The Buffalo Hard drive model: HD-PXT320U2 is not readable but the mac, and by windows I just can see the drive for the data and its just about 280 MBs but the rest of the storage is not appearing about 315 GBs.

BUFFALO TOOLS Buffalo Tools is a feature-rich suite of optional software included on many Buffalo Drive-Station and Mini Station storage products. Any or all of the following components of Buffalo Tools may be installed on Windows PCs.
Buffalo's Backup Utility is an easy-to-use and fully featured backup software for Windows PCs and can be used to back up one or multiple computers with a single Buffalo external hard drive.ECO Manager is an energy efficiency tool used to conserve energy and reduce battery consumption by regulating the power usage of the hard drive, cutting power to the drive during extended periods of inactivity.RAMDISK is a simple utility that allows you to create a RAM disk on your Windows PC which creates a small, but extremely fast environment to work on files in.SecureLock software for Windows provides complete control of the data encryption on your Buffalo external hard drive, providing password protection and software data encryption.

Only basic external hard drive functionality is supported with this operating system; some included utilities may not work. The HDD default format is NTFS; to work with Mac, reformat the HDD using Mac Disk Utility.

I would plug it into a windows 7 or Vista and the computer's USB. The computer should recognize it. Click start then computer and find the icon for your drive and right click your Icon. In the drop-down window look for 'format' and that should help you format your drive. is a feature-rich suite of optional software included on many Buffalo Drive-Station and Mini Station storage products. Any or all of the following components of Buffalo Tools may be installed on Windows PCs.Buffalo's Backup Utility is an easy-to-use and fully featured backup software for Windows PCs and can be used to back up one or multiple computers with a single Buffalo external hard drive.ECO Manager is an energy efficiency tool used to conserve energy and reduce battery consumption by regulating the power usage of the hard drive, cutting power to the drive during extended periods of inactivity.RAMDISK is a simple utility that allows you to create a RAM disk on your Windows PC which creates a small, but extremely fast environment to work on files in.SecureLock software for Windows provides complete control of the data encryption on your Buffalo external hard drive, providing password protection and software data encryption.

Only basic external hard drive functionality is supported with this operating system; some included utilities may not work. The HDD default format is NTFS; to work with Mac, reformat the HDD using Mac Disk Utility.

I would plug it into a windows 7 or Vista and the computer's USB. The computer should recognize it. Click start then computer and find the icon for your drive and right click your Icon. In the drop-down window look for 'format' and that should help you format your drive.

from what im getting from your description your hard drive is faulty if its still within warranty contact buffalo if not then you will need to replace it either way if it is faulty you have lost all of the data on the drive

Compatible


Windows 7 (32/64 bit), Vista (32/64 bit), XP (32 bit), Mac OS X 10.4 or later (*2)

You could download and use TrueCrypt. It's free and has very strong encryption. http://www.truecrypt.org/

If the USB hard drive was formatted in NTFS on a PC then the MAC cannot read this hard drive.
If you format this hard drive on a PC in FAT32 file format then the MAC can exchange data between the MAC and the PC.
The MAC can read and write PC data to this hard drive.

This drive showing as not supported for Linux as you mentioned.
Usually this is due to the board inside the enclosure.
You could crack open the case and mount the drive internally which would resolve this issue.
Otherwise you are down to trying to find a driver (not made for this model) that will be recognized by your system.

regards,
Mike

If the Buffalo had been formatted on a MAC their file format is HPFS and is not compatible with Windows. To be able to exchange data between the Mac and Windows the Buffalo external drive needs to be formatted on Windows XP in FAT 32 (not NTFS). Then the Mac can read and write data on this external drive as well as Windows XP.

I/O Error Device means that the pc cannot communicate with your external HDD - either the USB cable is broken (replace it) or its control board has failed. If it's the latter then the Buffalo is dead, get a new one.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000

Access Windows Disk Manager to see all the drives that are currently connected to your computer. From there, right-click your external hard drive and you should be able to reformat it.

Yes, it is a "plug-and-play" device, and Windows XP/Vista/7 support "plug-and-play" devices.

MY BUFFALO HARD DRIVE model hd-HC320U2-us WILL NOT LOAD WHEN CONNECTED TO MY LAP OR DESK TOP WILL I BE ABLE TO GET MY INFORMATION OFF THE HARD DRIVE, IS THE INFO GONE! WHAT COULD BE THE PROBLEM POWER LIGHT COMES ON BUT THE ACCESS LIGHT DOES NOT BLINK............ TO SHOW CONNECTION HAPPENING