Cant see external Hard Drive connected to TC

Hey Guys
Love my TC but still cant get it to work as I want. I will list my challenges seperatley.
The first one is I have a hard drive connected by USB but I cant see it in Finder? I can see everything on my TC but not the connected HD.
Thanks in Advance
AC
(Its the latest TC with latest software)

What Bob suggested should work.
You can also plug the USB drive into a Mac.. Mac OS can read NTFS but not write to it. You could then copy the files to the TC. My experience is Mac reads NTFS very slowly..
You do want to get the PC working I think, by ethernet to the TC and copy the files.
If this is just temporary that is fine.. using the TC for a data store and mixing with Time Machine is not such a great idea.
IMHO USB drives are cheap.. go and buy a new one. So you can copy the files direct from one disk plugged into your computer to the drive correctly connected to the TC or to the Mac.. Keep the old USB as a backup or format it and use it for something else.

Similar Messages

I can't see my external hard drive connected to my TC

I can't see my external hard drive connected to my TC, I have connected to the USB port on my TC but cannot see it , any ideas

Hello Bob,
I have a powered hub plugged into my Time Capsule.
Into the powered hub I have a printer; printer works fine.
Into the powered hub I have an ExFAT formatted disk.
The ExFAT disk is seen in the AirPort Utility as an "AirPort Disk".
I cannot see the ExFAT disk in Finder or in Window's "My Computer".
When I plug the ExFAT drive directly into Mac or Windows computers the drive is seen in Finder and My Computer.
When the ExFAT drive is plugged directly into Mac or Windows both can read and write files.
Do you think that I need to format the USB ExFAT drive as FAT 32?
I have heard mention "need to map the drive". Do you think this would help?
Thank you for your time.
Rob

Time machine doesn't see external hard drive on network

I have a pair of external hard drives connected to my iMac, which is connected to my 2WIRE modem/router via Ethernet. I'm using one of them as a Time Machine drive. For the past couple years, I've been backing up the laptops in the house to that Time Machine drive without fail.
Now none of the laptops (a MacBook and an iBook) won't see either external drive connected to the iMac, even though the iMac has file sharing turned on (as it always has) and both laptops are connected to the iMac via the Finder. Both laptops can see the iMac and the external drives connected to it via the Finder, but in Time Machine, when I try to select my Time Machine drive, nothing appears in the window.
I was having a problem with the Time Machine drive and had to wipe and reformat it, but I don't understand why Time Machine won't see the other external drive either, even if there is a problem with the TM drive. I recall Time Machine picking up all available hard drives as possible backup destinations, as long as they're also seen in the Finder.
The iMac has been having some OS X issues. The Finder will crash sometimes, and I have no choice but to hold down the power button to shut it down and then start it up. When it starts, it takes longer than it normally does, I assume because it's checking and/or fixing some things. However, those issues have been going on for a long time (I think I need to reinstall OS X in it, since Disk Utility finds nothing wrong; also, the hard drive in the iMac crashed about 2 months ago and I put a new one in; I then restored the TM backup to it, and the OS X issues have persisted, which tells me it's software-related, not the drive).
Also, the iMac backs up to the Time Machine drive just fine. Of course, the TM drive is connected to it locally, whereas the laptops have to get to that drive via wireless file sharing.
I did try plugging one of the external hard drives on the iMac into my MacBook, and Time Machine saw it immediately, so my guess is the issue must lie with my router and/or the iMac, but I don't know what to check next. I've restarted the iMac, I've restarted the laptops, I've turned TM on and off on the laptops, and I've turned file sharing on and off on the iMac; none of those things reestablished the connection.
I suppose I could just go with external hard drives for the laptops, but my wife moves her iBook all over the house, so I know hers won't get backed up regularly. That was the nice thing about the system I had in place, which I realize wasn't as elegant as a Time Capsule.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

That should say "Now none of the laptops (a MacBook and an iBook) will see either external drive..." I hate typos.
Anyway, after rereading my post, I'm starting to think I just need to reinstall OS X on the iMac, given the other issues it's experiencing. Any advice for doing that would be appreciated, if that's indeed the solution. Thanks.

External hard drive connected to Airport Extreme not working on PC

I have a Macbook Pro running 10.9.1 and my work laptop, which runs Windows 7. I have a WD 2TB external hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme, with 1TB formatted for Mac and the other 1TB formatted in FAT format. My Macbook can connect to the drive and read/write perfectly fine, but I'm not even seeing the drive on my PC anywhere. I'm wanting to use the Mac formatted partition to backup photos and personal documents and the FAT partition to backup my work.
Is there a setup thing I need to do on either the Airport Extreme or on my PC to connect to have the drive visible? Both drives are setup to allow file sharing and my Airport Extreme is running version 7.6.4.
Thanks!

