# seagate ex-tivo HD to use 4 external on a mac



## stingray (Aug 29, 2002)

I took it to a computer shop and he hooked up to his computer and it did not recognized the hard drive. The 300 GB HD was used for a tivo but I upgraded to a DVR and now I want to use it for an external. My imac G5 has time machine and by using an enclosure , I can use it as an external backup.

I called Weaknees, where I bought the HD to upgrade my old tivo and he said the HD is linux-based and just google reformat hard drive. 
I did google it and I am not sure what the solution is especially when the computer does not recognize the hard drive.

If someone could do me a monster favor and tell me how to do this. Simple dummies steps like
1. download a linux boot up disc or right click on device manager and click re-format
2.change the master to slave and vice versa, etc

Thanks in advance.

BTW, does the reformat of the HD does it has to be done on a mac and not a PC or does it matter, once reformated and is cleaned hooked it up with a mac and install os x later?


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## stingray (Aug 29, 2002)

The HD is not recognized on the PC computer, but i saw on another thread that if you hook it up to the computer and you right click -manage-disc then the HD will be seen. Is that the answer? then click on primary ,then reformatted.

Does that sound right?


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

A Tivo drive will not be recognized in Windows or OS X, but it will be seen by the BIOS and displayed when your PC first boots up. The Tivo uses a Linux filesystem that Windows and OS X don't recognize and won't list it as an available drive. 

Download the manufacturer's diagnostic program from their website and run a low level format on the drive. You may also be able to use one of the many partition management programs in Windows to reformat the drive. If you're using it on a Mac then you should be able to run the Disk Utility and erase the drive followed by a partition and format.


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## stingray (Aug 29, 2002)

Thank you mr. unnatural. let me see if i understand this:

Go to Seagate website which I did and I saw the seatools diagnostic download but a question, if its not recognized on the win xp or os, how do I run a low level format? or will the seagate tools see it in the computer?

once that is done, then do I reformated the HD and install an operating system-hook up the enclosure and rock and roll


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## stingray (Aug 29, 2002)

I took it to a computer shop , so I wanted to give him the instructions.

I know, I am telling the computer shop how to fix it. But they not to familiar with linux.

Anyone?


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## Luv2DrvFst (Nov 7, 2005)

It's entirely possible that I am completely confused by your question, but I'll give it a shot.

It doesn't matter if this hard drive was formatted by a TiVo in Linux (or any other format for that matter). You're going to reformat it anyway so knowledge of Linux is not required. All you need to do is reformat the drive.

On Mac OSX (that already has a hard drive with OSX installed): 
- install the drive in your computer
- start up Disk Utility
- choose the hard drive from the choices in the left column
- select "Erase" from the tabs along the top of the right column
- specify a format: e.g., Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
- name the drive
- click on the "Erase" button at the bottom

That's it. You now have a Mac OSX hard drive. 

If you're going to install this hard drive as the ONLY hard drive on your Mac, then you'll need an OSX Install DVD. The OSX Install instructions will walk you through essentially this same process, but will also install OSX on the drive.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

stingray said:


> Thank you mr. unnatural. let me see if i understand this:
> 
> Go to Seagate website which I did and I saw the seatools diagnostic download but a question, if its not recognized on the win xp or os, how do I run a low level format? or will the seagate tools see it in the computer?
> 
> once that is done, then do I reformated the HD and install an operating system-hook up the enclosure and rock and roll


It doesn't matter that it's not recognized by the OS as long as the BIOS sees it. The diagnostic tools will boot into DOS, which should recognize the drive and allow you to reformat it. Luv2DrvFst provided instructions on formatting it on a Mac.


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