External Hard Drive

ar4wyar4wy
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I just bought a ComStar External hard drive with 300GB capacity.



My iMac (intel duo) detects the HD, but for some reason, when i transfer anything over 100kb and the 'copy manager' comes up with the bar and all and the X at the end, it doesn't start to copy!



The disk doens't come with any mac software and the readme just says it'll work with mac.



The file system on the HD is FAT32, is that a problem? And if so, how do i change it to something compatable with mac?



So far everything on the HD works, except for transfering those < 100kb files! I can make folders in it and everything.



Thanks for the help in advance!



P.S. I think the problem is that stupid copy manager.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    I'm not quite sure what you mean by "copy manager". Have you tried reformatting the drive?
  • Reply 2 of 8
    ar4wyar4wy Posts: 33member
    Just searched around on the net, and i'm currently reformatting the drive using Disk Utility.



    On the other hand, this is my second attempt, my first attempt, my disk utility became..."not responding".



    UPDATE

    Hmm, the disk utility doesn't seem to work. I'm reformatting it to Mac OS Extended Journal and all, but it gets 'stuck' and the disk utility freezes.



    Help.



    EDIT

    Looking at the log, the Disk Utility starts to become "Not Responding" when it starts to create a "Partition Map."
  • Reply 3 of 8
    mr.klawzmr.klawz Posts: 30member
    Bad OS install.



    Or a defective hard drive.



    My bet is defective HDD. But it is a guess.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    ar4wyar4wy Posts: 33member
    Hmm, dammit. Oh well, going to return the ComStar for a LaCie 250GB External HD, which i've heard comes already formatted for the Mac.



    Live and learn. Don't buy Comstar.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Rule of thumb for external hard drives: you get what you pay for. I've found the cheap enclosures (below $50) to frequently exhibit absurd behaviour, randomly acting as if the hard drive within isn't formatted properly or at all, or failing to read or write files properly.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    mr.klawzmr.klawz Posts: 30member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Chucker

    Rule of thumb for external hard drives: you get what you pay for. I've found the cheap enclosures (below $50) to frequently exhibit absurd behaviour, randomly acting as if the hard drive within isn't formatted properly or at all, or failing to read or write files properly.



    I just bought a WD320GB and a seperate External case for cheaper then buying a prebuilt external.



    And it worked great! just formatted it with OSX as Mac Journaled.







    Ya Lacies are supposed to be great. My buddy bought one he loves it.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mr.Klawz

    I just bought a WD320GB and a seperate External case for cheaper then buying a prebuilt external.



    And it worked great! just formatted it with OSX as Mac Journaled.



    It looks like it went well for you. It looks more attractive to add a drive, but a lot of the cheaper enclosures are too often pretty bad and pretty frustrating in some circumstances. I've got a couple that won't work together in the same chain. One sometimes doesn't show up as a mounted drive, I'll be returning that enclosure soon.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    bulky craniumbulky cranium Posts: 141member
    I bought one of those (Comstar 300 gig USB external). It was incredibly cheap.



    I have had it for about 3 months now & have not had any problems. It has been left on almost constantly.



    Because of the cheap price, I only use it for an inhouse back up of our home computer. I keep an off site backup of the important stuff as well.



    I think you are wise going to the LaCie. Because of the cheap price on this thing I don't fell comfortable storing any important data on it.



    As I have said no problems with mine, but I don't fully trust it.
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