G-Technology G-DRIVE mobile USB User manual

Compact, High Performance Storage
PRODUCT MANUAL
g-technology.com

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Table of Contents
Welcome to G-DRIVE USB
Table of Contents
Safety & General Use
Safety Precautions................................................... 4
Backup Your Data .................................................... 5
About Your G-DRIVE USB
Introduction .............................................................. 7
What’s in the Box .................................................... 8
System Requirements............................................ 9
Overview of the Drive ........................................... 9
Using Your Drive on Mac
Easy Installation for Mac .....................................11
Optimize Performance ........................................11
Use with Time Machine .......................................12
Disconnect the Drive............................................14
Maintenance for Your Drive
Initialize Drive for Mac ........................................16
Restore the Drive Icon .........................................19
Reformat with Partitions.....................................21
Using Your Drive on Windows
Windows Use...........................................................26
Cross Platform Use................................................27
Support & Warranty
Technical Support .................................................31
Limited Warranty ...................................................32
Copyright..................................................................34

Safety & General Use
•Safety Precautions ......................................... p.4
•Backup Your Data ........................................... p.5

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Safety & General Use
Safety Precautions
G-DRIVE® USB warranty may be void as a result of the failure to respect the precautions listed here. If
you detect a problem with your drive, please contact our Technical Support department.
Please read our Limited Warranty.
• Servicing: Your drive contains no user-serviceable parts. If it appears to be malfunctioning,
have it inspected by a qualied G-Technology Technical Support representative.
• Moisture: Place the device away from moisture or liquids. To reduce the risk of damage, do
not expose this drive to rain or moisture. Do not use it in damp or wet conditions. Never place
objects containing liquids on the drive as they may spill into its openings.
• Ventilation: Place the device in a vented area. The drive should never be placed near or over
a radiator or heat source.
• Temperature: Do not expose this drive to temperatures outside the range of 5°C to
35°C (41°F to 95°F); or to operational humidity beyond 5-80%, non-condensing, or
non-operating humidity beyond 10-90%, non-condensing. Avoid placing your drive
near a source of heat, or exposing it to sunlight (even through a window), or in an
environment that is too cold or humid.
•
Physical Damage: Do not place heavy objects on the drive. Never use excessive force
on your drive.

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Safety & General Use
Backup Your Data
The disk drive contained in your G-DRIVE USB device is a delicate electronic instrument and
is susceptible to damage due to excessive physical shock. Under no circumstances will G-Technology
be held liable for the recovery or restoration of lost data. Any loss, corruption or destruction of data
while using a G-Technology drive is the sole responsibility of the user.
Make Two Backups
To help prevent the loss of your data, we highly recommend that you keep TWO copies of your data
in separate storage locations. Keep one copy on your G-Technology drive. Keep a second copy on
your internal hard drive, another G-Technology drive, or a form of removable storage media.

About Your G-DRIVE USB
•Introduction ..................................................... p.7
•What’s in the Box ........................................... p.8
•System Requirements .................................. p.9
•Overview of the Drive .................................. p.9

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About Your G-DRIVE
Introduction
Thank you for purchasing the G-DRIVE® USB from G-Technology®. G-DRIVE USB hard drives
are the ideal compact storage solution to store or backup your important documents, music,
videos and photos.
The ubiquitous and high speed USB 3.0 interface gives the G-DRIVE USB universal connectivity at
the same time making it extremely aordable for consumers all the way up to professionals. With a
massive storage capacity and speeds up to 226MB/s for 6TB drives, G-DRIVE USB is the perfect
high-performance solution for storage intensive applications including audio/video editing,
digital photography, music libraries and high-speed data back up.
You will love how G-DRIVE USB adds to the aesthetics of your workspace. It features the latest
HGST 7200 RPM drive with up to 64MB of cache, encased in a robust, stylish and recyclable
enclosure. The drive is whisper quiet with an integrated fan-less cooling system that ensures
reliable operation and long life.
G-DRIVE USB is ideal for automatically backing up your Mac® using Time Machine®. You can
also use the drive on a Windows® computer or work cross platform.

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About Your G-DRIVE
What’s in the Box
The following items are included in the box:
• G-DRIVE USB hard drive
• (1) USB 3.0 cable, (backwards compatible to USB 2.0)
• Universal AC Power Supply
If any items are missing, please contact G-Technology at [e-mail].

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About Your G-DRIVE
Overview of the Drive
This diagram shows the helpful features of your G-DRIVE USB. There is a Power & Activity LED
on the front of the unit. The activity LED will glow when the unit is switched on. It will ash
brighter as data is transferred to or from the hard drive.
On the rear of the unit is a Kensington™ security slot, a USB 3.0 port, a DC power In and a
power button.
System Requirements
G-DRIVE USB supports the folllowing Operating Systems. The drive is set up at the factory
for use with Mac OS® systems, and formatted as ‘HFS+ with Journaling’. It can be easily
reformatted for Windows. Please visit Windows Use.
• Mac OS 10.7 +
• Windows 7, 8 and 8.1
Kensington
Security Slot
USB 3.0 Port
DC Power in
Power Button

Using Your Drive on Mac
•Easy Installation for Mac .......................... p.11
•Optimize Performance .............................. p.11
•Use with Time Machine ............................ p.12
•Disconnect the Drive .................................. p.14

