External Firewire Drives Not Working...huh!?!?!?

last night, everything was fine...
this morning, my two external firewire drives don't work. one is an acomdata, and the other is a western digital. neither drive will mount on any of my four macs (powerbook g4, two powermac g4s, and an ibook g3).
like i said, last night both drives worked fine...today (just a few hours later), neither of them work. any ideas?

just upgraded to 10.4.10...still nothing. i don't get it, but i really need the contents of these drives. what could have happened while i was sleeping? all four computers and both drives were turned off over night...man.

Similar Messages

  • External DVD drive not working with Lombard G3 333

    I have an external DVD drive that worked when I had 10.4, but had to reformat HD and now only have 10.3.9, and now the DVD drive does not work with DVDs, it will work with CDs and CDR media, but not with DVD media. My Lombard did not come with DVD originally and I am using a PC Card (Macintosh PowerBook DVD-Video PC Card For PowerBook G3 Series) and it worked before with 10.4, but not with 10.3, any ideas? Also have tried with 9.x, no go either. Any help would be appreciated.
    Also, would it be difficult to add a DVD logic board to my Lombard?
    Joey

    xamdu,
    I am reading and replying to this post after first replying to your other post, so a few of my previous comments are redundant.
    Regarding the FireWire(?) USB 2.0(?) DVD drive: It is possible Tiger supported your DVD drive but Panther does not. I would give PatchBurn for Panther a try:
    http://patchburn.de/download.html
    If the above is unsuccessful, take a look at this workaround:
    http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040330171655882
    You can swap logic boards but it does require a lot of disassembly.
    Since no version of OSX supports Apple DVD Player, I am assuming you have a third-party player like VLC installed to watch movies. If this is the case, the DVD Decoder PC card is not necessary. If booted to 9.x, you of course will need the decoder PC card but I did not know 9.x's Apple DVD Player supported external drives.

  • Purchasing external firewire drive to work with Canon HV-30/MacBook Pro

    I want to purchase an external firewire drive to run FCE4. I have a Canon HV-30 (Vixia). I have read that external FireWire drives do not work well with Canon DV cameras? Is this true of the Canon HV cameras? and if so, has anyone had success with a particular firewire drive model with this camera?

    Hi(Bonjour)!
    I don't know for this model but it's the implementation of firewire protocol on Canon's models that could make a problem.
    So, you could have problem but it's not absolute.
    Michel Boissonneault

  • External Firewire Drive not Mounting

    Hi, I've been searching these forums but can't find an aswer to my question. I just got a new 27" iMac, and purchased a Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter. I have 3 external Firewire drives, two of which are DC powered (the third, I understand, might be a lost cause, as it's bus powered, and I gather the bus power from TB won't power Firewire drives). At any rate, I'm not seeing either of the DC powered drives showing up, which is a big concern as I have about 5TB of stuff on them!
    Any reason these wouldn't show up, either in the Finder or Disk Utility? Much thanks for any help!

    Hi - did you ever resolve the dropouts? I have a new iMac purchased in Q1 2014 and connect my G-Grive to it via the Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 adapter. My iMac runs 24x7 and this connection drops out on a regular basis - I'd say maybe once every week or so. I have a slightly newer USB3 G-Drive which is connected by the USB socket next to the TB socket on my iMac.
    I cannot tell if it is a software issue or a physical (cable movement issue), the plug has never been out and I can't deliberately disconnect it at will by wobbling the cable/plug. So, evidence and experimentation suggests the physical connection is not the issue. This problem has only come about after switching from a physical FW800 connection (my old iMac) to working via a TB adaptor (my new iMac).

  • External Firewire drive not Mounting/Appearing!

