External Hard Drive not in finder, but in Disk Utility, info gone? recover?

My external hard drive shows up in disk utility, but not in finder. Usually, in disk utility, there will be visible the model/make of the hard drive (such as 232.8 GB MDT MD25...etc), and then below that, there be the actual name of the hard drive that I gave it (such as Jack's External Hard Drive). In disk utility, it only has the first one (the MDT... name) and not the other.
How do I fix this situation? Is my hard drive dead? I don't think it is dead because I can hear it spinning and it shows up partially in disk utility. Oh and by the way, it doesn't give me the option of repairing the disk.
Thanks

Alright, so I bought an external hard drive enclosure. The screeching noise is gone. Disk Utility sees the same "232.9 GB MDT MD25..." stuff, but now also "sees" "ROCK" which is the name I named the hard drive. But the lettering in "ROCK" is gray, not black. Also, its not showing up in finder. When I start up the computer with the ROCK hard drive on, finder says something like, "The disk you have connected was not readable by this computer." I try to verify disk in Disk Utility but it says "Disk Utility Stopped Verifying ROCK because the following error was encountered: Filesystem verify or repair failed."
So buying the enclosure, helped, but it seems the hard drive is damaged or the information is corrupt or something.
What is the problem I am having? (Is it not mounting or is the data bad or whats going on?)
Is there something I can do right now that can make this all better?
My last resort will be to try data recovering software (last resort because it costs around $100).
Thanks for all your help so far everyone.

Similar Messages

My new external hard drive appears in Finder, but none of the files show up in recent documents (today/yesterday/past week)

My new external hard drive appears in Finder, but none of the files stored on it show up in recent documents (today/yesterday/past week).

what format is the external drive? How is it connected?
The drive must be formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) - if it is try Back up your iPhoto library, Depress and hold the option (alt) and command keys and launch iPhoto - from the resulting first aid window repair permissions and if necessary rebuild your database
Note that multiple libraries is not necessary and is generally a bad idea.
LN

External hard drive suddenly became "unreadable" and the disk utility offers not repair options. The drive is visible in disk utility but may not be mounted... any suggestions?

I have a WD My Passport 070A Media 2.0 TB external hard drive that has suddenly become unreadable on my laptop (MacBook Pro circa 2006 with 10.4.11) and I have tried on a MacBook Pro 2011 running 10.6.8 with the same results. I had tried opening disk utility to repair the drive, but on both machines the drive is visible in the left column, with no indentation below the drive. When I select the drive in the first aid portion the only options highlighted are info and eject... I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to repair the drive. I am currently in Belize and am not home for 3 weeks yet. I'm hoping for a fix while I am down here, otherwise I may have to wait... I appreciate any assistance!
-Christina

Hi Christina,
It's quite possible the AC PSU has given out, if It's only Bus powered as it appears, that's the worst idea ever & asking for eventual problems.
What Format is it?
Did you install any WD SW?
Your best bet is DiskWarrio...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
But others that may work…
Drive Genius…
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
TechTool Pro…
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=83

Hard Drive not properly showing up in Disk Utility or Finder

Hi there,
So I have a new 2 tb external western digital hard drive and i think at one point it was not ejected properly. Now it no longer mounts on the desktop/finder and when it shows up in Disk Utility, the information is incorrect. In other words, it shows up as a 4gb hard drive that is unformatted, without partitions, etc. This hard drive has info on it and three partitions.
Also, Disk Utility won't allow me to mount it, verify or repair anything.
Thoughts?

it actually just says Generic External Media and there is just one line showing it (no subfolder or anything like that.

Hard drive not identified during Installation. Disk Utility showing nothing in left side bar

Some day before my Macbook pro shown the flashing question mark. I have tried to install thr OS Snow leopard using disc.
When I started to install the OS, my start up disc ( Hard drive) is not showing for installation.
I have gone through the Disk Utility to repair it, but in that Hard drive is not showing in left side bar.
Kindly suggest how can I recover my Hard drive to install the OS?

