External Hard Drive Not Recognized

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Level 1

4 points

External Hard Drive Not Recognized

I have two external drives that I have been using for quite some time that suddenly aren't being recognized by my Mini (2010) running Snow Leopard or Mavricks. If I plug them in to a USB port and let them set for a while, I'll occasionally get a dialog box that says the drive was disconnected without being ejected. This leads me to believe that the USB port is defective. I've tried plugging one of these drives into another system (that it was previously being used with) and now that system fails to see the drive and I get no power indication light. Is it possible that a USB port could fry the power supply on an external drive. I have several other peripherals plugged into the mini and they all seem to be working fine. I even tried a flash memory stick and it worked fine. Any ideas?

Posted on Jan 7, 2014 10:46 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jan 7, 2014 11:19 AM in response to LazarusLong

I would say the USB ports are OK if other devices work. Is the external HD powered by the USB port?

When not showing up (you did not say where they were showing up) do they show up in Disk Utility and System Report under USB

I suspect a problem with i=ether the hardware in the enclosure or the HD itself.

If you have another enclosure you can try moving the HD to the other enclosure.

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Answer 2

LazarusLong Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 7, 2014 1:28 PM in response to lllaass

Both drives are wall powered. And they do not appear in the System Report or anywhere else. Nothing detects them. Except that every once in a while they pop up for a second or two but then disconnect before I have time to get a mouse pointer to the icon.

I thought that it was a power cord that had a break in it until I tried the second drive and got the exact same results.

Both drives are sealed self contained units and both are under warranty so I don't want to open them up and void that warranty. Because it sure looks to me like the problem is the USB Controller, but the question is has it fried one or both of these units.

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jan 7, 2014 1:44 PM in response to LazarusLong

Go to the manufacturer's support site. Maybe they have information or a forum. Sometimes there are design or manufacturing problems with a device thus that might explain why both failed at about the same time.

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