Can't find my external HDD, CAn't find my external HDD, CAn't find my external HDD, CAn't find my external HDD

After I install Lion. My external HDD disappear. I can not find it. Can someonehlpe, please!!

Look at the settings in Finder Preferences. Showing external drives may not be the default setting.
Phil

Similar Messages

  • I am new with iMac and I am trying to copy some file from my external HDD but it does not let me also I can't delete anything from this HDD using the finder. Can somebody help me , please?

    I am new with iMac and I am trying to copy some file from my external HDD that a used with my PC but it does not let me also I can't delete anything from this HDD using the finder. Can somebody help me , please?

    No, unfortunately, when you format a drive, it will erase all the contents. So you will need to find a temporary "storage" place to put the stuff using a PC so you have access to it. Then reformat using Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities). If only using with mac, format Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and use GUID Partition scheme under Partitions/Options. After formatting, you can drag the files back.

  • Can no longer find External HDD

    Ok so, last night I had a rough time with my MacBook Pro (startup wasn't working correctly) so I took it down to my local Apple Store today, where they formatted the entire hard drive. Luckily, I've been using my 500gb WD external hard drive to back up everything! So now I'm home, and I plug in my external HDD, and it doesn't come up on my desktop nor in finder. I tried to use Migration Assistant, but it can't find it, and Disk Utility doesn't see it either.
    I know the USB ports still work, because I can plug in my mouse just fine. So what happened? Why doesn't my MacBook Pro recognize it anymore?
    p.s. The HDD lights up and you can hear it spinning just fine, just like before. This problem has never happened to me before.

    Sorry I wasn't clear, but when I pull up Disk Utility, my portable HDD does not appear.
    I tested it by plugging it into my family's desktop (a Windows machine) and it pulled it up just fine. This means there's something wrong with my Mac...what can it be?

  • Mac can't find my partitioned external HDD

    My previous setup was:
    1 WD 2TB external HDD with own power supply, formatted as MacOS Extended (Journaled).
    But I wanted to split this HDD up into two partitions, Archive and Library. I also wanted to have a Time Machine backup of this disk. So I bought another WD 2TB external HDD with own power supply. On this one, I made two partitions, Archive and Library, both as MacOS Extended (Journaled). Then I copied all the files of my first HDD to their specific location.
    So my new setup was:
    My new WD 2TB external HDD with own power supply, with two partitions, both formatted as MacOs Extended (Journaled).
    My old WD 2TB external HDD was still holding a copy of the files on the new one, but I wanted to use this one for backup.
    Now I just had to format the old WD 2TB, so I could use it as Time Machine backup. I knew this was a critical point. Because if something would go wrong I didn't have any backup. But what are the chances that things would have gone bad just right now???
    As you can guess it did go wrong. My new HDD (the one with the partitions) could no longer be recognized by my Mac. My Time Machine backup was still indexing all the files, so didn't get an actual backup of them yet. A disaster!!!
    When connected the new HDD I had a prompt window telling me that my computer couldn't find the disk, with the options 'Initialise...', 'Ignore' and 'Remove'. Choosing 'Intialise' I got into Disk Utility, it does detect the 'mother' HDD, but not the 'children' (= the partitions).
    Is there a way to get my data back? I have everything on it: my files for work (important files for my business), but also my personal files (pictures, complete iTunes library with music and movies...).
    I must say that I had this problem before. Same situation: I partitioned a disk and after a bit, my Mac couldn't find it anymore. Back then I thought it was the HDD, and as the files were not that important, I just forgot about it... until I found it back one day and discovered that I could restore the HDD, but I had to re-format it, meaning that all the files were lost.
    This situation is different as lost files would mean a disaster. :-(
    I hope there's someone out here that can help me.
    Thanks in advance!
    I use a MacBook Pro mid 2007. I currently use Mac OS Mountain Lion (up to date).

    Thank you! That information was definitely helpful.
    I haven't tried since my post to get our printer to work (ended up sending my doc to Staples, in the interest of time, and haven't had to print anything since).
    Anyway, this morning I replaced our ink and tried printing something. It still wasn't working (but this time, all it said was the printer wasn't connected). I reconnected the printer to the network, then turned it off, restarted our computer, and once the computer was back up, I turned the printer back on.
    The printer appeared in our network, again, and my printing job was successful. Yay! I LOVE when technology works. =)

  • I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

    I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

    First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
    To locate large files, you can use Spotlight as described here. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
    You can also use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
    Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
    ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
    Back up all data now.
    Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
    Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
    Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
    Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
    I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means.
    When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

  • Problem! I just copied my extern hdd to finder and tried to open my files when I get the message: "The Map "Pictures" can not be opened since you don´t have authority to  see it´s contents! What??? No one else has access to my computer....

