formatting a USB flash drive

[macguy]

When I plugged in a USB flash drive in the USB port of my Performa 6360 ( OS 9.1 ) it wanted to format the flash drive before i could use it. Fine. Format away.

Then i wanted to use another ( a second USB flash drive ) to hold totally different data but i formatted that USB flash drive using Apple's Disk Utility/SnowLeopard.

However when i plugged in that second USB flash drive in the USB port of my Performa it wanted to format/initialize it ( again ).

Why?

 

[phreakout]

Is that second flash drive more than 4 gigabytes in capacity? That may be why. Also, OS 9.1 doesn't recognize OS X volumes natively. You need to make sure that you have a file extension called 'carblib version 1.6' installed. Carblib, short for Carbon Library, contains the necessary resources to support OS X volumes in OS 9. If you can, get the 6360 on the Internet and download your software updates. You'll find the software updates feature under the Control Panel in the Apple menu.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[macguy]

good point.

Actually both sticks are 4 GB each and the P6360 does have that extension.

I have both sticks plugged and mounted with no problems other then my curiosity as to why the formatting done by apple's disk utility, OS X version, would be different from the drive setup as done by apple's disk utility in OS 9 or 8.6.

Still waiting for a Ethernet card for the P6360 which may be arriving in a week or so.

 

[Bunsen]

When you formatted the drive under OS X, did you tick the box in Disk Utility that said to install OS 9 drivers?

 

[LCGuy]

I second phreakout and Bunsen's suggestion to ensure the OS 9 drivers checkbox is ticked. Because Apple would rather pretend that Mac OS 9 never existed, when you format a volume in Mac OS X (any version), it does not actually install the drivers (software that allows you to access the volume) for Mac OS 9 systems by default - you must ensure that checkbox is ticked if you plan to use the drive on an OS 9 (or below) system.

Drive Setup for Mac OS 9 (and below) run in the older versions of the Mac OS and therefore automatically install the required drivers.....really, if you're planning on using the drive with both an OS 9 Mac and an OS X Mac on a regular basis, I'd format the drive on the OS 9 Mac - so long as you format the drive in HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Format) rather than HFS (Mac OS Standard Format), it'll have everything it needs built in for you to use it on either a Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X system - unlike Mac OS 9, OS X does not require any specific drivers or whatnot.

 

[macguy]

When you formatted the drive under OS X, did you tick the box in Disk Utility that said to install OS 9 drivers?

Excellent question.

I don't think that choice is there on an intel mac running Leo and so it never even crossed my mind.

That's why i depend on you gurus here to get me out of trouble.

 

[macguy]

I second phreakout and Bunsen's suggestion to ensure the OS 9 drivers checkbox is ticked. Because Apple would rather pretend that Mac OS 9 never existed, when you format a volume in Mac OS X (any version), it does not actually install the drivers (software that allows you to access the volume) for Mac OS 9 systems by default - you must ensure that checkbox is ticked if you plan to use the drive on an OS 9 (or below) system.
Drive Setup for Mac OS 9 (and below) run in the older versions of the Mac OS and therefore automatically install the required drivers.....really, if you're planning on using the drive with both an OS 9 Mac and an OS X Mac on a regular basis, I'd format the drive on the OS 9 Mac - so long as you format the drive in HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Format) rather than HFS (Mac OS Standard Format), it'll have everything it needs built in for you to use it on either a Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X system - unlike Mac OS 9, OS X does not require any specific drivers or whatnot.

Thanks for the clarification.

As noted in my posting above i never even considered the fact that a OS 9 driver should be embedded in the flash drive to allow it to be used in any mac.

I just started to use the flash drive in my Peforma6360 ( now that it has USB ports ) and then carry it over to the OS X machines for picking up the stuff i need to download form the Internet since the P6360 does not yet have Internet connectivity ( and may never have it depending on the cost of the card etc. ).

Once again thanks to all for making this personal puzzlement clear: and tha'ts y we have the 68kMLArmy.

 

[Dog Cow]

As noted in my posting above i never even considered the fact that a OS 9 driver should be embedded in the flash drive to allow it to be used in any mac.

Even hard disks have little embedded drivers on them which can be changed, removed, and updated.

 

[macguy]

Easy for you to say: just kidding!!!!!

i now see that is exactly what happened when i walked the USB flash drive formatted by an intel version of apple disk utility over to the OS 9 apple disk utility in the P6360 : the system drives were totally different.

And after all these years: still learning.

 

[protocol7]

Just a quick question. I've seen it mentioned that 8.6 and up supports flash drives. But I can't get a fresh 8.6 install on my B&W G3 to read one (while it works fine in 9.2). The 8.6 error is along the lines of "can't find software needed to use device".

 

[protocol7]

I had to install USB Mass Storage Support. Works a treat now.

 

[yuhong]

Also, OS 9.1 doesn't recognize OS X volumes natively. You need to make sure that you have a file extension called 'carblib version 1.6' installed. Carblib, short for Carbon Library, contains the necessary resources to support OS X volumes in OS 9. If you can, get the 6360 on the Internet and download your software updates. You'll find the software updates feature under the Control Panel in the Apple menu.

Myth, sorry. What you are talking about is for Carbon applications. OS X and OS 9 uses the same HFS+ filesystem period, no special drivers needed.

 

[yuhong]

I second phreakout and Bunsen's suggestion to ensure the OS 9 drivers checkbox is ticked. Because Apple would rather pretend that Mac OS 9 never existed, when you format a volume in Mac OS X (any version), it does not actually install the drivers (software that allows you to access the volume) for Mac OS 9 systems by default - you must ensure that checkbox is ticked if you plan to use the drive on an OS 9 (or below) system.

I don't think that is the problem in this case. If it was an IDE or SCSI drive, it would be, but this is an USB flash drive. I think the real reason is OP formatted it using the GPT partition scheme. Mac OS 9 only recognises APM and MBR schemes - it is too old to recognise GPT. Go to the Partition tab, choose Options..., and check the partition scheme selected.