PRODUCT MANUAL Compact, High Performance Storage g-technology.
Table of Contents Welcome to G-DRIVE USB Table of Contents Safety & General Use Safety Precautions.................................................... 4 Backup Your Data..................................................... 5 About Your G-DRIVE USB Introduction............................................................... 7 What’s in the Box ..................................................... 8 System Requirements............................................. 9 Overview of the Drive ......................
Safety & General Use Safety Precautions ......................................... p.4 • Backup Your Data ........................................... p.
Safety & General Use Safety Precautions G-DRIVE® USB warranty 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 qualified G-Technology Technical Support representative. • M oisture: Place the device away from moisture or liquids.
Safety & General Use Backup Your Data The disk drive contained in your G-DRIVE USB 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.
About Your G-DRIVE USB Introduction ..................................................... p.7 • What’s in the Box ........................................... p.8 • System Requirements .................................. p.9 • Overview of the Drive .................................. p.
About Your G-DRIVE Introduction Thank you for purchasing the G-DRIVE® USB from G-Technology®. G-DRIVE USB hard drives are the ideal compact storage solution to store or backup your important documents, music, videos and photos. The ubiquitous and high speed USB 3.0 interface gives the G-DRIVE USB universal connectivity at the same time making it extremely affordable for consumers all the way up to professionals.
About Your G-DRIVE What’s in the Box The following items are included in the box: • G-DRIVE USB hard drive • (1) USB 3.0 cable, (backwards compatible to USB 2.0) • Universal AC Power Supply If any items are missing, please contact G-Technology at support@g-technology.com. p.
About Your G-DRIVE System Requirements G-DRIVE USB 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’. It can be easily reformatted for Windows. Please visit Windows Use. • Mac OS 10.7 + • Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 Overview of the Drive This diagram shows the helpful features of your G-DRIVE USB. There is a Power & Activity LED on the front of the unit. The activity LED will glow when the unit is switched on.
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.
Using Your Drive on Mac® Easy Installation for Mac G-DRIVE USB attaches to your computer via the USB 3.0 (backwards compatible with USB 2.0) port. Connect G-DRIVE USB with the supplied USB cable. Connect the power cord to the unit and plug the other end into a surge protector or wall outlet. Press the power button. The drive will automatically mount on the desktop if you are running Mac OS. USB 3.0 Port Kensington Security Slot DC Power in Power Button p.
Using Your Drive on Mac® Use with Time Machine G-DRIVE USB works perfectly and easily with Time Machine. Time Machine is an application that ships with your Mac and provides automatic backup for your files. The following steps will quickly set up G-DRIVE USB with Time Machine. 1. W hen you attach G-DRIVE USB for the first time, the Time Machine dialog box should automatically appear. Click the Use as Backup Disk button. 2.
Using Your Drive on Mac® 3. In the dialog box that appears, select the G-DRIVE USB. 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 files you do NOT want to backup. G-DRIVE USB will now back up your important files automatically with Time Machine. It’s that easy! p.
Using Your Drive on Mac® Disconnect the Drive A great feature of G-DRIVE USB 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. B efore powering down and disconnecting the G-DRIVE USB, unmount the drive by simply dragging the G-DRIVE USB icon to the trash located in the dock.
Maintenance for Your Drive Initialize Drive for Mac .............................. p.16 • Restore the Drive Icon .............................. p.19 • Reformat with Partitions .......................... p.
Maintenance for Your Drive Initialize Drive for Mac G-DRIVE USB was factory-formatted for use or ‘initialized’ for Mac OS. You can re-initialize 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 USB will be displayed in the left-hand column. 2.
Maintenance for Your Drive 4. 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 OS X®. • Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted): Use this format if you intend to use the drive for Time Machine or to create separate bootable installation of OSX, with enhanced data security. 5. Click the Erase button in the lower right corner of the window.
Maintenance for Your Drive 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 re-initialized, 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.
Maintenance for Your Drive Restore the Drive Icon If the G-DRIVE USB drive icon was erased during the reinitializing process (see the previous section), you can restore the icon with the following easy steps. NOTE: This process is not required for the operation of G-DRIVE USB. However, it will make your drive’s appearance on the computer desktop look nicer and more accurate. 1. T o get the G-Technology icon package, go to g-technology.com/support and navigate to your product.
Maintenance for Your Drive 4. Select the G-DRIVE USB icon on your desktop and press Command+I. This opens the Get Info window. (below left) 5. Select the default icon in the Get Info window. (below left) 6. P ress Command+V to paste the custom G-DRIVE USB icon into the Get Info window. (below right) The icon for your G-DRIVE USB has been restored and you can close the Get Info window. Your drive is now fully ready for use! p.
