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TFunkadelic · Dec 29, 2008, 02:53 PM

I recently bought a Seagate Freeagent Go external hard drive (320gb, green, NON-mac version) and I'm having a bit of trouble getting it to work with my Powerbook G4 1.5ghz 1gb RAM.

When I bought it, I understood that it would need to be reformatted (to FAT32 or the native Mac format) to work properly with my computer which I figured wouldn't be very difficult. Upon plugging it in to the USB port on my powerbook, it started making funny noises, and never appeared in the Finder. I then opened Disk Utility, and it didn't appear there either.

The only way I can get the drive to appear at all in OS X is to connect it to my Airport Basestation, which allows me access to the drive over the network, but as far as I can tell does not allow me to reformat the drive.

I then tried plugging the drive in to a Windows XP based laptop, and it appeared no problem, in NSTF format. I got a program called fat32format and ran it per the instructions provided, and it seemed to work, but when I plug the drive in to my Powerbook, I still get the same weird noises and 0 functionality.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Big Mac · Dec 29, 2008, 05:12 PM

There shouldn't be any reason why it's not being recognized. If Seagate tech support isn't helpful, I would return the drive if possible as defective and get a different model.

TFunkadelic · Dec 29, 2008, 06:35 PM

Hmmm.

I just got done talking with Seagate tech support, and they're having me do a reformat back to NTSF, claiming that the Mac should be able to see the drive anyway and be able to format from Disk Utility. I'm waiting on that now and will give it a go when it's done, if not I guess I'll be returning it. Bummer.

TFunkadelic · Dec 29, 2008, 07:30 PM

And now I just tried it through my USB hub, and it's working....I mean, what?

reader50 · Dec 29, 2008, 08:13 PM

A powered hub? The drive may have wanted more current than your keyboard would give. If you used a port on your Mac, those usually have plenty of current.

seanc · Dec 29, 2008, 09:26 PM

Psst - it's a PowerBook

As reader50 said I suspect the USB port on your PowerBook isn't supplying enough power for it. Does it work in the other USB port?
You can purchase a dual headed USB cable for it, you plug this into 2 USB ports on the PowerBook and then the other end into the drive. This isn't very good if you want to use something else USB at the same time though.

As for the format:
FAT32: Windows and OS X can both read and write to this BUT there is a file size limit of 4GB.
NTFS: Windows can write to this. OS X can read. You can install a program for OS X that will allow OS X to write to NTFS drives quite happily.
HFS (Journaled): Windows cannot read this without purchasing Mac Drive. Ubuntu can read this but not write to it. OS X can read and write to it.
HFS (Non-journaled): Windows cannot read this without purchasing Mac Drive. Ubuntu can read this and should be able to write to it. OS X can read and write to it.

TFunkadelic · Dec 30, 2008, 07:51 PM

I figured it out. The problem was a lack of current form the USB port. I plan on buying a Y split cable for it because I don't typically use any other peripherals when I'm on the go with my laptop. Thanks for the help all!