G-Drive ev RaW 2TB, won't format under any OS except Linux

G-Technology G-DRIVE
1

Hi,

I recently purchased 2 2TB G-Drive ev RaW 2TB drives, and neither of them can be formatted under any OS except Linux. Attempts cause the both the drive and PC to freeze; the latter being a soft lock. Similar freezes occur on macOS as well. When I manage to see what partition scheme it makes, it’s not any that I’ve seen. It does a 32MB partition in the front and 14MB on the end. Even then, the drives do not format.

Is there a special utility I need to format these drives?

2

Hi @Ikouy,

Have you opened a Support Case? If not opened, for more information, please contact the WD Technical Support team for the best assistance and troubleshooting:
https://support-en.wd.com/app/ask

3

I have, but they quickly went “the drive is defective and exchange under warranty” route. Hardly what I could reliable troubleshooting (and Intel does the same thing, amusingly). Probably the same reason why I haven’t bothered with another WD product with asking support.

I managed to find an USB ATC w/ 1TB HDD that I will do some more testing in the upcoming week.

From all that I’ve been able to research, the drive(s) are incompatible with all modern operating systems. Windows has been entirely unsupported; the drive(s) full manual only specify FAT32 as a valid Microsoft format (which hasn’t been supported in Windows since 2001). I tried to mount the drive under macOS Ventura with an M2 Mac mini with the original partitions and file system, but like formatting in Windows it overloads the enclosure’s “firmware” and it crashes. I am planning on testing the exFAT partition I created under Linux with it some time later today. Right now the drives work properly under Windows with said exFAT partition.

My best guess is that if the ATC works, then the USB-B micro connection on those drives is just an afterthought and not meant for general usage of the drive. Which is understandable, the SATA connectors have been there longer and probably designed around the ATC/Docks instead.