[DDG]

We have an APS, 45 GB external fire wire hard drive that is connected to one of the G4's in the office. All of the designers have access to the drive via Apple Talk. The drive was showing signs of trouble when we started to get error messages. (These messages were not documented but we vaguely remember some of what they said) In the past few days, we had files dissapearing once they were copied over to the drive. Then a couple of days ago, the drive would no longer mount after someone tried to repair problems using Norton.

I am the unofficial Mac Tech guy here and was on vacation when this all happened. I am also a Graphic Designer which makes my job tough when I have to troubleshoot. I have spent 4 hours this morning trying to figure out the problem using TechTool Pro 3.0.4 but I can't even get it to mount. I've tried everything to get it to mount but to no avail. I can see the drive in the APS Control Panel, but I cannot update the firmware or the driver. The driver won't update because it says there is not enough room.

This Hard drive is mission critical to our workflow. We are an in-house marketing department for a graduate institution in Virginia Beach. Any and all help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you.

[apollo11]

iMac 1 Ghz G4 1 gig Ram Os 10.4.5

My Firewire connected LaCie Bigdrive started disconnecting spontaneously with a complaint from the iMac that it was disconnected improperly.

Finally it did so once more and has not mounted via FW since. However, USB does mount it but big files take all day to transfer.

I took out the Maxator from the LaCie drive and put it in a FW/USB caddy, ok for a while then the same story. USB only mounting.


Informed with some confidence by a poster on Bombich's website
( http://forums.bombich.com/viewtopic.php?p=25658#25658 ) that it was the boot drive OS
Tried new cable. repaired boot drive disc, repaired permissions, ran DiscWarrior over it, repaired permisssions, ran downloaded 10.4.5 combo, ran DiscWarrior over it and finally repaired permissions again.


No Joy.

i would most appreciate useful suggestions.

Regards and thanks in advance

Anoop in the UK

[Spoffo]

It's no help after the fact, but everyone using a Mac should be aware of a great little freeware utility called SMARTReporter. It monitors the traffic to and from your hard drive(s) and picks up the signs of impending failure, like an increase in read/write errors. Normally, it just sits on your menu bar showing a pretty little green disc drive icon. If it detects early signs of trouble, the icon turns yellow, and you probably will have a chance to back up your data before the drive fails completely.

[AppleSnapple84]

Originally Posted by Spoffo

It's no help after the fact, but everyone using a Mac should be aware of a great little freeware utility called SMARTReporter. It monitors the traffic to and from your hard drive(s) and picks up the signs of impending failure, like an increase in read/write errors. Normally, it just sits on your menu bar showing a pretty little green disc drive icon. If it detects early signs of trouble, the icon turns yellow, and you probably will have a chance to back up your data before the drive fails completely.

I'm remembering reading somewhere that SMART only works with IDE/ATA or SATA, etc. drives controlled directly in those modes (like the internal HD). It apparently doesn't work thru an external FireWire or USB enclosure, even if the drive mechanism inside the enclosure is IDE/ATA or SATA. Look at your HD's info in System Profiler or Disk Utility, if it's an external FW or USB drive, it'll probably say "SMART not enabled".