External (Backup) Drive No Longer Recognized After Mavericks

Since installing Mavericks on my iMac (was running Snow Leopard) I can only see partial information from my WD My Book Live external backup drive.  Finder lets me see the two partitions but only some of the files on that drive.  However, the Disk Utility does not see the external drive at all.  This is mostly impacting Time Machine which also does not seem to recognize the external drive at all.  I cannot enter Time Machine to access my old backups and cannot create new ones.
I would prefer not to re-format the external drive since it has other files on it that I don't want to lose.
All helpful suggestions appreciated!

lettertosteve 
   PROBLEM SOLVED! It was as simple as going to the WD (Western Digital) site and downloading a few updates for the My Book Live.
You need to NOT connect any WD MyBook right now under Mavericks, you have a high likelihood of severe data corruption
WD is telling its customers to REMOVE WD SOFTWARE especially on WD MyBook
keep your WD MY BOOK unconnected right now until a resolution unless you have a backup of ALL DATA on your MyBook stored elsewhere
http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-Mac/bd-p/passport_mac
        Bill_S           
Community Manager
External Drives for Mac Experiencing Data Loss with Maverick OS (10/30/13)
There are reports of Western Digital and other external HDD products experiencing data loss when updating to Apple's OS X Mavericks (10.9).  Western Digital is urgently investigating these reports and the possible connection to the WD Drive Manager, WD Raid Manager and WD SmartWare software applications.
Until the issue is understood and the cause identified, WD strongly urges our customers to uninstall these software applications on their systems before updating to OS X Mavericks (10.9), or delay upgrading.  If you have already upgraded to Mavericks, WD recommends that you remove these applications and restart your computer. WD has removed these software applications from our web site solely as a precaution as we investigate this issue.

Similar Messages

  • After security patch 03/04/2014 OSX 10.7.5, first one, then a second, external backup drive no longer recognized.  Diagnostics for the FireWire one displays brand name of unit, but Time Machine and its own app don't see it.  Where do I start?

    Yesterday I installed the security patch, OSX 10.7.5 to my IMac that is about 2 years old.
    Today my Seagate BackupPlus for Mac will power on but is not recognized.  It does not show up as a device, Time Machine says the latest backup was DELAYED, last successful at 03/04/2014 9:35 PM (yesterday) and next backup would begin when the disk was connected.  An error message I did not save said basically the drive was not recognized.   I did all drive's  troubleshooting steps, including installing a newer version of their app.  I tried swapping USB for FireWire, changing electrical outlets, etc.  
    It seems a bit coincidental to have 2 drives "fail" simultaneously.  Is anyone else having this issue after this security patch?  What would be the approach from the Mac side?  TIA for any assistance.
    Please see below regarding the second drive.  Is this a red herring, or does it help pinpoint where the failure might lie?
    I also have a Seagate GoFlex that WAS recognized until I did the troubleshooting on the other drive.  When I put it back on after testing the other drive with FireWire, it now is no longer recognized. 
    Diagnostics says this about that:
    FireWire Bus:
      Maximum Speed:          Up to 800 Mb/sec
    GoFlex Mac:
      Manufacturer:          Seagate
      Model:          0x6090
      GUID:          0x2037600121908F
      Maximum Speed:          Up to 800 Mb/sec
      Connection Speed:          Up to 800 Mb/sec
      Sub-units:
    GoFlex Mac Unit:
      Unit Software Version:          0x10483
      Unit Spec ID:          0x609E
      Firmware Revision:          0x111
      Sub-units:
    GoFlex Mac SBP-LUN:
    Thirdly, in after one of the testing/reboot loops, the HP WiFi printer was no longer recognized, but after a few more it came back.  

    I have a similar problem.
    Moreover, as my external drive is split in 2 for (a) regular storage // (b) time machine usage, I can see in the Finder that I can connect to the (a) regular storage part and use it normally (image 1).
    And I cannot connect to the backup part in Finder , nor see it in Disk Utility, nor use it in Time Machine (although it's listed in the Time Machine preferences, image 2), as it does not connect (image 3).
    Can somebody help?

