External hard drive not readable anymore after a blackout.

We had a blackout yesterday and now my external drive comes up as not readable, it has all my iTunes as well as photo's that are not replaceable. When I attempted to repair permissions, it would only allow me to delete and re-format the hard drive, which I haven't done as I don't want to loose all my stuff. I can't even access my time machine to go back to before the black out. Please help.

Do not attempt to perform a permissions repair. That is not related to the problem you are experiencing.
Do you have that external hard drive set up as a single partition or multiple partitions? If multiple partitions, are all the partitions failing to mount?
Regardless, you are going to have to move to a more robust (and expensive) method of recovering your data than is available with the tools provided by Mac OS X. Your best chance of recovering your data without spending an inordinate amount of money is DiskWarrior:
http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/
If the data is very valuable to you and you really really can't lose it, then you might care to try a profesional data recovery laboratory. It is extremely expensive – thousands of dollars whether they are successful or not. There are many good labs; here's one:
http://www.datarecoverylabs.com/
In the future, you simply have to learn to keep redundant backups. Keeping active files on the same device as your backups makes no sense at all; you might as well not bother creating the backups if you're going to do that. Read here for good advice on backups:
http://www.mac-essentials.info/?page_id=213

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External hard drive not found anymore after wrong disconnection?

First time there was no problem and used external hd. After disconnecting the wrong way the mac can't recognise the exteranl HD anymore.
On my other pc it works fine. What happend and how to restore?
Dirk

have you shut down or restarted your computer since last you pulled out the hard drive?
are you connecting it via firewire or usb
go into disk utility when you have your HD plugged in and you will see it there, right click it and hit mount. it should come up.
if you are using firewire, or usb, you might want to not just pull them out without first ejecting it. I've heard, specifically with firewire, that this could fry your whole logic board.

External Hard Drive not Readable & Input/Output Error?

I was using my OWC 300gb external hard drive for a while and it's worked great. I had a bunch of files on it, but I recently transferred everything to another external HD I have, which worked fine, so I could erase this 300gb one. I can't remember what happened, but somehow my Macbook doesn't recognize this hard drive. I think erased everything and then unplugged it without ejecting it first. Anyways, nothing is on the the drive anymore and I get this error message:
"The disk you inserted was not readable by your computer"
This pops up when I restart my Macbook. When I try to use Disk Utility, it greys everything out on the partition and Disk Repair tabs. On the 'Erase' tab, it will allow me to select Erase, but then gives me the error:
"Input/Output error"
Does anyone know how to get my Macbook to see my drive (so I can start to partition it)? For some reason only Disk Utility acknowledges it's there, Finder won't.
Anyone have any tips of what it is or what I can try? I did try to use my OS discs booting up holding C, but that doesn't work either.

Hi there. Everyone is saying on these forums that the hard drive is failing...suck. I went and bought a new when I got input/output error and found that the new one showed the same input output error, making it impossible to partition the disk. Then the guy in the apple service center told me the new one was bad too, after having seen the code that came up related to my new scorpio 250 GB drive. Instead of sending it back, I took it out and installed the old one..however this time with a slihtly more of pressure on the tape holding down the hard drive cable between the hard drive and the circuit board. Amazingly, this time it didn't even show any hard drive at all! Then I understood what was wrong. It was exactly what was indicated an "input/output errror"! ..the cable was broken. I bought a new cable, well the Powerbookmedic sold it as new but it was an old working one that arrived. Immediately, after change of cable the old hard drive and now also the new 250 GB works perfectly! I remember that some interesting symptoms prior to all hard drive problems appeared, such as not being able to start up properly, strange blue screens, flipping question marks etc. I remember that shaking the comp occasionally worked to get it going. No wonder, shaking occasionally made it work and i believe the damaged cable maybe changed position and started conducting. The cable is very sensitive and probably should not be taped down so hard as the first service center guy at apple had done with mine when he fixed it the comp a few years ago. Polymers/plastics bent heavily become fragile/brittle with time and are specially sensitive under pressure/bent. Note that my old damaged cable still conducted and showed the hard drives but didn't work fully. I hope this will help someone, it took me 2 month to figure out..

External hard drive not readable

I have a Seagate 60 GB and a WD 120 external hard drives that have been using on my macbook for about a year and it's formated to work on a mac. Recently, whenever I plug it in, it says that the disk is not readable. It shows up on disk utility, but nowhere else. It says not supported after SMART status. verify disk is not available. nor are repair disk, verify disk permissions, or repair disk permissions.
I've never traveled with them before, I dont know if maby something happened in the airports or something.
Please help.

