EMac won't see external hard drive.

I have a 1.42 GHz eMac and I have all of my iTunes stuff on an external hard drive via FireWire. I went to turn the hard drive on, which I've done for the past 4 months, and it came on but wouldn't show up on my eMac. I went to disk utility, but it froze and I had to force quit it. I tried connecting it via USB, and it works fine on other computers, any ideas on how to make it work again? I've unplugged the system for 4 hours and reset the PRAM. Nothing seems to be working...

USB and FireWire Quick Assist
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1151?viewlocale=en_US
What to do if your computer won't recognize a FireWire device
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88338
Dealing with FireWire problems (drives not mounting, devices unrecognized, etc.)
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20041221081432908
 Cheers, Tom

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That should say "Now none of the laptops (a MacBook and an iBook) will see either external drive..." I hate typos.
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Look at these links.
USB and FireWire Quick Assist
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1151?viewlocale=en_US
Common fixes for USB device issues (unrecognized, etc.)
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20070824012114701
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 Cheers, Tom

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http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/basictrob.cfm
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However, professional data recovery can be very expensive, and if you can place the drive in a different enclosure and use one of the links eww gave you, you may be able to recover your data for a fraction of the cost.
Go ahead and get your new 2 TB drive and get your stuff backed up. I don't think it would hurt to let the old drive sit until you figure out what you want to do with it, as long as you don't let it sit for years and years.
At this point, we don't really know if the drive has physical damage or not. If not, data recovery costs shouldn't be too bad. If the drive actually has failed, then expect to pay a lot.
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I read another thread and someone asked if you can see the hard drive in Disk Utility. I tried this and Disk Utility can see the hard drive.
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Open the Finder.
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The Desktop or Disk Utility won't show 2 of my old external hard drives and so they are currently unsusable. My computer however recognise other external drives.
320GB Western Digital MyBook Premium model number: WD3200D032-000
500 GB Western Digital MyBook Premium model number: WD5000E032
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The blue circle lights come on so power is getting to it.
Tried 2 USB cables, one I know for sure is working - Nothing.
I am using Lion 10.7.4 on a mid 2009 13" MacBook Pro
All efforts to help much appreciated

No they haven't worked on this computer before. I using them on my old MacBook Pro (a computer which is no longer working) which ran Snow Leopard.
The 500GB drive "stopped working" with that old MBP too
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Cheers

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I just got a new time capsule and am hoping to use it as a wireless bridge and NAS.
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I can't see that external drive show up anywhere.
If the drive is formatted correctly and communicating with the Time Capsule, then it will be displayed when you open AirPort Utility, click on the Time Capsule icon, click Edit, and then click the Disks tab at the top of the next window. Example:
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Apple recommends that the drive should be formatted in Mac OS Exended (Journaled) when it is connected to the USB port on the Time Capsule, or AirPort Extreme, so that might be an issue here.
Another issue might be that the USB port on the Time Capsule is borderline as far as its ability to supply adequate power for a hard drive....even if the hard drive has its own separate power supply.
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Click the Go menu, then click Network
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Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that this will work either, but I know of nothing else to try.
Maybe another user has another idea.

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Hi, was copying iphoto data from an WD My Passport 750GB external hard drive to my MACBook when the system said it could not complete the copy as it had encountered a problem and indicated error code -36. Now I can't see the external drive (or any data) on any computer. I have tried 3 different MACs to no avail. The drive makes a soft beeping noise but then stops but the light stays on.
Any ideas on how I can get access to my data??

Make sure the cable is securely seated on the device side.
If that's not the problem, then either the drive mechanism or the enclosure has failed. If you don't have backups, you'd better hope it's the latter. Remove the mechanism from the enclosure and install it another enclosure. You can buy fairly inexpensive USB docks that a SATA drive drops into with no need for disassembly.
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If you don't have backups, you don't have data.

EMac won't see external hard drive.

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