MacOSX has difficulty working with drives of larger than 1.0tb in size. There is a firmware update that when installed on the drive will allow you to use the drive normally. Fortunately, upgrading the firmware on the drive does not require a great deal of technical ability, just a special utility.


MacOS 10.5.x http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/57xxSteelVineManager_V5.1.24.leopard.pkg.zip

MacOS 10.4.x http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/57xxSteelVineManager_V5.1.24.tiger.pkg.zip


The link above is the utility in question. Run the file inside the zip, and install the program. You'll then find it in your applications folder in a folder called "57xxSteelvineManager" The application is run by double-clicking the "SteelVine" icon inside this folder.


http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/SiI57x4_11576_forUpgradeByGUI.zip


The above file is the firmware, download it to your desktop and unzip it.


If you ran the SteelVine application while the drive is connected (this is necessary in order to update the firmware) you'll see some colorful buttons across the top and some information about the drive to the right. In order to upgrade the firmware you must click the second from the last button on the top (when you mouse over it you will see "Specify Firmware"), click this button.


The software will ask for a password, the password is "admin" without the quotes. In the window that pops up click "browse" and then locate the file that you unzipped onto your desktop. Finally, you must click the "Install Firmware" button on the bottom right.


While the firmware installing DO NOT disconnect the drive or turn off your Mac. This process takes a few minutes and you will get a pop up window telling you that the process was completed successfully when it is done. You must restart your computer and the drive at this time.


Once that is done you can format the drive. In Disk Utility, please go to the Partitions tab, where it says, "current" select "1 partition" and then click "options" at the bottom of the page. In the window that pops up please select either APM (Power PCs) or GUID (Intel Macs). Click Apply and then Partition.