[tipnmo]

I have 2 WD 500 gb My Books. One of them has worked almost flawlessly all they way up to full capacity (was rearranging some files and have gotten errors on both drives now.) The other one stops between 115-130 gigs (never made it to 130.) First I thought it was a bad drive, so i returned it, still the same issue in the same place. The little bit google did turn up suggested it was an osx problem, but i could find no solution.

I ran the apple hardware diagnostic and it turned up nothing, tried all my usb ports, switched cables, both apple and guid partitioning. Tried zeroing the drive, I even tried reinstalling 10.4.10 combo update.

Heres what i some times get in my system.log:
Sep 4 08:39:17 Ian kernel[0]: USBF: 119909.994 AppleUSBEHCI[0x3828800]::Found a transaction past the completion deadline on bus 253, timing out!
Sep 4 08:39:48 Ian kernel[0]: USBF: 119940.996 AppleUSBEHCI[0x3828800]::Found a transaction past the completion deadline on bus 253, timing out!

this will usually continue tell i do something to stop it, such as shut off the drive

Other times i get this in my console.log:
2007-09-03 13:10:42.108 ctask[1682] Copy Operation Error: -36
Description: ioErr. I/O error (bummers).

and that is usually accompanied by a message from path finder along the lines of os x error -36, with the option to skip or stop (skipping just brings up the same message with the next file.)

And these drives work flawlessly in Ubuntu on my PC.. i would like to try installing ubuntu (to narrow down whether its hardware or software related) on my mac, but i need to free up some space, and i cant, CAUSE I CANT USE MY DRIVES!!!!!! i am getting extremely frustrated with this... and would greatly appreciate anything anyone could offer
thanks

oh here is my insanelymac post External hard drive issues (just wont go away) - InsanelyMac Forum

[jmiddel]

Have you tried switching the ports around, plugging the problem hd in the port of the good one and the good one into the port of the bad one? Are you plugged directly into the computer or in a hub?

[tipnmo]

ive tried all my usb ports.. tried different cables (cables i know to be good).. directly connected to my computer and through and hub.. ive tried every combination i can think of... plus the drives have no problems on my pc with ubuntu (transfered about 800megs to the drives with no problems) .. so that leave me to believe it is something with my computer..

[jmiddel]

Try this, go to: AppleJack 1.4.3 - Mac OS X - VersionTracker and download applejack, install it and restart your computer holding down the command and S keys. You will now see text scrolling on screen, it will stop and you will see the instructions to run Applejack. Choose the automatic mode, then when it is done follow the instructions to restart. This will clean potential crud out, such as caches that are corrupted.

[brokenjago]

On what mac?

[tipnmo]

Originally Posted by brokenjago 

On what mac?

MBP, 1.83 CD, 2 gb ram, 80 gig hdd

Originally Posted by jmiddel 

Try this, go to: AppleJack 1.4.3 - Mac OS X - VersionTracker and download applejack, install it and restart your computer holding down the command and S keys. You will now see text scrolling on screen, it will stop and you will see the instructions to run Applejack. Choose the automatic mode, then when it is done follow the instructions to restart. This will clean potential crud out, such as caches that are corrupted.

I will look into it.. altho i have already run the apple diagnostics that come on the restore cd, and repaired permissions and verified the drive, even reinstalled OS X 10.4.10 combo update

[Veltliner]

The MyBooks are rather low end external hard drives.

If your data is important, you might consider getting some better quality hardware.

It is horrible how much time one can waste with sub-par equipment.

Search the forum for external hard drive enclosures and hard drives, or at least get one of the more decent external hard drives like G-techs.

[JKT]

What firmware are the drives using and is there an update available from the manufacturer?

[jmiddel]

IMHO Seagate makes the best hard drives, and at OWC Find the latest Performance Upgrades, Firewire and USB Hard Drives, SATA, Memory, Laptop Battery, and more at OWC you can get them cheap and also good enclosures to go with them.

(I have no personal or financial ties to OWC or Seagate)