Hi John, We probably need to clear up a few things here:
You didn't need to purchase MacDrive8 so you could format the drive to HFS+ (which is the preferred Mac format) you could have done that on the Mac using the Apple "Disk Utility" which you can find in the "Utilities" folder (which is in the "Applications" folder). Once the drive has been reformated to hfs+ it is accessible to Mac computers but can only be accessed on PCs by using specialised software such as MacDrive8 - this is the purpose of MacDrive8 - to allow windows machines to access Mac hfs+ drives. Assuming your initial reformatting of the drive to hfs+ went OK, then when you say: > At this point I could read from The ext HD on both my home PC and Mac. * You could read from the Mac because the disc was hfs+ * You could read from the PC because you had installed MacDrive8 on it. When you say: > Had a need to take to work the HD to access so files. Wasn't able to read > the HD on the work computer. Had you installed MacDrive8 on the work computer - if not that explains why you couldn't read it. When you say: > Tried a few things which may have lost my ablity to mount again on the home > Mac but can read on home PC What did you try? - If you followed prompts on your work computer, which wasn't reading the drive, you may have re-formatted the drive as a PC drive (though I think you would have erased everything off it by doing this) - without knowing just what you did it is hard to comment further - but, as you say, it seems this may have removed your ability to mount again on the home Mac. I think that it is probably better to get to the situation where it is demonstrably a problem with MacDrive before contacting them for help - MacDrive is supposed to let you access a Mac drive and, at the moment, your drive won't mount on a Mac! That is why I suggested the stepped procedure: 1) Back-up any data you need from the drive (assuming there is any data accessible). 2) On the Mac erase and re-format the disk (use disk utility for this) - verify the disc and make sure that everything is working fine. 3) Check that Macdrive can still access the drive on your home PC (it's always worked on this PC, right?) 4) Confirm that everything is working as it should on both the Mac and your home PC if not make a note of any strangeness/messages and sort this out first. 5) When you are happy that all is working as it should on the home PC & Mac, go to the work Machine: - Make sure it meets all the MacDrive system requirements - Make a note of the Windows version/configuration (will help if you have problems to report) - I would probably re-install MacDrive8 on this machine (you never had it working on this PC, right?) 6) Connect the drive to your work PC and try to access it with MacDrive. If there are any problems: - make a note of Exactly what happened, including any error messages - check out MacDrive knowledgebase and forums to see if it matches any known/reported problems. - if not, raise a ticket with MacDrive support - report it all back here However, to help clarify the situation, before you do this you could connect the drive to the Mac and fire up disk utility and see what it tells you about the drive in its present state. Cheers Neil -- Neil R. Houghton Albany, Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 Email: n...@possumology.com on 20/5/10 1:50 PM, j...@iinet.net.au at j...@iinet.net.au wrote: > > Neil, > Appreciated your post. The history is I brought a WD 500GB passport HD. Then > purchased Macdrive 8 so I could format the HD to HFS+. I was then able to copy > my > files onto HD. At this point I could read from The ext HD on both my home PC > and > Mac. Had a need to take to work the HD to access so files. Wasn't able to read > the > HD on the work computer. Tried a few things which may have lost my ablity to > mount > again on the home Mac but can read on home PC > > Will take your advice and contact Mediafour (MacDrive developer) for help > > cheers > > john > > On Thu May 20 12:27 , Neil Houghton <n...@possumology.com> sent: > >> >> >> Re: wd passport >> >> >> Hi John, >> >> >> >> I have not been following this topic, so not sure of the background, etc. >> >> >> >> However, when you say: >> >> >> >>> Any body got any suggestions, bearing in mind that all I wanted was an >> >>> external >> >>> device that would work similiar to USB stick but larger capacity that would >> >>> plug in >> >>> to PC and MAC >> >>> >> >> >> >> My first reaction is that all my USB sticks are formated MS-DOS (fat 32) - >> which > gives the convenience you require - but, of course, is limited to a 32GB > volume > size. >> >> >> >> For larger drives, some people find a three partition system suits them: >> >> >> >> Partition A: HFS+ >> >> Partition B: FAT 32 (max 32 GB) >> >> Partition C: NTFS >> >> >> >> When on the Mac: Partitions A & B are accessible >> When on the PC: Partitions B & C are accessible >> >> >> >> Partition A is used for Mac work and Partition C for PC work. Partition B can >> be > accessed by either OS without additional software. >> >> >> >> It all depends on how you intend to use the drive re Mac files, PC files and >> files > you want accessible to both. