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Q: Not recognizing external hard drive

I have a 1 terabyte seagate external hard drive that I used to back up my PCs and tried to connect it to my Macbook Pro to transfer the files over from my old computers, but the Mac won't recognize the external hard drive at all. Any suggestions?

Macbook Pro 15" 2.66 ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Sep 5, 2010 1:58 PM

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Q: Not recognizing external hard drive

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  • by dxs309,

    dxs309 dxs309 Jun 6, 2013 12:41 AM in response to Weeblerock
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 6, 2013 12:41 AM in response to Weeblerock

    Try adding a 8 gig usb key and a 4gig file won't fit. It's a software issue (failure) that Apple will not admit. There are other forums and ways for Apple to pay attention.

  • by horatiogroove,

    horatiogroove horatiogroove Jun 11, 2013 5:33 AM in response to dxs309
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 11, 2013 5:33 AM in response to dxs309

    Hi everyone - I have never posted here before but I thought I should let you know that one of the methods I read on here just worked for me   -  my WD My Passport just stopped being recognised from one day to the next - not showing up in Finder, but showing up in Disk Utility. I run a macbook pro 13".

     

    Eventually after many attempts at various things that didnt work - I did this:

     

    running Disk Utility / Verify / Repair  - then THE REPAIR FAILED and it told me I needed to reformat.

     

    Instead, I restarted the mac WITHOUT UNPLUGGING the WD, and it worked. Next time I looked in finder it was there.

     

     

    I hope this helps someone. Its a really annoying problem and had me worried for awhile, but this is how I solved it.

     

    THANK YOU.

  • by jacksonian71,

    jacksonian71 jacksonian71 Jun 21, 2013 7:43 AM in response to Weeblerock
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 21, 2013 7:43 AM in response to Weeblerock

    I can't speak for everyone's situation, but for me it was clearly the power issue.  I was using an external enclosure for my 2.5" SATA drive that I just took out of my MBP to transfer my files back to the new hard drive I just installed.  I was using the NexStar TX and it even uses 2 USB ports to try to draw enough power, but it still wouldn't mount.  I picked up a USB-->SATA cable with an external power supply and it mounted immediately with no problems.  It sounds like as has been mentioned that the MBPs don't supply enough power via USB for some of these drives to mount.  Hope that helps someone else. 

  • by fraco87,

    fraco87 fraco87 Jul 4, 2013 2:06 PM in response to Weeblerock
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 4, 2013 2:06 PM in response to Weeblerock

    I'm having an odd problem regarding recognition. Even though the external-cased harddrive's led is turning on, the disk isn't recognized by either the Finder, About This Mac/ More Info nor the Disk Utility. Any ideas on what could be happenning and how can I start solving it? Thanks in advance

  • by jacksonian71,

    jacksonian71 jacksonian71 Jul 4, 2013 2:10 PM in response to fraco87
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 4, 2013 2:10 PM in response to fraco87

    That's the same problem I was having.  I could even hear the disk spinning, but the MBP wouldn't recognize it.  As soon as I got a different cable with an external power source, it mounted right up.  That might not be your problem, but that would be the first thing I'd check. 

  • by Mark Piaskiewicz1,

    Mark Piaskiewicz1 Mark Piaskiewicz1 Jul 4, 2013 2:23 PM in response to dxs309
    Level 3 (578 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 4, 2013 2:23 PM in response to dxs309

    dxs309, how is the flash drive formatted?

     

    Mark

  • by PeachyOrange,

    PeachyOrange PeachyOrange Jul 19, 2013 12:12 AM in response to Weeblerock
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 19, 2013 12:12 AM in response to Weeblerock

    Anyone found a solution to this problem yet?

    I have a 2 TB Seagate Goflex Desk Adapter USB 3.0, which I partitioned for time machine back up (1tb) and extra storage (1 tb) where I moved all my ebooks, photos and family home videos from last 15 years along with school files. My 2008 macbook was working just fine in backing up time machine and recogning the partition just fine till now where the external hdd light is on but neither system profiler or disk utility recognize the hdd. I'm in desperate need to find a solution without having to erase all my files. Some one help please!!!!

    Thanks a bunch in advance

  • by Mark Piaskiewicz1,

    Mark Piaskiewicz1 Mark Piaskiewicz1 Jul 19, 2013 2:52 AM in response to PeachyOrange
    Level 3 (578 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 19, 2013 2:52 AM in response to PeachyOrange

    Have you tried it on another Mac? How about in a defferent case?

  • by dw88,

    dw88 dw88 Jul 26, 2013 7:46 PM in response to Weeblerock
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    Jul 26, 2013 7:46 PM in response to Weeblerock

    I have read through ALL of the replies and can't believe that Apple hasn't responded with a better solution.  I have 5 MacBook Pros.  I have dropped two that I worked on steadily and broke the screen on one.  I have hooked up to an external monitor and have been running Time Machine to get my info off backing up to a WD 3TB external drive.  It recognized it fine but would never do a full back up.  I had to back up things manually taking forever.  Then....it all the sudded decided it would no longer recognize.  The reason I even bought this external drive is because the Seagate I had been using ALSO stopped being recognized (wish I would have saw this first).  The only problem with the solutions that have been posted is that on my other Macs....they do recognize the drives.  I was about to pay to have someone get the info off my Seagate and as a last chance effort plugged it in to one of the other Macs and there it is!  I plugged in the WD and that Mac recognizes it too.  So what is up???? Why on earth did this one stop recognizing.  I hate to reformat the WD and lose everything (although I can with the Seagate).  It obviously is not the power cord since other Macs that are running the same OS recognize.  I am on Snow Leopard on a couple and Mountain Lion on two.  But the Snow Leopard is on both the machines that DO and DONT recognize them.  WTH????

