MPB does not mount USB external hard drive

I purchased a usb external hard drive (Buffalo 7200 rpm 320 GB) and plugged it into my my MBP and nothing happened. I had my techie friend come to help me, he could get the external hard drive to work on his mac book G4 (I think it was) but it would never mount on my computer. The computer recognizes it, it will show up on system profiler, but there is no icon on the desktop. Anyone have any ideas?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Aug 11, 2007 6:13 AM

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21 replies

Aug 17, 2007 3:40 PM in response to japanshannon

Is it a self-powered or an usb-powered HD? If the latter, try connecting it to a self-powered usb hub or contact the vendor for futher assistance.
Also remove all usb components and check it again.
Or, in disk utility, first aid section, select the volume and then select verify disk ( and repair it, if needed).

Good luck.

Message was edited by: iTunes

Aug 17, 2007 6:52 PM in response to japanshannon

Umm.. I dunno which USB port your using, but the left UBS (the one next to the Magsafe connector) doesn't have as much current/power as the right one. Cause I've been experiencing some problems with USB devices too!

But, if your getting absolutely nothing on both! Then maybe there's a bigger problem. You could return the machine to a Applestore and ask on of their geeks to check the system over for you.

Or.. It could be a really simple problem, such as your ports ain't giving as much juice as required to operate the device. In this case, the only alternative would be to either change the enclosure from a USB to FireWire, or sell the device and buy a FireWire replacement.

Oct 12, 2007 9:00 AM in response to japanshannon

Hi there,

I have exactly the same problem. It actually drives me mad because the USB hard drive (Packard Bell 250GB self-powered) works fine in many computers with no problem at all.

I have noticed, however, that if I turn on the HD and plug it to my MacBook, nothing happens; then, I disconect it and try to plug it again, and it finally recognises it. So I have been doing this for long time to make it work. There are sometimes that it won't just mount nor show on Disk Utility. I thought it was the HD's fault, but I am noticing that many brands are having the same issue.

This makes me believe it's a software issue rather than hardware (i.e. setting the HD as master/slave) Hope Apple corrects this issue.

Manuel

Oct 12, 2007 9:21 AM in response to Manuel Vargas

Just chipping in with a "me too" post -- I have a Freecom 250GB USB drive that used to work in OS X but for reasons unknown, one day it just stopped showing up. If I plug it in I can hear the drive spin up, but that's all that happens -- nothing in disk utility, nothing in /dev, nothing in hardware profiler. If I reboot into XP it works just fine, so it's definitely something software related, but no amount of poking around has shed any light on it.

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MPB does not mount USB external hard drive

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