altaklonetta
Level 1 (4 points)
Windows Software

Q: i have a problem with my external hard drive (WD- My book). I had to plug it to a pc and now it doesnt seem to be readable on my mac. Please help!

My external drive broke and i went to a data recovery to get the files back. I took my boyfriends WD mybook for the backup and it all went well. I saw on the pc all the files and it didn´t seem to have any issues. I came home and when i plugged the drive on my mac it didn´t recognize it. I dont know whats going on but i need to get those files an the ones that where there before. Its not my drive and i have to find a solution. please help me.

PD: sorry for my english, my native language is spanish, and i´m doing my best to write this few lines.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Mar 24, 2016 12:34 PM

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altaklonetta

Q: i have a problem with my external hard drive (WD- My book). I had to plug it to a pc and now it doesnt seem to be readable on my m ... more

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  • by JimmyCMPIT,

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Mar 25, 2016 6:49 AM in response to altaklonetta
    Level 6 (8,533 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 25, 2016 6:49 AM in response to altaklonetta

    if the drive is formatted for windows and you need to use it on a mac it needs to be formatted in either Fat32, ExFat or NTFS (NTFS is readable on Mac OS but not writable without 3rd party software)

    make sure it's plugged directly into the Mac, not a hub or keyboard

    make sure it's getting power.

    make sure the cable from the computer to the drive is working.

     

    if this all appears to be in order and the drive is not seen make sure you have enable showing the drive on the desktop in mac

    Finder>Preferences

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 9.45.28 AM.png

     

    again if all this is met and you still can't see the drive you may need  to determine how the drive is formatted:

     

    from Windows 7, go to Computer>"YOUR HARD DRIVE" right click and select PROPERTIES,

    the type should say "Local Disk" and the File System will tell you how it's formatted.

     

    from Mac OS click the spotlight icon (the magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner of the screen)

    type "disk utility" without the quotes

    and the drive should appear in the left hand column.

    click the drive to highlight and the format should be shown.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 9.39.25 AM.png

     

    if the device does not appear in the list :

    go back to the spotlight icon

    type "terminal" without the quotes

    type "diskutil list" without the quotes

    press return

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 9.42.28 AM.png

     

    if the drive is anything other than NTFS, FAT32 or ExFat the Mac will not read it (or write to it in the case of NTFS) without some software that is not part of OS X.

     

    if all else fails you may be able to connect the drive to a windows computer on your network then share the drive to your mac. this will allow you to read and write to it without concern of what format the drive is in because the network will allow you to access the drive provided you set it up.