Broke my Iomega HD

[hingyfan]

It's an Ulltramax, out of warranty, of course.
Good news is it now shows up on the desktop and i was able to get Disk Utility to repair the drive.
Bad news is the on/off switch in front does not work and it makes a loud buzz when on. I pull the plug to turn it off.
I have with mixed results installed two HDs in cases. One still works, the other one doesnt mount. i have to check into it , someday ....
 But the Iomega i want to work. Supposedly it was made for Macs.
Ive been told this unit has its own RAID and therefore is not a good candidate to migrate.
I would pay to have it fixed but only to a point (a third of cost of a new one?).

Related question: Whats the biggest HD i can use with this 2.1 G5? Could it handle a terabyte? I see a lacie one for $129. And can i go without FW? Thanks.

[Xairbusdriver]

Does the "buzzing" sound actually come from the switch or from within the enclosure?
Does it stop immediately when you plug the power in and out? Or, does it change frequency with time, even a very short time?

To your related question, I don't think the size of the hard drive is a factor on most newer Macs. And the OS may need to be Tiger or better, also. I do know that my new iMac, running Leopard, shows both he used and available parts of my terabyte drive. And Disk Utility had no problem partitioning it.

[hingyfan]

It's not really a buzz. The fan seems to be running louder than usual. i wouldnt notice it because i'm always playing internet radio (KEXP in seattle is my latest). But my wife, who prefers peace and quiet, can't handle it.
It just shuts off when i pull plug.
I wonder if someone could fix this for less than $100. With all the stuff in it, it would be worth it. Not  that i cant access it and copy files over but it would take a long time .Andt it would seem a waste to just trash it.
Thanks.

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Nov 10 2008, 11:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Does the "buzzing" sound actually come from the switch or from within the enclosure?
Does it stop immediately when you plug the power in and out? Or, does it change frequency with time, even a very short time?

To your related question, I don't think the size of the hard drive is a factor on most newer Macs. And the OS may need to be Tiger or better, also. I do know that my new iMac, running Leopard, shows both he used and available parts of my terabyte drive. And Disk Utility had no problem partitioning it.

[chriskleeman]

How big is that drive? Which model?

From the sound of it, you've got a noisy fan or your drive is ready to die on you.

Need to know exactly which drive you have.

Thanks,

Chris K

[Xairbusdriver]

You should be able to see if it's simply the fan, if if you have access to the blades from the outside or if it is easy to open the enclosure. They are usually very small, very low torque motors turning a one piece blade. By holding the fan with a very small, non-conducting (wood/plastic) stick and then applying power to the enclosure, you can prevent the fan from turning. If the noise is gone, the fan is either bad or severely out of balance. They are not difficult to replace but finding a close match may be harder. If it's out of balance, it may simply be a collection of dust, etc. You may be able to clean it by using a vacuum, but it will probably be necessary to open the enclosure. It may be nothing more than a small insect in there. In others words, you have a "bug" in your enclosure!

If it's not the fan you're probably going to need at least a new power supply. It's probably what is called a 'switching' type and can cause noise when there are bad capacitors. You could confirm it's not the drive itself by mounting the drive in another enclosure or machine.

If it's either the power supply or the drive, make a backup immediately and verify the backup is usable. It could become completely unusable (or worse) at any instant. Then cease using the drive until you get the exact problem corrected.

And, please keep us informed.

[hingyfan]

It's an Iomega Ultramax. It's the model just called that, not Pro or Double. I think it's 500 gigs. I also think 'll get trhe LAcie 1T and copy over whatever i need.

[Paddy]

I think you should figure out whether it's the drive or the case that is causing the problem.

The first thing you need to do is figure out whether it's an ATA or an SATA drive in there - because they take different enclosures and if it's SATA you can simply test it in your G5. So - take the Ultramax drive enclosure apart. ATA has a big connector that fits over a whole bunch of pins. SATA has a much smaller connector that fits in a slot about 3/4" to an inch wide, with a power connector that fits in another narrower slot next to it. (And the drive will have info on it that you can look up - a make and model number) Your G5 takes SATA drives, so if it's SATA, you can pop it in there and see if it works ok. And you can (temporarily) take your boot drive out of your G5 and put it in the external case to see if it still makes noises.

Is it like this one but without the FW? http://store.iomega.com/section?referrer=m...amp;secid=40460

If so, it's probably like the 3 cases I have that are all similar; there are 4-6 screws on the bottom that need to be removed and then the inner part of the case just slides out. Then there will be another 4 screws holding the HD in the case. Dead easy to remove. And it's a nice case - so if it's the HD and not the case, you can always use it for another HD. Cheaper than buying a new assembled drive, although FW would be nice.

