External Drive Doesn't Show Up When Booting

I have an iMac (intel) 10.5.8, and I want to reset my Macintosh HD and I found I could do it using disk utility when booting from another source. Unfortunatly I don't have the installation disc (I bought the mac 2nd hand) so I tried backing up my computer to an wxternal hard drive and booting it from that. so I turned on the computer and held Option until the Macintosh HD showed up. I was told my other external drive would too, but it doesn't, so i can only boot it from the Macintosh HD. IF anyone can help that would be great! or come up with other options to reset my HARD DRIVE!! Thank you.

How did you backup your internal hard drive to the external? In order to boot a Macintosh has to be partitioned using the GUID scheme and then formatted as Mac OS extended Journaled. Both operations are performed in Disk Utility. You can clone your drive to to the external using a utility such as Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. I'm not sure what you expect to accomplish without install discs. When you clone a drive you're making an exact copy. You shoud probably look at calling Apple and requesting a set of original discs or purchase a full install of Snow Leopard at http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Similar Messages

External drive doesn't show volume when used internally (and vv)

I have an early 2011 MBP 17" where I have replaced the optical drive with the 750G hard drive that came with the computer. in the hard drive spot I put in an SSD. Recently I got a 1T 2.5" drive and I want to copy all the files from the internal 750G to the 1T and then put the 1T in the optical drive bay to replace the 750G.
I got everything copied to the 1T drive via USB - i put the drive in a USB 3.0 enclosure that I've used before with this machine. everything copied fine. so i swapped out the 750G for the 1T in the laptop. when I booted up, the drive did now show in the finder. in Disk Utility it shows up as a device and the indented volume is a greyed out and showing a system volume designation (something like disk3d or whatever the OS uses for this [I didn't make note of the specific volume name]). when I put the disk back in the USB enclosure, it worked fine.
So i formatted the 1T in the macbook, interally, and it works fine that way. but when I put the 750G in the external enclosure, thinking I could copy the files that way [external to internal]) - the 750G does the same thing: the device shows up ok in Disk Utility but the volume is grey and shows as an OS volume name. like the 1T I am not able to mount it or do anything other than format it.
So I am at a loss. why can I not copy files to an external drive and put that in the machine internally? this is the way I've done this kind of thing over the years. this is the first time I am doing this with the MBP. what can I do in order to get this to work so I can get all the files on the 750G onto the 1T and work in my MBP?
I know I can leave the 750G in the computer, connect a drive and copy it all over to it. then put the 1T in the computer and copy all the files off the external drive to the 1T. likely this would work. however a) i don't have a large enough external drive to do this with and b) i'd like to understand what is going on here and solve it as i may need to do this in the future.
any ideas?
thanks!

How did you backup your internal hard drive to the external? In order to boot a Macintosh has to be partitioned using the GUID scheme and then formatted as Mac OS extended Journaled. Both operations are performed in Disk Utility. You can clone your drive to to the external using a utility such as Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. I'm not sure what you expect to accomplish without install discs. When you clone a drive you're making an exact copy. You shoud probably look at calling Apple and requesting a set of original discs or purchase a full install of Snow Leopard at http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

External drive doesn't show up.

I have a LaCie mini hub external drive that I use as a backup drive for my Mac Mini. Well, the drive in the Mini died. I took the LaCie to the Apple store with the Mini and they confirmed that the external drive was working OK, by either USB or Firewire. They kept the Mini for warranty repair and I'm still waiting for it to return.
I get home and attach the LaCie drive to my ibook, but the ibook doesn't see it. It doesn't show up with system profiler, so I can't even try running Disk Utilities on it. The hub function of the LaCie seems to work OK, but that's probably not surprising, and has little to do with the hard disk inside it.
The Mini is a intel duo core running OS X 10.4.8
The ibook is a G4 running OS X 10.3.9
The LaCie is 250 GB, formatted using HFS+, according to the manual.
Mostly I just want to reassure myself that the backup is intact on the LaCie drive. Any thoughts?
ibook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Mostly I just want to reassure myself that the backup is intact on the LaCie drive. Any thoughts?
You might have a look at the demo version of iPartition.
http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iPartition.php
The demo won't write any changes, so hopefully it is a safe way to confirm that you still can access your drive -- though it won't actually let you get the contents, since it is a partitioning utility.
(If it were me, I'd leave well enough alone until your fixed Mini returns.)

