External hard drive not showing in disk utility

my samsung external hard drive has always worked with no problem on my mac..
I have just plugged it in to do some work and it will not appear anywhere..
not even in disk utility
i have tried the USB port and it is working fine because i also have a mouse and that worked fine in that port..
PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!

Try following tips.
USB and FireWire Quick Assist - Apple Support

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    Hi, Bob. I obviously didn't understand the situation properly, and now that I realize that, I'm afraid I still don't.
    When the G5 is connected, via ethernet to my PB, the hard drive does not show-up in the PB's disk utility pane.
    The G5 doesn't have a hard drive in it now, is that correct? So why connect it via Ethernet to the Powerbook?
    If you're trying to clone the Powerbook's hard drive onto the G5's drive inside the external enclosure, all that needs to be connected is the external enclosure to the Powerbook, via USB cable. The G5 itself isn't involved in that process at all. When the G5's drive is in the enclosure and connected to the Powerbook, does it appear in Disk Utility on the Powerbook? If not, see my previous suggestions, with the exception of my comment about it not working with either computer.
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    If the drive spins, you can be sure it's getting power, and that's good. But you can't safely conclude from that that any or all of the data connections are working properly; in fact the evidence suggests the contrary.
    In short, there may be not one but two problems at work here: incorrect sharing settings when the two computers are networked, and a bad cable, connection, or enclosure when the drive is connected to the Powerbook via USB.
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    Message was edited by: eww

  • External hard drive not visible in disk utility or finder

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    Try following tips.
    USB and FireWire Quick Assist - Apple Support

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    An update for anyone who can help me:
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    This procedure is a diagnostic test. It makes no changes to your data.
    Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
    ls -@Oaen /V* | pbcopy
    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
    Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
    Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered.
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    The Terminal window doesn't show the output. Please don't copy anything from there.
    If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

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