New external hard drive not showing

Question

New external hard drive not showing

I have just purchased a Sabrent Rocket XTRM Thunderbolt 3 2TB external ssd which I plan to use on my iMac 27” mid 2011 predominately, but also use it with my 2015 MacBook Pro. On my iMac it will take over from the almost worn out hard drive. I have connected a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter to the Sabrent and then a short thunderbolt 2 cable to the thunderbolt port on the iMac. Unfortunately the external ssd does not show on the desktop or disk utility.

Do anyone have an idea what the problem could be please?

iMac 27″, 10.13

Posted on Jan 30, 2021 8:24 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Old Toad

Level 10

210,365 points

Jan 30, 2021 11:36 AM in response to Goingroundinacircle

If all else fails and you can return the Sabrent for a refund I suggest you get an external SSD from OWC (MacSales.com). Contact their Customer Support and find out which of their units will work with your iMac model. They have excellent support and products.

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

143,568 points

Jan 30, 2021 8:40 AM in response to Goingroundinacircle

Going from a Thunderbolt Mac 1 to a Thunderbolt 3 drive is not possible. You need to either locate a Thunderbolt 1 drive (contact www.macsales.com ) or you need a new(er) iMac that supports Thunderbolt 3.

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

143,568 points

Jan 30, 2021 8:59 AM in response to Goingroundinacircle

I would speak to Sabrent support to see if you can somehow do that. Let them know your computer is Thunderbolt 1 and ask if you can connect and use a Thunderbolt 3 drive.

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Answer 4

Jan 30, 2021 8:51 AM in response to rkaufmann87

I tried safe mode but nothing. I was led to believe that thunderbolt 3 will come down to 1 or 2 but I would need the adapter to do it. The only affect would be a slowing down old transfer speeds.

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