External drive won't work on PC

I have an external drive that I have set up as my time machine but now the external drive is not recognized on any PC and I've tried several. How do I get the external drive to work on my mac and a PC?

If it's formatted for Mac then you can't use it on a PC without 3rd party software. If you format it for PC, then you can't use it TimeMachine.

Similar Messages

  • WD External Drive Won't work with Time Machine or anything else

    I am really hoping someone can help me. I have been using Time Machine to backup my hard drive on my Macbook and using a WD drive. Everything worked until right before Christmas. Something happened and I don't know what and I am not sure the last backup worked. I can no longer see the external drive in the finder, but I can see it in Disk Utility and it shows up in About this Mac. When I've had the drive connected today, the disk is turning and the status light is flashing. I can see data being written in the activity monitor which makes me think something is happening with the drive. In Disk Utility, I can eject the drive, but can't select it to do any first aid or other activities. Anyone have any suggestions?

    You might want to try resetting your MacBook's FireWire Bus to see if that cures the issue: http://tinyurl.com/7p6jfx.

  • Drag and Drop from inside iTunes to external drive won't work

    Hello all, I have a huge library of nearly 6000 cds on my computer, all in itunes. I have lots backed up on DL dvds, but i bought a 1tb drive to back up the rest. So i am selectively dragging and dropping the songs in big chunks to a backup folder i have made on my external drive but it just does not work!
    It works some of the time, but if it has a problem with even one of the songs it does not copy any of them, so i have to go thru and manually drag each cd until i find the one that it refuses to copy (which it refuses to copy for no descernable reason) and this will take forever with 5600 cds. any suggestions as to why it is doing this??
    Thanks so much!
    Tim

    That is a good suggestion, and it would be simpler, but the problem is, I ahve over 1tb of music and movies combined, but i want them all backed up, so some of my music is backed up to data-dvd's and the rest needs to be selectively moved to the harddrive...is it because some of the song titles may be the same name? folders may not allow that?

  • My Seagate external drive won't work since I downloaded Yosemite

    My Mac recognizes my Seagate external drive but it doesn't work since I downloaded Yosemite.

    Yosemite  is not a Classic operating system.  See where to post here:
    Site map of Communities and Categories
    Also you may find this tip useful:
    WD, Seagate, and Toshiba drives

  • Performance slowing down when ripping cd's..external drive won't work

    2 problems I need help with. Itunes was ripping my cd's to wav format anywhere from 20-40x from my internal cd/dvd player/burner. Now it's only doing it around 12x. I cleaned up space and defraged the hard drive, but that didn't help. I also upgraded to the latest version of itunes (which took me 2 days to fix..that's another discussion completely). Still didn't help. I then tried using the external player cd/dvd player/burner. The cd is recognized by itunes, but will not rip the file. It goes through the files very quickly and leaves filenames on my hard drive, but the files are empty.
    So what's killing the speed on my internal drive and how come I can't rip from the external drive?
    Thanks to anyone who can help.

    You'd have to rule out the possibilities. By connecting the drive to another Mac using the same cable, it seems like you have ruled out the drive itself and the cable.
    The two remaining possibilities I can think of are the iMac's FireWire 400 port being faulty and a software-related cause.
    To rule out the software cause, you can try starting up from your Mac OS X installation disc; insert disc and restart with the C key held down. When you get to Installer's first screen, go up to the menu bar. Under Utilities, select to run Disk Utility. Connect the external drive. Does it appear in the Disk Utility sidebar properly, as a drive with a volume indented below? If it does, there may be some problem with your currently installed system that is causing this problem. If it does not, then it becomes more likely that there is some hardware-related problem with the iMac's FireWire port.
    Note: When you did the "unplugging everything for half an hour," you should use the reset SMC procedure instead. Try following this procedure precisely.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    When you do this, you should disconnect ALL cables. If you have been using a power strip, connect the power cord directly to a wall power outlet for this test. Power it up with nothing connected, except for the power cord. Then, add only your keyboard/mouse. Connect the external drive. Is there any difference?
    Also consider how the external drive is connected to power. Is it connected to power differently when it works on the MacBook? Were you using a crowded power strip that also has the iMac's power cord? As with the iMac itself, if you have been using a power strip, try connecting the hard drive's power cord directly to a wall power outlet for this test.

