DriveStation Combo 4 1000GB, eSATA/USB 2.0/FireWire 400/800 HD-HS1.0TQ Macbook Pro not working-help!

[fshef]

   

This drive has been recently purchased and infrequently used mainly with the Firewire 800 interface.  Has worked well until it started to not respond.   I have it setup as a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with 4 partitions one is for Time Machine backups.

 I am on a MacBook Pro 2.26 GHz Core 2 duo running the latest Mac system software that is up to date.

Problem:  It would hang my computer and using Force Quit I would get a message saying "Finder not responding".  I would then force quit the Finder and can only get it back by manually turning off the DriveStation which of course sets off a warning saying the drive was unmounted improperly.  At times the drive/partitions would not mount and I would turn off everything and it  then may mount after that.  Sometimes it would hang when copying from one drive to this drive. So after being quit frustrated,  I tried to erase the volume and initialize again and repartition...and I would not be able to unmount the disk so I could not proceed.  Eventually after turning off DriveStation or rebooting my computer I would be able to unmount and I then be able initialize and partition the DriveStation again.

What I've done: 1.  Tried Diskwarrior/tech tools- hangs the system and will not proceed-I would have to Force Quit

2.  Hooked up to a G4 using Tiger-as above

3.  Used a Firewire 400 to 800 cable- as above

4.  Used a USB cable-as above

.....and if I spend enough time I would get lucky and be able to use Disk utility etc and I would be able to use it for a short period of time before the pattern would repeat itself. 

Obviously I cannot run a computer like this with the potential of not being able to access my data (which I haven't been able to do for 2 weeks now).  So I've exhausted the tools I have at my disposal. Oh and yes I can feel and hear the drive turning inside the DriveStation.

I would appreciate any help in solving this.  Is it a hardware problem?  Is it an Apple problem such as the system not having the correct driver or is it a Buffalo Tech problem and the drive does not work with this version Apple Software.  I am quite frustrated at this point.  

[jdhelf]

   

I have had the same exact problem using the Drivestation with my imac. The drive would hang my system and would hang while using diskwarrior, Apple **bleep** Utility and everything else I tried. Did you ever get an answer? It has to be a hardware issue as I have tried the drive on three different Macs with the same result

[drmemory]

"It has worked well until it started not to respond"  that sounds like hardware starting to fail, or software becoming corrupted. Please contact the Buffalotech support in your area for a resolution or replacement.