Warning: Maxtor/Tiger Compatibility issue

S

sarahlis

Registered
I installed Tiger only to find that I can no longer use my 250gb Maxtor FireWire Drive that has very important stuff on it. I could cry. Apple should have warned people that this could happen.
 
I've got a buddy that just upgraded to Tiger and also has a Maxtor one-touch 250GB external drive (he's got a dual-1GHz MDD) and it works fine both before and after the upgrade... could be something specific to your setup.

What exactly is the problem with the drive? Does it not mount? Does it mount, but you can't see anything on the drive? Is it recognized by the System Profiler?
 
sarahlis said:
I installed Tiger only to find that I can no longer use my 250gb Maxtor FireWire Drive that has very important stuff on it. I could cry. Apple should have warned people that this could happen.
Click to expand...

Did you disconnect the firewire drive before installing? You may need to update your firmware. Also, try these things:

1. Shut down and disconnect your firewire drive leaving nothing is connected to the firewire ports.
2. Restart, and use Disk Utility to repair permissions on your internal.
3. Shut down, and disconnect the AC power from the computer and your drive; also remove battery if laptop.
4. Let computer sit unpowered and disconnected for15 minutes.
5. Reconnect AC power to only the computer and reinsert battery.
6. Restart computer.
7. Verify that firewire ports are visible using System Profiler.
8. Reconnect your firewire drive, and refresh window in System Profiler to rescan the firewire bus, and confirm that drive is visible.
9. Repair disk and permissions on the firewire drive.
 
sarahlis said:
I installed Tiger only to find that I can no longer use my 250gb Maxtor FireWire Drive that has very important stuff on it. I could cry. Apple should have warned people that this could happen.
Click to expand...
Compatibility must be the responsibility of the third party hardware manufacturer, in this case, Maxtor. It is physically impossible and would be impossibly expensive for Apple to test every combination of hardware and software from every vendor. In the past, when Apple has listed compatible devices, manufacturers have been know to change drive mechanisms, bridge chips, firmware, etc. during the production run so even within a given brand and model, some units may be compatible and others not. When incompatibilities are encountered, Apple is good about working with the manufacturer's engineers to help them resolve the issue.

Having said that, I know how frustrating a situation that can be. Hopefully you can find a means of recovering your data.
 
No problems here. 3 different Maxtor drives. (Very old 120 GB FW, OneTouch 200 FW/USB2, OneTouch II 300 FW/USB2.) No problems at all.
 
From that other thread: Delete, if there,:

/System/Library/Extensions/IOFireWireMxBt.kext
/System/Library/Extensions/MaxtorPowSecDriver.kext

Those extensions are not present in my clean install. I guess they stem from a Maxtor installer if you upgrade from Panther to Tiger. And yes: Maxtor should've alerted users. Also: I think it's unacceptable that there's no Retrospect update for Maxtor users (and others, too?) yet that works with Tiger. They've had a LONG time developing with Tiger.
 
thank you to all who responded. to answer a question:
what happens is the computer crashes with that horrible scary screen with the japanese characters and the message that the computer must be restarted. i unplugged all my externals and put them back in one by one. as soon as i plug in the maxtor, the scary screen comes back. the computer said something about a panic-- which more aptly describes my state.

right now most of it works (though not my wacom graphire tablet) except for the maxtor. i need to calm down before i do anything stupid.

i feel much better having come to this forum.
 
I would suggest trying what Fryke said (deleting those extensions if they exist) and then looking for a firmware update on Maxtor's site... you might also want to try giving them a call to see if there are any updates or incompatibilities with Tiger that require you to upgrade something.

What format is the drive? FAT32? NTFS? Mac OS Extended?
 
fryke said:
From that other thread: Delete, if there,:
I think it's unacceptable that there's no Retrospect update for Maxtor users (and others, too?) yet that works with Tiger. They've had a LONG time developing with Tiger.
Click to expand...

