Hard drive makes a clicking noise on Mac. (But still works fine on PC)

Question

Level 1

0 points

Hard drive makes a clicking noise on Mac. (But still works fine on PC)

When I plug my external hard drive into my PowerBook G4, it makes a odd clicking noise, the light flashes, and it never appears as a drive in my computer.

This is a clear sign of a broken platter, but when I plug the same drive into my Windows laptop it works perfectly. All the files are there, no noticeable problems. (The hard drive is formatted to FAT32, so it should be working with both computers.)

The USB ports are working fine on the Mac laptop, as I have tried the hard drive in each port and have the same problem, while I have tried other things in the ports and they work fine.

Thanks!

PowerBook G4 Aluminum, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Western Digial 250GB Passport Pocket USB

Posted on May 8, 2008 7:37 PM

Reply

Answer 1

louie

Level 4

2,950 points

May 8, 2008 9:13 PM in response to randybruder

Assuming this drive is USB bus powered, this is a common complaint. The Powerbook USB ports don't provide enough power to run most external hard drives. You can try a powered USB hub, a Y-style USB adapter cord that taps both USB ports for enough power, or an AC adapter to power the drive if it can take one.

Reply

Answer 2

randybruder Author

Level 1

0 points

May 12, 2008 10:16 PM in response to louie

Thanks, that fixes it.

Reply

Answer 3

Jun 24, 2008 7:38 PM in response to randybruder

I have a very similar problem with an external hard drive that I recently purchased. It makes a clicking noise but doesn't show up on as a drive on the desktop. I have looked in Disk Utility to configure the drive but it doesn't show up as an option as well. I went to the manufacturer website for support and it tells me that this is expected and that the recommended solution is to "initialize (partition and format) the drive with the Mac OS using the OS disk utility. Following the initialization, the drive will be identified almost immediately upon being connected to the system." (I don't need to use the hard drive on a PC for any reason.)

My question - is this safe to do? If so, how many times do I need to partition?

Reply