Disk Utility quits when formatting as Encrypted Drive

Hi,

I'm trying to format my external hard drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted), but every time the progress bar displays "Waiting for logical volume to appear", I get a pop-up window stating "Disk Utility quit unexpectedly". I've formatted many hard drives this way, and am not sure why I'm getting this message on this particular hard drive. I formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) without a problem. The drive is in an enclosure, connected via FireWire. I rarely experience Disk Utility quitting like this. Could the hard drive be corrupted? I'm on an MacBook Pro, so it's not possible for me to do a S.M.A.R.T. test on the drive.

Thanks,

HL

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Update: On the "First Aid" tab, I hit "Verify Disk" and got this message:

Verifying partition map for “OEM”
Checking prerequisites
Checking the partition list
Checking for an EFI system partition
Checking the EFI system partition’s size
Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
Checking Core Storage Physical Volume partitions
Checking storage system
Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting
Error: Storage system verify or repair failed.


I then hit "Repair Disk" and got the same message. Any way to fix this drive? Or is it dead???

HL

 

Update 2: I just tried formatting a 2nd hard drive the same way, Disk Utility quit, then I verified disk and same "Error: Storage system verify or repair failed." Could my enclosure or Mac Mini be a drive killer???