    I have a White macbook core duo and when I plug in the External Firewire Drive it doesn't appear anymore! The Drive draws power from the computer still yet the computer cannot detect the drive. I addition the when i ran Disk Utility the program did not load completely till i removed the firewire drive. I have a SmartDisk "FireLite" FireWire Drive (40gb.) Help PLEASE!!!!
    Message was edited by: slverice

    I had this problem too with my G5 (PPC) and brand new Mac Book.
    Both of my computers were given the same local subnet address. To change this go to System Preferences > Sharing > Computer Name, you'll see an "Edit" button, click on it and change the name or add a "2" to the end of the name before ".local"
    I guess what is happening is both computers are using the same local subnet and your macbook isn't being recognized.
    Mine works fine now, hope this has helped you!
    Jay

  • Thunderbolt 2 external hard drive not working with Macbook Pro (early 2011)

    Hi,
    I'm new to this forum and I hope you guys can help me with this:
    I've recently bought an external hard drive that works on Thunderbolt 2 (LaCie d2 3TB). When I connect the new drive to my Macbook Pro through the thunderbolt port, the drive isn't recognized. However, the drive works fine through a USB connection.
    I thought that Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 are compatible, however this doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe it's because the OS X / driver / firmware version that I'm working on that is not updated? I work on an early 2011 Macbook Pro: OS X Version 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard).
    Thank you very much for your help!
    Daniel

    Hi danielsh6,
    I recently bought the new Lacie Thunderbolt 2 D2 3TB and I had the same problem as you, i have a macbook pro early 2011, those support thunderbolt but many times there is a bug that doesn't let you connect any thunderbolt drives to your computer. The solution I found was installing this update:
    Thunderbolt Firmware Update v1.0
    Before doing this I would recommend you updating to mountain lion (not yosemite yet as there is still some glitches and more on preview's macbook pro's).
    Hope this helped!
    Forest

  • LaCie FireWire External Hard Drive NOT working ...

    I have a 250GB LaCie External Hard Drive plugged via FireWire into my Desktop and it is NOT working properly for the last 12-14 months. I have tried several things, including taking it to the store, and nothing seems to fix the problem. I even upgraded the RAM to 1.25 GB, but that did not solve this problem (I never thought this was the problem, but the guy at the Genius Bar suggested so). The most frustrating of all is that sometimes it works (20% of the time) and most of the time it is just not working. Also, when I use it with my MacBook, it works just fine, so this gives me a little bit of a clue that the problem is the desktop, not the Hard Drive, this is why I did not buy a new HDrive, and this is why I am asking help here. (By the way, when I try to eject the LaCie from my Desktop, it says it can't be done because the disk is in use -which I know is not)
    Here is the thing as today. Last week I was able to drag some music from my iTunes to my HD using my MacBook. I connected my LaCie back to my desktop (which is where I need it to be) and I can NOT copy any file from my desktop to my LaCie Hardrive. It gives an error message like "The name is too long for the destination". Really weird! If I change the name it still says the same. So when I want to save a CD to my LaCie (which is the main purpose of me having an External Hard Drive, I just can't do it).
    When I try to open files from the LaCie, it is fine as long as it is a jpeg or a .doc file. MP3 files won't open, and an error will show like this: Disk could not be read from or written to. I can drag files from LaCie to my dektop, but again, only .doc or .jpeg files.
    In regards to the Time Machine, I completely gave that up. It would not back up, it would freeze the computer ... I really don't care about that, really. All I want is my External Hard Drive to be able to save my mp3 files safely, since I have thousands of files in mp3 format.
    I tried to use Disk Utility to verify and/or repair de disk, but I was not successful with that either. When repairing, after not even a minute it says "Disk could not be unmounted". When trying to verify, it would say "Filesystem verify or repair failed".
    I am DESPERATELY asking for help. I am just a regular guy with few computer knowledge. I just want my Apple to work, that is why I use Apple and not PC. But I need someone who could give me advice on how to fix this problem.
    Thank YOU very much!

