OWC mercury elite pro hard drive enclsures, & formatting

[Sossity]

I just got an enclosure in the mail, & I was reading through it's instructions on formatting & it showed when the enclosure with a drive is plugged in for the 1st time to intialzie the drive,

what if the drive that I put into the enclosure has content on it & is formatted? I am not putting a blank drive into the enclosure, will mac os or disk utility make me erase everything on the drive? I dont want to do this, I am just swapping out a drive into an different enclosure, in this case the OWC enclosure.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

If the HDD is using a file system (format) you don't want to use, than the only way to get the HDD to the format you want to use, is by erasing the HDD or partition/volume. Data will be lost due to this. You can copy the data off the HDD and then copy it back after you successfully formatted it.

Guide on how to use Disk Utility from the restore / installation DVD.
Format Your Hard Drive Using Disk Utility
Partition Your Hard Drive With Disk Utility

 

[gameface]

If you're just installing an old drive into a new enclosure, no need to format it. Those directions are for installing a bare new drive into the enclosure.

 

[Sossity]

what if I dont want to format?

will disk utility make me erase the drive if it is already how I want it? will I be given an option not to format or erase but just start using the drive as it is?

 

[gameface]

I assume you replied before seeing my post? No, you only need to format a new drive. If it has stuff on it, install it in the enclosure, plug it in and away you go. No trip into disk utilities is necessary.