[hingyfan]

Ultra Max USB/1394 00:

  Manufacturer:   Iomega Corporation
  Model:   0x0
  GUID:   0x30E07CE00C0886
  Maximum Speed:   Up to 800 Mb/sec
  Connection Speed:   Up to 400 Mb/sec
  Sub-units:
Ultra Max USB/1394 00 Unit:
  Unit Software Version:   0x10483
  Unit Spec ID:   0x609E
  Firmware Revision:   0x9102
  Product Revision Level:   3.AA
  Sub-units:
Ultra Max USB/1394 00 SBP-LUN:
  Capacity:   596.18 GB
  Removable Media:   Yes
  BSD Name:   disk4
  Mac OS 9 Drivers:   No
  Partition Map Type:   APM (Apple Partition Map)
  S.M.A.R.T. status:   Not Supported
  Volumes:
UltraMax:
  Capacity:   596.18 GB
  Available:   148.71 GB
  Writable:   Yes
  File System:   HFS+
  BSD Name:   disk4s2
  Mount Point:   /Volumes/UltraMax

It looks appears to be same as the one listed lower on this page, the 640G one although mine is 600:
http://tinyurl.com/5mb5og

As far as drive vs. case. I think the fan is too loud and of course the switch doesn't work. When i remove the drive from the desktop, it's not that big a difference. The fan is still loud. It's not horrendous but it used to just sit there when on.
There's no way im taking apart this Mac, especially not for this.  I would have to plug in my next mac under the parkway overpass.

QUOTE(Paddy @ Nov 12 2008, 03:07 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you should figure out whether it's the drive or the case that is causing the problem.

The first thing you need to do is figure out whether it's an ATA or an SATA drive in there - because they take different enclosures and if it's SATA you can simply test it in your G5. So - take the Ultramax drive enclosure apart. ATA has a big connector that fits over a whole bunch of pins. SATA has a much smaller connector that fits in a slot about 3/4" to an inch wide, with a power connector that fits in another narrower slot next to it. (And the drive will have info on it that you can look up - a make and model number) Your G5 takes SATA drives, so if it's SATA, you can pop it in there and see if it works ok. And you can (temporarily) take your boot drive out of your G5 and put it in the external case to see if it still makes noises.

Is it like this one but without the FW? http://store.iomega.com/section?referrer=m...amp;secid=40460

If so, it's probably like the 3 cases I have that are all similar; there are 4-6 screws on the bottom that need to be removed and then the inner part of the case just slides out. Then there will be another 4 screws holding the HD in the case. Dead easy to remove. And it's a nice case - so if it's the HD and not the case, you can always use it for another HD. Cheaper than buying a new assembled drive, although FW would be nice.

[Paddy]

G5s are ridiculously easy to work on - have you never installed a hard drive in one? Or added RAM? Open the side door with the latch on the back. Drive bays are in the upper right corner. You attach the 4 little rubber bumpers to the drive - extra set is on the inside of the case if you only have one drive installed now; slide the drive into the free slot, plug in the two connectors, put the case side back on. You don't even need a screwdriver.

BTW - you cannot tell from the specs whether the drive is ATA or SATA. Taking the enclosure apart to find out should not take more than 5 minutes.

Sounds like the enclosure is a problem - certainly a non-working power switch is an issue. So, rescue the drive. If it's ATA, buy another case ($30 ought to do it) and if it's SATA, put it in your G5 if you don't already have 2 drives in there. Free.

[Xairbusdriver]

OK. Simplest thing first. Since you now have access to the fan, and it runs even with the the drive removed/unplugged, is that the same noise or not? If it's not, the drive that's the problem. Period.

Now, it the sound is different, it's time to mount it in the G5 following the steps Paddy provided. Simply starting up the Mac again will quickly tell you if the drive is bad if it still makes the same noise.

Assuming you can get it to mount normally or with DiskWarrier or Disk Utility, please don't wait any longer to make a usable backup.

[hingyfan]

Uh, this is a white flat panel iMac. i get mixed up with the model names but about this mac says g5.
Now i had a g3 with a big handle in the back to open it. I even changed the processor. And it worked! But this does nit appear user friendly in that regard and shall remain clam shut.
The fan on the Iomega seems to be making just about all the noise.

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

The fan on the Iomega seems to be making just about all the noise.

That's good news. But it would be better if the drive was making absolutely no continuous noise. Hearing the head searching is probably OK. But it should be very intermittent and very slight. Certainly not the 'buzz' you described in the initial post.

If you're sure the drive is OK (it continues to mount on the Desktop, normally) and does not make loud or continuous noises, simply try cleaning the fan blades. Cotton swabs, 'canned' air, etc.

I'm still concerned as to whether or not you have tried powering the enclosure up, with or without the hard drive, while holding a swab into the fan so it cannot turn. Until you have done that, we still don't know if you have only a loud fan or a bad power supply.

[Paddy]

Sorry 'bout that - when people say "G5" I always think tower, since that's the only sort of G5 we've had in our house! I agree - the G5 and Intel iMacs are not user-friendly when it comes to much other than upgrading RAM. Although...the G5 iMac isn't anywhere near as bad as the Intel iMacs and switching out a hard drive is one of the activities that is "allowed" without voiding the warranty.

However, in this case, I think it's more to the point to figure out if (a) there is anything you can do about the fan noise (as per Jim's suggestions) and (b)if it is the enclosure and not the HD making all the funny noises, then should you spend $30 or so and simply buy a new enclosure for the hard drive - once you figure out what sort of HD is inside?

[krissel]

QUOTE(hingyfan @ Nov 12 2008, 03:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would have to plug in my next mac under the parkway overpass.

Thanks for a good laugh!