    {quote}
    My desktop has two FireWire ports. In the first one I had my webcam plugged in. In the second one, the External Hard Drive. I unplugged the camera and used the first port for my External HDrive and now it works! So it seems the problem is a hardware problem with the port.
    I'd check to see if the problem returns when you plug the camera back into the second port, or if the drive works in the original port when the camera is not connected.
    Edit: Maybe you unplugged the problem, when you unplugged the camera?
    Message was edited by: dechamp

  • External hard drive not working with Time Machine

    I have an Iomega network hard drive attached via ethernet cable to my Airport Extreme router.
    I plugged the hard drive in. Everything works like it should. I can see the drive in Finder and I can read and write to the drive. I do share the network drive in a mixed WIN and OS X environment. I never had to reformat the drive and I can read/write to the drive with no problems from all of my computers.
    I turned on Time Machine on my iMac and walked through the simple setup screens there. I never set anything up on the hard drive through the drive interface software. And Time Machine worked fine for about 4 months. Then all of a sudden, Time Machine just stopped backing up and I got all kinds of error messages saying that the TIme Machine backup failed.
    So I went into Time Machine, turned it off, turned it back on. No luck. Same error messages.
    So I started fresh. I deleted the prior Time Machine backups and I am back at the TIme Machine set up screen. OS X can see the TIme Machine share on my external hard drive and I tell the setup wizard that's the drive I want to use.
    Then I get a window that says it's trying to connect to the external hard drive which I call "Cloud_Drive". After about 30 seconds, I get an error window that says
    "There was a problem connecting to the server "Cloud_Drive-TimeMachine"
    The server may not exist or it is unavailable at this time. Check the server name or IP address, check your network connection, and then try again.
    At this point the external drive is still visible in FInder and I can read/write to it from my iMac. I just cannot understand why Time Machine was working and then all of a sudden it stopped.
    I did go into the software management of the drive and found an area in which to turn Time Machine on on the drive's side. Which I never did before so I turned it on and then I'm prompted to enter the name of the computer and the ethernet ID. I entered the name of the iMac and I have tried using the WiFI MAC address - no luck getting TIme Machine to work and I've also entered Terminal, found a MAC address under the line titled "ether" and still the same result.
    I have also changed the destination of the Time Machine files on the external hard drive and the Time Machine wizard does write a sparcebundle file to that new location but still get the same error message above.

    Is it a firewire ext. HD?
    Yes, many are reporting same, there is a firewire fault and TB HD on external HD from LaCie (Seagate) and from WD especially.
    Technicians are looking into it.
    Until there is resolution, consider setting up a USB ext. Time machine HD.
    Until then consider confining Mavericks use with USB HD.
    Ive tested a long line of USB HD on Mavericks, all seem fine.

  • Time Machine Backup to Shared Firewire Drive Not Working

    Hello
    I know this may have been posted before, but I am looking for a simple troubleshooting / diagnostic process I can follow to resolve my issue:
    I have a Imac running Lepoard with all possible software updates. A WD Studio 500GB drive is attached via Firewire 800. The drive has the latest firmware etc. I also have a 15" powerbook G4 (last model) running leopard. All Macs are connected to the a Netgear DG834N router, via ethernet cables.
    The Imac and Firewire connected external drive works normally with time machine.
    I have shared the external drive on the Imac and given all 'built in' groups read/write permissions.
    I can mount the external drive on the powerbook and see the files that are backed up by the Imac, I can traverse the folder tree within the folders contrained in the backup. Double clicking on these folders invokes the 'star trek' style time machine window.
    When trying to backup the powerbook, I could see the external drive as a time machine target disk.
    The backup failed twice. Having checked the disk a sparse image was created. I tried again a number of times without success - I deleted the sparse image and tried to start again.
    This time I could not find the disk in the selection in time machine, a reboot of everything revealed the disk, but when selecting the 'use for backup' button in time machine on the powerbook nothing happens.
    Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

