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11
Troubleshooting/
Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQs)
General Questions
Q: I bought a 500GB drive, but my computer is showing
465GB. Where is the missing capacity?
A: Hard drive manufacturers market drives in terms of
decimal (base 10) capacity. In decimal notation, one megabyte
(MB) is equal to 1,000,000 bytes, and one Gigabyte (GB)
is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes. Many operating systems
use the binary (base 2) numbering system to describe disk
capacity; In the binary numbering system, one megabyte
is equal to 1,048,576 bytes, and one gigabyte is equal
to 1,073,741,824 bytes. Simply put, decimal and binary
translates to the same amount of storage capacity.
Q: Is my external hard drive bootable?
A: Yes! As long as your host hardware and operating
system support booting from eSATA or USB. Refer to your
computer’s documentation for more information
Q: My drive was working fine yesterday but now its gone!
A: The disk may have been shut down without being
dismounted, or may have failed. If you do not hear and feel
the drive spin up when you connect the power, the drive will
need to be replaced. If you verify that the computer input and
the drive data cable are working, you may be able to repair
or recover the data with your computer’s disk repair utility
or a third party utility.
If your disk repair utility cannot repair or see the disk, the
drive has failed and will need to be replaced. If data recovery
is desired, please contact an established professional data
recovery firm. For a checklist of what qualities you might
seek, see
www.drivesavers.com/why_drivesavers/index.
html
or
www.ontrack.com/services.
Connecting the drive
to Your Computer
1. Plug the AC adapter cord into the power port on the
back of the drive. The plug should not require much effort
to insert. If the plug will not go in, do not force it; the plug
is probably upside down. Rotate the plug and try again.
Incorrectly inserting the plug could damage the drive and
void the warranty. Plug the other end into an AC outlet.
2. Connect the appropriate cable to your host:
USB plugs are shaped so they can only be properly inserted
one way. Be sure to insert the plugs properly or you
may damage the drive and void the warranty.
Connect the square USB connector (type B) of the
included USB 3.0 cable to the square USB plug
on the G-Force3. Connect and rectangular end
to a free USB port on your computer.
If your computer does not have USB 3.0 ports,
you may purchase a USB 3.0 expansion card
for your computer. Contact your authorized
Fantom Drives reseller for further details.
3. Flip the power switch located on the back of
the G-Force to the "ON" position (labelled "-".) Once
the drive is powered up, your computer should
recognize it and the drive will be ready to format.