That suggests that the drive is dead; if so, it needs to be replaced, and any data on it can only be recovered by a professional service, which can charge hundreds or thousands of dollars.
(101654)

External hard drive not showing up in finder

Hi,
I have a LaCie Rikiki USB 3.0 1TB external hard drive for more than a year or so (probably longer than that). The hard drive has 2 partitions with one formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) <named MAC> and the other MS-DOS (FAT) for windows <named as FOR WIN>.
The MAC volume has been working fine yesterday then suddenly it just started to transfer files very slowly and had problems unmounting when I am done transferring files saying it is in used by an application when it is not. So I had to force eject the the MAC volume while the FOR WIN volume ejected fine. However, here comes the problem.
Once I reconnected the external hard drive, it does show up in disk utility but not in finder. Also, the FOR WIN volume showed up as disk1s2 in disk utility. I tried using disk utility's verify and repair disk and couldn't fix the FOR WIN volume so I gave up on that since I don't have any important files in that volume. On the other hand, I could run verify and repair to get the MAC volume mounted. Through that I could get some files copied but soon finder hangs on me and wouldn't open even after relaunch which led me to disconnect the drive by just unplugging the USB. Now when I connect the drive, it again shows up in disk utility but not mounted and when I try to use the verify and repair all I get is:
Verifying Volume "MAC"
checking file system
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
Verify and Repair volume "MAC"
Checking file system
Volume repair complete
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required
and it's stuck at "updating boot support........" I've let it ran for like 6 hours and it's still at that stage. Had enough, closed disk utility and reconnected the harddrive and it's still the same showing up in disk utility but not mounting.
Could anyone please help? Thank you!

tonydenson wrote:
That's great thanks. cmd-shift-c brings it back.
then it should also show up on the desktop. go to finder preferences->general and check the boxes to show external and CD drives.
Incidentally, I now have the opposite problem, I can't eject it. I get the message that the disk is in use, try quitting applications. I quite often get this with mounted drives or flash drives. Is there any way of finding out which particular application has a given device open ?
sometimes spotlight keeps drives busy.
you can see what's doing it by running the following terminal command
sudo lsof /volumes/lacie

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

External Hard Drive/Not Showing Up on Desktop

I have a G4, running OS X 10.2.8 and recently my kids deleted some important data. So--we bought an external hard drive (WD MyBook 160 GB Essential Edition, which says on the box that it runs 10.2.8 and higher).
We took the external hard drive and the computer to a reputable repair place, the guy there took the hard drive out and using a G6 system, restored what he could to the external hard drive.
We bring it home, plug it in, and the computer is not reading the new external hard drive. I did check in disk utility, and it shows up as a greyed out item on the disk utility.
The external hard drive does show up when hooked up to my husband's office PC.
Any ideas as to why this is happening and how to correct it?
Thanks, Ruth

OK, I figured it out (in case anyone else needs to know) with this information from the Western Digital site:
Macintosh Operating System 10.3.x or earlier will only recognize FAT32 partitions that are smaller than 128-gigabytes. Multiple FAT32 partitions smaller than 128-gigabytes will need to be created in order for Macintosh Operating System 10.3.x or earlier to recognize the partitions. You will need to use a Windows based computer to create FAT32 partitions, as Macintosh does not have the ability to create them.
Macintosh Operating System 10.4.x or later can recognize FAT32 partitions over 128-gigabytes.

Using IMOVIE '08 to import from DV camera to 'BUSLINK' external hard drive( formatted for MAC ) but no success and kept getting this message: The import was canceled. You may not have permission to write to /Volumes/BUSLINK/iMovie Events.localized. Thanx

Using IMOVIE '08 to import from DV camera to 'BUSLINK' external hard drive( formatted for MAC ) but no success and kept getting this message: The import was canceled. You may not have permission to write to /Volumes/BUSLINK/iMovie Events.localized. Thanx in advance!

I finally got a representative that was able to help me, she had me go to Get Info, by right clicking iMovie from the finder, and I had to click on Sharing & Permissions>Everyone>Read & Write

Itunes cannot locate my files on the external hard drive - I changed preferences but still not locating songs?

itunes cannot locate my files on the external hard drive - I changed preferences but still not locating songs?

This work for the most part:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20361846#20361846

IMovie Project from External Hard Drive not Opening?