    You have a pretty simple problem: time machine does not allow you to backup two computers to the same hard drive or partitioin. the way to fix this is to repartition you WD drive into two partitions, one for each computer. if you already have other data (not from time machine), make three partitons: one for iMac, one for PowerBook, and one for Other. do not put any data other than time machine data on the iMac and PowerBook partitons, always put it in other. you can partiton a disk easily with disk utility, but wait:
    _CAUTION: THIS WILL CAUSE YOU TO LOOSE ALL THE DATA ALREADY ON THE EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE!_
    to avoid this, first use disk utility to make a disk image of the external hard drive, and save it on your internal drive. if the image won't fit (your internal drive doesn't have enough capacity, then you can either erase all the data on already on the hard drive with the reformat, or buy another disk to use for the PowerBook) then, when the disk is partitioned correctly, mount the disk image and copy all the files on it back to the correct* partition of the external hard drive. *if the files on the external hard drive came from the iMac, then put them on the iMac partiton of the drive. if they came from the powerbook, put them in that partition, and if it is not from time machine, put it in othe
    Hope you followed all that!
    nate

  • External firewire drive not powering off????

    I have a new G5 Dual core 2.5, running os10.4.3, which is working well apart from the fact that it is not powering off the external lacie drive when the G5 shuts down, any ideas??

    Hi
    it's a documented small issue on Lacie website FAQ section:
    My FireWire d2 does not power off when I shut down the computer.
    "Some computers do not cut all power to the FireWire bus when shutdown. If the FireWire bus is providing any power to the d2 it will not shutdown.
    To determine if this is the issue with your computer, shut down and disconnect the power cable from the computer (or remove the laptop battery). If the drive then powers off, your computer does not cut all power to the FireWire bus.
    You can press the blue button to turn the d2 off manually."
    cheers
    I

  • External DVD drive not working

    Need some help with this one:
    My sister-in-law has an iMac G4 1.25Ghz 17” LCD USB 2.0 with 10.4.11.
    The internal DVD-ROM CD-RW died awhile back so she purchased a Sony external DVD-ROM CD-RW USB 2.0 to take its place.
    Everything was working fine.
    Recently, she had some bad sectors on her HD (5 yrs old anyhow), so I purchased her a new HD, installed it and while I had the case open, I removed the broken internal DVD-ROM CD-RW. Installed a fresh 10.4.11
    System profiler can see the USB Sony DVD-ROM CD-RW, but when a disk is installed, or when I open Apple DVD player, it says a disk drive cannot be found.
    The DVD can be seen on the desktop.
    System prefs is configured to open Apple DVD player when a DVD is inserted.
    I hooked the new Sony drive to my setup (iMac G5 2.0) and the drive works fine when I put in a DVD.
    Would removing the old broken DVD-ROM drive from the G4 cause the new external USB Sony not to work??
    Any suggestion? I checked Sony’s site and there is no d/l’s for the drive.
    Thanks,
    --Bob Aldridge
    Huntsville, AL

    Hey Bob,
    My understanding of this is that when you install the OS there is like a "shake hands" with the DVD-ROM chip on the internal ATA bus by the installer. The installer then installs/enables the necessary components to play DVDs.
    Would removing the old broken DVD-ROM drive from the G4 cause the new external USB Sony not to work??
    If you remove that drive that's probably why you get the:
    "An installed DVD player cannot be found" error.
    I did not re-apply any thermal compound on the heat pipes. Is the compound something I can get a Radio Shack?
    Here's the exact procedure from the 1.25 Service Manual:
    "This procedure requires the following tools:
    • Plastic stylus or plastic spatula to remove the old thermal paste
    • Plastic stylus or plastic spatula to spread the thermal paste
    • Thermal paste (922-4757)
    Part Location
    1. Thoroughly clean the original thermal film from the mating surfaces (circled below) of
    the bottom housing and thermal pipe. Use a plastic stylus to scrape the surfaces
    clean. Note: Do not use an abrasive material or liquid cleaner.
    2. Squeeze a ball of thermal paste onto the mating surfaces of the thermal pipe.
    3. Replace the bottom housing.
    Warning: The bottom housing has four torx screws that must be tightened to at least
    17 in.-lbs. Use a torque driver (service tool 076-0899) to ensure that the thermal pipe
    is firmly mated with the top base. If you do not have a torque driver, you must make
    sure the screws are tightened by hand FIRMLY, BUT NOT FORCIBLY.
    Failure to apply the thermal paste as described in this procedure, and failure to
    tighten the torx screws as directed, could cause the computer to overheat and
    damage internal components."
    I personally haven't had a 1.25 apart. The 700s and 800s I've had apart have a silicone pad like material or thick rubber compond on the heat pipes. The manuals for those machines refer to "thermal pads".
    I think you could use a thermal pad material like from Micro Center, Comp USA or Radio Shack.
    This is the Radio Shack stuff:
    http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2295074&cp=&sr=1&kw=therma lpad&origkw=thermalpad&parentPage=search
    If the thermal stuff was not too badly damaged you'll probably be OK but I'd probably run Temperature Monitor for a while just to make sure.
    Richard

