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External USB Hard Drive not showing up, after Yosemite update

I recently updated my 13-inch Retina Macbook Pro (Late 2013) to OS X Yosemite (10.10).


I have a Western Digital My Passport (2TB) external hard drive and when I plug it in, I can hear the hard drive running but its not showing up in finder, or on the desktop, even though I have the option to show them enabled. The hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility.


I have a lot of stuff on this hard drive, so I would like to stay as far as possible from wiping it clean.


The external hard drive I'm using is formatted to NTFS (that could be the problem but not quite sure).


If anyone has any fixes, please let me know by replying to this thread.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 18, 2014 3:13 PM

Reply
189 replies

Nov 5, 2014 5:27 PM in response to Sachin_B

Hi guys

I had the same issue

Disk Description : Samsung S2 Portable Media
Total Capacity : 1 TB (1,000,204,886,016 Bytes)


Connection Bus : USB
Write Status : Read/Write


Connection Type : External
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported


USB Serial Number : 00000011E0931050141B
Partition Map Scheme : Master Boot Record

The disk appeared in disk utility. After ejecting it from inside disk utility, disconnecting and the reconnecting, I was able to access the contents.

After disconnecting it again from Finder and reconnecting, the disk didn't show up.

Quite an improvisation!

Nov 8, 2014 1:57 PM in response to NormHouser

I was having the same problem with my iMAC not recognizing my WD My Passport external drive. I called Tech Support and the first tech rep could not fix my problem. He finally referred me to a senior tech rep and this is what he told me to do to fix the problem:

1. Turn off my MAC

2. Unplug the MAC. He said that after installing a new operating system this is what you have to do to fix a problem like this.

3. Unplug all of my USB connections including, of course, the external drive not being recognized.

4. Wait 30 seconds.

5. Plug in the MAC and turn it on.

6. Plug in the external drive only to the USB port.

7. Open Finder and there it was!


I hope this helps everyone.


C Palise

Nov 12, 2014 5:20 PM in response to Sachin_B

Hey everyone.
So the same thing happend to me. I have and old macbook pro (aluminium 2007) and I always used there my external usb hard drive WD "My Passport", the drive works and it still works when I upgraded it to Yosemite.


I just bought an iMac retina and when I plug the drive nothing happens..
I tryed to update de firmware, install and reinstall drivers and WD smartware bla bla bla and nothing.

I switched the usb ports and still nothing happend.


BUT GUESS WHAT?? I connected the drive through my keyboard usb entry and it worked!

I was quite shocked.. How is this possible?

This means that the usb ports of the iMac are havving difficulties recognizing devices. This is ******** when you work with sound and video and your hard drive isnt working. But well, try it out, if you havent a wireless keyboard.

Nov 12, 2014 5:44 PM in response to didigs

I tried it with an external USB hub and with my old wired keyboard--also tried both USB 2 and 3. I suspect your theory is correct, but unfortunately, it didn't work for me. Based on your and Kumquat2012's posts, it seems that the problem is easier to resolve with an iMac, though I'll reserve judgment on that until others weigh in. Meanwhile, I see this thread has passed 6,500 views. I wish someone from Apple would just say, "We know about the problem and are working it."

Nov 13, 2014 6:01 PM in response to Sachin_B

Okay, I followed r3xsy's instructions (downloaded and installed the NTFS driver from Seagate). Then I unplugged all of my USB devices. Unplugged the mac from the wall. Plugged in the Mac to the wall then started. Then unplugged my external from its power source. Replugged in the external into the wall then plugged into the Mac. SO far, it is working, even after sleep and awakening. ONE ISSUE...I cannot copy a file from my Mac drive (SSD) to the external drive.

Nov 15, 2014 5:49 AM in response to Mark Berger2

Gents, I made a fresh new installation of Yosemit. It means

1. Download Yosemite image from AppStore

2. Backup all personal data

4. Create USB installation

5. Restart the system using Alt key, enter to disk utility and delete Hard disk image because if not, reinstall process really don't delete the information.

6. Install Yosemite.


That works for me.


good luck

Nov 15, 2014 9:55 AM in response to sterling r

I tried all suggestions from Apple support but none of them worked.

I then decided to run Onyx, an excellent maintenance and repair freeware, and the problem was fixed.

Also fixed some minor problems like keyboard language recognition which had switched back to QWERTY at startup whereas it is an AZERTY. Not that easy to enter your password unless you are used to using both and remember which keys correspond...

Easy, fast and straight forward.

I strongly recommend this utility.


Good luck

External USB Hard Drive not showing up, after Yosemite update

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