There are 3 different methods to establish a connection from your PC to the hard drive in this Apple support document:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1331

Time Machine Backup of external hard drive connected to IMAC

I have an external hard drive connected to my IMAC. I also have a 2TB Time Capsule connected to my network. I store all of my video (both events and projects from imovie) to the external hard drive to save space on the IMAC. Does the Time Capsule backup this external hard drive? When I open Time Machine I don't see where the external hard drive is backed up? The drive is formatted MAC OS extended (journaled).

nujac,
Time Machine backs up all locally attached drives unless you specifically exclude them in System Prefenences > Time Machine > Options.. icon.
You should be able to see this in Finder, enter TM and highlight the external drive. Click back to a prior date. Sometimes it takes a little while to fully populate the display since it's reading across the network, give it a few minutes.
Regards,
Captfred

Does TM/TC backup external hard drive connected to usb-port of TC?

I have searched the web to find a straight forward answer to this question, but unfortumately have not been able to find it.
The situation is as follows I want to make room om my Mac by copying my local iPhoto library (230Gb) to an external hard drive connected directly to my TC (2Tb) trough the usb-port (which is already up and running). Before deleting the original library I want to be sure that Time Machine also backups the contents of the external hard drive too. And if not, if there is an alternative way of backing up such external hard drive easily, apart from making a hard copy manually.
Thanks a lot.

Before deleting the original library I want to be sure that Time Machine also backups the contents of the external hard drive too.
Time Machine cannot do this.
Instead, connect the USB drive (formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) directly to your Mac's USB port and move the iPhoto library to that location.
Then, Time Machine will be able to backup both your Mac and the USB hard drive.
Click the Time Machine clock icon at the top of the Mac's screen, then select Time Machine Preferences.
Click Options. By default, you will see that the hard drive is in the list of Excluded items, and will not be backed up.
Click the hard drive to highlight it, then click the - (minus) button to remove it from the list of Excluded items.
Time Machine will now back the drive on the next pass.

Connecting to an external hard drive connected to airport extreme via usb

I have two computers running off my airport extreme base station. I have a desktop computer connected via an ethernet connection and i have a laptop that connects wirelessly. I have an external hard drive connected via the usb on my Airport. I installed my airport disk utility software on my desktop as it is the computer i store all my itunes material on and it syncs to my ATV. I am able to see my external hard drive as a networked drive on my desktop, and it works fine. However i am not able to see the networked drive on my laptop. I am running Norton 360 on both machines and both machines are running Windows Vista.
Do I have to install the Airport Disk Utility on both machines? I have read thru lots of threads about this and have not been able to solve this problem. I have gone into my firewall settings and allowed file sharing on my laptop. I cannot think of anything else to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is the main reason I purchased my Airport Extreme.

I have exactly the same set-up, but I can see the portable drive with my MacBookPro but not with the PC connected by an ethernet cable to the Airport Extreme. How did you get the PC to see the portable drive on the Airport?

How to share external hard drive connected to mac with pc

I have and external hard drive connected to my mac-mini OSX 10.4.11
My iTunes music folder is in it. I want to share my music with my kids in my house so they can hear it in their windows xp computer with windows media player 11
I have the computers connected to a router and I can see the mac files from the pc but I cannot see the external hard drive that is mounted on the desktop of the mac.
The external drive is formatted as "Mac OS Extended (journaled)
Or.... If there is a way that I can duplicate my 80 gigs of music onto the pc that would be great.
I also tried to see the pc from the mac so that I can drag and drop some songs from the iTunes music folder right into the desktop of the pc and I can't get to the pc from the mac. I get an error that says the Alias is incorrect and the PC cannot be accessed.
Please Help my kids are driving me crazy for some music on their computer!
thanks in advance.

Apple has a 'bunch' of articles on sharing iTunes.
Or look at the networking. And then whether you want to put MacDrive on the PC, or use NTFS format and NTFS driver (commercial or free MacFUSE).
And probably want to ask or look in iTunes for Mac and Windows discussions, too.
Most of the things I have (bookmarked) deal with Leopard, not Tiger, so not sure but pretty sure networking is now slightly different.
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/

Backup an external hard drive connected to Airport -- is this possible?

