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

Similar Messages

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 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

I have a MacBook Pro, 10.10.2 Yosemite. My external hard drive no longer appears on my screen or in Time Machine

I have a MacBook Pro, 10.10.2 Yosemite. My external hard drive no longer appears on my screen or in Time Machine. I have gone into Disc Utility to repair disc, and get the message: Error: Partition map check failed because no slices were found. I was trying to follow Melophage's instructions by going into "Terminal" and entering "diskutil list; diskutil cs list; mount" and "diskutil info disk2." Then I entered the command "sudo got show disk1."   I am sure I have made the problem worse. Can you give me some help? Thank you. blelambert
Last login: Wed Mar 11 19:23:03 on ttys000
~ belambert$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         250.1 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *249.8 GB   disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                 7A998EAE-68FB-4BAC-BF40-7A31D2806B2C
                                 Unlocked Encrypted
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk2
   1:         Microsoft Reserved                         134.2 MB   disk2s1
~ belambert$ diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 883A56F4-5559-4872-A8DA-960F99655B63
    =========================================================
    Name:         Macintosh HD
Status:       Online
    Size:         250140434432 B (250.1 GB)
    Free Space:   8921088 B (8.9 MB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 7EDAFA20-FF9A-45FB-BA44-6526BB46C381
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk0s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     250140434432 B (250.1 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family B47B0B40-CBF2-4D02-BFEF-182061AC6F8E
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
        Conversion Status:       Complete
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
        Fully Secure:            Yes
        Passphrase Required:     Yes
        |
        +-> Logical Volume 7A998EAE-68FB-4BAC-BF40-7A31D2806B2C
            Disk:                  disk1
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          249779191808 B (249.8 GB)
            Conversion Progress:   -none-
            Revertible:            Yes (unlock and decryption required)
            LV Name:               Macintosh HD
            Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
~ belambert$ mount
/dev/disk1 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
localhost:/vB3z604U-dvSpES6320fHq on /Volumes/MobileBackups (mtmfs, nosuid, read-only, nobrowse)
~ belambert$ diskutil info disk2
   Device Identifier:        disk2
   Device Node:              /dev/disk2
   Part of Whole:            disk2
   Device / Media Name:      WD My Book 111A Media
File System:              None
   Content (IOContent):      GUID_partition_scheme
   OS Can Be Installed:      No
   Media Type:               Generic
   Protocol:                 USB
   SMART Status:             Not Supported
   Total Size:               2.0 TB (2000365289472 Bytes) (exactly 3906963456 512-Byte-Units)
   Volume Free Space:        Not applicable (no file system)
   Device Block Size:        512 Bytes
   Read-Only Media:          No
   Read-Only Volume:         Not applicable (no file system)
   Ejectable:                Yes
File System:              None
   Content (IOContent):      GUID_partition_scheme
   OS Can Be Installed:      No
   Media Type:               Generic
   Protocol:                 USB
   SMART Status:             Not Supported
   Total Size:               2.0 TB (2000365289472 Bytes) (exactly 3906963456 512-Byte-Units)
   Volume Free Space:        Not applicable (no file system)
   Device Block Size:        512 Bytes
   Read-Only Media:          No
   Read-Only Volume:         Not applicable (no file system)
   Ejectable:                Yes
belambert ttys000                   Wed Mar 11 17:34 - 17:39 (00:05)
belambert ttys000                   Wed Mar 11 17:33 - 17:34 (00:00)
wtmp begins Sun Mar 8 14:40
~ belambert$ ~ belambert$ diskutil list
-bash: :~: command not found
~ belambert$ /dev/disk0
-bash: /dev/disk0: Permission denied
:~ belambert$    #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
~ belambert$    0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
-bash: 0:: command not found
:~ belambert$    1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
-bash: 1:: command not found
~ belambert$    2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         250.1 GB   disk0s2
-bash: 2:: command not found
~ belambert$    3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
-bash: /dev/disk1: Permission denied
~ belambert$    #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
~ belambert$    0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *249.8 GB   disk1
-bash: 0:: command not found
~ belambert$                                  Logical Volume on disk0s2
-bash: Logical: command not found
~ belambert$                                  7A998EAE-68FB-4BAC-BF40-7A31D2806B2C
-bash: 7A998EAE-68FB-4BAC-BF40-7A31D2806B2C: command not found
~ belambert$                                  Unlocked Encrypted
-bash: Unlocked: command not found
:~ belambert$ /dev/disk2
-bash: /dev/disk2: Permission denied
~ belambert$    #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
:~ belambert$    0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk2
-bash: 0:: command not found
~ belambert$    1:         Microsoft Reserved                         134.2 MB   disk2s1
-bash: 1:: command not found
~ belambert$ ~ belambert$ diskutil cs list
-bash: ~: command not found
~ belambert$ CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
~ belambert$ |
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `|'
~ belambert$ +-- Logical Volume Group 883A56F4-5559-4872-A8DA-960F99655B63
-bash: +--: command not found
~ belambert$     =========================================================
-bash: =========================================================: command not found
~ belambert$     Name:         Macintosh HD
-bash: Name:: command not found
~ belambert$
-bash: 3:: command not found
~ belambert$ /dev/disk1
   Whole:                    Yes
   Internal:                 No
   OS 9 Drivers:             No
   Low Level Format:         Not supported
:~ belambert$ Last login: Wed Mar 11 19:23:03 on ttys000
~ belambert$ diskutil list
   Whole:                    Yes
   Internal:                 No
   OS 9 Drivers:             No
   Low Level Format:         Not supported
~ belambert$ Last login: Wed Mar 11 19:23:03 on ttys000
~ belambert$ diskutil list
   Volume Name:              Not applicable (no file system)
   Mounted:                  Not applicable (no file system)

