FunkyDunky58
Level 1 (4 points)
Desktops

Q: Seagate external drive suddenly invisible on iMac

I have an iMac with a 2Tb seagate external drive that I have been using for a number of months to store all my iTunes files (music and video) due to the limited disk capacity on the iMac. Its been working fine, until after I installed MacOS Sierra (version 10.12). I discovered the problem when I tried to play a song on iTunes and it could not be found. I disconnected the drive and reconnected it, and the Seagate dashboard came up saying that the disk was full and I should replace it. But I cannot see the drive at all from Finder. I reconnected to each of the 4 USB ports but nothing.

I tried the drive with my MacBook air and can see the drive but it's read only, and it's telling me that I still have over 800Gb of free space. I'm running that with MacOS Sierra also. When I look at 'File Info' it's telling me the drive is NTFS which I'm pretty sure shouldn't be the case since I formatted it for Mac when I bought it. Also, have been writing to it for several months from the iMac.

I'm contemplating buying a new drive and copying across because reformatting would be a disaster losing 10,000 songs and 1,000 videos. Any suggestions on a less expensive option?

Thanks

Ian

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Oct 16, 2016 4:54 AM

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FunkyDunky58

Q: Seagate external drive suddenly invisible on iMac

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  • by Rudegar,

    Rudegar Rudegar Oct 16, 2016 6:41 AM in response to FunkyDunky58
    Level 7 (29,033 points)
    Apple TV
    Oct 16, 2016 6:41 AM in response to FunkyDunky58

    if it's really ntfs then that would explain why it would be read only for the macbook

    I would check in disk utils on the iMac to see if it can see it there

    and maybe connect it with a windows computer to verify it's really ntfs

  • by FunkyDunky58,

    FunkyDunky58 FunkyDunky58 Oct 16, 2016 8:50 PM in response to Rudegar
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 16, 2016 8:50 PM in response to Rudegar

    On the iMac I can't see it on finder, or on disk utilities, or on 'about this Mac'. However when I plug it in the seagate dashboard fires up, but the 'look at files' option doesn't work, and it tells me the disk is full (while my MacBook tells me there is 800+Gb free). Weird.