So I guess this means I've lost this information??
There's a good chance that that's true, but there is still hope of recovering it. Assuming you have your Mac working, download one or both of these data recovery utilities and see whether they tell you that some or all of your data is recoverable. Both utilities are offered in free demo versions that will show you exactly what you'd be able to recover with the full, purchased version. Note that everything you recover must be saved to a different disk from the one it's being recovered from. If your Mac's internal drive is large enough to accommodate everything you may want to recover, that will be OK.
Data Rescue 3: http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
FileSalvage 7: http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id= 1

All external hard drives not being seen after working for months

I have a 27" iMac, 10.7.2.
This morning I had 4 external hard drives attached via a powered hub, 2 x 2TB and 2 x1TB (all Freecom) formatted as MAC OS extended Journaled, one acting as the time machine backup.
All were working and being recognised/seen on the desktop and finder and working normally. I shut down the system and moved the machine to a new office made all the same connections, but now none of the drives are available, they are not even visible on the desktop.
I have tried them directly connected to the usb ports with no luck, I have tried rebooting in safe mode and reset both SMC and PRAM (after looking at various threads)
I have also tried a USB stick which also does not appear on the desktop (or anywhere else), all other peripherals work with the USB ports.
This is a real problem as there is almost 4 terabytes of material and four years work!, any suggestions would be greatfully received.

You mentioned you did a SMC reset, because different models of Mac's have different procedures for doing a SMC reset you may have done it incorrectly meaning you didn't do one at all! Did you do it like this?
SMC RESET
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.

External Hard Drive Not Working Anymore

I got a little hard drive which has two partitions formated with NTFS and the other one for Mac (forgot what it was called...HFS or so?).
Well..none of those partitions work like they are supposed to. When I connect the hard drive it shows me both partitions mounted but when I try to unmount them it just won't work. It says it is in use but I am sure that they are not. I tried formating them in Disk Utility which didn't work cause it could not unmount the drive.
So what I'm trying to find is a way to make my external hard drive usable but I just don't know how and what to use. I'm not very familiar with disk repair utilities.
Some other problems are that I can't copy anything onto/from the hard drive or i doesn't show me anything in Finder eventhough there's a bunch of stuff on there.
I don't know if you need this info but I'm on a MacBook Pro running 10.5.4 and the hard drive is Mac-compatible.
Every help is appreciated!

If you don't have any information on the drive which you need, try this:
* Boot from the Leopard DVD.
* Chose Disk Utility from the menu.
* In the list, you'll get two listings for your external drive. Choose one at the top which isn't indented that lists the drive size first (for example, 298.1 GB WD 3200JS External Media).
* Click the Erase tab.
* Set format to Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
* Click Security Options and select "Zero Out Data"
* Click Erase...
This should hopefully wipe the drive completely clean, erasing the other partitions and making sure the the whole disk is writable. If this doesn't work, I would suspect a hardware issue with the drive. Once this is done, you can repartition the drive as needed.

New external hard drive not readable, don't want to erase data

Recently, my old external hard drive's USB port had broken, so I'd taken it to a tech shop where he replaced the motherboard in my old hard drive and slotted it into a new one.
However, my Mac does not recognise it, giving me this message:
If I click on 'initialize', I'm taken to disk utility, which I thought I'd be able to rescue this problem. This is what I'm greeted with:
Trouble is, every question I've seen so far on here that gets it recognised results in erasing the data on the drive first. All of my information is on the hard drive, so I don't want to erase anything at all on there. Is there any way I can get my Mac to recognise the drive without me having to erase all the data? I'll be eternally grateful to anyone who can save this for me.

The second screen shot suggests that the disk has already been reformatted (and not even in a Mac format). Did you make it clear to the tech shop folks that you needed to retain the data on the disk?

URGENT!!! external hard drive not readable in Finder

I have a G-Raid external hard drive. Yesterday I accidentally plugged out the cable while it was connected to the iMac. there was usual notice that "the disk was not ejected properly". What happens now is that whenever I plug it back via Firewire 800 it doesnt appear neither in Finder nor disk utility. But when I plug it vby USB 2.0 it works... help me what to do, I appreciate it
Message was edited by: vladog

Hi vladog
Welcome to Apple Support Communities
You may have tripped the FireWire overload protection when you disconnect or reconnected the Drive.
Eject and disconnect all peripheral devices FireWire and USB, then reset the iMac's SMC.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
+1. Shut down the computer.+
+2. Unplug the computer's power cord.+
+3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.+
+4. Release the power button.+
+5. Attach the computers power cable.+
+6. Press the power button to turn on the computer.+
Then test the G-Raid by reconnecting it to the FireWire port.
Dennis

External Hard Drive not readability

I'm very very disappointed and frustrated to see that my iMac doesn't recognize my external hd anymore. I tested it on PC, it could recognize but some files are not readbility. I took all files out of the hard drive and see if I can read the files on my iMac, it turned out that some files are corrupted, it said "UNIX exectuable file". I don't know what it means or what really happened.
I tried to use disk utility on my hard drive; tried to mount it, it won't work. I tried to repair it, it said "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit." What does it mean? I really don't want to lose all my data information especially my PHOTOS and my SCHOOL WEB/GRAPHICS PROJECTS that means so much to me.
PowerBook G4 laptop & iMac 2GHZ Intel Duo Mac OS X (10.4.5)

First have a backup hard drive available. you may need Disk Warrior and Data Rescue to help. If you click on Support and search, you will find Apple has an article on what "underlying task" error is about.
Some files on Mac won't be readable. All the system files and application packages. 'Took all files out' - you mean copied to PC? I assume it can read mac files and knows about data and resource forks?
Core Duo systems format FW drives with a different scheme. I assume you had it partitioned so you could share a partition between your PB and iMac?

