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Cannot reformat drive to MacOS Extended after Varicam use
Hello all,
I’m having trouble reformatting a firewire/USB drive my DP used to offload footage from his Varicam back to normal Mac OSX use. It first appeared on the Mac desktop as multiple partitions–that the Varicam created when offloading footage. I tried formatting thru Disk Utilities to clear everything off the drive, but it would only let me format into FAT32, but not into MacOSX Extended— which I need. Has anyone ever encountered this? The same is happening on 2 identical Lacie drives.Does the Varicam have its own file system it formats drives with that prevent normal use afterward??
Thanks!
Misha -
7 Replies
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I found a solution on macrumors:
To successfully prepare a disk for Mac that has been previously formatted for a PC (as most new drives are of course), the disk needs to have the “Partition Table Map” established for Macs rather than leaving it as is.
• Start up Disk Utility
• Click the disk to be formatted in the left column. Click the whole drive line, not the partition(s) if any show below it
• Click the “Partition” tab at the top of the window
• Change the “Volume Scheme:” from “Current” to “1 partition” (or however many partitions you want)
• Click the “Options” button. Choose the appropriate partition table type in the window that appears- GUID for Intel based Macs, APM for PowerPC based Macs). Click OK to close that window
• Click on the partition (or partitions one at a time) and enter a name in the “Volume Information:” section and choose “Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in the “Format:” section
• When done naming, click “Apply”, then “OK”
• Sit back for a short time and when complete enjoy the drive! -
Am I the only one who doesn’t understand this??
First, you can’t download footage off a Varicam directly onto a Hard drive. You have to go though a computer I/O card like a Kona or Black magic. The camera cannot directly connect to a HD.
Second, when the HD is connected to the computer, all you need to do is Erase and reformat the HD using the Apple Disk Utility software or some other program you use. The drive is completely wiped clean and reformatted and ready to use again.
This is very simple.
Ernie Santella
Santella Productions Inc.
http://www.santellaproductions.com -
My bad, it wasn’t a Varicam, I think it was a Panasonic SDX with P2 cards. Nevertheless it does connect and offload directly to a hard drive, making multiple partitions to the drive. And these drives would not “Erase” in Disk Utility— without going through the steps I outlined.
Take is as an FYI.
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Still, all you have to do is connect the HD to the Mac. Use Disk Utility, select the HD in your list of drives connected, Hit ERASE, select the format you want and it will wipe the drive and reformat.
Ernie Santella
Santella Productions Inc.
http://www.santellaproductions.com -
[Ernie Santella] “First, you can’t download footage off a Varicam directly onto a Hard drive. You have to go though a computer I/O card like a Kona or Black magic. The camera cannot directly connect to a HD.”
I know this is old, but actually, you can. Check out USB host mode.
It does as OP says and makes a partition for each p2 card.
Jeremy
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You must be talking about a newer Varicam like the HPX2700 and not the older F & H models. They only have a Firewire port and no USB ports.
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Yes. P2 cameras.
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