Blame EMC Dantz on that one. They haven't even released an update for normal retrospect for tiger yet. Dantz has always been way behind on updates. IIRC it was a good month or two before they had support for Jaguar when it was released. All my experience with Dantz is, stay far far away unless you never plan to upgrade. It's normally a good 5-6 months until they release a non-buggy update for a new OS. Given they are now owned by the devil-spawn that is EMC, I'd give it 12 months until they have a none buggy new version that works right in Tiger.

Find a nice freeware app for doing your backups :) I have a Maxtor Onetouch, and the first thing I did when I pulled it out of the box was throw away the damn CD with Retrospect on it.

Brian
 
sarahlis said:
thank you to all who responded. to answer a question:
what happens is the computer crashes with that horrible scary screen with the japanese characters and the message that the computer must be restarted. i unplugged all my externals and put them back in one by one. as soon as i plug in the maxtor, the scary screen comes back. the computer said something about a panic-- which more aptly describes my state.
Click to expand...

You are welcome. You are having kernel panics. They can be caused by software (most often) or hardware (not so frequently) issues. Your panics certainly sound hardware related. I'll think more about your problem; I have to go now--for a short while. Ocassional nonsystemic kernel panics are not a problem, but yours are too frequent and systematic.

Edit: I am back. You could try starting up in safe mode (hold shift down when starting) and doing some maintenance on the external--repair disk and permissions (if lucky enough to get that far). Still thinking.
 
Sorry, but the problem is already solved. It's the extensions. They were first installed for Panther (I did that myself back then) because of Kernel Panics when re-connecting the FW drive. Now Apple seems to have fixed a bug, so they're no longer required (and even, it seems, harm how the drives are recognised at connect time).

Really: Just remove those two extensions, reboot and then safely connect the drive(s).
 
fryke said:
Sorry, but the problem is already solved. It's the extensions. They were first installed for Panther (I did that myself back then) because of Kernel Panics when re-connecting the FW drive. Now Apple seems to have fixed a bug, so they're no longer required (and even, it seems, harm how the drives are recognised at connect time).

Really: Just remove those two extensions, reboot and then safely connect the drive(s).
Click to expand...

Yes, I've seen the info on the extensions. I hope removing them solved his problem; maybe he'll post again.
 
The Ghost said:
Some have solved their Maxtor One Touch problem by intalling this driver if not already installed. I am not sure if you have a One Touch.
Click to expand...

No, Ghost, sorry again. But that's the driver that installed those extensions in the first place. Do _not_ install this driver update in Tiger. It solved problems with Panther, that are no longer present in Tiger. Now, this driver update is _causing_ the problem.
 
fryke said:
No, Ghost, sorry again. But that's the driver that installed those extensions in the first place. Do _not_ install this driver update in Tiger. It solved problems with Panther, that are no longer present in Tiger. Now, this driver update is _causing_ the problem.
Click to expand...

Installing the driver solved some Tiger/Mator One Touch problems on another discussion (while deleting the files didn't).
 
Maxtor's drivers are old (2003-2004), and they won't update the Mac ones. I spoke to their computer tech & programming engineer. Maybe some large volume of response from others may prompt action.
 
Hi,

Thanks for responding. I hadn't any difficulties with OSX 10.4.2. The 10.4.5 update refuses to mount Maxtor One Touch II external FW storage drive to desktop. System Profiler spots it. Disk Utility does not. TTP4 does not. Installing new MOTU drivers, unplugging all connected FWs & HD from eachother & power overnight, to reset, worked with my MOTU FW interface, but not the Maxtor.

As I mentioned before, I spoke with Maxtor about updating Mac drivers for those Mac users experiencing difficulties with OSX updates. They are updating Windows drivers, but told me they had no intention of updating Mac drivers. Last drivers were from 2003 & 2004, so there you are.

Obviously, we are not all running our OSX on the same hardware, therefore, bravo to those who have not had any difficulties!! The Gods & Goddesses look benevolently down upon you :))

Maybe I should consult agents' Mulder & Skully. They can add this to their X-Files--the truth MUST be out there. LOL
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top