    Problem! I just copied my extern hdd to finder and tried to open my files when I get the message: "The Map ”Pictures” can not be opened since you don´t have authority to  see it´s contents! What??? No one else has access to my computer....now I can´t open my 300 Gb on my hdd in my Macbook Pro. Help?

    I've had this happen a few times before. What I found works is repairing the permissions. To do so click on go and then to utilities. click disk utilities. In disk utilities select the drive and click repair permissions. It may take a little time but try accessing after that.

  • Why i can't find the external HDD plugged to airport extreme. i already format it with mac OS extended (journaled)

    Why i can't find the external HDD plugged to airport extreme. i already format it with mac OS extended (journaled).
    Does only certain branch of HDD can be connected to aireport extreme?
    I collect some information and i knew i have to partiion the HDD into Mac OS extended (journaled),
    and i did so. Still the usb HDD cannot be found.
    The other question is, can i partition the HDD into two sections, one of it is Mac OS extended(journaled) while the other is Fat32?
    I want to share Fat32 section with another PC with windows system.
    Thanks a lot if you have any suggestions.

    I had tried to set up the connection via usinb a powered usb hub as the bridge between external HDD and the airport extreme. i still cannot found the HDD in the "airport utilities".
    This is my setting.
    1. Set airport extreme  as "sharing-single-ip" mode. The wireless network functions correctly.
    2. Connect external HDD to MBA. Partition it into single-partition with Mac OS extended (journaled).
    3. The HDD can be found if i plugged it directly to my MBA.
    4. Connect a powered usb hub to airport extreme.
    5. Connect external HDD to the powered usb hub.
    6. Open airport utilities.
         a. Select "airport extreme" in the sidebar.
         b. Change the "Disks" sheet.
    7. Cannot find an external Disk
    Is there any problem here?
    Please help me. Thanks a lot!!

  • Time Machine: Macbook can't find external network hdd

    Hi,
    I'm want to backup BOTH my Macbook Pro (Retina) and my Mac Mini (Late 2012) to an external hard drive (Western Digital My Passport) USB-connected to the Mac Mini.
    Alas, this doesn't work. I can't figure out why. The Mac mini finds the disk with no problems and can backup to it via Time Machine. But when I open Time Machine on the Macbook Pro, it can only backup to the Mac Mini. That's the only location it finds; it can't find the external disk.
    I've enabled file sharing and shared the external disk, and set it to be available for guests to read/write. I've even bought OS X Server and used the same configuration there (although it seems to sync it from the Mountain Lion config anyway). Still nothing, the macbook can't find the external disk, only the Mac mini itself.
    What could be the problem? All guides I find is about backing up to the Mac Mini over wifi. I don't want the backups on the Mini, but on the external disk connected to it.
    Thanks!

    Nope, but I see the Mac Mini as a network volume. And from it I can access the external drive (and everything else on the Mini).
    So I can only see the "first step" (the Mini) but not the second (the external drive). And from Time Machine I can't specify where to save my backups, OS X will create that automatically.

  • ITunes can't find my tracks on external HDD on new install of windows 7?

    Hi I have just installed windows 7 and am trying to move all of my music onto it..I save all of my music onto an external HDD and enable itunes so that it copies all my tracks onto there. I have exported the library file and loaded that into the new installation of iTunes on windows 7 however, loads of the files are missing and it came up with the error saying it couldn't find some of them. Why is this!? They are definitely all on my HDD as I use this with 2 pcs already and use both PCs with the external HDD to play music with no problems. So why is this happening?
    Please help me out. Thanks very much

    If you try to start iTunes with the external drive disconnected, iTunes will default back to the internal drive.
    DO you know if you have your iTunes folder containing the library files on the internal drive or the external drive.
    If the iTunes folder that you are using is on the internal drive then you need to set the location of the iTunes Music folder with Edit>>Preferences>>Advanced.
    IF you had your iTunes folderon the external drive, hold down the shift key and start iTunes. Keep holding the shift key until you are prompted to choose a library. Navigate to the iTunes folder on the external drive and choose iTunes Library.itl.