Maintenance for Your Drive 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 different partitions on a hard drive in OS X and each partition can be a different 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 different purposes.
Maintenance for Your Drive 2. Select the 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. S elect the number of partitions you would like from the Volume Scheme menu. Below, we have selected ‘2 Partitions’ to create two partitions. p.
Maintenance for Your Drive 5. Click on the first partition in the Volume Scheme area. Your partition will be highlighted by a blue bounding box. • In the Name field, type a name for the partition. • F rom the Format menu, choose your desired disk format. If you will use your drive primarily on Mac OS, it is recommended to use Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). For info about formats, go here. • I n the Size field, type in a size for the partition.
Maintenance for Your Drive 8. C lick on the Partition button to continue. A progress bar in the lower right corner of the window will show you the progress of the disk’s reformatting. 9. W hen partitioning is complete, the multiple partitions will be displayed in the left-hand panel of Disk Utility. 10. Quit the Disk Utility program. After reinitializing the drive, the custom icon for the G-Technology drive has been erased.
Using Your Drive on Windows Windows Use ................................................. p.26 • Cross Platform Use ..................................... p.
Using Your Drive on Windows® Windows Use G-DRIVE USB is set up at the factory for use with Mac OS systems. A simple initialization will prepare your drive for use with Windows 8, 7 and Vista systems. For helpful information on configuring and using your drive with Windows, please visit g-technology.com/windows. p.
Using Your Drive on Windows® Cross Platform Use You can set up G-DRIVE USB for use on both Windows and Mac systems by formatting the drive as ‘ExFAT’. To do this, use the Disk Utility application and format the drive to ExFAT. 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 USB will be displayed in the left-hand column. 2.
Using Your Drive on Windows® 4. S elect MS-DOS File System from the Format pop-up menu. This will format to ExFAT. NOTE: You may need to rename the drive because ExFAT does not support more than 11 letters in the drive name. 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 USB partition. WARNING: THIS NEXT STEP WILL ERASE ALL DATA ON YOUR DRIVE. p.
Using Your Drive on Windows® 6. Click the Erase button. A progress bar in the lower right corner of the window will show the progress of the disk’s reformatting. Your drive will be formatted to its full capacity as ExFAT. 7. Quit the Disk Utility program. You are finished! 8. A fter reinitializing, the custom icon for the G-DRIVE USB will be erased. No icons are available for ExFAT. With this format, you will be able to read/write on Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP and on Mac OS machines.
Support & Warranty Technical Support ....................................... p.31 • Limited Warranty ......................................... p.32 • Copyright ........................................................ p.
Support & Warranty Technical Support Thank you for purchasing G-DRIVE USB. If you have any comments or questions about this manual or the product, please let us know! G-Technology appreciates and values its customers, striving to give you the finest service and support. If you encounter any difficulties while installing or using G-DRIVE USB, please contact G-Technology Technical Support at g-technology.
Support & Warranty Limited Warranty HGST, a Western Digital Company (“HGST”) Including G-Technology for External Hard Disk Drives What does this limited warranty cover? This Limited Warranty applies to new HGST products purchased from an authorized HGST dealer by the original purchaser for normal use and not for resale. HGST warrants that a covered product is free from defects in materials and workmanship, with the exceptions stated below.
Support & Warranty What must you do? If you are having trouble with a product, before seeking limited warranty service, first follow the troubleshooting procedures that HGST or your reseller provides. To obtain limited warranty service, you must first obtain a Return Materials Authorization (RMA) and ship-to address by contacting G-Technology at g-technology.com/support. Please follow the instructions found on the website.
Support & Warranty Capacity Definition and Disclaimer For G-Technology products 1TB or greater: “One gigabyte (GB) is equal to one billion bytes and one terabyte (TB) equals 1,000 GB (one trillion bytes). Accessible capacity will vary from the stated capacity due to formatting and partitioning of the hard drive, the computer’s operating system, and other factors.” For G-Technology products less than 1TB: “One gigabyte (GB) is equal to one billion bytes when referring to hard drive capacity.
g-technology.com One GB is equal to one billion bytes and one TB equals 1,000 GB (one trillion bytes) when referring to hard drive capacity. Accessible capacity will vary from the stated capacity due to formatting and partitioning of the hard drive, the computer’s operating system, and other factors. Design by G-Technology in California. G-DRIVE, G-Technology and the G-Technology logo are registered trademarks of HGST, Inc. and its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries.
