hello, i have a internal HD (WD CAVIAR) from an old windows computer that i decided i wanted to try to make as a EXT HD. so i got a USB to SATA connector that came with the power supply cable to the wall. so i plug in the connector in the HD then the usb into the computer then the power supply into the HD then the wall. then connector lights up and in system profiler it recognizes the usb to ATA bridge but disk utility doesnt recognize it. only once the HD showed up in disk utility but when i went to erase, a problem came up. any help would be greatly appreciated
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Is that disk an SATA type, and what size, I assume 3.5" as that is normal for internal desktop computers. More info is needed on that aspect.
Of course, because the HD was used in Windows the format of the HD is all wrong for use with a Mac, so you use disk utility to "Partition" the disk, not erase it. Try selecting the volume on the left side of the Disk Utility window. When a properly formated disk is recognized by DU it shows up as two lines with the connection above and the volume below. Select the top line if you see two lines and then the Partition tab on the right side of the window.
Select the number of partitions you want (replace "Current" with 1 or so on, and then click the Option button to select the type of partition (GUID is the default for use with an Intel based machine).
Let us know if that works. The SATA device you were using may not have a controller that is Mac compatible. What type is it and who makes it?
BTW, OWC has some good external Firewire/USB cases for external HDs, both SATA and IDE.
