Read This! If you want Help!
For all those people ready to throw this drive in the bin I can understand! There are a number of issues here and it can all be very confusing getting what should be something simple to work.
I have always liked a challenge but this has turned into a grind. However I have solved all the probelms I was experiencing and want to pass on what I found. It may help some people.
I had a Seagate 2TB USB 3.0 goflex desktop connected to my PC (Asus G73SW running Win 7). In addition I had a Seagate 2TB NAS connected via my modem/router. I used the goflex desk for storage (mainly itunes files) and the NAS for backup of these files via Synctoy (awesome programme FYI) and also be able to access files anywhere from the internet. Both worked flawlessly.
I then bought a Mini Mac late 2012 model and wanted to use the 2TB goflex desk for that for primary storage and migrate my iTunes. Rather than buying another harddrive and spending more $$$'s. I kept the NAS as is on the PC but thought I can acess this from the mini-mac.
My minim-mac found my NAS straight away, but going to system preferences - sharing. And I could drag and drop files both what which was cool and no hassel!
I did a reformat of the go flex desk drive on my PC using disk managment prior to connecting to my mini-mac. Step on how to do are here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Create-and-format-a-hard-disk-partition
When connecting to my mini-mac for first time afterwards I ran into nearly all the issues people have raised here. Not mounting, no write access, disconnections, no indicator lights, sleep issues etc.
After trying allthe various fixes listed here (Seagate's and User's) I determined the biggest issue is understanding what is actually happening with your system. You may have all or only some items happening.
First see how the drive is currently working. Only do one thing at time. Dont have multiple programs open when doing this or be reading or writing from the disk (e.g. background programs)
Prior to just jumping into installing fixes or deleting files, record write down what is happening at specific times/actions. Once you have a clear picture of what is happening it became much clearer and I realised I had probably wasted lots of time trying things or reformatting unnecessarily.
PC / MAC inter-useability
If you want the ability to move the drive from MAC to PC and vice versa, I installed the NTFS paragon file. Previous posts said this is a issue but read on!
1. FIrst see if you can drag and drop a file from the Goflex desk. If you have formatted on a PC prior it, you should not be able to
2. Download NTFS Paragon file http://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/backup-plus-desk/ntfs-... and save it to the Seagate drive.
3. Double click on the Paragon file and run the Mac Installer.dmg file as per http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/216951en
5. If Time machine prompt comes up select "no"
8. Complete installation wizard
9. Reboot
10. Activate software if promted (note this did not come up for me)
11. Reboot again
12. Check if can drag / drop files. If it goes well you should be able to do this both ways between PC and Mac now.
13. You should also see under the Mac system preferences a NTFS paragon symbol down on the bottom row.
14. And on the desktop you should have a Orange shortcut (usb symbol and name of the seagate drive) , if clicked on it goes to the drive.
See how the drive operates for a bit before jumping ahead, Test it for a day or two. The indicator lights probably won't be working and If you find it disconnects or times out etc like I did when moving a large number of files or adding a lot to itunes. As per other posters recommendations I did this:
15. Plug back into the PC and using the Seagate dashboard settings an select "never sleep" for the drive settings.
16. Right click my computer - properties. You should see a list of devices come up with include USB root drives. Double click first one and got to power management tab. Select option "allow computer to turn off drive"
17 Now test to see if drive turns off when PC shuts down
18. Disconnect and plug into mini mac (when turned off)
19. Start up mini-mac see if it mounts (it should as the NTFS is installed) and can access files/folders etc.
20. Go back into preferences - energy savings. Set computer sleep functions to your liking or just manually put computer to sleep Cmd C (I think)
21. See if computer sleeps and feeling the base of the Go-flex unit see if drive sleeps (give it a min or two).
22. If the goflex does sleep, then wake up computer and see if drive also wakes up and is still mounted (try acessing a file).
23. Also do this for shutdown and record the results. Sleep and shutdown may not show the same results!
If it does not sleep or it has unmounted (like i found) do this:
24. Now download Software.mpkg.zip from http://www.seagate.com/support/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/goflex-pro-for-mac/goflex-m...
25. Follow install options
26. Do retests 19 - 23 again.
If problems persist purge all Seagate related software by these steps.
