External drive and iPod not recognized

I have a MacBook and had been using an external drive with it that is no longer recognized when i plug it in. i can't find it in the Finder, it doesn't show up on the desktop, but it lights up as if it's working. I also have an older iPod Nano (2nd gen I believe) which has the same problem... i can charge it but can't access it otherwise. both used to work but stopped working at the same time. i have a 2nd external drive which works fine, though at one point it stopped working and i had to play around with time machine to get it back. what's going on? how do i access my drives? why would they work fine and suddenly not be recognized? i haven't done anything that would have harmed the data. the iPod works fine on its own. this is very frustrating.

Well, my best advice would be to first check on another computer, your Macbook could be fine and you are simply in possession of a faulty hard drive, but because the iPod too isn't working when connected, then the USB drivers may have become corrupt.
Worst case scenario I hate to say, is that your USB hardware is faulty but I don't think that is the case.
What you can do if it is just the drivers is perform a re-install of Mac OS X, but I can't remember if there is a way to install it without losing all the data on your computer. This should however fix all the driver issues. I would recommend a clean install.
Before you do anything however, how does your Mac perform with other USB devices? E.g. your mouse, flash drive, or anything else you can test? Maybe you just have 2 dysfunctional devices which is possible. Preferably get something you can read and write to such as a flash drive or another external HD

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Anyone find a solution for this yet??? I'm having a similar problem. I have an external drive but my tunes are on a partitioned drive on the internal. The external is off but when I go to enable disk use it keeps turning it off on me. When I have selected manually sync songs then it tells me that disk cannot be read from or written to. The computer never shows a drive for the ipod. This is really getting on my nerves!

Click wheel doesnt work and ipod not recognized by itunes

hi everyone
i have a 1st generation ipod and recently it has not been working. the click wheel does not respond to anyhthing at all...and the ipod is not recognized by my itunes, although it is recognized by the computer. ive tried formatting the ipod through the usb drive and i have tried resetting the ipod...i am unable to restore it as itunes does not recognize it. someone please help me fix this!
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Try:
- iOS: Not responding or does not turn on
- Also try DFU mode after try recovery mode
How to put iPod touch / iPhone into DFU mode « Karthik's scribblings
- If not successful and you can't fully turn the iOS device fully off, let the battery fully drain. After charging for an least an hour try the above again.
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External keyboard and display not recognized

After upgrading to Leopard, Vista doesn't see my external keyboard and display.
Any ideas?

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I have a similar problem on our G3 iBook with Panther. Most of the keys don't work, and of the four or five that do, they print only gibberish.
For a while I had control of the "C" key, and I was able to start from the Installation CD-ROM. I ran Disk Utility. It found and repaired a whole bunch of permissions and reported no problem with the hard disk. But I still cannot use the keys, and since then I've lost the use of the "C" also.
Because I cannot use the keyboard, I cannot type in my administrator's password, and for that reason I cannot use System Preferences to start from the Installation CD-ROM. I did not see the Hardware Test on the CD-ROM, but it sounds interesting.
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Iphone and ipod not recognized in itunes

I have been trying to get help here for a week and no luck. I have followed every step in http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1369, http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1363?viewlocale=en_US, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2292, http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3125 and others and am still stuck. Both my iphone and ipod (classic) charge, but will not appear in itunes. They both charge and my iphone can be viewed in another computer. I cannot even view anything in this iphone on this computer any longer.
PLEASE! This is driving me insane here. I have no idea what else to try here.
Both the ipod and iphone otherwise work normally.

I would think, Twins1995, that if we are having the problem, others are as well. Hopefully, Apple will shortly issue a follow-up software release to fix the problem. Or is that just wishful thinking on my part.
It would be helpful, if there were some kind of work-around in the interim, so we can use our devices. Pretty frustrating when you consider that all of the hardware and software is produced by Apple.

Files are on an external drive and Itunes not finding them...

not sure why, as the files have been on this drive for a few years. How can I point Itunes to the extnernal? And as importantly: how can I restore my playlists and itunes data? A "Previous itunes librarty" folder exists on the external, and I have an IPOD which theoretically I can synch.
Thanks in advance!

iTunes doesn't store the play data (Last Played Date, Play Count) with the music files. On my Mac I find it at ~home:Music:iTunes:iTunes Library. There's also an XML file that you can open and read with an appropriate text editor.
You said you have previous library files. Have you tried double-clicking one?
If that doesn't work, I don't have any idea how to restore your play data, if even possible.
Perhaps you could try File -> Library -> Import Playlist... and choose your previous Library.
Message was edited by: thicks

External drive and ipod won't mount after latest security update

I just downloaded the latest security update on my powerbook, and now my lacee external hard-drive won't mount. I ran disc permissions and still nothing. My ipod charges from the firewire port but doesn't mount either. The hard-drive mounts fine on my dome imac which appears to have the latest updates as well. Could it be a problem with the firewire port itself or something to do with the security update? Thanks for the help.

