Bizarre HD Problems

[rick3000]

Hi,
I have two external HD one is a 750GB Seagate FreeAgent Pro, and the other is a 1TB Seagate Xtreme. Both of these drives are giving me very strange problems.
The Xtreme boots perfectly when connected to my iBook, but whenever I connect it to my eMac is isn't recognized until I unplug it and plug it back in a few times. I think this may be more the eMac than the drive, but I am not sure.

The Pro is giving me more unusual problems. My old one recently failed and under warranty they sent me this replacement. Whenever I run CCC the icon resets to the Freeagent icon, which is odd because I completely erased the drive, and it shouldn't be stored anywhere. Second sometimes when I open a folder it will open and show space being used but nothing is there. So I disconnect the drive and connect again and everything is there. Weird.

Could this be the eMac struggling with 2 drives? Is their something wrong? Could reformatting solve these problems?
Thank You!

 

[alphaod]

What are the drives formatted as. I believe the eMac can only use Apple Partition table? The drives these days may be defaulted to GUID.

 

[rick3000]

They are Apple Partitioned Table w/ Extended Journaling.

 

[nanofrog]

By chance, have you run the Seagate Diagnostics for Mac (applicable to FW800 Free Agent products), to rule out the drives themselves for certain?
(I don't think there's anything wrong with the drives, but it can't hurt to check, IMO).

Have you tried disabling Journaling?

 

[rick3000]

I did try the Seagate program but since I initial partitioned the drives and changed the partition scheme they don't show up in that program. I do not know how to disable journaling, would that help?

I sort of think it is more the eMac dealing with 1.75TB than it is the drives.

 

[nanofrog]

I did try the Seagate program but since I initial partitioned the drives and changed the partition scheme they don't show up in that program. I do not know how to disable journaling, would that help?

I sort of think it is more the eMac dealing with 1.75TB than it is the drives.

Seagate's had a few issues, particularly with the 1.5TB drives, and requires a firmware fix (another thread). But they're similar, as they're based on the same design. Just scaled differently.

You should be able to find the setting in Disk Utility.

No, I don't think it's the drives, but it's a good idea to check, just to rule it out completely.

 

[rick3000]

I just turned Journaling on and off, and it didn't appear to change anything. The drive is no longer not showing files on the drive, but like I said that happened randomly. I guess everything is okay.
The only other odd think is that in Disk Utility the icon for the drive (not the partitions) is the Freeagent icon, not the regular icon, but that isn't a problem.

But the Xtreme is still giving me problems mounting. I almost think it is the eMac not giving it enough power to make it think it should boot.

 

[nanofrog]

I just turned Journaling on and off, and it didn't appear to change anything. The drive is no longer not showing files on the drive, but like I said that happened randomly. I guess everything is okay.
The only other odd think is that in Disk Utility the icon for the drive (not the partitions) is the Freeagent icon, not the regular icon, but that isn't a problem.

But the Xtreme is still giving me problems mounting. I almost think it is the eMac not giving it enough power to make it think it should boot.

Given the Free Agent icon, it may have installed wrong.

Do you have a OS backup just prior to the installation of the Free Agent drive?
(I'm thinking if you have a fast way to re-install the OS, and try again).

 

[rick3000]

I am not sure I follow you, do you mean I should repartition the drive? It's an external HD.

 

[nanofrog]

I am not sure I follow you, do you mean I should repartition the drive? It's an external HD.

Was there an installation program (drivers) for it?
Maybe a dumb question, but I've not used one.

 

[rick3000]

It can with backup programs, but did not have any drives. It works fine, things are just a little quirky. I think I am going to try repartitioning it to see if that helps. Thanks for the help!