Please help!!
Fairly new to MACs, iMovie and iDVD, I didn't have a clear understanding of how saving iMovie projects worked. Reading various tutorials, I thought I had a clear understanding of how they work. Apparently not with my recent frustration with iMovie.
I created several iMovie Projects but needed more space in order to make more projects for my internship thus I did what I thought was common sense -- get an external hard drive.
I exported iMovie projects into my user account and from there, dragged the saved projects into an external hard drive and then deleted the iMovie projects from my user account.
However, when I needed to retrieve these projects, I simply turned on my hard drive and clicked on them to open. However, whenever I tried opening them, they wouldn't open. Is it because I didn't export them to the hard drive in the first place?
What I don't understand is why iMovie is not opening or recognizing the saved iMovie projects from the external hard drive when the size and kind clearly indicate that it should open with iMovie automatically.
What is the proper way of saving my iMovie projects and events so that I can always have access to whenever I need to open up an old project or simply edit?

Freeing up space on your Mac hard drive in iMovies ’08.
The application iMovie ‘08 has two main libraries displayed in the iMovie window: Events and Projects. Events are the main imports from your video camera, say. These files are big and you have the option to save them on an external hard drive and so iMovie knows to find them there. Projects are your editing instructions like what clips you want and where. The files are small and you save them on your Mac hard drive. They are NOT the clips only signposts where to find them (in Events on your external hard drive). You can move Projects to your external hard drive as back-up but iMovie will not find them there. If you then delete Projects from your Mac, iMovie can no longer make use of them unless you manually export them back into iMovie from your external hard drive. See Apple Article HT1026 iMovie '08: Moving iMovie footage to another drive (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1026). Here the external hard disk is used for moving Projects from one computer to another and, by implication, back to the source computer.
Sharing the projects to iTunes for syncing with Apple TV creates (publishes) movies that take up the same amount of space on your Mac as the source Projects. You can still burn DVDs in iDVD using the iTunes Movies as your Media so provided you have iMovie Projects backed up on your external hard drive you can delete them from your Mac and just use the iTunes Movies (for Apple TV and iDVD). In addition, publishing iMovie Projects in iTunes for syncing to Apple TV results in these files being duplicated in both Movies/iMovies Sharing/iTunes AND in iTunes/iTunes Music/Movies so delete them from here and get even more GBs back! Tell iTunes in Advanced not to save these iTunes published movies anymore in order to stop further duplication ocurring.

Internal & external hard drives disappeared in Finder

It happened yesterday on my G5 running 10.4.6. I have 2 hard drives inside my G5 and one external hard drive connected with firewire 800. The second hard drive and the external hard drive disappeared in Finder. But the one that has the system on it is fine. They did show up in Disk Utility. But it said they are both "not mounted".
When I tried to repair them in disk utility, it said:
"Checking HFS Plus volume.
Invalid B-tree node size
Volume check failed.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error"
Does anyone know how to fix it? I have lots of stuff in those hard drives.
Thanks
Ti Powerbook G4 1Ghz, PowerMac G5 Dual-Core 2.3 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Sounds like you have a major problem that Disk Utility cannot fix. This has happened before to other users. I suggest you get a copy of DiskWarrior and that will probably fix it. You can read about/buy it here:
Alsoft DiskWarrior
Mulder

Got a new Macbook Pro today and I plugged in my WD external hard drive to backup with but it didn't allow me to backup.

Got a new Macbook Pro today and I plugged in my WD external hard drive to backup with but it didn't allow me to backup. The problem is that now my computer won't show the drive in finder. I can see it in Disk Utility and cannot access it. Help?

First
Finder>Preferences>Sidebar>Devices>External disk
but it didn't allow me to backup
did you get an error code or error dialog box?

External hard drive not mounting

external hard drive not mounting

I fixed mine by uninstalling the software that came with the harddrive such as Tuxera and reinstalled it now myharddrive works again and i did not have to delete the harddrive and reformat it.
I tried a lot like reseting the Pram And connecting other harddrives but by unstalling the original software it works all over again. I hope this works for you because i was getting pretty frustrated myself.
Im running a 2012 macbook pro with 10.9.3
boom mind blown

I can't import my movies to work on them. They are coming from a external hard drive, not directly from the camera, its type mpeg-e (.mts)

My movies are type MPEG-2
I can't import my movies to work on them. They are coming from a external hard drive, not directly from the camera, its type mpeg-2 (.mts)
What can I do ?

1. Is your external HD connected by firewire?
2. mpeg2 is the final compressed delivery format of a DVD, not intended for editing, and iMovie cannot handle such files, so you need to convert them first:
For that you need mpegStreamclip:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
which is free, but you must also have the Apple mpeg2 plugin :
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
which is a mere $20.

External Hard Drive not in finder, but in Disk Utility, info gone? recover?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for