Why my new iMac won't read my external hard drive?

Why my new imac won't read my external hard drive??

Liz,
Sorry for not responding sooner, I support your position completely - as for the external drive I assumed that the individual was a previous mac user and knew about that (my mistake) at home I have a couple of external drives
one drive is acknowledged regardless of format (mac/win) its a partitioned drive.... the other one - far as the mac is concerned does exist when i connect it. I believe its a win only drive (will have to check the specs on it) but it works on the win-notebooks.
so my point of reference was coming that perspective, with no additional posts I have to assume you had the correct answer. have a great day.

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My new iMac doesn't recognize my external hard drive

I've been using a Seagate external hard drive to back-up everything from my old laptop. I just got a new iMac and plugged it in (via USB) and it's not recognizing it. I can't find it in the Mac system. I'm not super computer savy but on other iMacs I've used when I've plugged in something external (iPhone, camera card, thumb drive) it pops up right away.
Any help you can give me would be much appreciated. THANK YOU!

So what is the APPLE HDD?
Here is a screenshot of my devices on my iMac:
The top entry is the internal hard drive and "iMac ML" is the one and only partition on it which is by default normally "Macintosh HD" - I renamed it (except the hidden recovery).
Can you post a screenshot of yours?

My iMac won't recognize my external hard drive connected by FireWire 400

I have an external hard drive connected to my Intel-based iMac through a FireWire 400 cable. The drive doesn't come up on the desktop after turning on the hard drive power.
If I connect through the USB cable, it appears quickly on the desktop. Why isn't this working through FireWire? I had some trouble with this in Tiger as well, but was somehow able to get it to work.

The drive does not appear in Disk Utility.
And I don't think I'll be installing DiskWarrior until Leopards countless bugs are fixed, especially after reading THIS:
Alsoft: There are some DiskWarrior "compatibility issues" with Leopard
After previously stating "you can run the (current version of DiskWarrior under Leopard) knowing no harm will come to the hard drive or to your data," Alsoft has now posted a message to its Web site stating "there are some compatibility issues when running an installed copy of DiskWarrior 4.0 while started up from Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Alsoft currently recommends that you do not run DiskWarrior 4.0 while the computer is started from Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard."
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20071026153956503

IMac won't boot if external hard drive running Time Machine powered on

Upon rebooting, my iMac 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM, running OS X 10.5.4, locked up in a gray screen, the "gray screen of death."
At the recommendation of the Apple Tech Support rep, I turned off the iMac using the power button, and rebooted with my USB and Firewire devices removed.
The iMac boots fine with everything except my G-tech drive 1GB external hard drive running Time Machine with no partitions, attached using a Firewire 800 cable.
If the external hard drive is on, I get the interminable gray screen.
If I boot with the external hard drive powered off and then power it on after I'm at the Mac desktop, the disc image mounts normally on the desktop.
I've already repaired all disc permissions and it doesn't help.
My external hard drive has used 907 of the 931 GB true capacity. Supposedly, Time Machine removes the old files to make room for the new files.
Time Machine itself is running properly once I get my iMac booted in this peculiar way.

Raja,
Do a SMC reset perhaps even a couple of times and see if that helps. Also in System Preferences + Startup Disk make sure the internal HD is selected.
SMC RESET
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
Release the power button.
Attach the computers power cable.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
PRAM RESET
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Roger

IMac won't shutdown when external hard drive is hooked up.

Hello,
I have a 2011 iMac which i've loved using. I bought a Seagate goflex external harddrive so I could start using time machine. I've noticed that whenver I power my iMac down it will sit on the grey screen just before shutting off for a long time. In fact, it will not actually shut down until i unplug my external hard drive. As soon as I unplug my harddrive the mac starts thinking again and shuts down within seconds. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is? Why it would do this. I now hard plug my harddrive in because of this, which is kinda of dumb since I bought it to work as a time machine. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you

Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, see if it opens in Safe Mode, reboot when complete, test again.
Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564

USB ports won't read portable external hard drive

I'm having a problem with both of my USB ports on my PowerBook G4. I am able to connect my camera, thumb drive and other small USB devices without problem, but when I try to connect my Western Digital 250gb portable external hard drive, it just makes a clicking noise and never appears on my desktop.
I'm pretty sure there isn't an issue with the external drive because I can use it when I plug it into my Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Hub (which is also plugged into the wall). When I first got the external hard drive, it worked perfectly when plugged directly to my computer.
I will be spending the next few months traveling in an area with limited electricity, so it would be very beneficial to be able to use my external drive without having to carry the Belkin hub.
Thanks!