External Drive won't show up when connected to Airport via USB Hub

I just got a new external HD and hooked it up out of the box. There were no problems until I tried copying 117 files to it. An error was encountered (Couldn't complete command due to something or other) and after that I never showed up on my computer again. I tried rebooting... hooking it up directly to the computer...the whole bit. Nothing.
So I then hooked it up to our laptop. It was found, I erased it, hooked it up to the desktop... it was found there as well... but whenever I hook it up wirelessly via the USB Hub and Airport... I can't get it.
Everything else that's hooked up to the hub is still working wirelessly (Printer Internet).
Is this an isssue with the drive?

Ya' know.. I'm not totally sure. I went to Airport Utility... selected my base station, clicked on Manual Setup... clicked on Disks and saw that my USB Drive was listed. After that I opened the finder, went to network, connected to my base station from there and my USB Drive popped up and I mounted it.
It's been working fine since.

USb external drive doesn't show up

Hello all !
Can't manage to find the post I had read about this months ago so I ask again. I have an external USB 2 Iomega 80Gb HD that works great except that when I shut down the computer and then restart it, every other time it won't mount and I have to unplug the USB plug, shut the drive off and on and then plug. Kinda boring. It was minor problem lately as I never turned the computer off but put it in deep sleep instead but as I state in another post, my new PCI card seems to prevent the computer from getting to deep sleep so if I now HAVE to turn the computer off, I want to find the solution for that drive !
I remember reading a post long ago about someone with the same problem, same drive and about formatting it to HFS+, which I did and it had improved things indeed.
Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance.
Vince

Maybe your model has an SMU instead of PMU. Read here on how to reset
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300341

Multicast WDS Imaging Not Working - Doesn't show up when booted via PXE..?

I have a lab environment setup specifically for imaging laptops via WDS. I have a stand alone Windows 2012 server connected directly to an 8-Port Cisco SG-220 8 Port switch. Nothing else is connected to this server and it is not being
used for anything else. The server is running DHCP and WDS. I can boot laptops via PXE and connect to the WDS server to deploy the images through standard WDS imaging. However, I have not been able to get Multicasting to work. I
have never used Multicasting before and have read through the documentation but must be missing something. This is what I've done:
1. In the WDS server I right click on my deployment image and select 'create multicast image' then go through the prompts to create an auto-cast image.
2. The Multicast image is created and shown as 'waiting' on the WDS server.
3. The Cisco router is brand new out of the box, the only configuration I did was to enable IGMP snooping. I did not make any other changes to the setup of the switch.
4. I boot a target machine via PXE using the same Boot Image that I always use. It loads to the screen where I can select the image I want to deploy but it never shows the multicast image as an option. I only see the regular image I had previously
been using.
I'm not sure what else I'm missing in order to get the target machine to connect and image using the multicast image.
Here are a few screen shots of what I have setup:
Here is the multicast image created on the server
Here is the Cisco Router configuration:
Here is the NIC card configuration on the server:
This is the target laptop booted via PXE but it never shows the multicast image as an option.
/>

Hi AdamNYC31,
The multicast feature used by WDS uses Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) version 3. Your network switches will need to support this, and you’ll need to configure them
for multicast. Please refer the following similar thread check each step Aaron Tyler and Ron St and Ankit Oberoi offered solution.
Multicast issue: Always "Waiting"
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/18122b39-e707-455d-b22f-956ebfb95e40/multicast-issue-always-waiting?forum=winserversetup
I’m glad to be of help to you!
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

My external hard drive doesn't show up in finder, is it dead?

