Macbook Pro, 128gb Capacity Limit on a 250gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 in a Lacie D2

[jasoncook]

Sorry about the long subject line and I hope this is the right place for the thread. So here's my problem:

1. I have a 250gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 Ultra-ATA in a Lacie D2 enclosure.
2. When I go to format it, it's capped at 128gb.
3. I'm connecting through Firewire on a Macbook Pro running 10.5.5.

I thought a firmware update might be the issue at first, but I couldn't find any such thing on Seagate's site (which said that my drive under Mac OS X shouldn't have this problem).

I've Googled around and seen a lot of brief mentions of adding/replacing kext files in System/Library/Extensions, but nothing seems to necessarily fit my case. I tried installing AppleVIAATA.kext based on one thread, but another thread suggested that wasn't right for an Intel Mac.

I'm open to the possibility that there's some incompatibility between the drive and the case, but I feel like that's a stretch (since it works at all) and I'm hoping that's the least likely scenario.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[blodwyn]

Some older enclosures have a 128GB limit because of the chipset they use, which is likely to be the problem you're having. Alternatively you may have a capacity limiting jumper in place on the drive. Here's an image from the Seagate website - try removing the jumper if it's installed.

 

[jasoncook]

Tried removing the jumper (I had it set to Master, btw).

No change. =/

 

[blodwyn]

Tried removing the jumper (I had it set to Master, btw).

No change. =/

I just edited my post, probably the age of the enclosure - older units had a chipset that couldn't address >128GB. I think a new enclosure would fix your problem

 

[jasoncook]

I just edited my post, probably the age of the enclosure - older units had a chipset that couldn't address >128GB. I think a new enclosure would fix your problem

Oh well, I was afraid of that. Thanks for the confirmation.

 

[fhturner]

Hmmm...I've got a twist on this issue. Same problem, except my LaCie d2 case in question came w/ a 200GB Maxtor drive in it. That drive has bitten the dust, so I'm trying to use a 160GB Seagate 7200.7. Even w/ no formatting/volumes in place, Disk Utility sees it as "128.0 LaCie Group SA". I wouldn't normally be surprised except for the fact that the drive came as a 200GB! I'll keep lookin....

Fred