  • How can i stop the shortcuts to my external hdd from bein removed from the sidebar in finder

    Hi,
    I have a 2TB Samsung story station where i download all my movies and tv shows. (got about 200 GB left hahaha)
    On the drive there are some folders for the movies, tv shows, music and other content.
    In the Finder I drag 'n dropped the folders to the navigation bar (right under downloads, applications and desktop).
    But since it's a laptop, i have to take it somewhere and dismount the drive, now the shortcuts are gone. When I mount it again, the shortcuts are still gone.
    I thought I could create a shortcut to the folders and put those in my user folder, and drag those to the navigation bar, because they are still on my laptop so I figured they wouldn't be removed. Wrong. This is really starting to **** me off since there are about 5 folders on the drive I want in the navigation bar and since you can't drag 'n drop multiple folders at once into the bar, everytime i reconnect my drive i have to drag them back in there. Is there a way around this?
    Thanks in advance
    Bjorn Halenbeek

    Right the shortcuts, Apple Speak Alias, can't be in the Sidebar with the drive disconnected.
    If you placed a Alias to an folder on your internal drive on the Sidebar then Deleted that folder the Link/Alias/Shortcut would also be taken off the Sidebar as that folder no longer exists.

  • Year 09 macbook pro can't find HDD!

    2009 Macbook Pro
    M4 128 SSD Work fine before.
    Suddenly happend, system not responding. hold power button to turn OFF, then ON again can't find HDD, suspect is SSD HDD problem try plug it on other computer,see all data still there, do HDD verify with out problem. put back macbook original WD HDD, got same problem can't find WD HDD.
    Then try reset SMC shift+control+option+power  no help
    following try reset PRAM option+command+R+P + ON  no help
    what should i do next. any one got same problem with me?
    please advise
    Thanks

    it's the cable that goes from your hard drive to your logicboard....those cables have a high failure rate without warning....
    to confirm that it's your cable and not your drive, install your drive in an external usb enclosure and if you can boot your macbook when your drive is connected via usb, then it's your sata cable...

  • MacBook Pro iphoto external HDD and can't open iphoto.

    I have a Macbook Pro OS X 10.9.2 and I cannot open iphoto. My HD has 0 kb free. Is this why? It worked yesterday and I haven't uploaded anything new, just attached a WD my passport ext HD and did a time machine back up. I can't locate the Iphoto backup on the external HDD. When I attempt to open iphoto I get an error message - Unable to write to library "iphoto library". Its got around 850GB of photos in there. Plan was to back up time machine on one HDD, then just the actual photo files to another HDD and store old photos on the external drives, thus freeing up my MacBook Pro.
    I have a copy of time machine from about 2 weeks ago which is when my old external drive ran out of space. The new drives are WD My Passport for Mac 2TB.
    I've tried holding down the cmd-alt buttons and can get the menus up but if I click 'repair database' I get the same error message up.
    Any ideas?
    I have dragged the iphoto library from finder, which is showing around 850GB, to the WD HDD and its backing up but very slowly!!
    If I can get iphoto open I can get some photos off of it which no doubt will solve the problem!!

    The ext HD is not partitioned. It also has a Time Machine back up on it
    You don't want to run an iPhoto library off the same drive/partition the Time Machine uses.  It will eventually run of of space and damage the library.  Running a library in that manner is asking for problems.
    Should I (can I?) rename one of the iphoto libraries so I know which is which?
    Yes.  Then if you're not sure which library you're using Control (right) - click  on the iPhoto title in the top frame of the window to see which library it is:
    What is the best way to keep my photos backed up on an ext HD before/ after editing as I want to keep the original as well as the edited version.
    That's what iPhoto does.  When you edit a photo the edits are applied to a modified version separate from the original/master version.  iPhoto has a Revert to Original option which removes the edited version.  Also when viewing an edited photo in the edit mode the Shift key will toggle between the edited version and orignal version.
    Any ideas if it is easy to extract my music from itunes from time machine back up?
    Enter Time Machine, go to the Music folder or wherever you kept your iTunes library, select the library and click on the Restore button. It will be restored to the Music folder on your boot drive.  If you want to restore the library to another location Control (right) - click on the iTunes library and select "Restore to .....".  That will let you pick the location for the restored library.
    am thinking of getting LIghtroom to use instead of iphoto but have no idea whether it would talk to the photos that are in iphoto on my ext HD. Perhaps Aperture would make more sense?
    Lightroom works alot like iPhoto and Aperture, a database based application.  You can't use both Lightroom and iPhoto.  You'll have to pick one and use it alone.
    However, Aperture can use the same library as iPhoto so there would be no converting the library as LIghtroom would require.
    Your best solution would be to daisy chain another EHD off of your TM hard drive to use with your iPhoto and iTunes libraries and any other files you'd like to keep there to use. Then have TM backup both your boot drive and the second EHD.  The TM drive should be about 2X the size of the drives it's backing up.
    So if you go that route you might want to get a new EHD for TM that's big enough and use the current TM drive as your working drive.

