incompatibility between plugable dock usb 3.0 and vantec's !!??

1

I just got the usb 3.0 hdd docking station.
I formatted a 3 tb seagate and works fine.

the problem is tha i have many disks formartted on vantec’s docks and i STILL use those docs as well.

and they do NOT work at all. vantec’s formatted disks do NOT work on plugable dock and vice versa!!

now, i cannot even format a plugable disk on a vantec dock. MAC OS X disk utility gives error message.

please help!!
!](https://d2r1vs3d9006ap.cloudfront.net/s3_images/944586/ScreenShot2013-08-21at6.39.50PM_inline.png?1377136115)](https://d2r1vs3d9006ap.cloudfront.net/s3_images/944586/ScreenShot2013-08-21at6.39.50PM.png?1377136115)

2

Hi Leo-

Thanks for posting and sorry to hear about the frustration. This is an issue we’ve seen and expect to be able to solve via a firmware update.

The solution to this issue will require:

  1. Backing up any data on drives initialized in the U3 using the U3.

  2. Updating firmware on the u3 to v13022081f602 as described here:
    http://plugable.com/2013/03/05/usb3-s…

  3. Cleaning or re-initializing the drives’ partiion tables using the process described here:
    http://plugable.com/2013/03/21/unders…

*note that OS X diskutil is the Mac counterpart to the Windows process described above. I’ll work to update the post with relevant diskutil commands as needed once we get to this stage.

After the U3’s firmware is updated, any disks it is then used to initialize (partition/format) will be usable in other docks, and drives initialized in other docks should be readable in the U3.

The issue comes from how the older firmware currently on the U3 re-emulates the larger 4096b sectors use in newer “Advanced Format” AKA 512e drives to enable using larger disks under older 32 bit systems.

Please let me know of any questions on this process- I wanted to first outline the overall process, but I’ll be happy to help with questions on individual steps.

Best wishes-

Jeff Everett
Plugable Technologies

3

Thank you Jeff.

4

Hi Leo-

No problem, happy to help. I’ll leave this thread open for another 24 hours, feel free to let me know of any questions. After 24-48 hours I plan to close this just to keep the answer nice and simple and avoid any confusion, but rest assured I’m happy to answer any questions.

Best-

Jeff