Cannot Format MS-DOS Volume for Mac OS Extended in OS X

With some external hard drives being shipped in a FAT 32 (PC) format, it is recommended that they be formatted for Macintosh’s native format (Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) when backing up Macintosh volumes.

When you enter Disk Utility to initialize or erase the new volume, it does not have the option to format as "Mac OS Extended".

Format Volume For MAC OS

  1. To format the external hard drive for "Mac OS Extended", first select the main volume of the external hard drive in…

August 30th, 2009 | Posted in Computer Repair | No Comments

How to install, partition, and format a WD Passport drive in Windows 98SE

Install Hard Drive Important: Western Digital only supplies Windows 98 SE drivers for the Silver WD Passport portable hard drive (pictured below). If you have a black or colored WD Passport portable hard drive, you will not be able to install the drive under Windows 98 SE.

 

  1. To download the WD Passport (silver) 98SE Driver, click on the Download button next to the .zip or .exe version of the driver download.
  2. Then click the Save button and save the driver to your desktop.
  3. Close your web browser and…

July 29th, 2009 | Posted in Computer Repair | No Comments

How to partition & format your External Storage Devices for Macintosh Computers

Partition External Storage devices are shipped with the FAT32 Windows file system installed. The drive will mount as a Windows-formatted disk on the Macintosh desktop; however, the Macintosh disk repair/recovery tools cannot repair or recover data from Windows-formatted drives.

For the highest performance and compatibility, we recommend you reformat the drive using the Mac OS Extended format. However, if you will be transferring files between a Windows system and a Macintosh, leave the drive in the FAT32 format, you will have to either:

  • Limit the FAT32 Volume…

July 27th, 2009 | Posted in Computer Repair | No Comments