  • External DVD Drive not working with osx 10.8.5

    Hi, I'm having issues with my MacBook Pro 15" 9,1 working with an external DVD drive.  I am running OSX 10.8.5 and have been troubleshooting this issue for a few weeks.  The optical drive itself is the original drive that came with the computer, but I have put it in an external enclosure to free up space inside the body of the MacBook Pro.  The drive seems to function fine with CDs (playing and ripping - haven't tried burning yet) but is extremely inconsistent/barely functional with DVD playback.  Only one DVD in my collection properly works - others bring up error messages in multiple programs (VLC, Wondershare, the native DVD application, etc.) and another continuously loops back to the main menu each time "Play Feature" is selected.  These are a variety of DVDs that range from obscure to commercial and old to new (the oldest and most obscure is the only one that works).  After deciding that it is not the programs, I replaced the enclosure.  I still had the same exact issues.  I reset PRAM - no solution there.  I created a new user on my computer, installed the same media players and had the same luck.  I then used the same external drive on my old MacBook Pro 15" (5,4 running OSX 10.6.8) to see if it would work there.  It worked perfectly (with the native DVD application).  What is going on here and how can I get my new computer to recognize the external DVDs reliably and consistently?

    older superdrives were Hitachi mfg, new ones are Panasonic.  Since yours is new and panasonic, indications are it wont work thru the enclosure on your NEW macbook, rather as you state on your older Mac.
    until you said it worked fine on the old machine, the logical conclusion is a dirty lens on the laser since it reads CDs fine but most DVD not, since the track is much smaller.
    Considering a new superdrive is only $48 on ebay ,or $78 for a new superdrive, your frustration might be too much, and just grab a new superdrive.
    Your detailed information indicates a firmware incompatibility of the panasonic superdrive thru an enclosure
    This is the new superdrive, made by panasonic as you have in your enclosure:
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/221280580133?lpid=82
    of course thats a lot of trouble buying that AND an enclosure, easier still is just getting a Mac superdrive inside its working enclosure designed for use as such:
    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD564ZM/A/apple-usb-superdrive

  • Time Machine Restore from Networked external hard drive - not working??

    recap: hard drive failure on iMac. Took it to Genius folks, they installed a new hard drive with updated Leopard OSx on it.
    I came home turned it on, selected "restore from time machine" feature. It finds my external hard drive (which is connected to an airport extreme via USB 2.0) My computer is connected via ethernet to the airport extreme.
    I select the imac backup and up pops the login screen. I log in. Then I get the "Checking Time Machine Backup...." And it just keeps checking and checking. The external hard drive is making all sorts of noises, like it is working away, but it just keeps checking. Also have the spinning beach ball....
    How long does this go on before we get on with it?

