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I just bought a 1TB WD mybook for mac.......

Last answer on Oct 24, 2009 9:14:46 pm BST raptor2005, on Mar 4, 2009 1:35:52 am GMT 
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Hello,
I purchased a 1TB external drive my book for my G4 iMac and I keep having problems I am running on OS 10.4.11...I added all the things they tell you to add on to your WD my bookHD and now every time I try to do things the computer seems to not recognize certain applications ... I know they are all on the WD My Book under the Memeo folder BUT I have had to re-install iTunes about 10 times saying the application may be corrupted to re-install... which is not correct, and others... my iPhoto has totally not been working... it tells me to get an earlier version than the one I have... for some reason now it says that my iPhoto is to new for the library ????? anyways if I do look onto the WD HD like I said I have all my music and my photos backed up but it seems like it's not allowing my computer to work and run the proper way and it is absolutely hell to have to re-install apps all the time for NO reason... PLEASE HELP !!!!! I should be able to use any application as I please without the WD HD messing with what I am doing.... I know it is saving everything...but it seems like it is taking applications although all the icons are there... I don't get it and I cannot find a USER GUIDE or MANUAL anywhere.......HEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Configuratio­n: Mac OS X
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1

xpcman, on Mar 4, 2009 1:43:28 am GMT
  • +32

This solution is on our forum:

I had the same problem with the Western Digital My Book Essential 1TB External Drive that I bought. It kept failing when I tried to reformat it for my Mac as Mac Extended (journaled). I was ready to return the drive because it was so frustrating!

I called WD customer support and they walked me through it over the phone:

This is what worked perfectly:

Use the Apple Disk utility software that comes with your Mac.

PARTITION your Mac as 1 Partition and while you are in that same window, SELECT OPTIONS.

THIS IS THE KEY: There are 3 radio buttons in the popup window for formatting options. The drive was preset as the bottom button PC formatting and you have to chose the middle button which is for Mac.

Click apply and finish formatting your drive. Works perfectly.

One other thing, it is a good idea not to have any applications running when you format the drive.

Hope this helps.

   
Reply to xpcman

2

Marcellus, on Mar 31, 2009 10:01:17 pm BST
  • +1

Thanks very helpful. Marcellus

   
Reply to Marcellus

3

saguarojoe, on Apr 9, 2009 10:27:09 pm BST
  • +7

How long did the 1TB format take? Mine has been running for about 48 hours. I think I followed the instructions correctly.
Thanks

   
Reply to saguarojoe

4

Tim'eh, on Apr 15, 2009 10:42:07 pm BST
  • +1

It only took 30 sec for me...

   
Reply to Tim'eh

37

gumble, on Oct 24, 2009 10:17:17 am BST

Yep, less than a minute when I tried it on my ibook g4, but my intel mac mini didn't seem to like it. You need to partition it and select the mac radio button in the partition options tab in disk utility apparently.

   
Reply to gumble

6

Chadwick, on May 4, 2009 8:55:57 pm BST
  • +1

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! I'm a film student and was trying to transfer my final project but had the same problem others were having until I read your post...problem solved! Many thanks!

   
Reply to Chadwick

7

Adi, on May 10, 2009 3:50:16 pm BST
  • +1

Thank you *so* very much for this piece of information!!!!! Priceless!! Just as I was cursing myself for going with Western Digital on the drive...!!

   
Reply to Adi

12

Ram, on Jul 9, 2009 9:30:12 am BST

Thank you!

   
Reply to Ram

13

JDub, on Jul 15, 2009 7:10:15 am BST

Thanks for the help. Does this fix only work if 1 partition is set up?

I'm trying to create 3 partitions, have used the GUID Partition Table setting, and am having problems transferring my iTunes library with the recommended Consolidate Library feature.

Any ideas would be appreciated

   
Reply to JDub

21

burrogirl, on Aug 12, 2009 2:06:03 am BST

Thanks so much! I thought I was going to loose my mind! Your description should be sent to all manufacturers of back up drives!

   
Reply to burrogirl

26

Sandi, on Aug 25, 2009 11:19:41 am BST

I have the same problem except when I went into Disk Utility the Partition Option was not there for the WD drive! The Only Options were First Aid / Erase / RAID / Restore. Now what? I am using an Intel Mac running OS X 10.4.11

   
Reply to Sandi

28

Light & Matter, on Sep 3, 2009 3:59:26 am BST

It seems like you've clicked on the wrong WD drive in the hierarchy. Pick the enveloping WD drive. You should have the choices you're looking for there.

   
Reply to Light & Matter

27

kayburra, on Sep 2, 2009 3:35:38 pm BST

Thanks a ton! Had many suggestions but yrs worked ... and in a flash. Much obliged.

