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xiaoxu5101

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2003
38
0
San Francisco
I have got a 60GB external HD this week. However, when I connect the HD to my computer( PowerMac G4, AGP Graphic, 400MHz with OS 9.2 and OS X.2), there is not disk image on my desktop. But the Apple System Profiler read the this USB device as USB 2.0 storge device. So what should I do? This is a 2.5" external HD. Is it only can use for notebook?
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
Dumb question, but is it properly formatted? Can Disk Utility see it to format it?

Also - showing my ignorance - does your PowerMac G4 support USB 2.0?
 

xiaoxu5101

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2003
38
0
San Francisco
jsw said:
Dumb question, but is it properly formatted? Can Disk Utility see it to format it?

Also - showing my ignorance - does your PowerMac G4 support USB 2.0?


It seems my computer do no support USB 2.0? Is there any way I can do except upgrade my USB to 2.0?
 

ephramz

macrumors member
Jan 14, 2004
55
0
A USB 2.0 drive should still be seen and mount on a PowerBook with only USB 1.0, it'll just be REALLLLLLLY slow. You can add a PCMCIA card (if your powerbook has a slot for that) to get USB 2.0, or you could get a Firewire drive instead, which is probably a better idea since it's built in.

What brand is the drive and what powerbook do you have exactly? I've had problems with an Iomega 80 GB Usb 2.0 external drive not mounting, but only after 8 months of using it. It came formatted as an MS-DOS drive and the Mac saw it fine. It was better to format it to Mac OS Extended drive in Disk Utility to be able to mount it across the network however.

Eventually the drive controller or something went bad on this drive and now it won't mount on anything, USB 2.0 or not.
 

xiaoxu5101

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2003
38
0
San Francisco
My computer is not a powerbook, it is a powermac. I guess the only why to use my hard drive is to upgrade my USB pci card. Can anyone suggest any USB 2.0 PCI Card is good for powerbook AGP G4?
 

xiaoxu5101

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2003
38
0
San Francisco
jsw said:
Dumb question, but is it properly formatted? Can Disk Utility see it to format it?

Also - showing my ignorance - does your PowerMac G4 support USB 2.0?


Another question, how to format a external hard drive?
 

xiaoxu5101

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2003
38
0
San Francisco
Do someone know that how long does the disk utility take to format a external hard drive?

In the Disk Utility, it says "Unmounting old volume", is this mean the hard drive is being formatting?

Help, please help! Thank you.
 

LeeTom

macrumors 68000
May 31, 2004
1,581
291
Okay, back it up for a second.

1) USB2 is backwards compatible, so your drive will work, but it will be slow

2) The reason its not mounting is you haven't formatted it yet. That message you got is not a message saying that it's formatting. Select the disk in disk utility and choose the Erase button.

3) To get the full speed out of it, you will want to buy a mac-compatible USB2 PCI card. (or return it and buy a firewire drive.)

EDIT: Formatting with USB1 may take a VERY long time.

Lee Tom
 

xiaoxu5101

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2003
38
0
San Francisco
2) The reason its not mounting is you haven't formatted it yet. That message you got is not a message saying that it's formatting. Select the disk in disk utility and choose the Erase button. [/QUOTE said:
That is the message I got after I press the "Erase" button.
 
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