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Macbook Air usb3 not working!

I just got my mac book air, my usb3 external HDD is not getting detected. It was working fine with my old mac book pro. Any solutions?

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jun 16, 2012 6:06 PM

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81 replies

Jul 9, 2013 4:59 PM in response to karthikfromcharlotte

I had the same problem. I emailed ioSafe and they called me back. The new macs have a power saving chip so the ioSafe is drawing to much power. You will need to plug in both usb ends on the y cable it came with into both usb ports on your mac. You can send ioSafe your address and they will send you the new cable for use with the new macs. I hope this helps it took me 5 hours to figure it out!

Jul 9, 2013 5:00 PM in response to wjcw

I had the same problem. I emailed ioSafe and they called me back. The new macs have a power saving chip so the ioSafe is drawing to much power. You will need to plug in both usb ends on the y cable it came with into both usb ports on your mac. You can send ioSafe your address and they will send you the new cable for use with the new macs. I hope this helps it took me 5 hours to figure it out!

Dec 10, 2013 5:59 AM in response to karthikfromcharlotte

I *confirm* the problem is not the external drives, but the CABLES! I have a WD MyPassport SE 1Tb that *for the love of God* would NOT be recognized (not even show up as a drive, as if nothing was plugged) with my Macbook Air 11" 2013 edition (USB3 port) but would work just FINE with my Macbook Air 13" 2011 edition (USB2 port) and any other device.


I also have an external Seagate GoFlex 1Tb drive with both USB3 and Thunderbolt connections. It works just fine, either connected as a Thunderbolt drive, or as an USB3 drive.


So just this moment, trying once again to mount my WD drive, with NO success, I had the idea to mount the Seagate drive using the Thunderbolt connection and borrow its USB3 cable to connect the WD drive. SUCCESS! Both drives mounted and working flawlessly!


I will now shop for a "MacBook compatible USB3 cable"...

Macbook Air usb3 not working!

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