My external hard drive doesn't show up in finder.Time machine can't find it. Does this mean my external hard drive is dead?
I borrowed a friends and switched mine with hers. My acted the same way in her macbook. I switched the cords on the external drives, no change.
Also, Is there a way to retrieve the information from my sick external hard drive? Thanks for your help.

If the Disk Utility sees it, you might be able to repair it or recover the data on it with a product such as DiskWarrior or Data Rescue.
If the Disk Utility doesn't see it, contact professional support.
(64290)

External hard drive doesn't show after upgrade to Yosemite

I upgraded to Yosemite and now my WD 1TB external HD doesn't show up on my MacBook Pro 2.9 GHz. It shows in the system information under 'About This Mac', but I can't access it. So I can't use Time Machine to do any back-ups, and I can't back up the files on the external drive before reformatting it. Anyone know how to fix this? From other web communities, this seems to be an Apple problem and NOT a hardware issue.

If it shows in Disk Utility, use the Restore tab to copy the files to another location. Note the warning about reformatting the destination.

Recently got a new computer and installed itunes from external drive - all music shows up in the library, however when i click on a song i receive this message "the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". What do i do?

I recently got a new computer and installed itunes from which had been saved onto an external drive - all music shows up in the library, however when I click on a song I receive this message "the song "abc" could not be used because the original file could not be found". What can I do?

I was given the option to locate the file where the song is held. If so select "locate" and direct it to the folder / file where the song is and open it. itunes then will give you the option to use this process to update all of your library. OK that as this will do it automatically instead of doing them one by one. I hope this helps.
Martin

External firewire doesn't show

I'm having trouble seeing an external firewire drive on the desktop.
I've tried restarting with it on and then off, and turning it on after the boot is complete.
I've reset the PRAM, still without success.
The drive has a USB port which I tried, but when I connect via USB it still doesn't show up.
If I leave the drive on whille connected via USB the computer does not boot, the screen remains a blank white.
Outside of trying another firewire cable, are there any suggestions available that I can try?
Thank you.

a brody, thanks for your reply.
I tried safe mode, still didn't show up.
The drive doen't have any backup software, I use Carbon Copy Cloner.
The drive has worked well since 2007.
I tried booting from a drive other then the maind drive, holding the option key down on start up.
The only drive to show on the desktop was the main drive, the external didn't show.
Problem began a couple of weeks ago.
If the drive doesn't show either via firewire or USB, do you think the dirve is just bad, and a new drive is the way to go?

External drive does not show up in finder/ disk utility not able to repair

Hello,
My external drive does not show up in finder. But it appaers in DISK UTILITY. When I tried to repair it, it said:
Verify and Repair volume “ANNE HD”
** /dev/disk1s1 (NO WRITE)
** Phase 1 - Preparing FAT
** Phase 2 - Checking Directories
Unable to read directory (Input/output error)
Volume repair complete.Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
How can I back up files if the external drive is not found in FINDER? I tried to restore with disk utility, but it doesn't seem to be able to select the hard drive.
Can you please help me?

Thanks a lot Niel,
Diskwarrior is a program for what you need to buy a DVD. I live in Brazil I have no idea where to buy it. Or can you download it?
A

URGENT Trying to wipe and reinstall Leopard 10.5 on my 2008 imac8,1 from the disk but my hard drive doesn't show up

