System profiler sees external HDs, but Finder doesn't ...

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Level 1

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System profiler sees external HDs, but Finder doesn't ...

Been a rough couple days; had gray and blue screen hanging that eventually seemed to get fixed by rebooting from the Mac OS disk.

But now it's not recognizing external hard drives in finder. I can see them in System Profiler ...
I've searched the heck out of these forums for a fix (when Profiler sees the drives, but Finder does not) to no avail, so here it is ...

Profiler sees as below, and more details follow:

USB High-Speed Bus:

Host Controller Location: Built-in USB
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBEHCI
PCI Device ID: 0x0aa6
PCI Revision ID: 0x00b1
PCI Vendor ID: 0x10de
Bus Number: 0x24

External USB HDD:

Product ID: 0xa001
Vendor ID: 0x0480
Version: 1.04
Serial Number: 35394A4C46304C3853202020
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Toshiba
Location ID: 0x24700000
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): Unknown (Device has not been configured)

-------

USB High-Speed Bus:

Host Controller Location: Built-in USB
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBEHCI
PCI Device ID: 0x0aa9
PCI Revision ID: 0x00b1
PCI Vendor ID: 0x10de
Bus Number: 0x26

Maxtor 3200:

Product ID: 0x3210
Vendor ID: 0x0d49
Version: 77.f8
Serial Number: 605010039233
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Maxtor Corporation
Location ID: 0x26400000
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): Unknown (Device has not been configured)

-----

So I don't know what is going on. The Maxtor "failed", then i had the whole mess with the Mini hanging at the blue screen and not restarting ... seem to have gotten through that, and now it's not even recognizing the Toshiba!!! (Which had not been a problem throughout the blue screen drama.)

I've unplugged everything and let it sit for hours, and now I'm at a total loss ...

Thanks in advance.

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.6.5), Ext. Maxtor 320 GB, ext. LaCie 120GB, ext. LaCie DVD/CD burner, External .

Posted on Nov 22, 2010 7:55 PM

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Answer 1

mooblie

Level 4

1,954 points

Nov 23, 2010 6:45 AM in response to marc323

Does Disk Utility see the phantom discs?

If so, does the "Mount" button there make them visible in Finder?

And can you then try Disk Utility's "Repair" function?

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Answer 2

marc323 Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 23, 2010 9:10 AM in response to mooblie

Hi mooblie, thanks for checking yes.

No, Disk Utility does NOT see the disks. And yes, I've checked the preferences in Finder, and I have ticked it so that it shows external drives.

Further, the Toshiba has "come back to life" (is now recognized), and so just the Maxtor is a problem (which was a problem which as memory serves immediately predated the blue screen/gray screen drama.)

The Maxtor is not seen on the desktop/finder on my wife's (brand new) Macbook Pro, but is seen in her system profiler as well, BTW.

So I would think it's just a problem with the drive (which sadly houses my iTunes collection), except for the brief lack of recognition of the TOshiba; and the fact that it seems my printer (also running in via USB) is only sporadically being recognized (had a few "printer is offline" when it was plugged in via USB and also to the wall (electric.))

FWIW, the TOshiba has no external power, just USB, so has to go directly to the back of the Mini, it was never recognized when I tried to hook it in via a USB hub I have ... the Maxtor (problem drive) has external (AC) power, and that is all hooked up.

WHile trying to fix the blue screen, I followed various fixes including unplugging everything and holding down the Power button, starting up while holding "shift", holding "c", etc., etc. ...

Any further insight greatly appreciated!!!

Marc

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Answer 3

mooblie

Level 4

1,954 points

Nov 23, 2010 10:03 AM in response to marc323

Long shots:
I had a USB drive that wasn't seen on a long, thin USB cable, but WAS seen on a short, thick USB cable into the same socket. That suggested a borderline power situation to me, feeding power down a USB cable with too much resistance. Do you have another USB cable to try?

Alternatively, you say your Toshiba doesn't have a power supply connected, but is there one (a wall-wart) still in its box? Does the Toshiba case have a small DC power connector?

Or, if you're good with a screwdriver, can you take the naked drives out of their cases and swap them, and so put the bare Toshiba drive in the (powered) Maxtor case? (and vice versa)

It might locate the problem. Sounds like "borderline power-down-USB" to me.

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Answer 4

marc323 Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 23, 2010 5:44 PM in response to mooblie

Okay, mooblie, thanks again ... but still no dice.

Switched out USB cables (in fact into the back of the Maxtor its not USB to the back, it's a usb to a/b cable ( http://tinyurl.com/22k4p68) ...

And the toshiba is small and slim, like a wallet, and the Maxtor is a big brute; even if i was good or confident with screwdrivers, don't know that i could pull off the swapping ...

so thanks for the heads up about the borderline power down, but esp. since the Maxtor is getting juice from the wall (and no, Toshiba has no wall-wart option) i'm not sure about that ... will see if i can find a shorter/fatter usb 2.0 a/b cable, but this worked fine for 14 mos. until this ...

and now i'm HANGING AT SHUTDOWN!!! i shutdown from the computer, and it hangs on a gray/blue screen.

I'm willing to just reformat my whole drive if i thought that would save things here ... (other than iTunes i'm all backed up ...)

already did all the disk utility/repair/verification possible, with clean bill of health, on the hard drive ...

???

thanks!

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Answer 5

marc323 Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 24, 2010 6:01 AM in response to marc323

Does anyone think reformatting my hard drive could somehow make it recognize the external drive? Many thanks ...

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