The hard drive is a 1TB Western Digital my book I bought it in January I think. I tried to format it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) when I got it but for some reason every time I try to erase the part thats named disk3s2 or partition the main one it stops a little before half way through. I don't think its the hard drives fault so I called apple about it one day and they helped a little but it didn't work. Thanks in advance if you can help me. Also a few times I waited about seven hours for it while I was at school and when I came home it didn't move.
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Disk Utility won't format or partition external hard drive.
- Thread starter natatos
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What if you select the the HDD itself and try it via the partition tab?
Can you post a screenshot of what you actually selected and what it looks like, when it not finishes?
Use either CMD+SHIFT+3/4 (+SPACEBAR) or Applications / Utilities / Grab to do them.
Can you post a screenshot of what you actually selected and what it looks like, when it not finishes?
Use either CMD+SHIFT+3/4 (+SPACEBAR) or Applications / Utilities / Grab to do them.
Have you tried to boot from your OS disk (CD / DVD) and after selecting your language, go to the top, clidk 'Tools', 'Disk Utility' and try from outside your installed OS.
Also, have you repaired Disk Permissions on your OS?
What version of OS X are you running?
What's the current format of the drive?
Also, have you repaired Disk Permissions on your OS?
What version of OS X are you running?
What's the current format of the drive?
I'm having the exact same problem, and would be incredibly appreciative of any help that can be offered. I have an external that will not partition, will not erase, etc. Nothing happens... after I click go, it just sits there and tries to 'unmount the disk'...
Then, after it does that for a few minutes, I get this error message, regardless of whether I'm trying to partition or erase:
Then, after it does that for a few minutes, I get this error message, regardless of whether I'm trying to partition or erase:
Take a look as this web page, Formatting & Partitioning a Hard Drive in OS X - Tiger and Leopard in particular the section titled Cryptic Error Message. HTH
No dice, guys.
See if there's anything helpful here, TidBITS.com: Solving the Mystery of Disk Utility's Failure to Erase USB Drives, there's also a number of suggestions in the comments that might work.
That did the trick, man! All I had to do was hook it up as Firewire Drive instead of USB. Lame, I can't believe it was that simple. Seems like kind of a quirky problem considering it worked fine as a USB drive earlier!
Anyway, thanks!