External hard drive not suddenly recognized

I am using WD My Passport external HD for a long time as my time machine back-up drive for quite a long time already...I had no problems with it even after I upgraded to Yosemite...However, right now my MacPro's finder cannot recognize it anymore...I cannot find the drive on the finder even if I can see the drive in the disk utility window...I don't know what happened...I was still able to back up my time machine last month but then when I tried to back it up today...it is not recognized...Please help!!!
Here is how it looks in the disk utility... I verified it and everything seems ok. No errors/ problems detected...What to do? Please help!!!
Thank you.

That is a puzzle. If you have the boxes checked, then the drive should appear on the desktop. Likewise if you have the proper boxes checked, the HDD should appear in the side bar:
If not, the only suggestion that I can offer is a reinstall of the OSX.

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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.

External hard drives not being recognized by Lr4

When I hooked up my two external hard drives to my computer this week, Lr4 is not recognizing them. Each folder has a question mark by it.
Appreciate any help..thanks!

Hi Jim,
I spent some time doing maintenance on Lil's computer. We were on public networks for 10 days and so I ran some cleanup software to help ensure that we don't have some virus or other malware messing things up.
Then I did some comparing and it appears that Lightroom has the G and H drives reversed.
I have enclosed 4 screen shots. Two show the strong(but not perfect) correlation between LR drive G and Explorer drive H........and vice versa. Another shows the K drive and the fourth shows the G drive one level up as you requested. I believe that when we disconnected this computer to take on vacation that we just pulled all the plugs and did NOT take any steps to "logically" disconnect them. If LR is sensitive to drives just being removed by pulling the cable, then perhaps that contributed to this situation...although I believe that we used the same procedure in the past.
Thanks,
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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 Not Being Recognized By MacBook

My Toshiba external hard drive (1TB, brand new) does not show up anywhere on my MacBook Pro (Also brand new). The light on the external hard drive comes on so it's not a connection issue, like the cord being broken. But nothing happens when I plug it into my MacBook, aside from the light coming on. It doesn't pop up on the desktop or in disk utilities or finder. I don't have my old PC laptop any more, all my files from that computer are on this hard drive and all I want to do is transfer them to my MacBook. And even though I don't want to lose any of my files, I can't even erase anything on the external hard drive to reformat it because it's like...not talking to the MacBook...

Your Mac should be able to recognize many different types of drives (including Windows-formatted drives) immediately for Reading, provided they are in good working condition and not damaged. There should be no need to transfer to a different type of drive.
If there is no recognition of this drive, see if it can be seen in Disk Utility.
If your aim is to transfer the data on it DO NOT use ERASE or PARTITION as these will completely erase all the information on the Drive.
If the drive is present while the Mac sleeps, it is likely to drop out and not be seen any longer, especially if it is a USB-powered drive.

Why is my Toshiba external hard drive not being recognized by my new Mac?

So: When I moved from Colombia I packed my stuff in an external hard drive, that was at the end of last year, Today I got my new MacBook Pro and I can't transfer my stuff because it doesn't even pop up anywhere. I read some other people's post and no: It doesn't appear in any of the two places people say it should appear (or I am not seeing it) whenever it doesn't automatically appears in desktop.
Funny story: It appears that my Mac's hard drive is a toshiba, the same brand as my 1tb external hard drive.
Suggestions?

I'm having the exact same problem... I have my Toshiba 1TB Hard Drive which I formatted to FAT32 so I was able to watch films on my PS3 off of it and recently got a MacBook Pro 13" i7 8GB RAM 750GB HDD, which is unable to read it (and I'm experiencing the same White Light when used with a PC and PS3 - which is when it works, and Blue Light when it is plugged into my MacBook and unable to open).
I've tried to follow as many instructions as possible that I've found on the internet but nothing seems to work - it won't even appear in Disk Utility, I don't know what to do. All I need to know is whether this a problem that can be fixed or not - otherwise I'll just get a new Hard Drive.

External Hard Drive not being recognized

I made a topic some time ago but it never got answered.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1906969&tstart=0&messageID=906 6822#9066822
This hard drive has never worked on this computer and I am still not sure why. It does not show up in Disk Utility or in the System Profiler. It is formatted in FAT32. It is plugged into the wall and comes right up in Windows. As a test I used bootcamp and went into Windows XP. Plugged it into the same USB slot on the side and it came up. But upon rebooting into OS X it was no longer recognized. I actually got it to come up one time by opening USB Probe. After unplugging it and plugging back in, it no longer worked. I don't know what I did that one time but it will not come back. The time I had it running I moved files around to make sure it was working and it seemed fine. Does anyone know what I could do to get it working?
Model: Acomodata Model HD250UHE5-72
Thank you very much.

eddiefb3 wrote:
It has an external power source that plugs into the wall. As for the model,
Acomodata Model HD250UHE5-72
OK. They're supposed to be Mac compatible.
I guess you could see if it at least is recognized by the operating system even if it doesn't mount. You can open System Profiler in Utilities (or About this Mac > More Info...). The USB device tree should be under Hardware > USB.

External hard drive not suddenly not working on MBP

Last year I bought a WD My Passport for Mac, and it's been working fine ever since I got it. However, today my MBP (Mountian Lion 10.8.5) did not recognize it. It does not show up in the system profiler nor in disk utility. I did notice in disk utility that there was a decryptedfile.dmg mounted, but I'm not sure if it's related to the problem. I tried connecting it to another Macbook, but it still shows the same problem. The light on the Passport is on, though it doesn't blink like it usually does. Someone halp!