Im having the same problem. When I first got my Western Digital Passport (same as yours but 320 GB) I plugged it in to my 09 Mac Mini and it asked if I wanted it to be my Time Machine drive. I clicked yes. After that I let it backup my files once and then ejected it.i took it to my Powerbook G4 15" 1.5Ghz and plugged it in. Nothing happened. All it did was spin and slow down, spin and slow down and it made 2 clicks in between. After waiting like 5 minutes i took it to my only Windows computer, a Sony Vaio laptop from the same era as my Powerbook, and plugged it in. It said "Found new hardware" and went through that process. When it was done I went into "My Computer" to see if it had shown up. Nope! Yet again the **** hard drive failed to show up. So then I plugged it back in to my Mac Mini and reformatted it and made sure it was reformatting to the DOS compatible file format(FAT). After it was done I went and plugged it back into my Powerbook and again no luck. So I tried the Vaio and IT WORKED! ***!

Since updating to Lion the iMac won't recognise the external hard drive (maxtor) when waking from sleep mode,

Hi All, Since updating to Lion, my imac won't recognise the ext HDD (Maxtor) when waking from sleep mode, I have tried another port, diisc utility (Ext HDD not listed in here) but nothing works. I now find that I have to restart the imac to get the drive recognised..which is fine until the imac goes into sleep mode then I lose the drive and have to restart etc etc.....anyone suffering same issue. The Ext Drive worked perfectly until the upgrade..

Thanks for this, and apologies for delay in replying...in between seeing your post I backed up the ext hdd to another mac and used the disc utility to erase and repair and then re mounted the ext hdd. OK. I have then tested the ext hdd being recognised when waking from sleep mode a few times and everything appears to be fine. If this doesn't work (long term) I will follow the instructions as you have suggested....
I now have a new problem with my HP printer (Photosmart Plus) which is not being recognised by a new wireless router..Ok whilst the router is switch on and I have reconfigured the printer..but when the router is switched off overnight and then switched back on...I get a 'printer is not connected' message and have to go through the re configure routine all over. I am minded to think this is a router problem as the same issue is happening to my wifes Mac Book Pro (which is only a few weeks old)...any suggestions..

I'm trying to boot my new iMac running Mavericks from an external hard drive with Snow leopard but it fails with a window telling me to power down manually. It works with my old iMac.

I have made a bootable copy of OS 10.6.8 onto an external G-drive from my 2007 24" iMac with success. I can't boot up my my new 2013 imac that has Mavericks installed. Any suggestions?

trey4 wrote:
I have made a bootable copy of OS 10.6.8 onto an external G-drive from my 2007 24" iMac with success. I can't boot up my my new 2013 imac that has Mavericks installed. Any suggestions?
Why do you want to run Snow Leopard on your new 2013 iMac with Mavericks?

My Imac won't read an external hard disk. No icon in the finder. It's visible in the disk uitility. NTSF format

Hi!
Every time I connect my hard disk, I get this message:
The hard disk is in NTFS format.
So far I've connected 3 different hard disks, and I always get the same message. I also have a mac laptop and I can see all of them in the finder and read and save stuf in them, too.
I've contacted Apple support and they've told me it's a problem from the hard disk and I should format it into the Exfat Format, and see if it works and the imac can read it.
I don't really want to delete all the stuff I have in the hard disk.
How can I find out if there's a problem with the computer or if it is a problem with the hard disk? Is there an app I can use that might help? Shall I format it into Exfat?
I'd be grateful if anybody can help,
Thanks!!!

Then you haven't removed it.
Any third-party software that doesn't install by drag-and-drop into the Applications folder, and uninstall by drag-and-drop to the Trash, is a system modification.
Whenever you remove system modifications, they must be removed completely, and the only way to do that is to use the uninstallation tool, if any, provided by the developers, or to follow their instructions. If the software has been incompletely removed, you may have to re-download or even reinstall it in order to finish the job.
I never install system modifications myself, and I don't know how to uninstall them. You'll have to do your own research to find that information.
Here are some general guidelines to get you started. Suppose you want to remove something called “BrickMyMac” (a hypothetical example.) First, consult the product's Help menu, if there is one, for instructions. Finding none there, look on the developer's website, say www.brickmymac.com. (That may not be the actual name of the site; if necessary, search the Web for the product name.) If you don’t find anything on the website or in your search, contact the developer. While you're waiting for a response, download BrickMyMac.dmg and open it. There may be an application in there such as “Uninstall BrickMyMac.” If not, open “BrickMyMac.pkg” and look for an Uninstall button.
Back up all data before making any changes.
You will generally have to reboot in order to complete an uninstallation. Until you do that, the uninstallation may have no effect, or unpredictable effects.
If you can’t remove software in any other way, you’ll have to erase and install OS X. Never install any third-party software unless you're sure you know how to uninstall it; otherwise you may create problems that are very hard to solve.
WARNING: Trying to remove complex system modifications by hunting for files by name often will not work and may make the problem worse. The same goes for "utilities" such as "AppCleaner" and the like that purport to remove software.

Mac won't read my external hard drive!

I bought a lacie 500gb external harddrive at the same time as my mac bookpro, the salesmen said it was a good drive and it would work seamlessly with my computer. I open the box and the instructions are easy: connect the power adapter to the drive, then connect the drive to the computer (I chose to use the firewire400 over the usb) then wait a few seconds and it will read the drive. After waiting the "few seconds" a message popped up saying there was an error and that the disk was not properly formatted. What to do?
The one thought I had is that the computer should be connected to the internet, which I wasn't any time I tried to connect the drive. Please Help!