  • External hard drive is not recognized after attempt to format

    I just got a new macbook and couldn't use my external hard drive because it was formatted on a PC and only allowed me to read the data. I backed up the data on the 250gb hd and then used Disk Utility to erase the hd and format it as "Mac OS extended (journaled)." After beginning, Disk Utility stopped working and showed up as "not responding" in the Activity Monitor.
    Now the hd does not show up on the desktop and can only be seen in Disk Utility. If I try to erase again or partition the hd the utility stops responding. If I try to zero out the drive it continues to say "preparing to zero" indefinately. Now the hd is also not recognized by windows except in the windows disk utility, but it does not even give the option of formatting/initializing it, so that is not an option.
    Has anyone ever seen anything like this before, or have any idea of something that I haven't tried yet. I really want to get the drive working and have exhausted all the ideas I can come up with. The internet has not provided too many ideas either.
    Thanks so much for your help.
    Black MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

    I have crazy solution to format it to FAT 32, it work a couple times on my several MAxtor, and Western Digital HD. But this is the last resort and if you are not handy and familiar, don't do it.
    It happen on my external HD, so I crack the enclosure open, pulled the HD out and attached it as internal HD on a PC after adjusting the jumper to master and make sure no other HD attached to the motherboard. Make sure the motherboard detected (you can see it from bios menu).
    Insert a bootable installer disk before XP ('98, ME, or 2000), and start from there until a promt comes, and type fdisk and you delete the old partition and create a new partition and restart once using the disk still and format it using FAT 32.
    After that you put it back to the enclosure, and mount it to MacBook as a new HD with default factory format.
    If you don't have the installer disk, this might help :
    http://www.bootdisk.com/
    But if your maxtor still under warranty better talk to them first and they might willing to reformat it for you.
    Hope this help your external back and let you use it on your MacBook.

  • USB Hard Drive no longer recognized after SW Update

    I just updated Cisco software and my external hard drive is no longer recognized by Cisco.  It is a Seagate drive that is listed on the Cisco tested - passed - approved list.  It worked prior to this update.  I have disconnected the drive.  Reconnected it.  Rebooted.  Turned machine and router on and off and its still not recognized.  Any ideas?  Thank you, Jim S.
    Model name: Linksys E4200
    Model number: E4200
    Firmware version: 1.0.03 build 14
    Operating system: Windows 7 SP 1
    Software version: 1.4.11266.0
    Connection type (WAN): DHCP

    It's great to hear that everything is back up and running.
    However, just in case you missed some step while upgrading Cisco Connect or Firmware. These are the steps.
    http://www6.nohold.net/Cisco2/ukp.aspx?vw=1&docid=cd2cb366ce254f51a5bed7539b068fed_Updating_Cisco_Co...
    Link to download latest version of Cisco Connect & Firmware.
    http://homesupport.cisco.com/en-us/support/routers/E4200

  • Firewire drive no longer recognized after upgrade?

    having an onset of problems the last 2 weeks.
    first upgraded to 10.4.6 on mac mini 1.42 non-duo, worked a few days than acted weird with apps crashing. had to reinstall from 10.4 disk. seemed ok. repaired permissions, ect. after reinstall (and a subsequent power outage) a firewire drive attached at time was no longer recognized by mac mini or connected imacG3. reinstalled 10.4.2 on mac mini. installer unable to reinstall 10.4.6., I would like to have firewire drive recognized again. when attached to other firewire drive in daisy chain, says device unrecognized, other wise unable to get any info on drive. what to do?

    I am having nearly the exact same issue as you are experiencing. My Western Digital Dual-Option Media Center 160 GB FW HD is going in and out big time. It seems to be there for a time but then conks out. I have to disconnect the power and now the drive seems to be malfunctioning.
    Same story with my LaCie 52x CD Burner. I placed the Disk Warrior CD in there and the computer recognized the disc at first but then spinning beach balls galore!
    This has to be one of the worst updates to an OS X system I can remember. I can only think PowerPC QA testing has gone through the toilet since the Intel move was completed.

  • External hard drives no longer working in Mavericks - HELP!  I need my data...

