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Mr Mushroom · Aug 6, 2004, 08:51 PM

I used a new Maxtor Hard Drive 250Gb when I recently made the switch to Mac from PC, and when I connected the drive to my new Powerbook it was able to read the windows formatted drive and transfer the files over to the new Mac no problem. After this I reformatted the Maxtor to Mac OS using Disk Utility and now I am having the following problem:

When I connect the drive, or turn it on if it was already connected but switched off, I get a message saying my computer needs to be restarted. Why is this? And how can I fix it? Surely I should be able to connect an external drive without having to restart. When I was connecting the same drive when it was formatted for Windows I was not receiving this message, but now it is in Mac format I need to restart every time which is very frustrating.

Any ideas? All advice would be welcomed and appreciated,

Thanks

Mushroom

Krusty · Aug 6, 2004, 09:04 PM

That's not normal. Are you ejecting the drive correctly when you turn it off ? What is the actual message you get when you connect/turn on the drive (be specific, a word for word description will help us help you).

Fredo · Aug 7, 2004, 01:42 PM

To keep separate firewire devices running well, you should follow this procedure.
Keep device powered off and unattached when not in use. Power up device for 5 sec before plugging in to Mac. Icon will appear on desktop.
When finished using firewire device, go to file - eject device in your menu, or drag device icon to trash. Turn off device. Disconnect firewire cable. Remember, firewire is not hot swappable like USB.

Randman · Aug 7, 2004, 01:46 PM

Have you tried running Disk Utility on it after reformatting? If you have something like DiskWarrior, you can also run that on it and see if that helps any.

Mr Mushroom · Aug 7, 2004, 08:53 PM

Thanks for the input guys. I tried to connect the drive again today, and the first time I connected it and switched it on there was no problem, and everything was fine. Then I ejected it as you described, and after a few minutes turned the power to the hard drive back on again, and received the same message again:

You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the restart button.

I will try as you suggested and turn on the Maxtor drive for a few seconds before connecting it and see how that goes, but its weird that before when I had the drive formatted for windows I never had this problem, only since I formatted it for Mac OS.

Any other advice?

This is really bugging me now having to restart every time I want to get something from my drive, and I dont want to leave it on the whole time either.

Is there something on the software that came with it that I should use that would fix this? I decided after looking at the software that I wouldnt really want to use it as the Retrospect progam looked pretty complicated and pointless, so I just formatted using Disk Utility and went from there. Should I do this again?

Please help......

Thanks again,

Mushroom

Mr Mushroom · Aug 7, 2004, 08:54 PM

When you say 'run Disk Utility' which part of the utility do you mean?

Reformat? Restore? Repair?

Remember I am new to Mac so not really sure what all that does.

Thanks again,

Randman · Aug 8, 2004, 01:57 AM

Originally posted by Mr Mushroom:
When you say 'run Disk Utility' which part of the utility do you mean?

Reformat? Restore? Repair?

If it's a new external, I'd go into Disk Utility and then hit erase. You'll wipe the drive but it'll reformat it just fine. A few months ago, I got a new external. When I first mounted it, it showed fine, but I was having lots of trouble trying to copy anything to it. I reformatted and it's worked like a champ ever since.
If you have already formatted it, then you can try Repair Disk from Disk Utility and see if that helps.
An application such as DiskWarrior will help repair any major problems and also defrag the drive (usually not a big issue, but every little bit helps).

DVD Plaza · Aug 8, 2004, 10:09 PM

Originally posted by Mr Mushroom:
I used a new Maxtor Hard Drive

Ugghhhhhhh... say no more!

-Q- · Aug 9, 2004, 10:10 AM

Have you had problems with your firewire port in the past? Sounds like the bus might be the cause of this problem if it's requiring you to restart on occasion. Try the disk utilities first to see if it is a directory problem and if that doesn't clear it up. And if you can find someone with another FireWire drive to test the port with, that would be ideal.