Cannot connect to 'one' external drive MBP

Question

Level 3

558 points

Cannot connect to 'one' external drive MBP

Second thread I'm starting on that one... Thread has been closed...

Have one HDD (external) that does not show up on my MBP.

The drive has NO issues : same cable, I can connect it to other computers and it shows up.

On my MBP (mid-2012) - all other things I connect to the ports are showing : USB sticks, other drives, drive used for Time Machine, and so on. Except *that* drive !... At some point (long time ago) I could connect and work with it.

Been tols to try: com.apple.finder.plist and move it to the Desktop. It did not work. I now upgraded from High-Sierra to Mojave, expecting 'maybe' it would help... Nope.

Others steps tried and failed: ''

safe mode and/or in a new user account. The following articles have the steps you will need to test the issue in both safe mode and in a new user account:

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support

How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support

This is a ridiculous situation. Fortunately I do not need to connect it to that computer regularly, but I just cannot get it !

Message was edited by: lanstrad1

MacBook Pro, macOS Mojave (10.14), i7, 16GB memory, SSD 1TB

Posted on Oct 7, 2018 7:22 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

lanstrad1 Author

Level 3

558 points

Oct 7, 2018 7:16 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Ok - you solved my problem ! 🙂 :

- I connected the drive directly to the MBP (rather than through the USB extension I use with the other computer - but that works...)

and bang ! the drive appeared.

So your idea of ''good data cabling'' made me think of trying that.

Just weird then that this extension works from one computer, but not on the MBP... Any explication ?

Many thanks Grant Bennet-Alder

Reply

Answer 2

Oct 7, 2018 2:44 PM in response to lanstrad1

A working drive is capable of providing its Make&Model and its size/capcity to Disk Utility.

If that drive cannot do BOTH those things for a particular Mac, it is not working on that Mac.

Does it have power?

does it have good data cabling?

is the port on the computer broken?

Is the drive in a wonky state?

is the Mac in a wonky state?

Reply

Answer 3

Oct 7, 2018 9:07 AM in response to lanstrad1

1) First, use Disk Utility to Repair/First Aid your drive.

This article describes how to repair your disk:

Repair a disk using Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

.

Reply

Answer 4

lanstrad1 Author

Level 3

558 points

Oct 7, 2018 7:39 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

The other computer is a h...tosh (much older machine, running 10.11.6), but indeed, the usb extension cable is connecting to a hub... that connects to a usb2 port. So the usb3 of the MBP mid-2012 does not like the extension, right.

Reply