racergirl,
have you tried resetting your MacBook Pro’s System Management Controller, to see if that makes a difference with the heat?

My external hard drive is not recognized by my computer.

My external hard drive is not recognized by my computer. I used it earlier and it was fine however my computer froze and I unplugged my hard drive without properly ejecting it. Now when I plug it in nothing pops up. I've tried on three different computers and no luck. I hope this is fixable! Please help.

Care to share which OS you are using?
Repair permissions & restart your computer.
Zap the PRAM

External Hard Drive no longer showing in Devices

My external hard drive no longer shows up as a device on my MBP. It has worked fine since the day I plugged it in.
The Time Machine is using the HD, and continues to do it's backups, so power and USB connection is not an issue
The HD shows up in Disk Utility (The Time Machine portion AND the partition that I've been using for storage)
I ran a repair on the partition in Disk Utility and it checks out OK
I can access this partition from VMware Fusion, so the windows side of the MBP sees it, and it's operational
Used the HD all day yesterday without issue
I've restarted the MBP to see if it would find the HD partition after a restart, it doesn't
I've unplugged (USB) and powered-off the HD, and when I power-on, it still isn't seen.
Any ideas?
John

If TM is turned on and it still doesn't show up then do a SMC reset.
SMC RESET
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and 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.

LR 5 my external hard drive no longer appears as a hard drive but as a folder under "Volumes"

I am running LR 5 on a MacBook pro and my external hard drive no longer appears as a hard drive but as a folder under "Volumes". will this affect my ability to search and store in this external hard drive? How can I get it back to normal?

I just started having the same problem, oddly enough with a LaCie 500GB D2 Quadra external. Had it connected via FW800 then suddenly it won't appear in the Finder.
It shows up as an "Unknown Device" in the System Profiler under the FireWire Bus.
I do need the data on it so which solution is easier?
Replace the housing? Or am I better off calling LaCie and using the warrenty?
Thanks,
Shannon

The external hard drive is not recognized by my macbook pro (yosemite).

The external hard drive that was recognized by my older iMac (snow lion), is not recognized by my new macbook pro (yosemite).
Can anyone help me with this? Thank you!

Can you see the drive in Disk Utility?
See mount section in 1st linked article.
Disk Unmount Using Terminal
Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk

WD Passport External Hard Drive Not Being Recognized on PowerBook G4

I bought a WD Passport 320GB USB 2.0 powered external hard drive that isnt recognized by my PowerBook G4. The funny thing is that the external HDD works perfectly on my friends MacBook! What's the deal with that?
I called AppleCare but they just told me to take it into my nearest Apple Store... LAME!
Can anyone else help?
Message was edited by: WRDinc

I had the same problem. See below for the answer from WD (...sigh...):
Cause:
Many 15" and 17" Macintosh PowerBook and Mac Book Pro Laptops do not provide enough power through a single USB port for the WD Passport™ external USB hard drive to work correctly. The WD Passport™ external USB hard drive requires a minimum of 1000Ma (Milliamps) of power for proper usage.
Resolution:
You can purchase a WD Passport™ Power Supply or a USB 2.0 Power Booster Cable from links below to the Western Digital Online Store.

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

HT201250 my external hard drive no longer shows up

I use a LaCie external hardrive for my Time Machine backup on my iMac.. Since October 24th 2012, my Imac no longer recognizes my LaCie..., and in fact no external hard drive is recognized. When I open up Time Machine it asks me to set up another Time Capsule.?? Has somethingchanged either in the operating system [OS X 10.7.5] or with iCloud that would be affecting this? My La Cie turns on and sounds like its working, and I have checked the power supply.

