Hitachi X500 external hard drive not working with MacBook Pro

Question

Level 1

0 points

Hitachi X500 external hard drive not working with MacBook Pro

I purchased a new Hitachi X500 500GB external USB hard drive today and when I plug it into my MacBook Pro the drive makes a clicking noise and never mounts. When I try it on my wives MacBook it boots up fine. I bought one early in the day and the same thing happened, so I returned it and got a new one and the same thing happens. Any thoughts?

Looks like it's formatted with Fat32 when I look at it on the MacBook.

Thanks

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo

Posted on Aug 8, 2010 4:47 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,284 points

Aug 8, 2010 9:35 PM in response to walshshane

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

Does the external drive have it's own power brick? If not, it's bus-powered and may not be getting enough juice to run.

Also try all the USB ports on your MBP. Although they are "supposed" to be producing the same amount of power, posts around here suggest that's not always the case.

If the drive does not have a power brick, you can get an inexpensive powered USB hub (it has a power brick) like this one:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Belkin/F5U403P/

Adding a powered hub fixes problems with bus-powered USb external drives about 95% of the time.

Reply

Answer 2

walshshane Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 8, 2010 11:03 PM in response to Allan Jones

Hi Allan, thanks so much for replying. I think you might be on to something with the power issue.

You are correct, the drive does not have its own power, its bus powered.

I tried both ports on the MBP and they both produce the same result, a repeating clicking type sound.

If this is the issue, I'm probably just going to return it to Frys this week and get a powered drive.

My plan was to use this drive as a movie drive and plug it into my PS3 and use it to play movies without having to use another power outlet, but if I have to get a powered USB hub, I might as well get a powered USB drive.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

Reply

Answer 3

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,284 points

Aug 9, 2010 8:12 AM in response to walshshane

Good plan. Some bus-powered drive work with MBPs and other don't. Both my externals are self-powered because I seldom if ever need to travel by air with them. If it's car travel....well, I admit to packing a lot of hardware along. I guess it's a comfort level thing 🙂

We live in a smallish Idaho town so have limited Mac resources. However, when we visit our daughter in Portland OR, I always make a pilgrimage to Fry's. What a fun place!

Reply