Currently I have a hub connected to my airport extreme. There are 2 external hard drives connected to the hub. One has my iTunes library on it, and the other is being used for time machine backups.
I have no problem doing the backup wirelessly to the one hard drive. In time machine, I could pick either external drive to back up to. What I am trying to do is back up the external drive too. Time machine is only seeing the hard drive on my laptop. The exclude list is blank and when I try to add the itunes HD to the exclude list (to remove it), it won't let me select it-- it is greyed out.
If I connect the itunes HD directly into my laptop, I can run the backup, but that is not very convenient. Is what I am trying to do possible? Does anyone have any ideas? Are there any other posts discussing this (I could not find any with my specific problem).
Thanks!

nealmay wrote:
Currently I have a hub connected to my airport extreme. There are 2 external hard drives connected to the hub. One has my iTunes library on it, and the other is being used for time machine backups.
I have no problem doing the backup wirelessly to the one hard drive. In time machine, I could pick either external drive to back up to. What I am trying to do is back up the external drive too. Time machine is only seeing the hard drive on my laptop. The exclude list is blank and when I try to add the itunes HD to the exclude list (to remove it), it won't let me select it-- it is greyed out.
That's correct. Time Machine will not back up a network drive (see #2 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum).
You're going to need a different app. Which one will depend on where you want the backups to go; some apps will not back-up from a network drive; others won't back up to a network drive. I don't know, offhand, of any that will do both. Perhaps Kappy, V.K., or others will.
For backups to a local disk, try either CarbonCopyCloner (which I use to make a full bootable "clone" in addition to Time Machine), and I think SuperDuper will do this as well. CCC is donationware, so you can try it for a while, then send them some $$ so they can keep it current. It can be scheduled to run automatically, and you have the choice of it keeping only current copies or to archive prior versions as well. SuperDuper has a free version, but you need the paid one (about $30) to do scheduling. I don't know if it will keep archive copies.
There are many other backup apps, some of which will handle network drives. Check Google, VersionTracker.com, or MacUpdate.com.

PS3 cannot recognize external hard drive connected to Time Machine

I am trying to keep my Elements 2TB external hard drive connected to my Time Machine (via USB), and also use it as an external media source for my PS3. When connecting the drive directly to the PS3 through the USB it recognizes it perfectly as an external media drive, but when I try to do it wirelessly through the Time Machine it does not find it. I have the drive partitioned and the folders labeled correctly, the PS3 is connecting to the internet through the Time Machine. I can connect to the external through my Macbook and see all the PS3 files when connected to the Time machine.
I am stumped. I recently installed a larger (350gb) drive on my PS3 using the external drive for backup, and everything seemed to work fine, but I swear that before the installation my old drive recognized the external on the Time Machine (I may be imagining this). Could the reformatting of the PS3 drive have something to do with it? Maybe it is not possible in the first place?
Any ideas? Sorry in advance, I know this probably more of a PS3 forum question, but PSN seems to be down today.

The drive will not "appear" on your desktop like a USB or FireWire drive that is connected directly to your Mac.
First, check to make sure that the drive is recognized by the Time Capsule as LaPastenague mentions
Open AirPort Utility , click on the Time Capsule, then click Edit
Click the Disks tab at the top of the next window
You will see your Time Capsule drive....named "Data".....unless you have changed the name.....and the other drive as well. In the example below, the Time Capsule drive is named "Backups". Another drive....."WD Drive"....is connected to the USB port on the Time Capsule.
Do you see both drives? If not, you need to perform the checks that LaPastenagure has mentioned above.

TS1717 I cannot get iTunes to automatically launch at startup in Windows 7. I need it to do this so my Apple TV 'finds' my Music Library, which is stored on an external hard-drive, connected to my Windows 7 PC.

