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MB will not format new HDD is it dead? Help!

A

assia

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2006
11
0
Chicago
Hello.

I'm attempting to format my new 160gb WD hdd which I bought to install into my MB to increase space. I put the hdd into the external and connected it to the mb. I opened disk utility and clicked on erase to mac OS extended journaled. It started to format for about 5 seconds and then just stopped. I repeated this step several times. I even checked for software updates and updated just in case that was the problem but it still didn't work.

Was there anything else I was supposed to do? The hdd is fully inserted into the external and all of the lights are on. Could my hdd be dead? And if so how can I tell?

Can someone help me and tell me if I did something wrong?
 
Do you mean instead of clicking "erase" did I try clicking "partition" and try that? I tried both and it will still not format.

If you mean something else then I'm thoroughly lost.
 
Go into Disk Utility / Partition / Options Make sure GUID is ticked.

Then go to Erase and choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - click on Erase.



Also the fact that you say it takes 5 seconds ? Are you sure you havent formatted, becuase it generally doesnt take much longer than that to erase a new disk anyway.


If those don't work, have you tried repairing the disk using the startup disk and try erasing it through there ?
 
OK. So I put everything back together and went into disk utility/ partition/ options. GUID was not ticked so I did so. I then went back to erase/ mac os extended journaled and clicked on erase again.

Now the three lights on the external are on and it is vibrating(?) Is that normal? That seems to be working at least. I think.

The computer says:

media type: generic
connection bus: usb
connection type: external
partition type: apple partition scheme
writable:yes
ejectable: yes
mac os 9 drivers installed: no
S.M.A.R.T. status: not supported

It also says
write status: read/write


Is this normal? Did it work or no? How can I be sure?
 
The very first time I hooked it up via usb it mounted. It's a little icon that looks like an external with the usb symbol on the top and says "untitled" below it. Should I just start the cloning and see if it works?
 
Now what?

I went ahead and started the clone and it seemed to work after 1:30min. So I shut down the computer and then restarted and booted from the external. But after taking 10 min to get to my desktop background (just background no icons or dashboard) the computer screen went black! The front sleep light isn't even on!

What happened?
 
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