   
Reply to kayburra

29

frank, on Sep 3, 2009 6:50:02 am BST

This was a big help to me. I bought a Western Digital HD and could not get it to format as a Mac Disk. It kept formatting as a MSDos disk.

Thank you for posting this. I looked all over the web and yours was the only answer I found.

Thank you so much.

   
Reply to frank

33

tmaps, on Sep 24, 2009 7:41:19 pm BST

Perfecto! Thanks bud!

   
Reply to tmaps

5

Greatful, on May 2, 2009 1:34:53 am BST

Thanks soooooo much for this! I was pulling out my hair before your response!

   
Reply to Greatful

8

Robin, on May 18, 2009 7:37:49 pm BST
  • +2

The first button in Options is - GUID Partition Table.
That's what you have to use if your Mac has Intel processors.
The middle button is for PPC (old Motorola processors )

   
Reply to Robin

9

FooManChu, on May 23, 2009 2:26:51 pm BST
  • +1

Hey dudes. I have a Intel-based MBP. I tried the middle button and could copy 7GB files to the drive. I think the GUID option is mainly for if you want to startup a Intel Mac with the drive. So I think both work if just using the drive for storage purposes. Cool! Laterz

   
Reply to FooManChu

10

Veritas, on Jun 13, 2009 1:30:24 am BST
  • +1

I just bought a WD Elements also. The seller told me that it is compatible for both Window and Mac. When I first use it with my Mac, I can only read the files but not writing it. Then I partition my WD Elements as suggested in their website. I initially thought that I could partition the HD to different formats but it did not work. So I chose the apple partition format and I managed to write the HD. However, when I try to use Window, it cannot recognize my WD Elements. Any suggestions on how I could have the flexibility to use my WD Elements on both Window and Mac?

   
Reply to Veritas

16

rockinrobstar, on Jul 29, 2009 11:09:10 am BST

If you want to use your disk for both your Mac and your Windows PC you can format the disk as NTFS and then on the Mac you will need to download the MacFUSE and NTFS-3G driver so that you can write to the disk.

   
Reply to rockinrobstar

22

grapefruit, on Aug 19, 2009 2:12:04 pm BST

Rockinrobstar you seem really knowledgeable about this! :) Please, please help me!

I just got a WD My Book 1 TB Hard Drive. I have two other hard drives and when I plug them into my MacBook Pro they are recognized right away and always pop up on the desktop. I just tried plugging in the new hard drive and it took about one and a half to two minutes to show up on the desktop. Is this a bad sign about the drive? (Should I be returning it?) Why is it taking so long to recognize? It says on the box that it is Mac and PC compatible...is it taking longer because maybe it needs to be FORMATTED for Mac? I haven't transferred any files yet because I don't know if I should be returning it. If I do need to format the drive how exactly do I do that -- I read the description above...what exactly is the Utilities disk that comes with the computer...? I definitely needs to be a reliable drive that I can use completely on BOTH Macs and PCs.

Pleaseeee take a moment to answer my question. (Or anyone else that has any hints as well :) I would really appreciate it!

   
Reply to grapefruit

23

flowergirl, on Aug 22, 2009 11:08:07 pm BST

Hi, I saw your response concerning using a western digital hard drive for both a pc and a mac. I have already saved some backup information from my pc on the drive. Can I follow your instructions successfully if I already have data on the drive? If not, can you advise the best way to proceed. I am open to removing the existing data and resaving afterwards. Thanks!

   
Reply to flowergirl

11

Vince, on Jul 6, 2009 10:38:44 pm BST

I'm having the same issue, except that my drive is 2/3 full of important material! It seems to read in the old slow USB mode, but my mac won't recognize it when plugged into the firewire port. Can anyone help in a way that doesn't involve reformatting and losing all my work? Thanks!

   
Reply to Vince

14

Josh in Hamilton, on Jul 20, 2009 5:11:29 am BST

Thank you so much. I bought a 1tb and followed the youtube how to format an external hd and it failed! following your advice helped it work perfectly. Thank You Thank you! :)

   
Reply to Josh in Hamilton

15

Mike, on Jul 21, 2009 4:21:56 am BST

Seriously, thank you so much!

   
Reply to Mike

17

Pomme, on Jul 29, 2009 9:46:26 pm BST

I'm looking at buying an external hard drive for my old G4 PowerMac (Seagate 1TB External Hard Drive Hi Speed USB or Maxtor 1TB External Hard Drive USB2.0 32MB Cache). After reading this thread, I am right in thinking that I can use these powerful hard-drives with the old USB ports?

What will I lose? Speed? Will there be any limitations?

Thank you so much :)

Pomme

   
Reply to Pomme

18

xpcman, on Jul 29, 2009 9:54:00 pm BST

The drive will only work at the speed of the computer's USB port. I assume the PowerMac has the old slower USB ports. With such a large drive and large files - it will seem like it takes forever.