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Of course, having purchased the latest version of Macdrive, that should >> (according > to their website) enable simple cross-platform access to your hfs+ drive! >> >> >> >> >> >> If I were in your position, given you have purchased MacDrive8, I would be >> looking > first to their support site: >> >> >> >> <http://www.mediafour.com/support/updates/product/macdrive8.en-US> >> >> >> >> >> >> I also find it best to use a systematic approach to troubleshooting - >> starting > from a working configuration and documenting how/when a problem occurs. >> >> >> >> In your case, you said that your set-up initially worked on your home Mac and >> home > PC, but not on your work PC. Now you say that it works on the PC only (I > presume > that this is the home one and that the work one still can't access it) and not > on > the Mac. >> >> >> >> This might suggest that the PC (or Macdrive on the PC) has somehow upset the > formatting of the hfs+ drive and you may have compounded your original problem > - > making it harder to troubleshoot. >> >> >> >> >> >> If it was me, I'd go back to square one here - back-up any data you need off >> this > drive, while you still have some access to it, and start again. >> >> >> >> Given that the function of MacDrive is to give the PC access to a Mac hfs+ >> drive, > I would make sure that I started troubleshooting with a drive that was OK on > the > Mac - so my approach would be: >> >> >> >> 1) Back-up any data you need from the drive. >> >> 2) On the Mac erase and re-format the disk - verify the disc and make sure >> that > everything is working fine. >> >> 3) Check that Macdrive can still access the drive on your home PC (it's >> always > worked on this PC, right?) >> >> 4) Confirm that everything is working as it should on both the Mac and your >> home > PC if not make a note of any strangeness/messages and sort this out first. >> >> 5) When you are happy that all is working as it should on the home PC & Mac, >> go to > the work Machine: >> >> - Make sure it meets all the MacDrive system requirements >> >> - Make a note of the Windows version/configuration (will help if you have >> problems > to report) >> >> - I would probably re-install MacDrive8 on this machine (you never had it >> working > on this PC, right?) >> >> 6) Connect the drive to your work PC and try to access it with MacDrive. If >> there > are any problems: >> >> - make a note of Exactly what happened, including any error messages >> >> - check out MacDrive knowledgebase and forums to see if it matches any > known/reported problems. >> >> - if not, raise a ticket with MacDrive support >> >> - report it all back here >> >> >> >> >> >> I must stress that I have no direct experience with this software (MacDrive) >> - > these are just my thoughts on a logical troubleshooting sequence and being > able to > gather the data necessary to help support personnel solve your problem. >> >> >> >> >> >> Cheers >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Neil >> >> -- >> >> Neil R. Houghton >> >> Albany, Western Australia >> >> Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 >> >> Email: n...@possumology.com >> >> >> >> >> >> on 20/5/10 10:25 AM, j...@iinet.net.au at j...@iinet.net.au wrote: >> >> >> >>> >> >>> Hi , >> >>> >> >>> Thing are going from bad to worse. Can now only read the hard drive on my PC >> >>> with >> >>> Macdrive 8 installed. PB G3 no longer recognises the HD and wants to >>> reformat >> >>> the >> >>> drive. Have used the tools from Macdrive and it says that their are no >> >>> problems. >> >>> >> >>> Any body got any suggestions, bearing in mind that all I wanted was an >> >>> external >> >>> device that would work similiar to USB stick but larger capacity that would >> >>> plug in >> >>> to PC and MAC >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> john >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> On Wed May 19 16:48 , Ronda Brown <ro...@mac.com> sent: >> >>> >> >>>> >> >>>> Hi John, >> >>>> >> >>>> I would imagine that you need to install MacDrive on the PC at work, >> >>>> otherwise the >> >>> PC won't be able to read & write to the Drive. >> >>>> >> >>>> Cheers, >> >>>> Ronni >> >>>> >> >>>> On 19/05/2010, at 4:40 PM, j...@iinet.net.au wrote: >> >>>> >> >>>>> >> >>>>> Ronni, >> >>>>> I have the latest version of macdrive. The HD works alright on the PC and >> >>>>> MAC at >> >>>>> home but not at work. Should it work any where or only where I have >>>>> macdrive >> >>>>> installed. >> >>>>> >> >>>>> On the PC at work  managed drives is unassigned or allocated. >> >>>>> >> >>>>> >> >>>>> Sorry about off list query >> >>>>> >> >>>>> John >> >>>>> >> >>>>> >> >>>>> >> >>>>> On Wed May 19 15:33 , Ronda Brown ro...@mac.com> sent: >> >>>>> >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>> On 19/05/2010, at 2:17 PM, j...@iinet.net.au wrote: >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>>> >> >>>>>>> Ronni, >> >>>>>>> >> >>>>>>> Sorry to bother you but you recomend that I format my 500GB passport HD >> >>>>>>> with >> >>>>>>> MAcdrive software which I have done.Formatted to HFS+. Works ok at home >> >>>>>>> but at >> >>>>> work >> >>>>>>> the PC wont mount the drive Initiates the wizard. Any siggestions >> >>>>>>> >> >>>>>>> john >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>> Hi John, >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>> I've replied to WAMUG as 'Off List' is reserved for my clients. >> >>>>>> Also someone else who uses or has used MacDrive might be able to help >>>>>> you. >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>> What version of MacDrive have you installed on your PC? >> >>>>>> Did you restart WindowsXP PC after installing MacDrive? >> >>>>>> Can you see the drive in Disk Management?  >> >>>>>> Right-click on My Computer and select Manage. From the Computer >>>>>> Management >> >>> screen, >> >>>>> select Disk Management. In this window you should see all of your >>>>> connected >> >>>>> physical drives, their format, if they are healthy, and the drive letter. >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>> http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/find-your-missing-usb-drive-on-win >>>>>> do >> >>>>>> ws- >> >>> xp/> >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>> Cheers, >> >>>>>> Ronni >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>> 17" MacBook Pro  Intel Core i7 >> >>>>>> 2.66GHz / 4GB / 1067 MHz DDR3 / 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200rpm >> >>>>>> >> >>>>>> OS X 10.6.3 Snow Leopard >> >>>>>> Windows 7 Ultimate (under sufferance) >> >>>>>> >> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