I cannot get iTunes to automatically launch at startup in Windows 7. I need it to do this so my Apple TV 'finds' my Music Library, which is stored on an external hard-drive, connected to my Windows 7 PC. Anyone know how I do this? I cannot seem to find anything on Google, which is surprising.
iTunes helper launches OK, but not iTunes itself. Am I being dim?
Thanks

The iTunes application should be installed on the system drive. You may need to repair iTunes to fix that error regarding a missing .exe.
To organize your library properly see Make a split library portable.
If you don't have a working version of the library that can be transformed into a portable shape I have tools and techniques that can repair the broken links.
tt2

Seeing external hard drive for mac 1 mounted proprly on shared mac 2 deskto

Hi
I have an imac with an external hard drive connected, which is on the desk top and can be accessed by imovie etc. On my MacBook I can see and use the external drive under the shared section and works fine, however I'd like it to appear on my desk top as an external hard drive so I can use it normally in imovie. When its time machine kicks in (sectioned off the drive for the 2 macs and storage), the hard drive section mounts itself then disappears as it should, so sort of thinking there must be a way.
Than you in advance
Stuart

um who am i? wrote:
Hi VK
Thank u for the reply. It just wont do that. Its a sharepoint folder not a hard drive in the shared finder window under the imac.
what do you mean? do you mean you don't see it when you click on the imac in the sidebar? then it's not properly shared.
Stuart

HT3231 Migration assistant doesnt see external hard drive

Mac OS 10.7.5 Intel 2 gHx Core 2 Duo. Just replaced a crashed hard drive. Migration assistnat doesnt see external hard drive, although it is on desktop and working fine. Connected by USB. I have a backup on the external drive. Too large to place on internal hard drive. So frustrating! I looked at forums online, no help. Any ideas?

1. Definitely 10.7.5
2. I'm not convinced it is a TM drive. It has been used as such, but I am not sure of its current status. Of note, Time machine is currently using it, but I get the sense that it only uses part of the drive. The file I want to use is in a seperate directory of the external hard drive than backups.backupdb, where Time machine is currently writing. The file I want to use is called "Untitled - 2012.01.16-10.17.00.766.FullBackup" and the file type is package. Of note, Time machine let's me have the option to restore the stuff it has been writing for the last few days. Migration assistant, however, is not so cooperative.
3. I have been opening migration assistant, putting in password, choosing "from a Time machine backup or other disk", and then it shows only "Mac OS" as an option under "select your system".
Thanks for your interest and help!

Do I need to keep my external hard drive connected at all times for time capsule?

Do I need to keep my external hard drive connected at all times for time capsule?

Hi,
I have a similar question. I have backed up my external hard drive through my computer, onto my TC. When I go into TM, it doesn't show the external hard drive unless it is connected to the computer. Can I access the info from the external hard drive that is on the TC if I don't have the hard drive plugged in? If so, how can I do that?
Thanks,
Bernadette

Time Capsule can't backup external hard drives connected to it. Got that.

Hello Apple Support Communities! This is my first post. Hope this finds you all well My first year as an Apple user. I bought a 2-Tb TC and am running my first backup to my MacBook as I write this.
Problem statement: TC can't backup external hard drives connected directly to it, but the ones connected to the Macs that are connected wirelessly to it. Duly noted. However, the Spotlight will reindex the hard drives connected to the Mac and that will take hours; the whole backup will take days. Thus, excluding the hard drives at "System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy tab" will probably help reduce the time of backup, or just ejecting them will do too. That itself has not proven effective coz it's still taking forever (50Gb in 2 days, still going).
Questions:
1) Do I wait until my first backup to my MacBook's internal hard drive is done before I connect my hard drives to my MacBook and attempt another backup? If yes, how do I go about the excessive time Spotlight reindexing takes if I intend to backup my hard drives connected to my MacBook?
2) Is there any other way of speeding up the first-time backup?
*Note: All versions of OS and firmwares are up-to-date. TC is connected to an external wireless router. TC is intended to be used as backup device and / or file server only.
P/S: Apologee if this has already been discussed before, thus, a link to previous discussion thread would highly be appreciated)
- Shook Hashem, Malaysia.

How do I backup the externel hard drives connected to my MB. I was under the impression that that has already been done, because I've read it somewhere in a discussion that said it's done automatically unless I exclude it from a backup, which I didn't. So it's supposed to backup the external hard drivestoo because I had them connected to my MB the entire time during the backups.
By default an external drive is excluded.. the list is odd.. if I plug a drive into the mac.. it immediately is listed as excluded.
This is not the list of included.. this is the list of excluded.. remove it from the excluded list to include it.
It is kind of reverse polish notation in backups.
If I want to enter the Time Machine, should I enter it with the TM turned on or off?
Not sure what the question means. If you use the star wars display and want to recover files then use TM off.. but read up pondini.. how to do restore etc.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
15A in particular on the how to use TM.
When do I uplug the ethernet and use the wireless connection instead?
Once you have finished the main backup you can go back to wireless. The incremental backups are mostly very small.

Cant see external Hard Drive connected to TC

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