Your PowerBook is hurting my friend. Check "About this Mac" and see if the memory reported is the actual memory you have installed on the machine. I had a PB that had 1GB installed but the machine only read 256. Ended up needing a logic board replacement. Check http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303173 to see if it applies to you.
Unplug all devices from the PB, leaving only power connected.
If it everything seems cool, then you'll want to start up in "single user mode". Restart the PB and hold down the  + s (apple and s) keys until you get a black display with white characters. Once you get the command prompt signified by a # character. At that point type in the following at the prompt
fsck -yf
then hit your return key
As the system check your HD, notice any errors that are displayed. After it is done it will inform you of any modifications, or if it thinks everything is cool.
then again, type in
fsck -yf
then hit your return key
You'll want to have run the fsck -yf utility a total of 3 times. Hopefully at the end everything will be good (No errors) "* appears to be OK".
In any case, type in
reboot -n
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Your PB will reboot. After the OS has loaded, plug in your FW devices and see if they mount. Either way post back with results.
d

I'd love some help trying to figure out why my 2008 MacBook no longer recognizes my external drive and now is not downloading photos from my iphone....?

After many years of having no problems at all on my Macbook, I recently figured I should finally upgrade my OS. I did that about three weeks ago, updating to Snow Leopard (10.6.8). I used Time Machine at least once after the OS upgrade but now Time Machine no longer recognizes the external drive I have used for all these years to back up. The MacBook does not "see" it. (Disk Utility does however.) The computer then also stopped recognizing another La Cie back-up that I have and now... my iPhone cannot download photos? Yikes.
I have, of course, shut down numerous times, used different cables (that worked for some) and the two USB drives. I even used a firewire. Nothing worked. I also tried to "Repair disk" on Disk Utility. It didn't work either, giving me an error (that I didn't save, sorry).
I read many other discussions on the file format of the external drive and of course I'd be happy to reformat the external drives--however, it is obviously a tad nerve-wracking to reformat drives before having an accessible back-up. Suggestions? I do not remember what file format they have but am pretty sure it's not the Mac file system someone mentioned. The drives are a 2009 WD "My Passport Elite" and La Cie 2007 d2 Quadra,
In terms of other hardware available, we do have another MacBook Air but it has started rejecting both drives as well (without the Snow Leopard upgrade). We have an old Dell but it wouldn't have the disk space to help out much.
Any thoughts on the process involved would be welcome. Any ideas on the iPhone rejection would be helpful as well! It is a 30gig iPhone 4 that has 20 or so gigs free (not clear as iTunes says that there are abour 18 Gigs on the phone but 24 free gigs? I may be bad at math but that's 40 gigs...).
I am checking out iCloud but apparently there are only 55 gigs available?
Will be glad to hear any thoughts. Thanks!

Good afternoon Lyssa,
Phew. First of all, thanks in advance...these blogs are always comforting help!
So, to answer your questions: For the age of the hard drive.Well, I added memory a couple of years ago (RAM and hard drive). Being a mom leads me to eat up a fair amount of gigs with photos of my kids and, in fact, I think I entirely replaced the original drive, so it is a couple years younger than 2008 since I did that in March 2010. If there is some way to verify that (whether or not I replaced the entire drive), I'm all ears. I have 311 Gigs free, so it is not a space issue. I verified the startup disk on Disk Utilityand nothing showed up.
Question 1- What formats...
The La Cie is format Windows NT Filesystem 3G ....At the time that I bought it I was still using a PC as well as a Mac and was told by afriend to use this format...
The WD is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I again tried to repair the WD last night and this is the error message: "Error: DiskUtility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files."
Also, Time Machine tried again to back-up and gave me this error: "Files can't becopied onto the backup disk because it appears to be 'read only'. You may needto repair or reformat the disk using Disk Utility. If the disk can't berepaired, you must use a different disk for backups. Open Time Machinepreferences to select a different backup disk."
Question 2. Other cables...
I used two other cables with the WD and that didn't change anything.
Question 3... Fire Wire from the La Cie
Yes, I used the Firewire cable from the La Cie and it is indeed present, though still not visible in Finder. Since it is not Mac OSExtended I know that I can't use Time Machine with it.
So, in summary...
I can plug in the La Cie and it is functional on the MacBook, visible on Disk Utility but not visible in Finder. The WD drive is not visible and not functional. So we can think it is indeed the WD that is not working.... Also, the iphone photos did, in the end, get downloaded, so it is not something more general.
Causes...
I forgot to mention that there is a "lost+found" file on the WD which apparently points to a UNIX /OS issue?
Some kind of "insurance"?....
I'm curious about how people avoid this kind of issue. You just regularly replace back-up drives and hard drives before problems come up? Time Machine is great and saves many of us from disasters, however, knowing that your Time Machine back-ups are vulnerable makes the whole system insecure. No way to have alarms ring before the drive goes out?
As for ways ahead...
It seems that I ought to be able to copy off of the WD to the MacBook then erase it and reformat it and start over again. However, I haven’t been able to see its contents except on random occasions. If you have any ideas on how to copy the Time Machineback-ups from the WD, again, I'm all ears!
Good afternoon Lyssa,
Phew. First of all, thanks in advance...
So, to answer your questions:
For the age of the hard drive. Well, I added memory a coupleof years ago (RAM and hard drive). Being a mom leads me to eat up a fair amountof gigs with photos of my kids ….and, in fact, I think I entirely replaced theoriginal drive, so it is a couple years younger than 2008 since I did that inMarch 2010. If there is some way to verify that, I'm all ears. I have 311 Gigfree, so it is not a space issue. I verified the startup disk on Disk Utilityand nothing showed up.
Question 1- What formats...
The La Cie is format Windows NT Filesystem 3G ....At thetime that I bought it I was still using a PC as well as a Mac and was told by afriend to use this format...
The WD is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I again tried torepair the WD last night and this is the error message: "Error: DiskUtility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible,reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files."
Also, Time Machine tried again to back-up and gave me thiserror: "Files can't be copied onto the backup disk because it appearsto be 'read only'. You may need to repair or reformat the disk using DiskUtility. If the disk can't be repaired, you must use a different disk forbackups. Open Time Machine preferences to select a different backup disk."
Question 2. Other cables...
I used two other cables with the WD and that didn't changeanything.
Question 3... Fire Wire from the La Cie
Yes, I used the Firewire cable from the La Cie and it isindeed accessible, though still not visible in Finder. Since it is not Mac OSExtended I know that I can't use Time Machine with it.
FYI...
So, in summary... I can plug in the La Cie and it is “functional” on theMacBook but not visible in Finder. The WD drive is not visible and notfunctional. So we can think it is indeed the WD that is not working.... ALSO,the iphone photos did, in the end get downloaded.
As for ways ahead…
It seems that I ought to be able to copy off of the WD tothe MacBook then erase it and reformat it and start over again. However, Ihaven’t been able to “see” its contents except on random occasions…
Any further thoughts are welcome!