Good Luck

   
Reply to xpcman

19

karack, on Jul 30, 2009 6:05:22 am BST

This solved my problem with formatting -- thanks!

   
Reply to karack

20

Tone, on Aug 7, 2009 11:52:22 pm BST

I have a similar problem. I have a G5 and use it for composing music its very close to permanently crashing. It breaks down on me while I use it and I want to back up my music data, they are Reason files.
I also purchased the WD Mybook. I seriously don't know how ot use it.
Ive tried starting a new folder inside the my book hard drive and selecting all the files and placing them in there.
When I connect the Wd my book into the pc out of 399 reasin files that pop up only 10 show up as icons the rest are unitentified files, I cant open them
Please help.

I'd be willing to send some money.

Tone.

macktone415@hotmail.com
Thanks

   
Reply to Tone

24

thecooleygirl, on Aug 24, 2009 11:48:03 am BST

Hi, I have a G4 dual 450. the hd in it only goes to 28 gig, I only have 17 left. I need to know some information before purchasing a ext. had like yours. Can I hook it up and use it to run all my adobe software CS3 and 4.? I'm in college (2nd) yr. and I need to be able to use the try-out versions of CS4 for Dreamweaver and Flash. My PPC is running very slow with these programs open. I have CS3 for all the graphic programs, that are mine, but the 4's are trials, I just keep redownloading them when my time is up. Anyway. I heard, I can put a Ext. FW HD on this G4 and use it like I would my internal. Is this correct. Seems like after a lot of searching, I've found a forum that's answering my questions. So....if you could guide me , i'd truly appreciate it.
thecooleygirl@sbcglobal.net
thanks

   
Reply to thecooleygirl

25

ANONYMOUS PSEUDONYM, on Aug 24, 2009 6:14:29 pm BST

You are a legend.
on the verge of reverting back to fat32 system (which is crap) but your post saved me
Really appreciate you taking the time to post this solution

   
Reply to ANONYMOUS PSEUDONYM

30

geldstro, on Sep 5, 2009 2:50:23 am BST

That was incredible good advice. I too was so frustrated but by doing a google search I stumbled here and lo and behold, it worked perfectly. I had tried previously to back up my files onto the fat32 but any files that were around 4gb or larger were not happening. I stumbled on that fact while I was at a student's home and I was teaching here how to use final cut pro. She was determined to capture an entire mini dv tape and every one of her captures failed. I did some research and for some reason (probably a newer Mac) I was able to reformat her WD My Book to OS Extended with no problem. I went home and checked my backup and realized I too had the same problem but I could not get it to format to anything but FAT32 until I read your article. WOW> THANK YOU

   
Reply to geldstro

31

Wilvis, on Sep 14, 2009 3:11:47 pm BST
  • +1

Thank you very much. Great solution to a problem that was driving me crazy.

   
Reply to Wilvis

32

Sequoiarayne, on Sep 20, 2009 2:58:04 am BST
  • +3

My book will not even pop up on the desktop. I cannot find it at all. HELP!

   
Reply to Sequoiarayne

34

VAlvarez, on Sep 27, 2009 3:21:36 pm BST
  • +1

I have the same problem as sequoiarayne. I have mapped the drive on my network with my new 13" macbook pro running on OS X 10.6 and my work PC laptop. However, my 15" macbook pro running OS X 10.4.11 will not even recognize it as a network drive which is the worst since it has the bulk of the information I want to transfer to the WD MY Book.

   
Reply to VAlvarez

35

Anon, on Oct 14, 2009 3:44:06 am BST

This was such a great help! thank youuuu!!!!!! :)

   
Reply to Anon

36

JOE, on Oct 17, 2009 4:31:09 pm BST

I had a problem with my WD 1TB HD not mounting when using firewire, however it mounted fine when using USB. Weird. The disk even mounted when plugging it into my other mac. Even weirder.

I tried everything short of reformatting my disk, however i was right about to. I deiced to buy a relatively inexpensive firewire hub (about $20) from amazon and it mounts fine. The HD still wont mount when plugged directly in to the comp but that's worth not reinitializing my disk.

P.S. Hub i bought is the Belkin Firewire/USB hub designed for the mac mini. Works great with my iMac.

   
Reply to JOE

38

 storm70, on Oct 24, 2009 9:14:46 pm BST

After weeks of googling, I think this thread may be the solution I'm looking for. I have a WD Passport, formatted as FAT32. It works on both my imac and windows pc, only when I copy files to or from the drive in windows, it's lightning fast, and when I plug it into the imac copying files from the external drive to the imac is painfully slow. I need to use the drive on both the mac and pc, so formatting as NTFS and then downloading the mac NTFS-3G driver...will this solve the speed issue? Please, please, please someone let me know, this is driving me absolutely crazy!!

   
Reply to storm70
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