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Level 1

0 points

Lacie External Hard Drive disappeared!

Updated my G5 and iBook last night to 10.4.9. This morning noticed my Lacie HD, connected via firewire to my G5, wasn't showing on the desktop. At first I thought it might be connected to the update, so I plugged it into my old G3, running 10.4.8, but there was no sign of it there either. I have searched for it using Disk Utility, System Profiler and Tech Tool Deluxe, to no avail. The HD itself looks and sounds as though its working normally, light on, sound of spinning etc. I unplugged everything on the G5, ran repair permissions, restarted, turned off and left for 20 min, restarted and plugged the Lacie back in. Nothing. I swapped cables, no cigar, and then tested my Firewire scanner on the same ports, it showed up immediately. Lastly I plugged the Lacie into a friend's G4, who also uses Lacie HD's, again, it failed to show.
Does this mean it's definitely the Lacie that's the problem, or is there anything else I need to tinker with on the computer?
Thanks very much!

iMac G5 iSight 2.1GHz, iBook G4 1.42GHz, iMac G3 Snow 700MHz, 2x iSight Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Mar 14, 2007 4:26 PM

80 replies

Tom Older

Level 2

350 points

Mar 16, 2007 9:26 AM in response to ThomasPatrick

Don't know if this is specifically a USB problem: I upgraded yesterday with my external firewire LaCie still connected (I hadn't been looking at the forums) and so far there is nothing wrong at all. I must say it was an impulse upgrade which after I did it I thought, Why, when 10.4.8 has been working fine for almost a year with me, should I risk upgrading? Looks like I was just lucky.

Andrew T

Level 2

480 points

Mar 16, 2007 10:12 AM in response to Tom Older

I have a Lacie HD (as previously stated) partioned as a TechTool e-Drive too...but didn't have any problems with it and 10.4.9...BUT.....

Has anyone noticed the people with the problems are on intel machines? or is this a coincidence?

Mar 16, 2007 11:36 AM in response to Hooligran

Since it isn't showing up on any computer you've tried it with, it could be that the enclosure's bridge got fried somehow during the update, but the drive itself (and your data) are still OK. Given the age of the drive I think your warranty has already expired, so why not try buying a new firewire enclosure (I've seen them from $20 to $80 so shop around), take the drive out of the case and put it in the new enclosure. Make a note on the specifications of the drive (for instance it might be a 3.5" IDE ATA 133) and buy an enclosure that supports it. Read the enclosure specifications carefully--some of the cheaper ones are USB2 only, some have both firewire and USB2, and some only support SATA drives.

If it still won't work in a new enclosure, and you need that data, then the only option is data recovery, which ranges from expensive to VERY expensive. You should always have three copies of any file that is important to you, preferably on different media. I have my music backed up to an external drive and also to CDs/DVDs. It would be a pain to copy it back if both the internal and external drives became inaccessible, but at least I wouldn't lose it.

You can buy a new "naked" drive to put in the enclosure, they are fairly cheap right now, just make sure to buy a drive that matches the enclosure.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

Hooligran Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 16, 2007 12:41 PM in response to Andrew T

Has anyone noticed the people with the problems are
on intel machines? or is this a coincidence?

I'm not.. all of mine are PPC!

iMac G5 iSight 2.1GHz, iBook G4 1.42GHz, iMac G3 Snow 700MHz, 2x iSight Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hooligran Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 16, 2007 12:53 PM in response to Francine Schwieder

Thanks Francine.. certainly will try your suggestion if nothing else works. A friend suggested daisy-chaining the Lacie into another one, also I thought I might as well try plugging the thing into a PC. I'll try both and then maybe it'll be time to swap enclosures.

Data recovery... mmmm! I'll just leave my credit cards and pin numbers lying in the street, that'll work out cheaper.

Ironic really. I never used to back up until I had an internal HD break. Now I do back up and it's the external that goes..

iMac G5 iSight 2.1GHz, iBook G4 1.42GHz, iMac G3 Snow 700MHz, 2x iSight Mac OS X (10.4.9)

coltX

Level 1

70 points

Mar 16, 2007 1:00 PM in response to Hooligran

I have a Lacie USB 2 250GB external drive. It was connected during update. It does however function perfectly.

Mar 16, 2007 1:18 PM in response to Francine Schwieder

Well mine DID show up for a split second on my MacBook (and then I tried to plug it into my iMac again, silly me) and otherwise my problems are almost identical to his. I'm fairly sure 10.4.9 did something with the USB sub system that isn't working out so well for a bunch of us out there.

markorth

Level 1

8 points

Mar 16, 2007 8:27 PM in response to coltX

Same issues for me. See this post: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4245122#4245122

Does Apple monitor these boards? This is a serious issue!

