G-Technology G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt User manual

PRODUCT MANUAL
g-technology.com

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Table of Contents
Welcome to G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt
Table of Contents
Safety & General Use
Safety Precautions................................................... 4
Backup Your Data .................................................... 5
About Your G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt
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

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

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Safety & General Use
Safety Precautions
The warranty on G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt 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 Safety & General Use
Backup Your Data
The disk drive contained in your G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt 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 with Thunderbolt
About Your G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt
•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 with Thunderbolt About Your G–DRIVE with Thunderbolt
We designed G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt to be a stylish, high-performance storage solution
featuring ultra-fast Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 interfaces in a solid, all-aluminum enclosure.
You’ll love how G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt looks and sounds. It features the latest HGST
7200 RPM drive with up to 64MB of cache, encased in a rugged, stylish and recyclable
enclosure. And the drive is whisper quiet with an integrated heat-sink, or fanless cooling
system, that ensures reliable operation and long life.
G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt is plug-and-play on Mac OS® and ideal for automatically
backing up your Mac® using Time Machine.® You can also use the drive on a Windows®
computer or work cross platform.
Introduction
Thank you for purchasing G-DRIVE® with Thunderbolt™ from G-Technology.®
G-DRIVE hard drives are the ideal storage solutions for content creation professionals who
work with data-intensive applications—like audio/video editing, digital photography and
music libraries—and need high-speed backup.

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About Your G–DRIVE with Thunderbolt
What’s in the Box
The following items are included in the box:
• G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt hard drive
• (1) Thunderbolt cable
• (1) USB 3.0 cable, (backward-compatible to USB 2.0)
• Universal AC Power Supply
• Quick Start Guide
• 3-Year Limited Warranty
If any items are missing, please contact G-Technology at [e-mail]
or call [phone].

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About Your G–DRIVE with Thunderbolt About Your G–DRIVE with Thunderbolt
Overview of the Drive
This diagram shows the helpful features of your G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt. There is a
Power & Activity LED on the front of the unit and a Heat Sink beneath it. 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 Thunderbolt port,
a DC Power In and an On/O Switch.
System Requirements
G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt supports the following Operating Systems. The drive
is set up at the factory for use with Mac OS® systems, and formatted as ‘HFS+ with
Journaling’.
• Mac® OS 10.7 +
• Windows® 8, 7
NOTE: G-DRIVE models larger than 2TB are not supported by Windows XP and older
32-bit operating systems. These OS’s are limited to a maximum volume size of 2.2TB.
Heat Sink Activity LED Kensington
Security Slot
USB 3.0
Port
Thunderbolt
Port
DC Power
Input
On/O
Switch

Using Your Drive on Mac®
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®Using Your Drive on Mac®
Easy Installation for Mac
G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt attaches to your computer
via the Thunderbolt cable or USB 3.0 cable, which
is backward-compatible with USB 2.0. Choose the
connection appropriate for your system and connect
your drive with the matching supplied cable.
Connect the power cord to the unit and plug the other
end into a surge protector or wall outlet. Turn on the
power switch. The drive will automatically mount on the
desktop if you are running Mac OS.
Optimize Performance
For best performance, we recommend connecting your G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt via the
Thunderbolt port. G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt can be connected to any machine equipped
with a Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 port.
USB 3.0
Port
Thunderbolt
Port

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
Use with Time Machine
G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt works perfectly and easily with Time Machine—the
application that ships with your Mac and provides automatic backup for your les. Use
the following steps to quickly set up your drive with Time Machine.
1. When you attach your G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt for the rst time, the Time Machine
dialog box should appear automatically. 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®Using Your Drive on Mac®
3. In the dialog box that appears, select G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt.
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 with Thunderbolt will now automatically back up your important
les with Time Machine. It’s that easy!

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Using Your Drive on Mac®
Disconnecting the Drive
A great feature of G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt 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 your G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt,
unmount the drive by simply dragging the G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt 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 with Thunderbolt on Windows, go to Windows Use.
• To use G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt on Mac and Windows together,
go to Cross Platform Use.

Using Your Drive on Mac®
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 with Thunderbolt was factory-formatted, or ‘initialized’, for use with 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 shown below will appear. Your
G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt will be displayed in the left-hand column.
2. Select the G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt 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 Maintenance for Your Drive
4. Choose the Format option that you prefer.
• Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Option: 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 Option: Use this format for best performance and media storage.
To select, click the Format pop-up and its option to Mac OS Extended.
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 with Thunderbolt partition.

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Maintenance for Your Drive
WARNING: THIS NEXT STEP WILL ERASE ALL DATA ON YOUR DRIVE.
6. Click 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, the Time Machine dialog box should automatically
appear.
• Click the Use as Backup Disk button if you want to use the drive with
Time Machine. For more about 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 with Thunderbolt has been erased. You can optionally restore this icon
with the steps on the next page.

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Maintenance for Your Drive Maintenance for Your Drive
Restore the Drive Icon
If the G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt icon was erased during the reinitializing process
(see the previous section), you can restore the icon by following these easy steps.
NOTE: This process is not required for the operation of G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt.
However, it will make your drive’s appearance on the computer desktop look cleaner
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 with Thunderbolt 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 with Thunderbolt 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 with Thunderbolt icon
into the Get Info window. (below right)
The icon for your G-DRIVE with Thunderbolt has been restored and you can
close the Get Info window. Your drive is now fully ready for use!