GoFlex, GoFlex Desk, GoFlex Pro, GoFlex Slim, & GoFlex Turbo

[gman75]

I have already seen a few posts regarding the same issue however with no solution appearing so far. I bot the 3 TB Goflex desk (for PC and Mac) and partitioned it using my Mac. It works fine for about a couple of hours however freezes randomly while copying large sizes of data. I have tried almost everything.

I then returned the drive for warranty coverage and I got a new replacement drive. However, the replacement new drive also seems to have the same issue.

I am really tired of doing almost everything - reinstalling the seagate manager, Paragon NTFS driver, changing the drive sleep and  computer sleep settings on my mac, formatting the drive in almost every type of Mac OS format and NTFS format on Mac. Changed all the power settings like connecting the drive directly to the USB port of the Mac, disconnecting all other drives. But again nothing works.

I have also tried these drives on another Mac ie my friend's Mac and the problem still repeats there. That implies that the problem lies with either the drive or the drivers or the softwares installed with the drive.

I cant understand whats going on here.

Can somebody pls. help ?

[gman75 · Accepted solution]

Hey Guys I have found a solution to my problem after infinite struggle. I have seen various posts on this issue with no help from seagate technical support and hence posting here for the benefit of all.

The Seagate 3TB/ 2 TB drives come with a pre-installed software for Mac which is called "Mac Installer.dmg" that resides on the newly bot drive. What I had done and may be most of others who face a similar problem might have done is to - install the software with the dmg file, and then reformat the drive using the Mac's disk utility tool and tried to run the drive. This was causing a problem of drive freezing while copying large data sizes.

The problem seems to be like this :

Mac's disk utility tool formats the drive using something like "Apple Partition Map" and thats what creates problems while the "Seagate Diagnostics" application is installed on the Mac. Somehow interaction between these two creates the drive to freeze.

Hence this is what could be done to avoid problems faced in drive/ Mac Finder freezing while copying large data.

1. Completely Uninstall the "Seagate Diagnostics" for mac using the instructions in the link below.

http://forums.seagate.com/t5/GoFlex-GoFlex-Desk-GoFlex-Pro/How-can-I-un-install-Seagate-Diagnostics-...

2. Reformat the Seagate Drive using the "Disk Utility" tool in Mac. When you select any of the format types pls. take care of a minor important detail here.

Go to the "Partition" tab of the disk utility tool. Select any format type you wish you. Below the area where the partions and their sizes are shown there is a "+  - " button. Near that is a "Options" button.

Click on the "Options" Button and there you can see three types of Partition Tables - GUID Partition table , Apple Partion Map, Master Boot Record.

Select the "GUID" partition type and partition the drive.

For some of the people who dont want to reformat their drives they can try completely uninstalling the "seagate Diagnostics" first (pls note that just sending the Seagate Installer application to Trash doesnt uninstall the application) and see if Mac can use the drive with the "apple partion map" partioned drive after uninstalling the Seagate Diagnostics tool.

In my opinion the interaction between Seagate diagnostics and "apple partition map" causes the drive to freeze while copying. Hence, addressing only one of these issues could help. However, if the problem persists try doing both the above things.

For some of the people who face problems with the drive sleeping they can use the following driver to disable the drive sleep for Mac.

http://support.seagate.com/downloads/mac/Seagate%20Sleep%20Override%20Utility%20for%20Mac%20OS.dmg

And for people who want the NTFS Read/Write enablement they can use the following separate driver.

http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/downloads/goflex/Paragon%20NTFS%20Install.dmg

However, I suggest to Uninstall "Seagate Diagnostics" if your disk is partioned with "Apple Partion Map".

Hope this helps.

