Finder does not show external hard drive

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Level 1

1 points

Finder does not show external hard drive

I have posted this question under a different post; I received good suggestions but it did not get resolved. So I figured I post a new topic.
My two external hard drives are not displayed on my desktop or in my finder after I plug them in. Time machine still backs up to it and when I run the disk utility, I see them. But that is the only area I can eject or access them. When I open in finder, I don't see them (and the option is checked to show any hard drive). It is getting frustrated since every time I want to eject them or access them I have to run the disk utility. My Imovie also recognizes the external hard drive, I can access my events. So it is kind of a weird situation. Any help will be appreciated.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.1), 2EA External G-Drives 320GB & 500GB

Posted on Jan 16, 2008 5:09 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 16, 2008 5:19 PM in response to Cyrus14

have you tried creating a new user account to see if the drives show up on the desktop in that account?

Have you checked the formatting of the external drives? for intel macs Time Machine works best in GUID format, PPX macs work best in Apple Partition Map format. both should also be HFS Plus extended journaled. Many external hard drive come formated for PC use. The Mac can also read and write these drives, but sometimes will not mount them.

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Answer 2

Cyrus14 Author

Level 1

1 points

Jan 16, 2008 5:43 PM in response to Barry Porter1

I haven't tried those but the thing is that I used to see my hard drives. One day it just started not showing them, that's why I was thinking something is not right. My hard drives are G-drives and they came formatted for Mac.
I will try the new user account, and see what it does.
Thanks.

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Answer 3

umutko

Level 1

20 points

Jan 23, 2008 6:08 PM in response to Cyrus14

Hey this is still Cyrus14, for some reason when I logged in, it asked me to create a username. Strange things happening to me with my mac lately, which is so not mac. So I cannot log on as Cyrus14 anymore.
Anyway, I just tried a different user account and turned my hard disk on, it didnt show. It starting to aggravate me since now I am trying to add some movies from my external hard drive to itunes to sync with my appleTV. When I hit add to library, I cannot select those files that are on my external hard drive.
Please help !!!!!!

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Answer 4

umutko

Level 1

20 points

Jan 30, 2008 2:39 PM in response to umutko

This is the response I got from G-Technologies

This can be directory related issue not a drive issue.
In order to repair the directory you will need to run a program by name of
DISK WARRIOR on the drive.
This will allow the computer to read the disk and directory.

-----
Does anyone know anything about this DISK WARRIOR?

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Answer 5

Jan 30, 2008 6:56 PM in response to umutko

Hi,

I had the same problem, only difference is, I know what caused it in my case. My fuse jumoed out and I lost power to my external HDD while it was doing a backup with time machine. After that my external disk disappeared. Hard Disk Utility just reported errors and couldn't fix anything.

I bought Disk Warrior and my Drive and all my data is back. I didn't loose a single file. It's quite expensive with 99 USD but I don't think there is another tool that can bring your data back.

It took me me 3 tries and nearly 24 hours to get my external drive back btw. 2 times Disk Warrior just froze my computer, the 3rd time it worked.

Greetings,

Andre

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Answer 6

umutko

Level 1

20 points

Jan 30, 2008 8:04 PM in response to Andre Laubner

Hi,
Well there is another difference, disk utility does not report any errors. When I hit verify disk, it says HD appears to be OK. In addition, I can access my files. I just created alias for my hard drives so I can access them thru those. But it is still annoying me not be able to see it on finder or on my desktop when I plug it. And I dont want to spend $99 just to have the icon there, I hope there is a cheaper and a simpler solution. Thanks for the reply though, it is good to know disk warrior works.

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Answer 7

John H

Level 3

858 points

Jan 30, 2008 8:41 PM in response to Cyrus14

How about your finder preferences - showings disks may have inadvertently been turned off

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Answer 8

Jan 30, 2008 9:05 PM in response to John H

Have you put spotlight comments on your drives? If yes, then that's the problem. It happend with me; Was able to resolve it after painful googling around.

check out this post for further help.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1324110

Good Luck !!!

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Answer 9

umutko

Level 1

20 points

Jan 31, 2008 1:24 PM in response to ParagJ_11

Man, you are exactly right !! Now I remember, I wanted to get them organized so I did put spotlight comments on them. I did not have any comments before, and they were working perfect. I added TIME MACHINE and IMOVIE EVENTS comments to those, and after that it happened. Thanks a lot. Now I know what it caused. I looked at the link you sent. I am at the office, so I briefly glanced at it. It looks like I need to do some reading. But I may be getting somewhere. But it ***** that I added an innocent spotlight comment and they disappeared. So unlike Apple. Thanks man again.

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Answer 10

umutko

Level 1

20 points

Jan 31, 2008 1:26 PM in response to John H

I had verified that. I even unchecked and checked them back again to see if it would do anything. Nothing.

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Answer 11

umutko

Level 1

20 points

Feb 1, 2008 5:34 PM in response to ParagJ_11

ParagJ_11,
Thanks for the help. That link you gave helped me solve my problem. It solved one of my hard drives, but that is a start. For some reason, the remedy I applied for my first hard drive did not work for the second one. But I am talking to the expert over there, so I hope to resolved the second issue as well.
Thanks for your help.

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