New iPod not recognized in Vista PC and no devices in iTunes

Hello, plugged iPod Touch into computer and Vista showed usual little box which said automatically located drivers and installed them. But couldn't find iPod in My computer. Installed iTunes from download area. No devices in left column.
Reinstalled iTunes from fresh download. Plugged iPod in every USB point on computer, but nothing happens. IPod not found or recognized.
Tried to find USB driver in Device Manager but all have generic names and so can't identify which driver was installed for iPod. None show installation date or anything which may identify which one. Also forgot to create restore point first (kicking self - always do this normally before installing something new).
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Could someone please suggest what to do, besides dropping computer out of window?
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I would try this:
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You can have multiple libraries with iTunes.
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2. Open iTunes and at the same time hold down the option key (if you are Windows press shift and open iTunes)
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I have moved my Itunes media folder to an external drive and Itunes does not find the items in the folder

Running Win7. I moved my entire Itunes library to an external drive to free up space on my laptop. Itunes recognized the change and all was well. That worked fine and I have synced several times from the laptop with the library on the external drive. Now the laptop is in the shop (sigh, not Itunes related a dead network card). I connected the external drive to my desktop, made sure my software was up to date. opened ITunes went to edit/preferences/advanced. Went to change Itunes media folder location and navigated to the proper folder on my external drive and clicked OK. None of the music, videos, etc, that are in that folder show up in iTunes on the desktop. Restarted ITunes, no help, reboot computer, no help. Have I done something wrong or left out a step. I could copy all the media onto the desktop individually and build new playlists but that seems like something that should not be needed? One of the reasons I moved my Itunes media folder to the external drive was so I could use the laptop for iTunes while travel and the desktop for iTunes while at home. Do I have to copy the entire folder to my desktop and take up space there? That would be counterproductive to using the external drive. I searched and saw a hint to hold down shift while starting ITunes but that did not change anything. Any help would be most appreciated!
Jim in WV

Thank you for your prompt response - I did as you said and did a drag and drop into the iTunes window - it imported and got my album art from the net. When I started Itunes with the shift key down I was prompted to choose a library but since I copied over the media folder and not the library folder I was unable to select that so I guess I will have to create a new library and add in all the music, videos, etc. unless I wait for my laptop and export the library or at least that seems to be the case? In short, all my data (iTunes media folder) is on my external drive and can be added to the blank iTunes screen but I can not choose a library folder. Is there anyway around completely making all those playlists again? I am not sure my laptop will survive the shop with data intact and really hate to start over on those.
In an unrelated question - I collect old TV shows from the 1950's. Can I make playlists within the home video folder somehow? In other words like one for Quiz shows, one for comedies, one for police and detective shows, etc. while I am remaking all my playlists for my music if I end up having to go that route?
Once again thank you for helping me out. I am not too Itunes savvy and really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

My daughters ipod touch is disabled because of a wrong passcode. I have tried many times to log onto to Itunes and it will not help without a passcode and is not recognizing the itouch as a device, but the USB is functional. Do I need Itunes to fix this

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