Forums | MacLife

geo6121 · 2007-03-04 3:46 pm

Hello Everybody,

I'm having the following problem :

I just purchased a Comstar USB 2.0 Mobile Hard Drive & can *not* mount it on an iBook G4 but it comes up fine on an Intel-Mac. Also, it is marked "MS Dos File System (FAT32); is this normal.

Thanks in advance

Deadguy · 2007-03-04 3:59 pm

Depending on the age of the iBook in question, it may be that the hard drive is USB 2.0 only and won't talk to a USB 1.1 port. More details regarding the age of the iBook would be very helpful.

geo6121 · 2007-03-04 4:13 pm

Sorry, the machine is probably about 3-4 years old - is there any I can find the answer in the machine ?

However, it did mount a few times about a week ago.

Are you ok with the ""MS Dos File System (FAT32" ?

Thanks again.

Deadguy · 2007-03-04 4:22 pm

The FAT 32 is no problem, my external is formatted that way so I can use it in boot camp. As for the revision, that is easiest to find by going to the apple menu and looking at about this computer. It will tell you all the info on your configuration. Can this iBook mount a thumb drive?

geo6121 · 2007-03-04 4:33 pm

Deadguy,

I checked there before responding but found no indication. Would you give me a more precise idea of where to look ?

Now, I know that you know that I don't know what a "thumb drive" is !

Deadguy · 2007-03-04 4:53 pm

A thumb drive is a USB removable memory device. Basically like a small hard drive that plugs into a USB port.
As for the system info, once you open About This Computer, there should be a link to the System Profiler.

geo6121 · 2007-03-04 5:10 pm

Deadguy,

Thanks for all of this info.

Unfortunately, for me, it is of no help in solving the problem at hand ! All I would like to know is if there is a (hidden) way of mounting an external hard drive that won't mount - like opening Disk Utility & "mounting" it from there - which doesn't work because the icon is not shown.

maleko · 2007-03-04 5:21 pm

If I were you and you don't plan to use the drive with windows, re-format to HFS+. I use Mac-OS case sensitive on all my drives, I tried FAT-32 for a while but it HFS is much better unless you need windows compatibility.

geo6121 · 2007-03-04 5:37 pm

Thanks maleko,

I was going to try that but hesitated - just in case ...

There is what I believe to be an installation disk (Windows) that came with it but it is very small - I wouldn't even know where to put it for a needed installation !

Thanks for any additional feedback

dougbale · 2007-03-20 5:05 pm

I have the same question. Just bought one of these neat-looking little suckers, but it won't show up on my desktop. Perhaps the problem is that I haven't installed the accompanying software, but I suspect that if I ever put that tiny 3-inch CD into my optical drive I'd never get it out again. Would anyone out there who's somehow managed to get the contents of that disk into a Mac be feeling charitable enough to e-mail it to geo6121 and me? I'm at dougbale@rogers.com.

geo6121 · 2007-03-20 5:17 pm

Hi dougbale & others,

Thanks a heap for thinking of me in your plight. However, I found the problem, the darn cable was faulty !!

Have a look at yours ...

Good luck,

Geo.

Forums | MacLife

#1 2007-03-04 3:46 pm

Mounting An External Hard Drive

#2 2007-03-04 3:59 pm

Re: Mounting An External Hard Drive

#3 2007-03-04 4:13 pm

Re: Mounting An External Hard Drive

#4 2007-03-04 4:22 pm

Re: Mounting An External Hard Drive

#5 2007-03-04 4:33 pm

Re: Mounting An External Hard Drive

#6 2007-03-04 4:53 pm

Re: Mounting An External Hard Drive

#7 2007-03-04 5:10 pm

Re: Mounting An External Hard Drive

#8 2007-03-04 5:21 pm

Re: Mounting An External Hard Drive

#9 2007-03-04 5:37 pm

Re: Mounting An External Hard Drive

#10 2007-03-20 5:05 pm

Re: Mounting An External Hard Drive

#11 2007-03-20 5:17 pm

Re: Mounting An External Hard Drive

Board footer