Weeblerock

Q: Not recognizing external hard drive

I have a 1 terabyte seagate external hard drive that I used to back up my PCs and tried to connect it to my Macbook Pro to transfer the files over from my old computers, but the Mac won't recognize the external hard drive at all. Any suggestions?

Macbook Pro 15" 2.66 ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Sep 5, 2010 1:58 PM

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Q: Not recognizing external hard drive

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  • by aiden.dias ,

    aiden.dias aiden.dias Aug 29, 2013 9:25 PM in response to Weeblerock
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 29, 2013 9:25 PM in response to Weeblerock

    Weeblerock wrote:

     

    I have a 1 terabyte seagate external hard drive that I used to back up my PCs and tried to connect it to my Macbook Pro to transfer the files over from my old computers, but the Mac won't recognize the external hard drive at all. Any suggestions?

     

    What specific type of Mac do you use? One with retina display or one without?

     

    I have noticed that the macbook pro with retina display has only 128 gB while one without has around 500 gB.

     

    I have the same problem as you, my mac isn't reconizing my Segate (mine is 3 TB) external hardrive. Except I don't have a PC and so I don't know if mine if it works on that, but I do recall that it was "seen" once on my mac.

     

    What I'm thinking is that like the less memory for a retina display mac vs and non retina display mac, there is a problem between retina and non retina displays in this matter.

     

    I really need the space on my computer, if anyone can verify my thoughts it would be good, I have way to much stuff I can't delete but can move to another storage device.

     

    I apologize greatly for my bad grammar and misspelled words.

  • by igotissues ,

    igotissues igotissues Oct 11, 2013 8:52 AM in response to Weeblerock
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2013 8:52 AM in response to Weeblerock

    My LaCie rugged has just stopped being recognised at all by my MacBook pro retina.  Seems to work with everyone elses computer.  What gives apple? 

  • by Mark Piaskiewicz1,

    Mark Piaskiewicz1 Mark Piaskiewicz1 Oct 11, 2013 9:33 AM in response to igotissues
    Level 3 (578 points)
    Notebooks
    Oct 11, 2013 9:33 AM in response to igotissues

    Has anything changed? New hardware connected?

  • by MCS2010,

    MCS2010 MCS2010 Dec 9, 2013 10:02 PM in response to Weeblerock
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 10:02 PM in response to Weeblerock

    I also have a WD ext drive and it worked fine transfrring from the drive to the mac previously. My drive is intact, as it is automatically recognized when I tested it on another mac. But now, when I plug it back in to mine, no go. Also tried a Seagate and nothing is showing as well. Definitely a problem with the mac, not the drive. Please advise.

  • by TeacherCreature737,

    TeacherCreature737 TeacherCreature737 Dec 14, 2013 12:11 AM in response to sleeplessguy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 14, 2013 12:11 AM in response to sleeplessguy

    Just noticed your post and I've had the exact same problem with very similar Seagate products.  I have 3 quality exts that are useless to me - and I'm no programmer, but I know my way around the OSX interface in terms of trying to reformat, recognize, relocate, and any other re- you can think of that makes us feel ********.

     

    My only success that I havent seen mentioned is to make sure that the connecting usb cable is supplying enough power  to the ext hard drive, especially if the computer is its only power source.

     

    For some older and bigger ext models, there's even something called a power booster usb cable.  Best bet is to check the product description and go from there!

  • by PlotinusVeritas,

    PlotinusVeritas PlotinusVeritas Dec 14, 2013 12:17 AM in response to TeacherCreature737
    Level 6 (14,806 points)
    Dec 14, 2013 12:17 AM in response to TeacherCreature737

    You people need to check the MOST COMMON fault on external HD,  its so common a problem, youd be shocked to learn the truth of it.

     

    Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD

     

     

    7 out of 10 "dead" or unresponsive external USB HD are due to this.   period.

     

    Every year many 1000s of good perfect HD are thrown away due to this common weak link in external hard drives.

     

     

  • by jmcebu,

    jmcebu jmcebu Dec 24, 2013 1:03 AM in response to thundertron
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 24, 2013 1:03 AM in response to thundertron

    this is suck, does anyone experience in your imac didnt recognze your external hardrive?? mine it only give me turn on light, but it didnt show seagate in my monitor.....

     

    i need big help for this......

  • by davidjtro,

    davidjtro davidjtro Jan 17, 2014 10:25 AM in response to Weeblerock
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 17, 2014 10:25 AM in response to Weeblerock

    I have 2 500gb hard drives. Both worked fine on my mac book pro up until I plugged into my Mums PC to share some files with her.

     

     

    Now my mac wont pick up either hard drive. I cant access any of the files and face re formatting and losing all the information.

     

    Why dont Apple do something about this?

