Q   How do I set up my new drive in Mac OSX with my Icy Dock external enclosure?

o    Insert the drive into the device, connect the interface cable, and turn the power on (if applicable). Once the drive is recognized in Mac OSX, a warning will appear to notify the user that the drive is not useable and needs to be initialized. Click the initialize button and the drive is now ready to be formatted. Next, open Disk Utility (found in Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility). Select the drive in the left hand pane, and then click on the Partition tab. Under the white space on the left is a plus and minus sign; click the plus sign to create a new partition. Select the size of the volume, the name, and the file system. For Mac OSX, use Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). To utilize the drive with Apple Time Machine the drive must be formatted using Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Finally, click Apply, and the volume should now be seen in Finder.

Q   How do I format my drive in Mac OSX?

o    Open Disk Utility (found in Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility). Select the drive in the left hand pane, and then click on the Partition tab. Under the white space on the left is a plus and minus sign; click the plus sign to create a new partition. Select the size of the volume, the name, and the file system. For Mac OSX, use Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). To utilize the drive with Apple Time Machine the drive must be formatted using Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Finally, click Apply, and the volume should now be seen in Finder.

Q   Are Icy Dock external enclosures compatible with Apple Time Machine?

o    Yes. In order for drives to be used with Apple Time Machine, the drive must be formatted with Journaling enabled.

Q   Do Icy Dock products come with backup software for Mac OSX?

o    At this time, Icy Dock products are not bundled with any backup software for Mac OSX.

Q   Are any drivers required to use Icy Dock products with Mac OSX?

o    For USB and Firewire devices, no drivers are required provided that Mac OS 9.0 or later is being used.

o    For eSATA devices, drivers may be required if an eSATA ExpressCard or PCI Express card is used. These drivers will be provided by the manufacturer.

Q   How do I set drives up in a RAID configuration using Mac OSX?

o    Using Disk Utility, the user can set up drives in a RAID array. The three available configurations are striped, mirrored, and concatenated.

o    First, click on the RAID tab on the right side of the window. Fill in the Name, File System, and RAID type fields. Then in the white box below, drag the volumes or disks you would like to include in the array. Before clicking Create, double check the settings and disks you are including. When the RAID volume is created, any data on the volumes included will be erased. Once the progress bar reaches the end, the RAID set will be ready to use.

Q   How can I use a Windows formatted drive in Mac OSX?

o    Natively, OSX can read and write to drives formatted in FAT (MS-DOS) file systems. It can also read NTFS volumes, however it does not have write permissions.

o    To have read and write capability for NTFS volumes, a free driver is available from Apple downloads for NTFS-3G (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/ntfs3g.html). Third party software is also available from Paragon (http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/)

Q   After I delete files from my drive, my free space does not change.

o    In Mac OS, data is not truly deleted from the drive until the Trash has been emptied. Once the Trash has been emptied, your free space will reflect the changes made.

Q   How do I safely remove an Icy Dock external enclosure in Mac OSX?

o    One way to eject the drive is to secondary click the volume on the desktop and select Eject. The second way is to locate the drive in the left hand pane in Finder and click on the eject button to the right of the volume. The third way is to find the volume on the desktop and drag it to the Trash in the dock.

Q   I have an Apple computer. What do I need to use an Icy Dock eSATA external enclosure?

o    Currently, only Mac Pro and Macbook Pro systems have the ability to use the eSATA interface. On Mac Pro desktops, a PCI Express add-on card can be used, or a bracket which converts an internal SATA port to an eSATA port. On Macbook Pro laptops, an ExpressCard can be used to add 1 or 2 eSATA ports.

Q   I have an Apple computer. What do I need to use an Icy Dock external enclosure with an eSATA port multiplier?

o    Currently, only Mac Pro and Macbook Pro systems have the ability to use the eSATA interface. On Mac Pro desktops, a PCI Express add-on card which supports port multiplication can be used. On Macbook Pro laptops, an ExpressCard can be used to add 1 or 2 eSATA ports which support port multiplication.

Q   How do I configure the sleep settings for my drive in Mac OSX?

o    Go to Settings -> Energy Saver. Under the Sleep tab, you can check or uncheck the box that says “Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible”. This will allow both external and internal drives to be put to sleep. To wake up external drives, simply click on the icon on the Desktop or in Finder and the drive will again be accessible.