Getting my external WD HD to be recognized or able to format.

Question

Getting my external WD HD to be recognized or able to format.

My WD External Hard drive is not recognized by my iMac. It will show up in the devices list of Disk Utility but I cannot format it. I believe I can use DiskWarrior to restore files once I've restored, but how can I make it recognizable or format?

The lights are on and I can hear the disk spinning, but I cannot do anything with it on my computer or see it on the desktop or finder, only as a drive in Disk Utility.

iMac, iOS 8.1.2, Time Machine

Posted on Apr 29, 2015 1:16 PM

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Answer 1

babowa

Level 9

78,097 points

Apr 29, 2015 1:19 PM in response to Ryan Longnecker

I believe I can use DiskWarrior to restore files once I've restored

Are you referring to files on that WD drive? Or is it a new drive?

How is that drive formatted? For Windows or Mac?

And, which OS are you on (you are NOT on iOS on a Mac).

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Answer 2

Apr 29, 2015 1:26 PM in response to babowa

I have DiskWarrior but it's not showing up as an optional disk to work with.

I am referring to files on the WD drive yes, it is not a new drive.

It is formatted for Mac.

I'm on Yosemite.

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Answer 3

Apr 29, 2015 1:28 PM in response to babowa

Sorry, I hadn't updated my profile for the system on it yet.

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Answer 4

babowa

Level 9

78,097 points

Apr 29, 2015 1:37 PM in response to Ryan Longnecker

I'm getting a bit confused as to what is going on and what you wish to accomplish. You want to run DW and repair files on the external drive? If that is the case, simply install DW on your internal and run it from there on the external.

Depending on the DW version, several of them have not been a bootable option or, if they actually were, not really usable as there was no easy way to reboot from your internal after having used DW.

Another way to use it is to install it and then make a fully bootable clone on an external drive/partition; you can then boot from that and run DW on the internal (or any other drive you may have).

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Answer 5

Apr 29, 2015 1:42 PM in response to babowa

I want to recover/repair the disk using DW but the drive is not showing up as an option to fix from the DW menu. How do I run DW on the external drive when it's not showing up?

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Answer 6

babowa

Level 9

78,097 points

Apr 29, 2015 2:09 PM in response to Ryan Longnecker

What is on that external drive? As far as I know, DW repairs directory issues which would mean you need a (bootable) OS install on it. Take a look at this:

http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/details.html

and the link to "Requirements".

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