So to give a little big of a background on my computer. I got it January 2009 as a graduation gift, because I was going to get a degree in Graphic Design and Animation. I only worked on it [mostly brousing the web, and itunes] for about 6 months because I was taking all of my general courses for college. I then met my boyfriend [late 2009] and moved in with him, my boyfriend has a macbook so I left my mac at my parents house. I was only Using it every now and then and it would be idle/ or shut off the rest of the time.
Fast forward to fall 2011. Me and my boyfriend live in a condo so I brought my computer over because I am now taking graphic design courses and need my computer. I installed a free 30 day trial of adobe cs5.5. It made my computer kind of slow and it froze alot even though I still have over 250gb's of memory in it. After the trial ended I kind of stoped using my computer again, rather installing the free trials of cs5.5 on my mom and my boyfriends macs until I had enought money saved up to buy it.
Here's where it gets tricky.
So now its March 2012 and I tried uninstalling the trial of cs5.5 on my computer since it was just taking up un needed space. I had to uninstall all of the programs one at a time other wise it would freeze up. I have had to hold the power button down to get it to turn off because i couldn't even move the mouse even after waiting a while. Anyhow I get to the last program and it keeps freezing, I tried shutting down my computer via<apple< shut down. But when I start it up again I got a file with a question mark flashing on my screen. So I looked up how to fix that and had to locate where to start up [I selected my hard drive] then I was able to get on to my computer.
So then I go to disk utilitys and do a repair on my internal hard drive to fix if there were any messed up files. After the files are repaired I figure I'll restart it and let everything get up to date. When I do I get the gray screen with the apple and the spinning wheel. This happens OVER and OVER. I tried soft reseting it, manually turning off the computer, you name it. But it still keeps happening. So I figure I'll just wipe it clean and reinstall the whole thing. [I have it backed up on an external drive]
I try to reinstall leopard 10.5 from the disk that came with my computer, all goes well until I gets to the 3rd screen where you select where to save it to, my hard drive doesn't show up. But if I connect my external hard drive it shows up right away. I try seeing if it pops up on disk utility, and it doesn't show up there either.
Is it possible that my hard drive is shot? I haven't really used my computer that much. Its pretty much sat at my parents house for 2 of the 3 years I've had it. So its not like I used it a whole lot.
Help! I'm a college student who needs her mac now more than ever for my design classes!

The battery alone is a $5 to $15 part. Hard drives vary in cost, and depending on the iMac, they may or may not be able to install a third party hard drive, or one resold through Apple.    The resold through Apple drives tend to cost more. This article discusses the varying successes of third party drives on iMacs:
http://blog.macsales.com/10146-apple-further-restricts-upgrade-options-on-new-im acs
The labor costs depend on the store as well as the time to get the parts in stock.    Call around.

Hard drive doesn't show up in preferences?

Hi,
I have an external hard drive that I want to use as the scratch disk in photoshop but it doesn't show up when I open preferences>performance? My other two hard drives that are connected and mac HD show up though ?

Also, make sure you have read and write permissions on that drive.
On second thought, a FAT32-formatted drive might also work, but I can't vouch for that, as I never run FAT32 drives. Sorry.

External Drive Files Not Showing Up on Mac but files do shows Up on PC

External Drive Files Not Showing Up on Mac but files do shows Up on PC
i had the Ex HD for about 3 years running smoothly on my mac but recently everything disappeared. plunged it into a pc to see if it read my files and it did. what can i do? to make it work on mac again. i don't want to reformat that drive because i have important applications (DMG) and other zip photo video files in the drive.

yes. i did.
...i have tried "verify" & "repair" but they didn't pass the san test. and when i "unmounted/mount" a error message popped up say that there is a application running off the drive but there nothing (i see) running, to close all activity

Western digital hard drive doesn't show up anymore

I bought a Macbook Pro a few months ago and I've been using my Western Digital external USB hard drive with up until now with no problems. Then today for some reason, I turn my computer on and the drive doesn't show up anymore. It doesn't show up in disk utility either. I've rebooted a few times but no luck. I inserted a flash drive and it mounts ok so it's not the USB port. I even switched usb cables just in case the cable was bad. Any suggestions?

Hi there
Sorry to hear you are having trouble with your Mac.
Is the ext HD a powered drive (needs AC power to run) or portable? (smaller, doesn't need to be plugged in to AC)
If its AC powered, check that all the usual lights are lit up on it (flashing activity light, power light etc), if not, then you would need to contact WD.
You can also try resetting the SMC & PRAM, as I have seen this cause a HD to not mount before.
Cheers

External Drive Doesn't Show Up When Booting

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