  • External drives won't work since upgrading to Lion.

    This is a really frustrating problem.  I have two portable external hard drives that have both ceased to work ever since I upgraded to 10.7.  These are both used for large video files and I need them to work as they have some important stuff on them.
    One is a 1TB WD MyPassport, USB connection.
    The other is a 500GB Seagate FreeAgent, FireWire 800 connection. 
    The drives are both giving me the same weird phenomenon:
    I plug them in, and they'll boot up--sometimes right away, sometimes after several minutes--but then they make my Finder worthless.  The files won't preview in Cover Flow, and expanding a folder takes forever. When I try opening a video file in QuickTime, I end up with the beach ball of death.  I try restarting the computer, but I can't even do that because "Finder (Not Responding)."
    So I tried manually shutting down by holding down the power button.  When I restarted the computer with the drive attached, the Finder wouldn't launch.  The dock would appear, but no icons on my desktop whatsoever.  When I unplug the drive, once again hold down the power button to shut down, and restart without the drive attached, everything boots up just fine.
    If anyone has experienced this, please help ...

    Open Disk Utility, select the external disk in the sidebar and verify the disk. If there's an issue with them, repair the disks

  • External dvd drive won't work on USB macBook air

    External dvd drive won't work on my macBook air usb port.  It works on older versions of air and iMac.
    Any ideas.  Tried the left shift, control, option and power button sumultaniously, but did not work.

    I know that no one has replied yet, but figured out the issue.  I called Applecare and they couldn't figure it out, so sent me to a genuis at the Apple store.  They too couldn't figure it out and told me that it was a firmware issue with the Toshiba dvd external drive.  When I got home, I thought I would try one more thing.  I hooked it up to a powered hub and it works perfectly.  I'm not sure why no one else thought of it, but glad that I did.

  • So, now my CD/DVD drive won't work

    I made the BIG mistake of upgrading to LION last week.   Up until that moment, EVERYTHING was working fine on my MAC.   I downloaded the software just fine but when I went to install it I received a message saying my hard drive was full.   I'm sure that I had plenty of room left and would have thought that if it was full I would have received that message PRIOR to the download.   Nevertheless, I tried it again.  This time I received a message saying that there was something wrong with my hard drive and it needed repairing.   I did the verification and tried to do the repair but it wouldn't work.
    Made an appointment with the Apple Store, (at least I live near a store), and they went through all the diagnostics and said, "There is nothing wrong with your hard drive yet we are unable to install the upgrade ... meaning that my computer will not function.  I had to buy a new hard drive and have them install LION on it.   Before I left the store I told the tech guy that I'd like to turn it on to make sure it would work ... guess what ... it wouldn't.   "I can't understand it", he said, "It was working just fine a few minutes ago."   I had him try it a few more times and then he advised me that they'd have to do it again and for me to come back (again).  
    So, now I have a new hard drive and a new operating system ... but I had to pay for it in cash, frustration, time, and lost data (my email archive mostly) ... BUT ... now my CD/DVD drive won't work.   I've had to reload software with an external drive.  
    What the **** ????
    Anyone with some thoughts on this?
    (Plus I've had to create a new MAC ID?   Why won't it accept my old account ID?)

    Thank you again ... I wasn't aware of that bit of information.  
    I've never used Toast before but have heard of it.  I just went to their website and watched a quick video.  I'm a tad confused though ... is Toast able to rip movie DVD's before burning a copy?   I used to have some software that could do this but, of course, it's now gone with my new hard drive.

  • LaCie external drive won't mount on iMAC

    Hi,
    My external LaCie external drive won't mount on my iMAC running 10.6.8 but will mount and show up on my PC as working fine, however I am not able to read the information on it as it was formatted for my iMAC. Therefore it leads me to believe this is a software issue.
    I have reason to believe someone had changed the permissions and prevented the mounting of this external drive (which belongs to me)  so that the contents won't be found on my iMAC.
    How to resolve this issue?
    Thanks in advance,
    Cait

    Cait,
    Please try a SMC reset, it may take 2-3 attempts for it to work. Look over the instructions below carefully.
    SMC RESET
    Shut down the computer.
    Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
    Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
    Release the power button.
    Attach the computers power cable.
    Press the power button to turn on the computer.
    PRAM RESET
    Shut down the computer.
    Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
    Turn on the computer.
    Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
    Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
    Release the keys.