  • I have followed Apple support Article HT4527 for moving itunes but have insufficient space on my new PC for the complete library of.  How can I leave music on the external HDD but associate the content on my external HDD with my pc itunes when it is open?

    I have followed the Apple Support Section Article HT 4527 and have moved itunes media onto an external Hard Drive.  The complete file is 103GB in size.
    I have downloaded the latest itunes onto my new PC.
    When I follow the article and try moving the itunes file onto the new PC, I am informed that there is insufficient space on my new PC.
    In any case, like my old system, I want to leave my music on the external HDD and just have the music library displayed in itunes when I click on the "Music" folder.
    How can I get itunes on the new computer to interogate my external HDD to just list the library and leave the music on the external HDD?

    you can do this by keeping the external hard drive connected and doing the following
    -hold shift key down on computer while opening iTunes and a prompt will appear to choose a library
    -select choose library, iTunes should bring up your explorer windows where you can search for the external HD
    -after you find the external HD find the iTunes folder you just copied to it
    -after opening the iTunes folder look for the file that says iTunes library.itl or if you can't see that extenstion just look for a document looking thing in the iTunes folder that shows up as a database file
    -double click the database file and boom iTunes should load your library without having to copy it to the computer
    PS: do make sure that if you are going to do it this way, make sure that the external HD is connected at all times, because if you don't then you will get exclamation marks next to your iTunes songs
    double PS: if you are unsure how to find out if the iTunes library file is a database file just right click it and choose properties and under the type it should say database file
    hope this helps:)

  • Can't Read/Write to External HDD-Permissions Problem

    I have external Seagate HDD, formatted as FAT32, connected to Airport Extreme Base Station. I am unable to Read/Write to this Drive because Finder says I "Don't have permissions" to do so.
    Following are details that may be important:
    1. I was able to read/write to this drive under Leopard but lost the right under Snow Leopard, after upgrade to SL.
    2. In Airport Utility, I set up (2) accounts for the External HDD, "Dad" with "Read/Write" access and "Mom" with "Read" access only. I have Guest Account privileges set to "Read Only". It has been this way for (2) years.
    3. Under "Get Info" in Finder, the only account listed is "everyone" with "read" permission only (this is same as Guest Acount in Airport Utility). I am unable to add new accounts because I get error message "The account name is not valid" even though I am using the account name that I am logged in under.
    4. I can change the Permissions on the "everyone" account (in Finder) by changing the permissions on the "Guest Account" in Airport Utility. When I do this, "everyone" in Finder now has "read/write" access but my two accounts, "Dad" and "Mom still don't show up in Finder.
    5. I also upgraded internal HDD to 1Tb and used Restore from Time Machine. I hhad problems with the restore and did new install of Snow Leopard.
    Any ideas on how to make Finder show the two accounts I have set up in Airport Utility?

    My apologies for bumping this but I still don't have a solution...any help would be greatly appreciated!

  • Itunes and all my movies have disappeared,i can no longer add to library from my external hdd which ive always used and can only add from the laptops own hard drive,any ideas what the issue could be?

    ive recently updated, itunes and all my movies have disappeared,i can no longer add to library from my external hdd which ive always used and can only add from the laptops own hard drive,any ideas what the issue could be?if i transfer the movies from the external to the laptop they will add to the library without any problem so theres no issue with the laptop but when i go to add file in itunes i can path to the external but as soon as i select the file nothing happens, just goes back to itunes

    This happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout,or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
    Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to get info, then cancel when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
    Alternatively, as long as you can find a location holding the missing files, then you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes .
    tt2

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