Frequently Asked Questions

1) Why won't my Windows 98 computer recognize this DiskGO!™ HD?
You must have Windows 98 Second Edition installed, or you need to have updated your installation of Windows 98 using the Windows Update website. You must also install the driver for your DiskGO!™ HD before you connect it to the computer. The driver is just for USB connection. No FireWire™ driver is needed. (FireWire™ is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.)

2) Why won't my DiskGO!™ HD power on?
The DiskGO!™ HD requires power from the provided AC adapter. Please check that the device is plugged into the wall and the HD correctly. Next, make sure the power switch is in the "On" position (I=On, O=Off). The LED light will be on if power is provided correctly. If you continue to have problems, please contact us for further assistance.

3) Are there any special handling instructions I need to follow when I use my DiskGO!™ HD?
Never remove the device if the light is flashing. This means data is being accessed on the DiskGO!™ HD and removing it can cause data corruption, loss, or loss of functionality. Be sure to properly eject the device before removing it from the system. In the Mac OS, drag the desktop item to the trash just like a CD or floppy. In Windows XP or 2000, use the "Safe Removal" icon located in the system tray, and be sure that any windows that are open and displaying data on the device are closed before you shut it down. Windows 98SE and ME users can unplug the device only when the light is not flashing.

4) Why won't my DiskGO!™ HD mount using firewire?
Sometimes the USB or FireWire™ port on the DiskGO! 3.5" drive may lock up. This problem may be encountered in situations where the drive was improperly disconnected or when the drive has had difficulties mounting on a specific computer.

To refresh the ports on the DiskGO! drive, please perform the following steps:

1) Turn the power switch of the DiskGO! drive to the off position. (Off is the "0")
2) Disconnect all cables from the back of the DiskGO! drive. Leave all cables disconnected for at least 1 minute.
3) After at least I minute, reconnect only the power cable, and then turn the power switch back to the on ("I") position.
4) Once the drive has begun spinning and the LED is solid green, reconnect the USB or FireWire cable, whichever you intend to use, to both the DiskGO! drive and the computer.

Now the DiskGO! drive should mount properly on your computer. If it does not, please contact us for further assistance.

5) My DiskGO!™ HD works fine at home, but when I take it to work, my computer does not recognize it. How can I get it to recognize?
If your work computer is connected to a network, the device is probably being recognized. Use of mapped network drives may be the problem. Network drive letter mapping will override Windows' built-in drive lettering for removable devices. This is a common occurrence in Windows XP and may happen with Windows 2000 as well. This is easily resolved. With the DiskGO! plugged into the computer, go to Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management. This tool will show you information about all of the volumes on your computer. One of the volumes will be your DiskGO!. Simply right-click on that volume, and choose "Change Drive Letter and Path" from the menu. Choose one of the available drive letters from the drop-down list which will appear. Now you should be able to see both partitions of the DiskGO! in "My Computer".

6) Why don't you have drivers for NT 4.0?
Unfortunately, Microsoft does not support USB mass storage devices in NT 4.0. There are some third party mass storage device drivers available on the Internet, but we do not support them or the use of any DiskGO!™ HD device in a NT 4.0 environment.

7) Can I use my DiskGO!™ HD on both PC and Mac?
Yes. You will have to make sure the DiskGO!™ is formatted using a PC format (we feel FAT32 is best). We have found that formatting the device using a PC is best when using it between platforms. Formatting it for MS-DOS on a Macintosh has been known to cause problems for some customers.

8) How is my DiskGO!™ HD formatted when it arrives?
Your DiskGO!™ HD is formatted as FAT32 when it leaves our facilities. This format is recognizable by both Mac and Windows operating systems.

9) Why won't my 3.5" DiskGO! USB2.0/FireWire™ 250GB Portable External Hard Drive show up in Finder when using Mac OS X 10.2.x thru 10.2.8?
Mac OS X 10.2.x thru 10.2.8 cannot mount a FAT32 partition larger than 137 GB (128 GB binary value). Since your external drive comes with a large FAT32 partition preinstalled, you must initialize the drive in order to use it in Mac OS X. Please see the Apple Knowledge Base Document below for more information: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107483. If you are going to use your external hard drive only in Mac computers, merely initialize the entire volume with Mac OS Extended (Warning: All data will be lost. Be sure to back up all data). If you want to use the external hard drive with both Mac and PC, you must create partitions of 128GB or less on the drive (this would give you approximately two partitions of the same size), and initialize each partition with MS-DOS (Warning: All data will be lost. Be sure to back up all data).

10) Why do I get an "Error -50" on my Mac when trying to transfer files to the DiskGO!™ HD?
This error is due to the differences in file naming rules in the Mac OS and FAT32 file systems. See Question 11b. below for more information on this issue.

11) What are the recommended file formats I should use to format my drive?

a) PC (no Mac usage). If you are a PC user and the source drive from which you intend to copy files is NTFS file format, AND you do not intend to use your DiskGO! drive in a Macintosh environment, we recommend formatting the DiskGO! drive with NTFS file format before you begin copying files to it. If the DiskGO! drive is left in the FAT32 file format, you may encounter problems regarding individual file size limitations as NTFS allows files larger than 4GB and FAT32 does not.

b) PC and Mac usage. If you intend to use your DiskGO! drive in both Macintosh OS and PC environments, it is important to note that the Mac OS file formats and the PC-based FAT32 file format, which is on the DiskGO! drive by default, have different rules regarding file names. Mac OS allows special characters such as *, $, ()...etc. whereas FAT32 does not. When attempting to copy files from your Mac which contain these types of characters, you may encounter an "Error -50" message. To continue to access the DiskGO! drive in PC environments, you must leave the file format as FAT32. Therefore, the only resolution for the Error -50 will be to rename the offending file names without the special characters.

Another important point to remember is that Mac OS 10.2 thru 10.2.8 cannot mount a volume larger than 137GB. If your drive is larger than this, you will need to partition the disk within those limitations (see Apple Knowledge Base Document at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107483 for more information).

Note: For clarification of backup application, this drive is intended for use as a storage device for redundant copies of important files. It is not recommended to keep only a single copy of any important file on this drive or any other. It is always safer to have more than one copy of any important file, and for those copies to reside on separate physical disks. Please remember that when formatting your drive, all data will be lost. You should back up any files necessary before continuing.

12) Why can I not transfer any files larger than 4GB onto my drive?
Your DiskGO tm HD is formatted as FAT32 when it leaves our facilities. FAT32 does not allow files greater than 4GB in size. If you would like to transfer files of that size onto your DiskGO HD, you will need to format your drive using the NTFS file system.