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My External HD won't work

H

havenhamilton

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 1, 2005
311
0
When I plug it in it says "mac os x can't repair the disk". It will let me copy files off but I can't add. When I ran disk utility it said one of my files was the wrong size but when I went to delete it, it wouldnt let me. Is there anyway to repair this problem without having to reformat? Thanks

Also for some files it says "EB" instead of "GB"
 
EB is for ExaByte.
Have you checked Finder > select external HDD >> GET INFO >>> Format and Sharing & Permissions yet?
MR_SS_2011_04_GET-INFO_format_permissions.png

GGJstudios said:
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
  • Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
  • To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X: Install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free)
  • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx 33USD).
  • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended)
  • Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
  • Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner backups of Mac internal hard drive.
  • To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive
  • To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
  • Maximum file size: 8EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 8EiB
exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • exFAT partitions created with OS X 10.6.5 are inaccessible from Windows 7
  • Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
  • exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
  • Maximum file size: 16 EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
Click to expand...
 
It's Mac OS Extended.

I opened the lock and it still won't let me delete that file. It still says "you can only read"

Also some files have strange characters in them.

Seriously, thanks so much for the help right now!
 
Dave Braine said:
How big is your external drive? 1 EB = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 B = 10 to the power 18 bytes = 1 billion gigabytes = 1 million terabytes :eek: :eek: :eek:
Click to expand...

It's 2TB. If that's the case with EB then I have the Mary Poppin's bag of harddrives.

Does anyone have any ideas?
 
Something odd is going on with your drive. Odds are the HFS+ directory structure is hosed up in a way Mac OS X has trouble dealing with. Fortunately, this is fixable without a reformat. Whenever I've had this problem, or similar Mac disk problems, I've turned to Alsoft's DiskWarrior to fix things. Works like a charm - the only downside is that the software costs $99.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
Something odd is going on with your drive. Odds are the HFS+ directory structure is hosed up in a way Mac OS X has trouble dealing with. Fortunately, this is fixable without a reformat. Whenever I've had this problem, or similar Mac disk problems, I've turned to Alsoft's DiskWarrior to fix things. Works like a charm - the only downside is that the software costs $99.
Click to expand...

thanks, i'll give it a try!
 
Rebuilding the directory structure with DiskWarrior only fixes problems with the directory structure. It will NOT harm your files.
 
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