G-Technology G-DRIVE mobile USB User manual

Portable USB and FireWire®
PRODUCT MANUAL
g-technology.com
G DRIVE
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Table of Contents
G DRIVE
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G DRIVE
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Welcome to G-DRIVE mobile
Table of Contents
Safety & General Use
Safety Precautions................................................... 4
Backup Your Data .................................................... 5
About Your G-DRIVE mobile
Introduction .............................................................. 7
What’s in the Box .................................................... 8
System Requirements............................................ 8
Overview of the Drive ........................................... 9
Easy Installation for Mac ....................................... 9
Disconnect the Drive ...........................................10
Using Your Drive on Mac
Use with Time Machine .......................................12
Initialize Drive for Mac ........................................14
Restore the Drive Icon .........................................17
Reformat with Partitions.....................................19
Using Your Drive on Windows
Windows Use...........................................................24
Cross Platform Use ................................................25
Support & Warranty
Technical Support .................................................29
Limited Warranty ...................................................30
Copyright..................................................................32

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

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Safety & General Use
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Safety Precautions
The G-DRIVE® mobile’s warranty may be void as a result of the failure to respect the
pre-cautions listed here. If you detect a problem with your drive, please contact our
Technical Support department.
If the product is returned with damage caused by improper handling, the warranty will
be void and liability will rest with the user. 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 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
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Backup Your Data
The disk drive contained in your G-DRIVE mobile 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.

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About Your G-DRIVE mobile
•Introduction .................................................... p.7
• What’s in the Box .......................................... p.8
• System Requirements ................................. p.8
• Overview of the Drive ............................... p.9
• Easy Installation for Mac .......................... p.9
• Disconnect the Drive ................................. p.10

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About Your G-DRIVE mobile
G DRIVE
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Introduction
Thank you for purchasing the G-DRIVE mobile from G-Technology. G-DRIVE mobile hard
drives are the ideal storage solutions for people on the go.
G-DRIVE mobile is the perfect compliment to your Mac® laptop and other portable
computers. Weighing in at less than 9 oz., the drive oers a stylish look with a heavy duty
feel and is perfect to store or backup your important documents, music, digital videos
and digital photo les.
Back up all the les on your MacBook Pro® automatically! G-DRIVE mobile works with
Time Machine® right out of the box. You can also use the drive on a Windows® computer
or work cross-platform. See how here.
The drive features a silent,‘fan-less’ design and an integrated cooling system to ensure
reliable operation and long life. G-DRIVE mobile is bus powered, eliminating the need to
carry around an external AC power supply to use the drive. Portability was never so easy!

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About Your G-DRIVE mobile
G DRIVE
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What’s in the Box
The following items are included in the box:
• G-DRIVE mobile
• (1) USB 3.0 cable (2.0 compatible)
• (1) FireWire® 800 cable
• Quick Install Guide
If any items are missing, please contact G-Technology at g-technology.com/support.
System Requirements
G-DRIVE mobile 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’.
Mac: Mac OS 10.6 + and an available USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 port.
Windows: Windows® 8, 7 Vista and XP® and an available USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 port.
See how here.

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About Your G-DRIVE mobile
G DRIVE
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Overview of the Drive
This diagram shows the helpful features of your G-DRIVE mobile. A Power &
Activity LED is on the front of the unit. Two FireWire ports and a USB port are
on the rear.
The Activity light will glow when power is applied via a USB or FireWire port.
It will ash brighter as data is transferred to or from the hard drive.
Easy Installation for Mac
G-DRIVE mobile easily attaches to your computer via the USB or FireWire port. Simply
use one of the included cables to connect the drive to the appropriate connection
on your computer. For best performance, it is recommended to use the USB 3.0
connection when available. G-DRIVE mobile will automatically mount on the desktop if
you are running Mac OS.
No AC power supply is necessary. The drive is bus powered to eliminate the need to
carry around an external AC power supply to use the drive.

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About Your G-DRIVE mobile
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Disconnect the Drive
A great feature of G-DRIVE mobile 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 disconnecting the drive, unmount the system by simply dragging the
G-DRIVE mobile 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 mobile on Windows, go to Windows Use.
• To use G-DRIVE mobile on Mac and Windows, go to Cross Platform Use.

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Using Your Drive on Mac
• Use with Time Machine ............................. p.12
• Initialize Drive for Mac ............................... p.14
• Restore the Drive Icon ............................... p.17
• Reformat with Partitions ........................... p.19

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
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Use with Time Machine
G-DRIVE mobile 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 mobile with Time Machine.
1. When you attach G-DRIVE mobile 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 did 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®
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3. In the dialog box that appears, select the G-DRIVE mobile. 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 mobile will now back up your important les automatically with Time Machine.
It’s that easy!

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
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Initialize Drive for Mac
G-DRIVE mobile was factory-formatted for use or ‘initialized’ for Mac OS.
You can reinitialize 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 mobile will be displayed in the left-hand column.
2. Select the G-DRIVE mobile by clicking its drive icon in the left-side column.
Information about the drive willl 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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Using Your Drive on Mac®
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4. Click the Format pop-up and 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 the OS.
• Mac OS Extended: Use this format for best performance and media storage.
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 mobile partition.

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
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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 reinitialized, 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 reinitializing the drive, the custom icon for
G-DRIVE mobile has been erased. You can optionally restore this icon with the steps
on the next page.

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
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Restore the Drive Icon
If the G-DRIVE mobile drive icon was erased during the reinitializing process (see
previous section), you can restore the icon with the following easy steps.
NOTE: This process is not required for the operation of G-DRIVE mobile. 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. Next, double-click the
DMG le to open the G-Technology Icons package.
3. Click to select the drive icon for G-DRIVE mobile in the package window. Press
Command+C to copy the icon. (below)

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
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4. Select the G-DRIVE mobile icon on your desktop and press Command+I.
This opens its 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 mobile icon into the
Get Info window. (below right)
The icon for your G-DRIVE mobile has been restored and you can close the Get
Info window. Your drive is now fully ready for use!

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
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multiple
Reformat with Partitions
‘Partitioning’ a hard drive is the process of dividing a hard drive into separate,
discrete sections called ‘volumes’. Each volume works like a separate disk. You can
create up to 16 dierent partitions on a hard drive in the OS and each partition can
be a dierent size and format.
With hard drives getting bigger, it is useful to partition your hard drive so sections
of its space can be used for dierent purposes. For instance, segment user data from
backup data, set up a multi-boot environment with dierent Operating Systems or create
a dedicated capture scratch disk for programs like Final Cut Pro® and Adobe Premiere®.
The following steps will guide you through this simple process of partitioning your drive.
In this example, we will partition a 500 GB G-DRIVE mobile connected via FireWire.The steps
will be identical for your drive, only the name may be dierent.
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-Technology
drive will be displayed in the left-hand column.

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
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2. Select the FireWire or USB icon – not the G-Technology
drive icon – by clicking it in the left-side column.
3. Click on the Partition button in the main window.
4. Select the number of partitions you would like from the Volume Scheme menu.
Below, we have selected ‘2 Partitions’to create two partitions.