    LOL.. didn't see your answer until now. I feel pretty good as I did exactly what you recommended. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.
    Here's the rundown on what I did.
    LOL. I see y'all didn't know what to do either!!
    Well after puzzling for a bit I finally aborted the process. I tried connecting my hard drive directly to the computer - but then it would not recognize the backup on the external drive.
    So finally, I rebooted using the install disk and selected utilities and restore and voila, we were in business.
    Restore said it would take 16 hours and went to bed - 11am. Got up at 5 and it was complete (guess it really didn't take that long) So far, everything looks great!!!!!
    Hope this helps someone out there.

  • External Hard drive not working

    I just bought a 1 TB G Drive. Did so because my 2008 Macbook became very slow and wanted to back up all my data. I first tried doing so through disk utility and I thought it backed it up but when I checked nothing was there. Then went through time machine and it said it wouldn't back up because of a specific file. When I went back into disk utility I tried backing up through there again and it said it had an error with connection or something (but I thought that was because my computer went into sleep mode). Then I went back into time machine and it didn't recognize my external hard drive - so I went back into disk utility and it didn't show up on there either.
    I am so confused. I was told my an apple employee how to back it up, I followed their instructions which weren't rocket science and it just doesn't make sense to me. Why is it so difficult having my computer backed up?
    I read when time machine says there's a unreadable file that could mean something bad. But I'm more concerned with my HD not even being seen by my computer as before I could at least copy and paste files into HD.
    I'm not mac savy and don't understand computer tech lingo.

    Hi ,
    welcome to HP support forums
    i wish you to enjoy your time here
    please ,
    give me more info about your external HDD brand so i can search for more info about it and find out if it needs a specific driver
    also , i want you to check your USB port you use
    using another port may help , it can be only a problem with the USB port itself or the Driver
    anothrt hard TIP : (Use it if you are good with SW problems only)
    1.Use Ubuntu Live Disc without installing
    2.connect the external HDD and wait till ubuntu discover it
    3.now try copying anything t the HDD
    now you will face two situations :
    1. the copying process will work fine with no errors and now you know it was only a problem with the OS you are using (WIN 7)
    2. the copying process won't complete and now there is also two possible things
        the first is the USB port or the USB cable you are using >> try replacing it and change the port and repeat
        the secong is that the new HDD has a problem or a Bad firmware maybe >> your old HDD has no relation with the problem now as Ubuntu starts in Live mode without using the internal HDD it starts depends on the CD itself and your Ram
    Hope this to help you
    don't hesitate to Ask again
    Please mark my post as SOLVED if it has resolved your problem. It helps others with similar situations.
    Mark Th. Antonio
    Faculty Of Engineering Alexandria University

  • WD External Hard drive not working with new Macbook Pro

    I have recently upgraded to a new Macbook Pro and when connecting a WD 1 TB Passport external hard drive, it doesn't appear on the MBP, but when I connect it to my old Macbook running 10.5.8, it appears normally. Is this a problem with formatting or an issue because it is USB 2.0...
    Any help appreciated as I have a lot of data on the hard drive and would like to be able to use it with my new MBP.

    I'm on Lion, with similar issues with two WD external HD. But what I found fixed the problem was to:
    1. go to the manufacturer's website (in this case Western Digital),
    2. locate my external HD, download the download.
    For instance, I downloaded the WD Drive Utilities for Mac (for My Passport for Mac USB 3.0):
    http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=219&sid=157&lang=en
    Install the downloaded app.
    3. Plug in external (this part, I think is important) directly into your tower or laptop (as opposed to through a USB multi-plug extender). Possibly this is because you access more power?
    [I'm trying to remember in which order everything happened. But I think at this point the external hard drive mounted]
    4. Install the software that is found on the external HD (in my case, it was a brand new device, so that had never been installed).
    5. Run "WD Drive Utilities" and run diagnostics.
    6. Test to see if it holds. Unmount the External HD. Unplug. Replug in and see if it mounts.
    Note: I have not yet tested to see if plugging in the external somewhere other than directly into the tower also works. But I think the main problem is getting it to mount the first time and installing the software. That's what I think.

Maybe you are looking for