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
Easy Installation for Mac
G-DRIVE USB attaches to your computer via the USB 3.0 (backwards compatible with USB 2.0)
port. Connect G-DRIVE USB with the supplied USB cable.
Connect the power cord to the unit and plug the other end into a surge protector or wall
outlet. Press the power button. The drive will automatically mount on the desktop if you are
running Mac OS.
Kensington
Security Slot
USB 3.0 Port
DC Power in
Power Button

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
Use with Time Machine
G-DRIVE USB works perfectly and easily with Time Machine. Time Machine is an application
that ships with your Mac and provides automatic backup for your les. The following steps will
quickly set up G-DRIVE USB with Time Machine.
1. When you attach G-DRIVE USB for the rst time, the Time Machine dialog box should
automatically appear. Click the Use as Backup Disk button.
2. If the Time Machine dialog box does not launch, go to the Apple® Menu > System
Preferences. Click on the Time Machine icon. The Time Machine Preference panel will open.
Click the Select Backup Disk button.

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
3. In the dialog box that appears, select the G-DRIVE USB. Click the Use for Backup button.
4. Make sure the Time Machine switch is set to ON. You can set its options by clicking the
Options button. Do this to choose volumes, folders or les you do NOT want to backup.
G-DRIVE USB will now back up your important les automatically with Time Machine.
It’s that easy!

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
Disconnect the Drive
A great feature of G-DRIVE USB is its ability to be connected and disconnected while your
computer is running. To prevent failures and/or data loss, it is important to follow the steps
below when disconnecting or ‘unmounting’ the drive from your computer.
1. Before powering down and disconnecting the G-DRIVE USB, unmount the drive by simply
dragging the G-DRIVE USB icon to the trash located in the dock.
Keyboard shortcut: Select the drive icon and hit Command+E.
2. It is safe to remove the drive from your system when the drive icon is no longer present on
your desktop.
Helpful Links
• To use G-DRIVE USB on Windows, go to Windows Use.
• To use G-DRIVE USB on Mac and Windows together, go to Cross Platform Use.

Maintenance for Your Drive
•Initialize Drive for Mac .............................. p.16
•Restore the Drive Icon .............................. p.19
•Reformat with Partitions .......................... p.21

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Maintenance for Your Drive
Initialize Drive for Mac
G-DRIVE USB was factory-formatted for use or ‘initialized’ for Mac OS. You can re-initialize if
you would like to quickly erase the contents of the drive. Here are the steps.
1. First, open the Disk Utility program. This application is located on your hard drive under
Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility. The window below will appear. Your G-DRIVE USB will be
displayed in the left-hand column.
2. Select the G-DRIVE USB by clicking its drive icon in the left-side column. Information about
the drive will be displayed at the bottom of the window.
3. Select the Erase tab to view the formatting options. By default, the Format pop-up menu is
set to the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) option.

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Maintenance for Your Drive
4. Choose the Format option that you prefer.
• Mac OS Extended (Journaled): Use this format if you intend to use the drive for Time
Machine or to create a separate bootable installation of OS X®.
• Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted): Use this format if you intend to use the drive
for Time Machine or to create separate bootable installation of OSX, with enhanced
data security.
5. Click the Erase button in the lower right corner of the window. A dialog box will appear
asking if you want to erase the G-DRIVE USB partition.

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Maintenance for Your Drive
WARNING: THIS NEXT STEP WILL ERASE ALL DATA ON YOUR DRIVE.
6. Click on the Erase button to continue. A progress bar in the lower right corner of the
window will show the progress of the disk’s reformatting.
7. After the drive is re-initialized, you should automatically see the Time Machine dialog box.
• Click the Use as Backup Disk button if you want to use the drive with Time Machine. For
more info using the drive with Time Machine, go here.
• Click the Don’t Use or Decide Later button if you do not want to use Time Machine
at this point.
8. Quit the Disk Utility program. After re-initializing the drive, the custom icon for G-DRIVE
USB has been erased. You can optionally restore this icon with the steps on the next page.

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Maintenance for Your Drive
Restore the Drive Icon
If the G-DRIVE USB drive icon was erased during the reinitializing process (see the previous
section), you can restore the icon with the following easy steps.
NOTE: This process is not required for the operation of G-DRIVE USB. However, it will make
your drive’s appearance on the computer desktop look nicer and more accurate.
1. To get the G-Technology icon package, go to g-technology.com/support and navigate to
your product. There will be a link to download the icons.
2. Once downloaded, it should automatically open the G-Technology Icons folder as shown
below. If not, double-click the Zip le to open. Then double-click the DMG le to open the
G-Technology Icons package.
3. Click to select the drive icon for G-DRIVE USB in the package window. Press Command+C
to copy the icon. (below)

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Maintenance for Your Drive
4. Select the G-DRIVE USB icon on your desktop and press Command+I. This opens
the Get Info window. (below left)
5. Select the default icon in the Get Info window. (below left)
6. Press Command+V to paste the custom G-DRIVE USB icon into the Get Info window.
(below right)
The icon for your G-DRIVE USB has been restored and you can close the Get Info window. Your
drive is now fully ready for use!