    Hello
    I recently upgraded to Mavericks (10.9.2) and this morning I was trying to find some files so connected my external hard drive (back-up 1).  Light went on...nobody home.  The drive didn't register as it had done last week.  In my hurried state I plugged in external hard drive 2 (back-up 2) and the same thing happened.
    Not phased by this I took my hard drives to work and tried them in my PC and also a friend's mac (not upgraded).
    Annoyingly I cannot access anything, in fact they don't even register existence even though they are whirring with the lights on.
    Please help! I need my data

    Hello AstroTravel,
    Thank you for the details of the issue you are experiencing with your external hard drive.  I found an article with steps you can take when an external device is not being recognized.
    I recommend following the steps in the section titled "Top troubleshooting tips" in the following article:
    USB and FireWire Quick Assist
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1151
    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
    Best,
    Sheila M.

  • How do I fix aLaCie Backup Drive that runs constantly after Maverick upgrade

    LaCie backup drive for time machine runs constaantly after Maverick upgrade.  This is using resources and slows the processor

    After installing Mavericks on my one year old iMac (loaded) Time Machine failed (Pegasus Promise Thunderbolt 3TB).  I tried unmounting it, didn't work.  Rebooted: Time Machine failed again [Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to “Time Machine”. Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder.] was the only message. Had to reboot to get Pegusus accessible again.  Tried re-intalling Maverick (old Microsoft thing... reintall the OS).  Didin't do anything for Time Machine, same failure.  Booted into safe mode: nothing, same probelm.  Repaired permissions: no joy there either.  So, now have no Time Machine backups at all. And Time Machine won't work with the Pegasus. [same error message after 30 min or so every time].  ordinary file saves work fine though.
    Ideas please?

  • LaCie 120Gb external hard drive no longer recognized

    I've had a LaCie 120Gb external hard drive working independently off a firewire cable for a couple of months now. This morning it stopped being picked up as an external drive. It connects because you can feel it whirring, and stops when the computer is turned off (so the cables are working), but it no longer shows up in the finder or disk utility. I tried resetting the PRAM to no effect. Any ideas anyone???
    Dave Nicholls, Auckland.

    it spins because it has power. maybe your firewire port is damaged? does the drive have a usb port that you can try? if not, you can remove the hard drive from it's enclosure and install it in a tower mac or pc if you have one and see if it shows up then.

  • External hard drive no longer found after becoming full from time machine, External hard drive no longer found after becoming full from time machine

    Hi, I have been using an external hard drive as a backup for my Mac using Time Machine.  I was under the impression that once the backup drive became full, it would start to delete previous versions of the backup.  However, instead of doing that, it has just stopped working and I now cannot access the hard drive via a Mac or a PC.  On the PC, it does at least show up in that it will allow me to disconnect it safely but I cannot do anything else with it.
    I am now looking to reformat it, and start again from scratch - but can't do this as it doesn't show up anywhere.  Does anyone have any advice about how I can get this working again?
    Thanks.

    Can you see the drive in Disk Utility? If so, try selecting it and using the Mount button in the top menu. You can also run repair disk and repair permissions.

  • External Hard Drive No Longer Working After Being Removed From Mac

    The following issue is happening to two other mac users that i know and its quite frustrating.
    So if an external hard drive is not ejected properly from a mac, it then cannot be recognised by any other Mac’s. This issue is not isolated to just one external hard drive.
    Then if i plug the external hard drive/s into my 8 year old Dell (PC) it works fine.
    Further to this when i check the hidden files on the PC it looks as though Old Apple imbeds the external HD with a bunch of useless hidden files, once these are all deleted it miraculously works  again on the Mac’s.
    Too bad if you only have a Mac Because if the Mac disk utility can read the External HD it says that the disk has crashed and needs to be replaced.
    Nice one Apple...
    So now for my questions.
    Why does mac add hidden files to an external hard drive when not ejected properly that prevents it from operating again on a Mac ?!!!!
    How do i prevent apple from adding these hidden files?

    Can you see the drive in Disk Utility? If so, try selecting it and using the Mount button in the top menu. You can also run repair disk and repair permissions.

  • EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE NO LONGER RECOGNIZED, DOES NOT MOUNT

    Hello everyone, this is not necessarily a mac mini issue
    last night was working on my mac mini (intel 2007), it froze up, couldnt even restart, so i held the power button (hard reset i guess)
    it came back on but then would NOT recognize my external HD, (which is an iomega mini max 1TB)
    perhaps this was considered by my mac as "not ejecting or putting the disc away properly "
    i did a ton of research (here and elsewhere)..found various hints/fixes but nothing works so far
    i tried using different cables, firewire, usb..ran hardware test...zapped the pram....tried it on my ibook (which also does not recognize it)...turned the hd off and on...
    i unplugged everything, power to mac, all cables.. left overnight...tried again with no luck
    restarted, powered down...nothing
    tried finding the the external hd partitions in "/Volumes" to trash. there was ONE of the partitions there, which i trashed - no luck (i had 3 partitions on the external hd)
    was going to swap the hd to another enclosure, but the mini max hd wont fit it/work
    disk utility doesnt see it
    i tried a few things with terminal - nothing
    i am unable to open firmware (via commandoption+OF, as this is an intel)
    it doesnt seem to be a problem with the firewire port, as that port recognized my video camera
    im pretty sure the HD and my data is fine, its just that my mac doesnt recognize it. its like its already "on" or "mounted"
    it cant find the path or map or something like that
    in system profiler it comes up as:
    "Unknown Device:
    Manufacturer: Unknown
    Model: Unknown Device
    Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
    Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec"
    any ideas? why would force shutting down (by holding the power button) cause my mac to no longer recognize the external HD?
    i have NOT tried "discwarrior" or norton. trying to avoid having to pay $100 and i read that others with this problem bought discwarrior, which didnt see it or help
    i did try something called "total recall" by virtualab - it did NOT see the external HD
    and as i mentioned above, disk utility does not recognize it
    ok please let me know, i could really use some help here
    i do usually backup to dvd's but not everything..also did a ton of work recently that was NOT backed up
    hope to hear from you soon!!!
    thanks in advance, andrew

    hello, i dont have a UPS but have it connected to a power strip
    what might this mean?
    btw - when this first happened (3 days ago) i used disk utility/first aid to examine my mini, it PASSED
    yesterday i thought what the heck, ill run first aid again
    and this is what i got:
    verifying volume "mac mini"
    checking HFS plus volume
    checking extents overflow file
    checking catalog file
    incorrect block count for file AbletonTmp-0001
    (it should be 1 instead of 0)
    1%)
    checking multi-linked files
    checking catalog hierarchy
    checking extended attributes file
    checking volume bitmap
    checking volume bitmap
    or repair",0)
    checking volume information
    volume header needs minor repair
    the volume mac mini needs to be repaired
    error: the underlying task reported failure on exit
    1 HFS volume needs repair
    it wasnt able to fix it while booting/running off the mini so
    i then ran disk utility on the OSX install disc and was able to fix that problem
    but alas, no luck with the external HD, still not recognized
    the AbletonTmp-0001 makes sense because that was one of the programs i was running when it crashed
    i was hopeful that fixing that problem would help.
    ive been through quite a few crashes and restarts like that, i wonder why this time it caused such a serious problem
    i would imagine there are a ton of people who have to force a restart or dont eject the HD, or unplug it, etc
    i wonder why there isnt an easier/better way for a mac to deal with an external hd/flash etc. are pc's as sensitive with ex hd's?
    ive had to tell new mac owners again and again -"no! you have to eject it first!"
    ok well thanks in advance for any further advice/help
    it means a lot to me, so thank you!!
    -andrew

  • HELP: WD External Hard drive disconnecting by itself after Maverick OSX update.

    Hello!
    I just finished updating my OSX from Mountain Lion 10.8 to Maverick 10.9
    I am using 15 inch Macbook Pro late 2011 processor is i7 and 4GB memory.
    Before on ML I'm rarely or never expirience this where my external drive is disconnecting
    by itself. I am using USB hub (10 ports) I have 2 HD's both are 1TB and on that usb port
    my cooling pad is also connected as well the data plug for iphone. My USB port has another
    power cable which is also in use.
    Now I have three questions
    1) Do you think that one of my HD has an issue? because this is the only one
    that is disconnecting by it self? when I unplug and plug it back it shows to Utility Disk
    but it is not mounting. I manage to restore it by clicking the repair button several time
    but it keeps disconnecting by itself and I am not comfortable on doing this time to time.
    2) Do you think updating to Maverick is one of the reason why this is happening?
    3) What solution i can do to solve this issue.
    Thank you in advance.