  • I updated to maverick and now my toshiba hard drive won't work

    i updated to maverick and now my toshiba hard drive won't work

    shakejke wrote:
    i updated to maverick and now my toshiba hard drive won't work
    whats the format on the external HD?
    verify same on another Mac, its likely a dead SATA card inside the external enclosure.
    One assumes you arent referring to a 2012 Air with a Toshiba SSD, since the Air contains no hard drives, only a SSD.
    2013 Air use Sandisk or Samsung SSD.

  • Installed itunes 6 and now CD/DVD drive won't work at all

    I just bought a new ipod and installed the software and now my CD/DVD drive won't work at all. Here is my info: Could someone please help!!!
    Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
    Dell Computer Corporation Inspiron 5160
    iTunes 6.0.4.2
    CD Driver 2.0.4.3
    CD Driver DLL 2.0.3.2
    LowerFilters: ASAPIW2K (6.0.2.0),
    UpperFilters: GEARAspiWDM (2.0.4.3),
    Video Driver: NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 \GeForce FX Go5200
    IDE\DiskFUJITSUMHT2080AH_______________________006C___, Bus Type ATA, Bus Address [0,0]
    IDE\CdRomSONYDVD+-RW_DW-D56A____________________PDS7___, Bus Type ATA, Bus Address [0,0]
    SCSI\CdRomROXIO__DVD-ROM_EMULATOR___, Bus Type SCSI, Bus Address [0,0]
    If you have multiple drives on the same IDE or SCSI bus, these drives may interfere with each other.
    Some computers need an update to the ATA or IDE bus driver, or Intel chipset. If iTunes has problems recognizing CDs or hanging or crashing while importing or burning CDs, check the support site for the manufacturer of your computer or motherboard.
    Current user is administrator.
    D: SONY DVD+-RW DW-D56A, Rev PDS7
    Drive is empty.
    E: ROXIO DVD-ROM EMULATOR, Rev
    Drive is empty.
    If anyone has a solution for this stupid problem that would be great.
    Thanks

    Yes, I suspect that it's the virtual drive emulator software you have there. I know nothing about that software and it doesn't look like the Roxio support page even mentions it, so it's probably software old enough that they're not supporting it anymore.
    To uninstall any software, I would start with the "Add and Remove Programs" Control Panel. Uninstall it there, and then use the Microsoft Installer Cleanup Utility —
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=290301
    Download and install that. Run it and find the drive emulator software on the list and remove it there. And reboot and see if that has successfully removed it.
    There is a work around that if we just remove the iTunes CD driver, you'll probably get your drive back, but you'll only be able to rip CDs, you won't be able to burn them without the iTunes CD driver installed. You do have some Pinnacle CD burning software installed. Are you currently using that or is that leftover cruft as well?

  • External drive won't mount after plugging in iPhone - MacBook 13'' (2,1)