  • by PlotinusVeritas,

    PlotinusVeritas PlotinusVeritas Jan 17, 2014 11:01 AM in response to davidjtro
    Level 6 (14,806 points)
    Jan 17, 2014 11:01 AM in response to davidjtro

    You made some mistake in connecting same to your PC, what you did after same who is to tell.

     

    none of that is any cause of Apple Inc.

  • by elisafromlivermore,

    elisafromlivermore elisafromlivermore Jan 21, 2014 9:51 PM in response to manon33
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2014 9:51 PM in response to manon33

    I had the same issue.  Found out FINALLY that the LACIE usb needs to be plugged into the port in the back of my imac (not the keyboard, or other additional usb port device).  Hope this helps someone out there...

  • by PlotinusVeritas,

    PlotinusVeritas PlotinusVeritas Jan 21, 2014 10:05 PM in response to elisafromlivermore
    Level 6 (14,806 points)
    Jan 21, 2014 10:05 PM in response to elisafromlivermore

     

    elisafromlivermore wrote:

     

    Found out FINALLY that the LACIE usb needs to be plugged into the port in the back of my imac.....not the keyboard

     

     

    Yeah, that never would have worked.

  • by Ella R.,

    Ella R. Ella R. Jan 28, 2014 8:22 PM in response to aiden.dias
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2014 8:22 PM in response to aiden.dias

    If you're using it for your PC it may not be formatted for Mac use unless you previously formatted your drive to FAT 32 to be able to use it on both.

     

    If not, then I would suggest saving the contents to your PC and then reformatting to FAT 32 and reinstalling the contents.

     

    If you're not sure how to do this, here's a good link;

    http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/formatting-external-hard-drive-to- fat-32/

  • by Ella R.,

    Ella R. Ella R. Jan 28, 2014 8:25 PM in response to davidjtro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2014 8:25 PM in response to davidjtro

    After searching the web for hours and trying everything I finally found the answer to this.

     

    I have a MAC Book Pro and also have the WD Passport, it was working just the other day and now it wasn't. I could hear it working and see the white light on but it was NOT showing up in devices but WAS showing up in disc utility.

     

    Here's what I did;  With my WD Passport plugged in I went to;

    FINDER

    APPLICATIONS

    DISC UTILITY

    Click on the WD Passport  (in My case it said 1TB WD My Passport) at the left hand side so it's highlighted

    Then click on FIRST AID

    in the middle section then at the bottom right hand side click on VERIFY DISC

     

    This gave me some errors that needed to be fixed, and then I clicked on

    REPAIR DISC and in a few minutes it was fixed.

     

    Now, I don't know if this was a problem for you, but when I clicked below the 1TB WD My Passport where I named my passport "Modella2014" (you will have a different name obviously) in the bottom section it said  MOUNT POINT "not mounted"

    So I went back up to "Modella2014" and right clicked (on the mac track pad that's a 2 finger click) and

    selected "Mount Modella2014" and in a few seconds that was mounted.

     

    Hope this helps, feel free to share and save someone else the 4 hours it took me to figure this out. Now back to editing!

  • by Brian Williams2,

    Brian Williams2 Brian Williams2 Feb 1, 2014 11:36 AM in response to Weeblerock
    Level 1 (63 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 1, 2014 11:36 AM in response to Weeblerock

    I have a LaCie 1TB USB 2.0 external HD. This drive mounts without hesitation on my most recent past version Mac Pro (USB 2.0 ports) and on my current version Mac Mini (USB 3.0 ports), yet it will not make an appearance on my 7 year old MacBook (USB 2.0), nor on my current version (Oct 2013) MacBook Pro (USB 3.0). When connecting to the 'desktop' systems, the drive's blue lamp lights and the HD spins up and there it is in the Finder. On the MacBooks - no blue lamps, no spin up, not even lised in system report USB tree. Thinking that USB power may be an issue (this unit is not bus powered; it has a 12 vdc power supply), I tried using a powered USB hub; no joy. I am currently using the drive as the backup (Time Machine) media for my new MBP (drive connected to MacMini - MBP via WiFi (Airport Express)). That works well, but I will soon change that arrangement - full system restoration could be problematic if the drive won't mount while physically connected to the MBP. I'll continue to watch for probable cause, and solutions, for this issue.

  • by Mark Piaskiewicz1,

    Mark Piaskiewicz1 Mark Piaskiewicz1 Feb 1, 2014 11:49 AM in response to Brian Williams2
    Level 3 (578 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 1, 2014 11:49 AM in response to Brian Williams2

    I’d verify/repair the drive with Disk Utility (or something better) first and then check the type of partition table used. I use GUID and never had a problem.

     

    Are you using the same version of OS X across all systems?

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