OS Extended (Journaled).
I'll have to play around a little. I hope the problem is in my MISC folder and not my iTunes folder. I can easily toss away my MISC folder, but finding the problem in iTunes would be difficult.
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
Bring back The Screen Savers!
Reply
post #16 of 16
1/4/07 at 5:13pm
I don't think this has anything to do with files that are actually on the drive. You should be able to format a partition or delete files even if they're corrupted.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Genius Bar
AppleInsider › Forums › General › Genius Bar › External USB Storage Problem