jyh10001

Q: Why isn't my Macbook Pro recognizing my external hard drive?

I understand this should be a question to ask the company of said external hard drive in which case is Seagate but I figured asking here is ok too:

 

I have connected my seagate external hard drive to the macbook pro before and each time it worked fine.

 

Now I try connect to either USB port and it's not recognized.

 

Any thoughts or advice on how I can fix this?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Nov 6, 2015 10:07 AM

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Q: Why isn't my Macbook Pro recognizing my external hard drive?

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  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Nov 6, 2015 11:05 AM in response to jyh10001
    Level 6 (10,492 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 6, 2015 11:05 AM in response to jyh10001

    Questions:

    - how is the Seagate formatted?

    - did you install any Seagate software that came with it?

    - what do you use the Seagate for?

    - in ElCapitan, did you do already a "Repair Disk" (FirstAid) on the Seagate?

  • by clairetess,

    clairetess clairetess Nov 6, 2015 11:56 AM in response to Lexiepex
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 6, 2015 11:56 AM in response to Lexiepex

    Would performing first aid on the external hard drive in disk utility delete any information that is already on that hard drive? Sorry to interrupt but I have a similar problem. One of my hard drives has become read only and other can only be seen in disk utility. They are both toshiba external hard drives.

  • by PRC,

    PRC PRC Nov 6, 2015 12:00 PM in response to clairetess
    Level 1 (75 points)
    Nov 6, 2015 12:00 PM in response to clairetess

    Greetings

    Might try shutting down.

    Then restarting while holding down P-R-A-M to reset the PRAM- let it chime twice and see if the drive shows up

         on the desktop.

    Patrick

  • by JimmyCMPIT,

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Nov 6, 2015 12:07 PM in response to clairetess
    Level 5 (7,607 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 6, 2015 12:07 PM in response to clairetess

    read only the drive is NTFS

    if the mfg makes a ntfs driver you can use that, buy a 3rd party one (paragon or tuxtera) mess with the terminal (I don't suggest this but its possible) or if you don't need the drive for windows, back it up, reformat to mac extended (journaled) and use it to it's fullest on mac.

    NFTS drive on a mac only environment is pointless, it's a windows format. TM won't even back it up.

  • by Lexiepex,

    Lexiepex Lexiepex Nov 6, 2015 1:00 PM in response to clairetess
    Level 6 (10,492 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 6, 2015 1:00 PM in response to clairetess

    Would performing first aid on the external hard drive in disk utility delete any information that is already on that hard drive?

    No.