Mar 17, 2007 1:11 PM in response to markorth

Add me to the list.

LaCie 500gb drive CAN be read on an old powerbook G4 running 10.4.8. The same drive doesn't mount on my MacBook Pro running 10.4.9. However it "sees" the drive in System Profiler but not in Disk utility. Major problem.

MacBookPro Mac OS X (10.4.6)

markorth

Level 1

8 points

Mar 17, 2007 1:51 PM in response to manwithcamera

When will Apple address this issue! They bear major responsibility for all the problems caused by this latest update and I hate to have my new found love of Apple turned into a haunting from my Microsoft Windows days!

Apple, please wake up and post a patch!

Brent B

Level 1

0 points

Mar 18, 2007 2:41 PM in response to markorth

My Lacie Lightscribe DVD burner has disappeared too! I hope a patch is posted soon.

Mar 18, 2007 3:13 PM in response to Brent B

I performed the 10.4.9 update two days ago and I suffered a number of external drive problems, i.e., my Seagate HD wouldn't mount, my iPod couldn't be read or written to.

Among the various things I was instructed to do while on the phone with AppleCare, the one thing that seems the most likely to have resurrected connectivity with my drives was to reset my USB and Firewire ports. Another possible solution came when I performed the procedure for resetting the System Management Controller. These procedures are described as follows:

Resetting USB and Firewire ports: Shut down your Mac. Disconnect all external drives. Hold the apple/option/p/r keys down at the same time during start up.

Resetting the System Management Controller: Shut down your Mac. Disconnect all external drives. Remove your power cable and battery if a laptop. With no power source connected, hold the start (on/off) button down for 5 seconds. Then reconnect your power source and start up normally.

These procedures did not help my external hard drive (that still seems to be hosed), but my iPod is back and my USB/Firewire ports appear to be functioning properly again.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Jamie

Redarm

Level 4

2,593 points

Mar 18, 2007 3:24 PM in response to jthomasfl

Hi jthomasfl,
Thanks for reminding me. I totally forgot about resetting the PRAM.
It brought back my firewire enclosure. Thanks again.

Mar 19, 2007 1:31 PM in response to Hooligran

Spent the day with Applecare... Here's what I did. Reset the pram. Removed the power supply and battery and reset the pram. replaced all the cables. I did a "archive and restore" of the OS... Here's where it get interesting - The USB LaCie drive mounted when I was running 10.4.5. However, an array of SATA drives attached with a Sonnet express card stopped working (didn't mount). Then, I did the 10.4.9 update. I lost the USB drive again AND I can't access my SATA drives either! (which I was able to mount before) Help! I need to access those drives! The thought of resorting to my optical backup makes me sick.

BTW, the USB LaCie drive works with the PowerMac G4. No word on the SATAs since I can't connect it to the G4

I intend to do an erase and install of the OS next. Major problem / waste of time.

MacBookPro Mac OS X (10.4.6)

redzzz23

Level 1

0 points

Mar 20, 2007 6:27 AM in response to Hooligran

I dont know if this problem occured to you...

I have an Ipod and flash drive. After updating from 10.4.9 I did notice that whenever I trash the ipod and flash drive it will not mount again unless you restart the computer.

It might be an issue with the new update. Nothing wrong with my computer. Its doing the same stuff with my MBP and MACBOOK. Since I have dual boot for both computers. I tried it on XP, Ultimate, and Ubuntu. It will mount after unmounting them. It's not an issue with the USB ports of the computer.

Another interesting fact is since I have a spare hard disk, I replace the hard disk of MACBOOK and installed the basic OS that was installed. Mounting and dismounting the drive without restarting works. IT also works with the 10.4.8 update.

Basically, what I tried, for both MACBOOK and MBP was to reset the PRAM and tried I tried running ONYX. Still doing the same. It will only mount after restarting the computer.

Another thing, they were saying that you need to unplug devices... I unplug them when I was installing the 10.4.9 update. Im not surfing. Im ot doing something during the updates. no APE's or something....

I did reboot my computer with the Install disk and basically I can see those devices mounting. The OS is running in the CD, not from the computer itself thats why I can see it. I did reset the power settings. still no good.

Do we have a solution for this kind of problem?

Lacie External Hard Drive disappeared!