27. Download the "find any file" program (google it)
28 Open "find any file" application / program follow instructions here http://forums.seagate.com/t5/GoFlex-GoFlex-Desk-GoFlex-Pro/Seagate-s-PC-MAC-USB-3-0-Goflex-drivers-n...
29. Search "Seagate" and trash all files found
30. Empty Trash
31. Eject and unplug USB
32. Reboot Mac
33. Plug UBS back in.
I thinks these steps do play an important part and will probably be necessary. I did this and found that the seagate drive "orange" desktop short cut and NTFS under system preferences were still there and usable. It also never impacted my NAS. So I can only assume it delete other stuff "behind the scenes" like kenell files and so forth that other people have noted.
From this repeat steps 19 - 23 and see how you go, I found that after this the drive would sleep when mac slept, yet would not turn off when mac shut down. To date I have not been able to solve this only work around it by:
- Only putting mac to sleep - doable as a media server - however make sure if you use apple tv to coordinate sleep time (or you may have home share issues)
- Having mac run 24 / 7 - its up to you!
- Unmounting the goflex prior to shutdown - A pain but doing this does shut down the drive on mac shutdown
I really hope this information helps someone. After seeing how much effort everyone online has provided the least I could do is pass it back to similar frustrated people like me. I don't expect this will fix all the issues people are having, and yes if you can return the product probably best do so, and if your thinking of buying then do your research.
As a back up plan if i could not get a PC/MAC setup working i was going to do a Pure Mac set-up. Below I provide the info for this that I found. NOTE: This is only for late model macs with USB 3.0. There are know issues with the backward compatability of Seagates USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 and Seagate admits this. Currently there is no fix to this that I know of
All the best with it
Kazinator
Pure Mac Setup
Follow the steps for a Mac OS X format here http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207851en. (Note i did not do this, but the info I have is from previous forum sources say it worked!)
The drive will need to be reformatted. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data that is on the drive to a different drive before formatting.
To reformat the drive in MacOS X:
Open Disk Utility.
Choose Go in the Finder Apple menu (at the top of the screen).
Select Utilities.
Double-click the Disk Utility icon.
Choose the Seagate drive in the left window. If the drive is not showing, see step 3 below.
Choose the Partition tab in the right side of the Disk Utility window.
In the drop-down menu that says "current volume scheme", select one partition.
Press the Options button and select Guid Partition Table.
Change the Volume Format to MacOS Extended.
Click Apply.
Warning: This operation will erase all data on the drive, so before you continue, verify that any data on the drive is backed up somewhere else.
Click Partition. At this point, the volume dismounts from the desktop and the drive is partitioned and formatted.
Note: When Volumes are created, Time Machine may open, asking if you would like to use the volume for backups. Click Cancel to proceed.
If the partition fails on Leopard, see the special instructions below, in step 3.
The drive may go to sleep on its own. If it does, you can download a utility to prevent the drive from the link below. Keep in mind the drive will still be controlled by the MacOS power management features, which are set in Mac System Preferences.
Warning: Connect your FreeAgent drive to your Mac and wait for it to mount on the desktop before using the following utility.
Download the FreeAgent Go sleep disable utility's enclosed DMG file to your desktop.
Make sure the FreeAgent drive is connected to the Mac and mounted on the desktop.
Double-click the file to start the install process.
Follow the onscreen instructions to install.
During the install, the utility performs the sleep disable function, so no further steps are needed once the installation completes.
Note: If the drive is put on a Windows computer and the sleep time is adjusted with Seagate Manager, then this utility can be installed again on the Mac to disable the sleep function.
Make sure your computer can run your drive off a single USB cable. Some older Macintosh laptops do not provide enough USB power to run an external 2.5-inch drive and so the drive will not be detected at all in that case. If you encounter problems with this, there are a few options.
If this is a newly purchased drive, you may want to work with the place of purchase to exchange this drive for a FreeAgent Go for Mac, which runs on Firewire.
A special Y-Cable can be used to plug into two USB ports to draw additional power, if two ports are available. These cables can be purchased through many popular online retails and should have 1 - Mini USB B port (male) and 2 - USB A ports (male).
Use a powered USB hub which plugs into an electrical outlet and should provide enough power to run the drive.
REFERENCES
How to setup a Backup Plus or GoFlex drive for use under MacOS
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/214531en?popup=true