    Hi to All
    It seems my issue is already solved I didn't expirience any auto ejecting anymore after I formated my 1TB using the Disk Utility. I already bring back the files that I removed before from my 1TB and so far its all good.
    Another tip is if you will plug your external HD's to a usb port give a one interval slot because if you do there's a possibility that it may auto eject again, this happen to me since updating to Maverick but in Mountain Lion maybe it happen to be once or thrice maybe because of bad ejecting that i've done to my 1TB.
    This all is as per my intuition, observation and pure guts but now im good and my usb's are not auto ejecting anymore from the day I'd format it to disk utility using erase (of course in exfat format) until now. I wish this will help others too...
    Have a nice day!

  • Backup drive no longer working after Lion upgrade

    After upgrading to OS Lion, WD network hard drive is no longer supported by Time Machine.  It was working fine on Snow Leopard. Is there a setting that will allow me to get my data back?

    Please follow these instructions:
    Lion: Connecting to legacy (pre-Lion) AFP services - and Mac OS X (server):
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3258472

  • LaCie external hard drive no longer readable after being connected to a PC

    Hi all,
    First post here and I really worried.
    I have a Lacie external drive which I normally connect to my Mac - no problems.
    Tried to connect it to my Windows 7 pc to transfer some files and it wasn't recognised. It installs the drivers and says its ready to use, but doesn't appear as a drive. So I read about it and the advice was to go to Computer Management - Disk Managment and mark drive 1 / partition as active and then assign a drive letter. So I did that and then Windows tells me that I must format the drive to use it.
    Obviously I don't want to as I can't loose my data - my wedding pictures are on the drive!
    So I've plugged the Lacie back into my mac, and the drive is unusable and says I need to format too. Even the repair function doesn't work.
    Now I've read the another post and downloaded Test Disk (I'm working off my mac though as I know the drive worked and all my files where added from the Mac).
    Its currently Anaylsing the cylinder but its taking a long time. 24hours and still on 30% (1TB drive, firewire)
    I've read the help guide but once this stage completes, having read the next few steps, I'm lost.
    Any ideas on what might have happened and what I need to do next?
    I'll report back once its finished its 'deeper search' and analysing.
    Or do I abort the above process and do something else?
    Please help.
    Thanks in advance,
    Nick

    I've read the help guide but once this stage completes, having read the next few steps, I'm lost.
    And those few steps were?  Care to share?
    Lacie has great tech support.  Call them - http://www.lacie.com/support/faq/faq.htm?faqid=10338

  • External Hard Drive No Longer Recognized

    Well, I've had this external for months...I've been backing up my files with Time Machine the whole time. It was time to back up again so I turned on the external, but now it does not come up or register with the computer at all. Disk Utility doesn't list the drive...I don't know why this would happen so suddenly, so I tried another USB cable but that didn't help either. Anybody come across this before?

    I'm beginning to think time machine is going to cause a lot of drive failures. My external Lacie had being spinning up every hour 24/7 since October 27, 2007 until this last week. That is over 10225 times just for time machine. That's not counting the times it spun up whenever I hit the save button. So at least 10300 times. Any way, I spent the last week trying to isolate the cause of my computer hangs thinking they were caused by the new OS 10.5.6 or the new Software I'd put in. I re and re'd the OS so many times, I had the installer verify the Leopard disc to make sure I hadn't worn it out. I even installed the OS on the Lacie and run the computer from there. it seemed to work fine and for a while I thought I had it beat. But no, not a chance. Last night, I was down at the local Apple dealer seriously considering a new Imac but they didn't have one in stock. This AM I thought I'd give it one more shot and it finally dawned on me that the Lacie wasn't spinning up the way it use to. I unplugged the Lacie and everything is now working just fine. Still kind of disappointed though. that new 24" Imac is one sweet machine.
    Dave

Maybe you are looking for