formatting 200GB drives with an external 1394 enclosure

alcimedesalcimedes
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I've had a ton of trouble with some new 200 GB WD 8MB cache drives i just bought. i was going to use them externally on a backup machine on our network.



however, i've been completely unable to format these drives.



i read through the drive compatibility list and saw that people were able to format them on the MDD Macs running OS 10.2, so gave that a shot, no dice. it sees the drives, says it will format it to 186.311MB, but never actually does. i let it run all night with no luck.



i bought five of these drives as well, so i'd really like to be able to format them.



the drives are being placed in external 1394 cases, all of which are using the Oxford 911 chip.



anyone have an idea of what the problem is? i've tried formatting with 9, X, and using the formatting tools that shipped with the 1394 enclosure, all with no luck.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    That really sucks.



    Have you tried formatting them from inside the MDD?
  • Reply 2 of 11
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    haven't tried from inside the MDD yet, but that's probably not going to work long-term. these have to be connected to another machine via firewire.



    i just download Hard Disk Speed Tools 3.5 though, which was supposed to add large drive support (i had 3.4 before)
  • Reply 3 of 11
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Right. I was thinking you might do a quick format from inside the machine, then try sticking it in the FW enclosure to see if it shows up then.



    What brand of FW enclosure is it?
  • Reply 4 of 11
    baumanbauman Posts: 1,248member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by 709

    Right. I was thinking you might do a quick format from inside the machine, then try sticking it in the FW enclosure to see if it shows up then.



    What brand of FW enclosure is it?



    That's how I did mine, since I got a crap FW enclosure at the beginning, I thought that was the problem. Once I got a working enclosure though, I could format it externally.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    kennethkenneth Posts: 832member
    I guess your FireWire 400 (I assumed) enclosure doesn't support ATA-6 or hard drive is larger than 128GB. Try partitioning the drive and see.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kenneth

    I guess your FireWire 400 (I assumed) enclosure doesn't support ATA-6 or hard drive is larger than 128GB. Try partitioning the drive and see.



    That's probably it. I know the first three generations of ADS Pyros don't work with larger than 137 GB HDDs. My WiebeTech supports the large HDDs. If any of you consider the WiebeTechs, make sure you ask them if the ports support chaining even when the enclosure is switched off. Mine doesn't so every time I want to use something on its chain I have to power it up. It sucks.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    i know the pyro kits support chaining even when the one drive is off. (others keep working further down the line).



    i also talked to a guy who said that any of the kits using an Oxford 911 chip will be able to read large drives. the real problem is that the G3 can't address a drive that large, although panther can no problem. i think i'm just SOL until the new G5 arrives, which i guess i can live with, but i think i'll have to buy some 120GB drives in the meantime to store all my crap.



    annoying as hell.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by alcimedes

    i know the pyro kits support chaining even when the one drive is off. (others keep working further down the line).



    I know, that's why I mentioned it...It seems like something no enclosure should be without.



    Quote:

    i also talked to a guy who said that any of the kits using an Oxford 911 chip will be able to read large drives. the real problem is that the G3 can't address a drive that large, although panther can no problem. i think i'm just SOL until the new G5 arrives, which i guess i can live with, but i think i'll have to buy some 120GB drives in the meantime to store all my crap.



    annoying as hell.



    That guy is wrong. The Oxford 911 bridge itself doesn't do any of the addressing. It's the complementing components that need ATA-6 support instead of the usual ATA-5 support found in most enclosures.



    It has nothing to do with the G3 or OS either. The WiebeTech + 180 GB HDD works just fine on my G3s. My old ADS Pyros do not support >137 GB HDDs.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    well crap, if that's the case i'll just have to return this entire order to dell and get new enclosures. that sucks, but at least then i'll be able to get on my way.



    which enclosure did you buy again?



    edit: i just realized i have one enclosure of theirs that is both firewire and USB 2.0



    it's supposed to support ATA-6. i'll try it out tomorrow and let you all know how it worked.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Also try the ADS Dual Link.



    http://www.adstech.com/products/DLX1...asp?pid=DLX185
  • Reply 11 of 11
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    yeah, i've got a dual link here at the office, and it worked like a charm. i'm writing to it rightnow. i'll have to look into returning these other drives and getting all dual links.



    thanks for the tips!
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