Hi baltwo and Miacc,
I also have a LaCie ext HD of 1T and OS 10.7.5. Since Dec 24th 2012 I haven't been able to mount the LaCie disk. I can see it in the Disk Utility but I cannot mounted. I verified the disk and even repaired it but nothing has happened, actually there is nothing wrong with the disk, but it cannot be mounted.
I did what you suggested baltwo but I'm in the same situation as before. I cannot mount the disk and/or do Time Machine.
Any suggestions?

External Hard Drives not being recognized

I have 3 external hard drives. Had them for a long time now. I recently made only one change: I decided to start using the 'sleep' mode.
I noticed the sleep mode and external hard drives didn't get along real well, so I simply took the externals (used only for backing up data) and turned them off.
Its now been about 2 weeks, time to fire them back up and backup my data. Only one of the 3 is being recognized. The other two seem to come on, make the usual whiny noise and such, but aren't seen in the finder.
I've tried restarting my computer, turning off/on the hard drives, unplugging/replugging them from power, unplugging/replugging them into USB. I've verified connections, that kind of thing. Nada.
Any ideas on what to do to help my computer 'see' that they are there? this is a bit baffling to me and disconcerting, to say the least. I've never had problems with my computer recognizing the externals before.
Ideas are appreciated.
PowerMac G4 1.42 duel Mac OS X (10.4.6)

'sleep mode' ?
Do you mean the drives are triggered to not spin up for a period after powering on ? This is a feature designed for enormous banks of drives, so that when they are powered on, only a fraction spin up immediately, then another set, usually 12 seconds later, then another set, etc, until all are up to speed. This is reduce the power surge from spinning up 700 hard drives simultaneously in a commercial solution.

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.

External Hard Drive suddenly not recognized

I have a WD 500GB external hard drive that I use to back up my data. I only have one hard drive as I'm currently living abroad and couldn't bring a 2nd with me.
I plugged in my external last night to back up my MacBook Pro and it backed everything up. I even went into Time Machine to go back and restore a file or two and that worked without problem. I have been using this drive for about a year to back up everything on my Mac and, although sensitive, it seems to work okay.
I plugged it in this morning and nothing. My Mac will not recognize that the drive is not plugged in in Time Machine or in Finder. If I go to Apple Logo > About This Mac > More Info... > Storage tab, it just shows my internal hard drive and my CD/DVD drive. If I click on Disk Utility with the drive plugged in, it shows my Hard Drive (Macintosh HD) with two icons, one inset below the other and both in black font, and then my external hard drive has two underneath, but only the top one is black font - the one underneath is greyed out.
It goes like this:
250.06 GB Hitachi...
     Macintosh HD
500.08 GB WD My Passport
     Time Machine Backups (greyed out)
Superdrive (greyed out)
When I clicked on the 500GB one and told it to repair/verify it said the disk was working fine. I tried unplugging and replugging in the drive (it is not recognized in Finder so I could not properly eject the disk). I restarted my Mac with it unplugged and plugged it in afterward and nothing.
The HD itself is working, the light is blinking (not solid) and I can feel the hard drive spinning, but I'm at a loss as to what to do to get my Mac to recognize it again.
Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thank you!

I also wanted to add, when I click on the greyed out Time Machine hard drive that's listed and then click "Info", this is what it says:
Name : Time Machine Backups
Type :           Partition
          Disk Identifier :           disk1s2
          Mount Point :           Not mounted
          File System :           Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
          Connection Bus :           USB
          Device Tree :           IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/EHC2@6,1
          Writable :           Yes
          Universal Unique Identifier :           56EF6088-FFCE-300B-81D7-3E0986532AB5
          Capacity :           499.74 GB (499,735,552,000 Bytes)
          Owners Enabled :           No
          Can Turn Owners Off :           Yes
          Can Be Formatted :           Yes
          Bootable :           Yes
          Supports Journaling :           Yes
          Journaled :           No
          Disk Number :           1
          Partition Number :           2

External Hard Drive No longer Appearing on Macbook Pro

Hello, I have a Iomega ldhd-up 1TB external hard drive which I have owned for about 3-4 years. The enclosure case of the hard drive is very poorly designed and the port for the USB cable does not fit the cable tightly. Over the years I often would have to turn off the hard drive and adjust the cord so it would appear on my computer. (yes i know its a bad idea to turn it off without unmounting, but i didn't have much choice)
However, as of today, it is no longer appearing at all no matter what I do. (not on the desktop, or disk utility, or anywhere). It is making the same sounds and the light on the external is showing up as if should be working though.
Does anyone have a fix for this or suggestions to make my hard drive appear and function again. Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you.

Since you have had a history of connection problems with the Iomega, get a new enclosure for the HDD. That of course assumes that the HDD is functional.
Ciao.

External Hard Drive No Longer Recognized

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