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I have a new LaCie d2 Quadra 4 TB external harddrive. When I connect it to my Macbook pro with Firewire 800 cable (provided), the drive beeps about 20 times, then I get "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer."

enter image description here

When I open Disk Utility, the drive appears there, unformatted and with no partition. Most of the tabs of Disk Utility have greyed out buttons, so there's nothing much I can do. See the screenshots below.

I have tried using 3rd party data recovery apps like Disk Warrior and DiskTools pro, and these programs don't recognize the drive so nothing to do there.

Is there any way I can force the reformatting of this drive so it will be usable? (I am comfortable on the command line.)

Since it appears in Disk Utility, doesn't that mean it's functional on some level?

Mac OSX Disk Utility corrupted drive.

Mac OSX Disk Utility corrupted drive.

Mac OSX Disk Utility corrupted drive.

Mac OSX Disk Utility corrupted drive.

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    The disk shows up because it has a "controller" that allows the computer to identify a FireWire/USB device is connected. The "controller" board is a bridge that translates the internal SATA to the different connections you have (FireWire, SATA etc.). Have you tried plugging the disk in to another computer? Have you tried connecting to your Mac via USB instead of the FireWire? If you've exhausted all possibilities then take it back and get them to try to partition the disk (accept a replacement or refund if not). As it's new and not doing what it should then it'll be a warranty call.
    – Kinnectus
    Commented Oct 30, 2014 at 16:26
  • Thanks. When it's connected via USB, it doesn't show up at all in Disk Utility. I will try it on a couple other computers when I get a chance. Replacement may not be an option, since I wasn't the original purchaser.
    – ted.strauss
    Commented Oct 30, 2014 at 17:31
  • It should have done, quite surprising. It may be the controller board. Need to rule it out so try other machines - a mix of USB, FireWire and eSATA.
    – Kinnectus
    Commented Oct 30, 2014 at 18:06

1 Answer 1

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posted as answer to allow formatting...

Did you try the LaCie utility?

extract from the install pdf

  1. Before using your drive, LaCie Setup Assistant software must be launched to format your drive. It will:
    • Optimize your drive according to your needs
    • Copy the manual and utilities onto your drive.
    To launch LaCie Setup Assistant:
    Windows users: Double-click the LaCie drive icon in My Computer/Computer.
    Mac users: Double-click the “LaCie Setup Assistant” icon on your desktop.

NOTE: If you do not launch LaCie Setup Assistant or if you quit LaCie Setup Assistant after the formatting has begun, your drive will not be ready to use and will require manual formatting. The user manual and utilities will not be available on your drive and will have to be downloaded from the LaCie website: www.lacie.com.

NOTE: Running LaCie Setup Assistant does not prevent you from using your computer’s native disk utility program to format or partition your LaCie drive. Simply follow the Setup Assistant through completion, then use your computer’s native disk utility (Disk Management for Windows or Disk Utility for Mac) to reformat your drive.

The last part is worrying, though. Whatever the issue is, it's causing the system to think the drive is read-only right now.

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    If the LaCie setup assistant had worked, I would not have needed to post this question.
    – ted.strauss
    Commented Oct 30, 2014 at 16:17
  • I'f you'd mentioned what you'd tried in the question...
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Oct 30, 2014 at 21:36
  • If the LaCie tools can't deal with it either, I'd suspect a lemon & send it back.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Oct 31, 2014 at 14:14
  • Those drives have an odd power supply - I have had two that have packed up - The psu has 5v and 12v, and the 5v becomes 8v ....
    – JohnnyVegas
    Commented Oct 8, 2018 at 21:16

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