Bill @ 417
Level 1 (4 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Is there a command to force a MacBook Pro to look for attached devices?

My MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012 running 10.11.6) has trouble connecting to my Drobo Mini -- from day one of purchasing the Drobo Mini last February. Sometimes it connect, sometimes not. I've worked with Drobo Support, who went so far as to send me a replacement, but still no luck. I've learned that I can usually get a successful connection by carefully timing my login to a precise moment in the Drobo's "dancing lights" start up routine. A little late or a little early in that timing and there's no mounting of the drive. In that case, I have no option but to shut down the computer and the Drobo and try again -- sometimes repeating that procedure 2 or 3 times. Frustrating and not good for the hardware I'm sure.

 

Here is my question (for those times I miss the correct timing), is there a command I can give the MacBook to "force" it to "look" for connected devices? If so, I'm hoping they might connect. It's frustrating when the devices are physically connected but neither seems to "reach out" to the other.

 

At startup, does the drive send a signal to the computer saying "I'm here, let's connect." Or, is the computer continually sensing when a device connects. Either way, one device or the other is dropping the ball.

 

Thank you for your help and insights.

 

Bill

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Sep 10, 2016 10:09 AM

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Bill @ 417

Q: Is there a command to force a MacBook Pro to look for attached devices?

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  • by leroydouglas,

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Sep 10, 2016 12:27 PM in response to Bill @ 417
    Level 7 (22,920 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 10, 2016 12:27 PM in response to Bill @ 417

    Disk Utility.app>File select your drive>Mount

  • by Eric Root,Helpful

    Eric Root Eric Root Sep 11, 2016 1:28 PM in response to Bill @ 417
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 11, 2016 1:28 PM in response to Bill @ 417

    See mount section in 1st linked article.


    Disk Unmount Using Terminal

     

     

     

    Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk

  • by Bill @ 417,

    Bill @ 417 Bill @ 417 Sep 11, 2016 1:04 PM in response to leroydouglas
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 11, 2016 1:04 PM in response to leroydouglas

    Thanks Leroy. Unfortunately, I did not find a "File select your drive" option anywhere in Disk Utility. But I don't think it would have worked even if I had because there would be no Drobo Mini drive listed (since my laptop and drive are not communicating).

  • by Bill @ 417,

    Bill @ 417 Bill @ 417 Sep 11, 2016 1:34 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 11, 2016 1:34 PM in response to Eric Root

    Eric, I ran the "Diskutil List" command in Terminal but the Drobo Mini did not show up in the list, only my computer's HD and an external WD My Passport drive. Thanks for you input.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Sep 11, 2016 1:38 PM in response to Bill @ 417
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 11, 2016 1:38 PM in response to Bill @ 417

    You are welcome. Have you tried shutting down the drive, unplugging it, wait a couple of minutes, and then reverse the process?

  • by Bill @ 417,

    Bill @ 417 Bill @ 417 Sep 11, 2016 2:04 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 11, 2016 2:04 PM in response to Eric Root

    I have, and several variations thereof (especially when working with Drobo's Support team, who were very patient and diligent) but with no success. As I said in my initial post, they only connect if their respective startup processes are timed a certain way. When it works, the computer has just finished boot up as the Drobo is about to finish it's boot up. The Drobo's activity light flashes on and off green and the MacBook Pro connects successfully. But if the computer finishes its boot up just 5 or 10 seconds earlier, the Drobo's activity light is quiet and the two do not connect or even see each other. Likewise, if the Drobo finishes it's boot up routine ahead of the computer, again no activity light, no connection.

     

    I'm successful in the timing of this about 90% of the time. It's just puzzling and frustrating the other 10%. After doing this for months, I get the sense that this is the process. When the computer finishes boot up there is a 15 seconds (that's a guess) period where it is actively looking for connected devices; perhaps sending out a ping of sorts. After that "window" of time it seems blind to the Drobo even when I restart the Drobo. From the Drobo's point of view, the impression I get is that it will only "respond" to a ping from the computer but will not initiate its own "hey, I'm here" ping. Again, I'm not an expert in this, but this is how I imagine it happening. Of course, I can mount and unmount other external drives easily; plug in a drive and the computer recognizes it. That doesn't seem to happen with the Drobo. Unfortunately, Drobo can say its a problem with Apple's OS and Apple can say it's a problem with Drobo's unit. To be fair I have not asked for Apple's help yet, but I don't expect they will spend much time on a problem with another company's hardware since my computer works fine with other drives.

     

    The solutions you and Leroy suggested would work with a drive the computer knew was there. My problem is that the Mac doesn't seem to see the Drobo (and vice versa) unless there respective startup routines happen to coincide in just the right way.