    Hi Support Crew...
    I have a 13" MacBook(2,1) running OS X 10.6.2. This is a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo machine w/ 4 GB RAM & 320 GB hard drive.
    Today, I had the Iomega drive plugged in via USB, along with my soundcard (MOTU 828mk2) plugged in via FW. This is a very normal setup for me which has been bug free since I bought this computer over 2 years ago. When I plugged in my iPhone 3G via USB I got an error message which comes up when you incorrectly remove a device. This was strange because I didn't unplug anything, I only plugged in the iPhone. The iPhone was playing music when I plugged it in and I had to unplug and plug is back in to get iTunes to recognize it.
    Ever since this happened, my Iomega external drive won't mount. I am able to access it via Disk Utility (and ran the Verify Disk/Repair Disk - everything is "ok"), however I can't access the data on the drive. I really really need the data but of course can't access it to backup.
    Disk Utility log:
    500.11 GB Ext Hard Disk Media (black text)
    Iris (grey text) - I ran Verify Disk & Repair Disk
    2010-01-22 14:20:51 -0800: Verify and Repair volume “Iris”
    2010-01-22 14:20:51 -0800: Starting repair tool:
    2010-01-22 14:20:51 -0800: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
    2010-01-22 14:20:52 -0800: Checking extents overflow file.
    2010-01-22 14:20:52 -0800: Checking catalog file.
    2010-01-22 14:20:56 -0800: Checking multi-linked files.
    2010-01-22 14:20:56 -0800: Checking catalog hierarchy.
    2010-01-22 14:20:58 -0800: Checking extended attributes file.
    2010-01-22 14:21:00 -0800: Checking volume bitmap.
    2010-01-22 14:21:01 -0800: Checking volume information.
    2010-01-22 14:21:01 -0800: The volume Iris appears to be OK.
    2010-01-22 14:21:01 -0800: Volume repair complete.
    2010-01-22 14:21:01 -0800: Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
    2010-01-22 14:21:01 -0800: Repair tool completed:
    2010-01-22 14:21:01 -0800:
    2010-01-22 14:21:01 -0800:
    System Profiler shows the drive (on both FW & USB ports when I tried other cords). This drive does not require power and I am not using a USB hub, strictly the laptops ports. And yes, the laptop's power adapter is plugged in.
    System Profiler: Device Tree log:
    Iomega eGo HDD:
    Capacity: 500.11 GB (500,107,862,016 bytes)
    Removable Media: Yes
    Detachable Drive: Yes
    BSD Name: disk1
    Product ID: 0x047c
    Vendor ID: 0x059b (Iomega Corporation)
    Version: 0.01
    Serial Number: 000000066273
    Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
    Manufacturer: Iomega
    Location ID: 0xfd300000
    Current Available (mA): 500
    Current Required (mA): 0
    Partition Map Type: APM (Apple Partition Map)
    S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
    Volumes:
    Iris:
    Capacity: 499.97 GB (499,972,702,208 bytes)
    Writable: Yes
    File System: Journaled HFS+
    BSD Name: disk1s10
    When I tried to run Migration Assistant, I just get the spinning search circle and none of the drives come up, just endless searching.
    The fact that I got the "Improperly removed device" error when I plugged in the iPhone makes me think something weird is up and it's not actually the external drive. There is clicking/whining/noise, the drives powers up fine and is recognized by the system but the mount point is now "not mounted".
    Does anyone have any idea how to fix? If you live in SF, I will buy you a beer.
    J

    I meant to say; "There are NO clicking/whining/noise sounds made by the external hard drive"

  • External speaker won't work

    I have a BlackBerry Curve 8310 and the external speaker won't work. I don't get any notification of calls, texts, etc. I had a new external speaker put in but that didn't fix the problem. Anybody have any ideas of what else could be wrong? My phone is no longer under warranty, so AT&T will not replace my phone.

    The same thing happened to me. Go to Applications and then the Utilities Folder and then open the Audio Midi Setup app. Make sure the default output and system output are set to the built in output. The same symptoms happened to me when I ad reset those options to an aggregate device I created for some simple music production. Setting the above setting back to the defaults made everything better.
    -E

  • External microphone won't work on Macbook Pro

    My external microphone won't work on my Macbook Pro.
    My mic is an SE2200 A, and I'm pluggin that into a Behringer Eurorack UB802 (with Phantom power). This is then connected to a 1/4 inch to 3.5mm adapter so I can plug it into my Macbook Pro.
    If I plug this directly into my Macbook Pro into the headphone socket (which I've been told doubles up as a mic socket), and go to Settings -> Sound -> Input, the mic does not appear on screen at all.
    If I plug it into a 3.5mm to USB adapter, and plug it into a USB port on my mac, then the USB PnP Sound Device appears on the Settings -> Sound -> Input, but no sound is picked up.
    Could any suggest why this isn't working?
    thanks

    You have to use a cable that will break out the 3.5 mm TRRS jack into mic, L, and R.
    I haven't found the right wiring yet and the cables I have tried don't seem to work.
    See this post: What is the wiring digram on the MacBook Pro 3.5 mm TRRS jack?

  • External keypad won't work after installing OS 7.

    External keypad won't work after installing OS 7. I have a "Zagg" keyboard that won't pair now to OS 7,...Why?

    They do work. I have one and mine is working. Have you tried to reset your iPad? HOlding down teh sleep and home keys until it reboots then try pairing again.
    A slightly more drastic thing is to go into the settings and reset all settings. THe downside, you will need to retweak your device but it can help fix keyboard glitches.

Maybe you are looking for