I have a seagate external hard drive. There isn't a model # on it. The part # is 9y7685-500. When I connect it the computer nothing happens. The computer doesn't recconize it. Do you have solutions? In the past it has happened and all I had to do was plug in into a different port. Thanks Doug

SOURCE: How do I format a Seagate 500 to work on a Mac?

I bought one of the Seagate FreeAgent 500 devices yesterday and followed the instructions on the back of the box: plug it in; let the Mac recognize it; go to the Disk Utility function (found in Applications > Utilities); select the Erase tab and check the box to re-format the FreeAgent to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and choose a name for it.  Then proceed with the re-formatting.  It took only a few minutes but as soon as it was done, Time Machine (Leopard) kicked in and asked if I wanted it as my backup drive.  I said yes, and away it went.  Hope this helps.  By NewbieMacUserSept2007

SOURCE: I cannot see my free agent external drive

Thanks for your responses...

I've pretty much decided that it must be a hardware problem within the harddrive itself...Can anyone lead me in the right direction to maybe take out the harddrive to put into another external shell in order to hopefully recover my data? Again I'm using a Seagate Freeagent Desktop 500GB external harddrive.

SOURCE: How to format my new seagate freeagent 500 gb with macbook?

Here is a link to Seagate that describes how to fromat your drive fro a Mac. GOOD LUCK!

SOURCE: I bought a seagate 500 But I don't know how to put pictures on it

Yes. Its possible.

• Step 1: Analyze the system requirements of the Windows operating system. Windows XP requires 1.5 gigabytes of free hard drive space. Windows Vista requires 20 gigabytes (for the Home Basic edition) or 50 gigabytes (for all other editions). The system requirements for older, outdated versions of the Windows operating system, such as Windows Me and Windows 98, can be found on the official Microsoft Windows Web site (link in the Resources section).
• Step 2 :Connect the external hard drive to the computer with which you plan to use the hard drive. Use the hard drive's original cables included by the drive's manufacturer. It does not matter what connectivity standard you use. Windows will automatically detect the external hard drive.
• Step 3: Click the Start menu in the lower left-hand corner of the PC screen and select My Computer.
• Step 4: Right-click the icon for the external hard drive. Click Format from the pop-up menu. Format the external hard drive in the NTSF format.
• Step 5: Insert the original Windows installation disk into your computer's CD-ROM drive. Close the Installation Wizard when it appears on the screen.
• Step 6: Return to the My Computer window from Step 3. Write down the drive letters assigned to the CD-ROM drive and the drive of your external hard drive. For the sake of this article, we will use the example of D:\\ being the external hard drive and E:\\ being the CD-ROM drive. These are typically the letters assigned to CD-ROM and external drives in the Windows operating system.
• Step 7: Click the Start menu button and select Run.
• Step 8: Type "E:\I386\winnt32.exe /syspart:D: /tempdrive:D: /makelocalsource /noreboot" (without quotation marks) and click OK. This launches the Windows installer file on the Windows installation disk in drive E:\\ and commands it to install on the D:\\ drive (your external hard drive). The Windows Installer Wizard screen will appear. (Change the Drive Letter as in your Machine)
• Step 9: Select the Full Install option in the Windows Installer Wizard. You will then be guided through the Windows installation disk. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation. Depending on the speed of your computer's processor, this may take several hours. Be prepared to enter important information, such as your Windows registration key to register your copy of the Windows operating system. Do not close the installation window until the installation process is complete.