External Hard drive "not readable", does not show up in Disk Warrior either. Help me, please!

I have a 500gb G Drive Slim that is almost brand new. I accidentally pulled the cord out when it was connected, and now when I try to open it, it says "not readable by this computer." This is what I see when I go into disc utility:
I called G Drive, and they told me to download Disk Warrior 4. I did, and this is what I see when I open it:
My hard drive doesn't show up...i'm not sure if i'm doing something wrong but I just paid $100 dollars for this and I'd really like some help. I read the manual and it wasn't helpful at all.
Please help me!

Make sure it's format is Mac OS Extended (Journeled).
To check it's format, plug in the External HDD and search Disk Utility in the spotlight. Click the External HDD and go to the Partition tab. If it isn't Mac OS Extended change it and format it.
You shouldn't need any of these external applications to use it. I have one and use it like a flash drive.

External Hard Drive not readable - please help!

Dear All
I use an intel imac, running snow leopard, backed up to a 2TB Time Capsule.
In order to create more space on my imac, I decided to use a seagate hard drive (that has faithfully served me for backups over a couple of years, pre time capsule) for storing my ever expanding home movie selection.
To avoid problems (and to make a clean start with this disk), I deleted everything on the drive via disk utility. I then ran a single partition on the drive using the settings of GUID partition with Mac OS Extended Journaled (i.e. so I selected partition so there is only 1 volume) . Everything went smoothly. I then copied my film collection to my hard drive. I then tested it - the films were on there and I could play them.
Now when I reboot, I get the message "the disk you inserted was not readable by the computer. Initialize / ignore / eject"?
What have I done wrong? Have I erased / formatted my backup drive incorrectly? How can I fix this?
I have another backup drive (that I keep offsite) that still is readable by the computer, so I do not think it is a hard ware problem.
I'm not in diaster zone yet. My movies are still on the imac, on time machine and backed up on the offiste external drive. However, in the need to create more space, I just need to be able to store files on external drives and then use them!!
Any help much appreciated
cheers
Paul

Most likely the drive is partitioned in NTFS format. Macs can read that format, but not if the disk is corrupt. You should do two things. First, immediately make a backup of the data on that disk. Obviously you'll need a PC to do this. Then, also using the PC, run the Windows chkdsk program to repair the disk. If it can be repaired, it should then be readable on your Mac.

External Hard Drive not recognized anymore... 10.6.1 to blame?

I have a 1 TB drive that I access on my MacBook Pro via eSATA via an ExpressCard slot. After installing the 10.6.1 update and rebooting, my drive is no longer recognized. Because of the immediate result, I'm quick to point the finger at 10.6.1, though I suppose there's a possibility it's something else.
Does anyone, by chance, have any info regarding this situation?

Alright, I'm gonna go ahead and close this thread. I found out the solution to my issue. Turns out it was a problem with a system file I changed right before installing. The error only occurred on a restart... the required 10.6.1 reboot was the first reboot since the change, so thus it looked like the culprit.
If you want a more thorough explanation of my problem (highly HIGHLY doubt it's gonna help you guys out), check this thread --> http://forums.appleinsider.com/showpost.php?p=1480362&postcount=8
Sorry for the trouble!

Why is my External Hard Drive not showing in Aperture 3.6 Import?

Why is my External Hard Drive not showing in Aperture 3.6 Import?
Only my computer hard drive is and I want to import from an external drive. I have always been able to until I updated to Aperture 3.6 and Yosemite.

Only my computer hard drive is and I want to import from an external drive. I have always been able to until I updated to Aperture 3.6 and Yosemite.
I had the same problem. On the folders on the drive with the Aperture library did show in the Import panel. After I clicked the computer icon in the upper left corner of the Import panel, suddenly all drives appeared.
You can also try to drag the folder you want to import into the Import panel, to point the file chooser to the drive.

External hard drive not mounting

external hard drive not mounting

I fixed mine by uninstalling the software that came with the harddrive such as Tuxera and reinstalled it now myharddrive works again and i did not have to delete the harddrive and reformat it.
I tried a lot like reseting the Pram And connecting other harddrives but by unstalling the original software it works all over again. I hope this works for you because i was getting pretty frustrated myself.
Im running a 2012 macbook pro with 10.9.3
boom mind blown

I am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?

I am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?

Most users should use the Time Capsule for backups. This assumes that "original" copies of your data are on the computer and backups of this data are stored on the Time Capsule.
If either the Time Capsule or the hard drive on your computer fails, there are at least copies of your important data on the other drive.
If you are asking if you can place "original" files on the Time Capsule, do you have a plan to backup those files?
If the Time Capsule drive has a problem....and your only copy of your important data is on the Time Capsule....you will lose everything.
If you are asking if this is OK, the answer for most folks would be "no".
Can you clarify if this is what you are asking?

External hard drive not readable anymore after a blackout.

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