[Sum Guy]

gman, thanks for the info. i would definitely agree that it's important to make sure your drive is partitioned with GUID rather than Apple Partition Map. you can check which partition map a drive is using by selecting it in the Disk Utility sidebar and looking at the bottom right of the window.

however, i'm skeptical about your advice to uninstall Seagate Diagnostics, and use the Sleep Override Utility.

according to Seagate, the Sleep Override Utility is obsolete. it's from 2008, and is not meant to be used with GoFlex drives, see:

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=214531&NewLang=en

...the sleep override functionality is supposed to be included in the newer drivers for the GoFlex series.

secondly, you should not be using the drivers from "Seagate Diagnostics", which may have come with your drive. the latest version, 1.1.2 is now called "Seagate Drive Settings", and is meant to be compatible with 64-bit snow leopard and lion systems. it installs kernel drivers which are supposed to disable automatic sleep, and enable the drive capacity lights (can be installed separately).

i'm not saying you're wrong, because i haven't tested it. just skeptical; maybe your problem was solved purely by repartitioning to GUID? personally i'm having troubles with my 2tb usb 3 goflex drive still sleeping, disconnecting during sleep, and not reconnecting. maybe i'll try out some of your suggestions and see what happens.

[MTSurf]

Tried, Tested, and finally Successful.  Like you I tried everything to troubleshoot this problem.  I think my success was following the instructions you provided for the "Complete" un-install of the Seagate software.

I intended to use the out-of-the box preinstall software.  Unfortunately, after following the wizard and bouncing the machine as instructed, the backup locked less than halfway done, and as you mentioned, at different intervals with each try.  And I might point out it was set up for the Mac Time Machine choice provided during the initial  setup wizard; 

So I went out on my own, and created two partitions, one for Windows 7 formatted for NTFS file system; the other for my Mac Lion OS, formatted as GUID, Mac OS Extended (Journaled).  The windows side was successful immediately with the back up.  Not so much with the Mac OS side.  So I went out to the Seagate software support site, and found the  Seagate Drive Settings software from, GoFlex Installation Software for the GoFlex™ drive that I deleted,  Installed and still no success on the Mac OS side. 

Found your posting on the uninstall of the software and drivers, followed those instructions, bounced my Mac and I  now have a complete successful and tested, Time Machine backup up that works great.

Really appreciate you taking the time to share what you found out, it really helped me out, Seagate support doesn't seem to know of the bug, and I've found many in other forums that are having the same problem.  Hopefully they'll update the Software or Knowledge base with your resolution for others.

[ronl46]

I have a 2T drive with similiar problems, but the drive is connected via my broadband hub using Ethernet - how do I reformat Geoflex as it is not connected directly to my Mac ?

[tunesmith82]

You must connect it directly to your Mac to reformat. Then connect it back to your router.

Check your router instructions to make sure it does not require a specific formatting for its access.

[tunesmith82]

I have 3 Seagate goflex drives on my Mac. None would work right until the Seagate software was disabled. All are GUID partitions (not Apple partition).

I also distrust the USB3 connection to USB2 on mac. I have one USB2 and 2 Firewire800. (One of the Firewire800 drives was connected via FW 400 port for a while and that worked OK.). I replaced the USB3 base on one drive to get the FW800 capability.

[suzannekai]

I have a dozen or so drive I bought from costco but have not have any issues with them, and I am fully backing up the recommended 80% safe storage amount on them.

I had NEVER installed the SeaGate driver or any downloaded drives/ software for the externals, will it still be possible for me to have the 100GB file transfer issue stated above?

[Goose2626]

Thanks for taking the time to post info I just purchased the goflex 4tb and I'm having the same problems yet my other 2 segate hd have no problems and no segate drivers I will delete drivers tomorrow and see if this helps. How can this still be happening and segate don't seem to be aware of this.

[MapleTree]

Hello All,

If your drives are formatted to Mac, I have found something else that may help out with any freezing issues when transferring or when opening Mac Finder. Open computer, go into the internal drive"Mac HD", select libraries, open launchagents, then delete SeagateStorageGauge.plist file.

Let us know if that helps and thank you to everyone.