Don't worry, it's not too bad.
A drive has a partition scheme and a formatting scheme. You can have a single or several partitions and there are several mehods of formatting a drive.
You can format the drive through the disc ultilty (applications/utilities). Once formatted it should show up (You can name the drive and select the format - usually mac OS Extended journaled) or FAT 32 if you want to use the drive on a windows PC also.
Some people partition a drive into 2 or more sections - with one section the same size as your internal HD for backup purposes and the rest for data. If you want to divide it up into separate discs (partitioning) you can do that from the disc utility too - just move the slider. If you are hoping to create a bootable backup on one of the partitions then make sure you use GUID as the partitioning scheme from options. Once you've moved the slider select each partition and make sure it is named and formatted.
Best of luck
(PS - If you think you might want to use it for bootable backup later- make sure you partition using GUID now from options - even if you only want a single partition - ie the whole drive. This is because if you re-partition later all data on the drive will be destroyed.

IMac won't recognize my external hard drive, and cannot backup onto it.

Time machine fault with Western Digital "my book" external drive
In trying to select a backup disc I follow these steps:
I have the drop down panel from Time machine preferences which asks me to select "time machine" by clicking on the "use for backup" button.
When I do this message appears,
"You do not have appropriate access privileges to save file “.0016cb83cfe5” in folder “Time Machine Backups”.
How do I set up "My book" to start backing up again? It was originally installed and backed everything up without a problem, but although the icon still appears on my desktop time machine will not backup.
Hope there is a simple explanation folks!

Welcome to Discussions compuvic!
I believe you're experiencing a problem that happened with the 10.5.6 update. There is a workaround found by V.K in [this thread|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8668572#8668572]. If you follow the instrux it should work.
/p

Why can't iTunes play music from read-only external hard drive?

I have a write-protected external hard-drive which I keep all of my iTunes media on. iTunes recognizes all of the files, including the metadata on the id3 tags, and can find the files in Windows Explorer. However, it cannot play the files while the drive remains write-protected. Is there a work around for this as I would prefer to keep the hard-drive protected? Why does iTunes require write-access to play songs? Other media players have no problem playing from my read-only external hard-drive. Thanks for any help

Welcome to the Apple Community.
When you say you can't play through both devices at the same time, what happens when you try, are you able to select multiple speakers, do they deselect themselves, do you not get the option or does it just not work when you select multiple speakers.

Why can't my macbook pro / macbook air read FAT32 external hard-drive?

I have a USB external hard drive that's formatted as FAT32. It worked fine under Windows and Ubuntu Linux.
here is what it shows under ubuntu:
Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3a39bfa1
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id System
/dev/sdc1            2048   976773119   488385536    b W95 FAT32
As you can see its file system is FAT32, and as I understand FAT32 read/write is supported on all MACs.
However when I plug it to either a Macbook pro or a Macbook air, it said:
The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.
Why is this?

I have a USB external hard drive that's formatted as FAT32. It worked fine under Windows and Ubuntu Linux.
here is what it shows under ubuntu:
Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3a39bfa1
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id System
/dev/sdc1            2048   976773119   488385536    b W95 FAT32
As you can see its file system is FAT32, and as I understand FAT32 read/write is supported on all MACs.
However when I plug it to either a Macbook pro or a Macbook air, it said:
The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.
Why is this?

Why did lion stopped reading my external hard drives?

I have a MBP which used to work fine with snow leopard, had also Paragon's NTFS software to allow reading my external hard drives (Western Digital's My Passport and Passport Essential with about 2.5 TB worth of data, music, photos, etc.) I decided to upgrade to Lion and after that... poof! my hard drives will show grayed on the disk utility with the "not mounted" message and my MBP will not read the data, even though it can access them, run the WD utility, unlock the drive but... nothing.
Any ideas on how to fix? I event spent the morning yesterda wit the Geniuses at the Apple store and they were clueless too. I did show them on a couple of snow leopard machines my data but they could not understand how to explain he issue. I loaded the WD's drivers for Mac (OS X Lion support as advertised on their website) but nothing happens.
Fortunately I can still read my data on any other computer (my kids MB's, my office Windows, etc) but it is truly dissapointing that Lion has brought down all the good stuff Mac / Apple had been known about.
Any takers to this one?

Has the connection changed e.g. a different usb port?
You may need to allocate a permanent drive letter to the external hard drive.
See if this linked thread helps:
https://forums.adobe.com/message/3431036#3431036

My notebook won't recognize my external hard drive

my notebook won't recognize my external hard drive. I can safely remove it, but when i look for it on my computer its not there?

Disable Time Machine from System Preferences.
Choose Select disk button, remove the old TM backup disk and add the new one.

Why my new iMac won't read my external hard drive?

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