  • by PlotinusVeritas,

    PlotinusVeritas PlotinusVeritas Jul 26, 2013 8:05 PM in response to Weeblerock
    Level 6 (14,806 points)
    Jul 26, 2013 8:05 PM in response to Weeblerock

    As owner of nearly 100 hard drives, and used enough 1000s of them, everyone should remember 2 points for the future.

     

    1.  NEVER buy a western digital drive for your Mac, just dont do it.

     

    2.  Most of these HD new out of box are NOT FORMATTED for Mac OSX,.....erase any new out of box drive, and have it formatted as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".

     

    3.  Most all external HD have very junk SATA connectors between them and the Mac,......if your drive all the sudden "isnt recognized" is far far more common than you realize, it doesnt indicate that either the HD is bad, OR your Mac has issues.... rather the SATA connector between the HD and Mac is fried. Good news is, cracking open an external HD and removing the HD and connecting it via a HD dock and 9 times out of 10, everything is "good to go".  I recommend anyone who can, to own a HD dock.

     

    4. Some HD are flakey and have "haunted" recognition issues when plugging them in. Many 2.5" HD (especially the larger ones, and the 'older' ones (older than a year or two) run on the razors edge for power as drained thru USB to get them working perfectly 100% of the time. Good news, the HD is ok, the Mac is ok, but the HD isnt getting enough power thru the USB. Seen this a 1000 times.

     

    Lacie doesnt make Hard drives, they contain seagate inside. Toshiba doesnt make 2.5" hard drives, theyre made by Hitachi (same HD Apple uses inside their Macbook pro and Mac Mini).

  • by Mark Piaskiewicz1,

    Mark Piaskiewicz1 Mark Piaskiewicz1 Jul 27, 2013 9:06 AM in response to dw88
    Level 3 (578 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 27, 2013 9:06 AM in response to dw88

    It sounds like you're using one 3TB HD as the backup drive for five Macs. Bad idea putting all your eggs in one basket. I have two separate drives each for my two laptops. Each laptop has a drive for a daily backup and a separate drive for a weekly backup. In addition to this I have a drive on which I store my media plus a backup for that one.

     

     

    At this point a Universal Drive Adapter might help the two Macs access the drive(s) they can't. OWC has a nice USB 3.0 version that can accommodate any SATA or IDE, 2.5", 3.5" or 5.25" drive.

     

     

    I'd strongly recommend against using Time Machine as your only backup program. It has its good points but ease of recovering a complete backup isn't one of them. I'd strongly recommend using CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper (especially SuperDuper) for regular BOOTABLE backups. You can still run a TimeMachine backup, but I haven't found it to be all that reliable.

  • by Mark Piaskiewicz1,

    Mark Piaskiewicz1 Mark Piaskiewicz1 Jul 27, 2013 9:22 AM in response to dxs309
    Level 3 (578 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 27, 2013 9:22 AM in response to dxs309

    dxs309, It sounds like the flash drive was left formatted in FAT32 which has a 4GB file size limitation and is a Microsoft format. Not Apple's fault or problem. Reformat it as Mac OS Extended Journaled or exFAT and you'll be able to use it for larger files.

  • by PeachyOrange,

    PeachyOrange PeachyOrange Jul 29, 2013 2:55 PM in response to Mark Piaskiewicz1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 29, 2013 2:55 PM in response to Mark Piaskiewicz1

    I haven't tried it in a different mac. I'm going to see if it'll work on my dad's pc and retrieve the files I have on there.

    What is the universal adapter you had mentioned above? Will that help my mac access the drive?

    I really appreciate your responses, you've been much more helpful than the guys at genius bar and Seagate

  • by Mark Piaskiewicz1,

    Mark Piaskiewicz1 Mark Piaskiewicz1 Jul 29, 2013 11:57 PM in response to PeachyOrange
    Level 3 (578 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 29, 2013 11:57 PM in response to PeachyOrange

    Be aware that PCs can't read Mac drives without special software installed.

     

     

    The universal drive adapter will take any bare drive and allow you to connect it to your computer. You will have to remove the drive from the case in order to use it and it will allow you to determine if the case is the problem or if it is the drive itself.

     

     

    Do you have any drive utility software like Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro?

  • by PeachyOrange,

    PeachyOrange PeachyOrange Aug 4, 2013 8:48 PM in response to Mark Piaskiewicz1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2013 8:48 PM in response to Mark Piaskiewicz1

    Turns out the problem was the seagate case. I am retrieving my files as we speak and cannot wait to invest in a better external HDD. Thanks again for all your input and advise

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