That is a puzzle. If you have the boxes checked, then the drive should appear on the desktop. Likewise if you have the proper boxes checked, the HDD should appear in the side bar:
If not, the only suggestion that I can offer is a reinstall of the OSX.

2 external hard drives not recognize by system all of a sudden

I have 2 external hard drives, one was used as a backup with Time Machine, the other was all my music storage, including Logic Pro and Ableton files.
This afernoon I was working on my Macbook pro with no problems, system backed up a few times. I was working on a new project in Logic. I saved the file, disconnected hard drive, went to my 2nd computer, an Imac from late 2009, plug the hard drive in, system does not recognize it. I wait a few minutes then unplug the drive, upon doing that I get a message that I've never seen before:
"Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices has been disabled.
To prevent damaging your computer, the USB device drawing too much power has been disabled. Other devices may have also been disabled. When you disconnect the device drawing too much power, your other USB devices will be enabled again."
It's been a few hours, I've disconnected all the devices, I think I figured that one of the drives is faulty. My question is, why is the other hard drive not being recognized, it's not recognized on any of my 3 computers, 2 Macbook Pro's and one imac.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is extremely frustrating.

Try this:
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
If it doesn't help, make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.

Why is my External Hard Drive not showing in Aperture 3.6 Import?

Why is my External Hard Drive not showing in Aperture 3.6 Import?
Only my computer hard drive is and I want to import from an external drive. I have always been able to until I updated to Aperture 3.6 and Yosemite.

Only my computer hard drive is and I want to import from an external drive. I have always been able to until I updated to Aperture 3.6 and Yosemite.
I had the same problem. On the folders on the drive with the Aperture library did show in the Import panel. After I clicked the computer icon in the upper left corner of the Import panel, suddenly all drives appeared.
You can also try to drag the folder you want to import into the Import panel, to point the file chooser to the drive.

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 am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?

I am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?

Most users should use the Time Capsule for backups. This assumes that "original" copies of your data are on the computer and backups of this data are stored on the Time Capsule.
If either the Time Capsule or the hard drive on your computer fails, there are at least copies of your important data on the other drive.
If you are asking if you can place "original" files on the Time Capsule, do you have a plan to backup those files?
If the Time Capsule drive has a problem....and your only copy of your important data is on the Time Capsule....you will lose everything.
If you are asking if this is OK, the answer for most folks would be "no".
Can you clarify if this is what you are asking?

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.

My external hard drive is suddenly locked. It doesn't unlock through 'get information' as I'm restricted to read only.

My external hard drive is suddenly locked. It doesn't unlock through 'get information' as I'm restricted to read only.

The drive has malfunctioned and corrupted itself. If that has ever happened before, or if it ever happens again, replace the drive. You may want to consider replacing it anyway for the safety of your data.
If you choose to keep using the problem drive, launch Disk Utility, select the volume, and run Repair Disk. If the volume can't be repaired, you'll have to erase it and start over. Don't do that unless you have at least two complete backups.

My external hard drive is suddenly not recognized.

I have a thunderbolt enabled 1.5 Terabyte Seagate FreeAgent Go Drive. It was used as a simply external hard drive and then I added it to be used as a time machine location. After the first initial backup, it suddenly became no longer recognizeable. It does not apear in the finder, disk utility, or in the terminal when I ask for list of the Volumes. The drive light is on, I can hear the disk spinning, and it warms up as normal after being plugged in to the computer for a period of time. Still, I am unable to recognize the drive in any way.
Ideally, I would like to save the files if possible. If not possible, I'm happy to reformat the disk but this is not possible at this time with the drive being unrecognized by any means I am aware of.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I am using 2.3 GHZ i7 Retina MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM. I'm on 10.9.1.

Yes, exactly. It's very strange. I've never had this happen. Drives fail but then don't apear in the DiskUtility app. This drive is "there" but I cannot seem to preform any action on it. This is the type of response received (in Log) I get whenever I attempt any action:
Securely erasing data to prevent recovery failed.
2013-12-26 08:43:39 +0530: Erase complete.
2013-12-26 08:43:39 +0530:
2013-12-26 08:44:06 +0530:
          Name :           Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Media
          Type :           Disk
          Partition Map Scheme :           Unformatted
          Disk Identifier :           disk1
          Media Name :           Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Media
          Media Type :           Generic
          Connection Bus :           USB
          USB Serial Number :           NA0B3X6P
          Device Tree :           IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/XHC1@14
          Writable :           Yes
          Ejectable :           Yes
          Location :           External
          Total Capacity :           1.5 TB (1,500,301,909,504 Bytes)
          Disk Number :           1
          Partition Number :           0
          S.M.A.R.T. Status :           Not Supported
2013-12-26 08:44:43 +0530: Preparing to partition disk: “Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Media”
2013-12-26 08:44:43 +0530:           Partition Scheme: GUID Partition Table
2013-12-26 08:44:43 +0530:           1 partition will be created
2013-12-26 08:44:43 +0530:
2013-12-26 08:44:43 +0530:           Partition 1
2013-12-26 08:44:43 +0530:                     Name                    : “Untitled 1”
2013-12-26 08:44:43 +0530:                     Size                    : 1.5 TB
2013-12-26 08:44:43 +0530:                     File system          : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2013-12-26 08:44:43 +0530:
2013-12-26 08:44:43 +0530: Unmounting disk
2013-12-26 08:45:04 +0530: Partition failed for disk Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Media Unable to write to the last block of the device.

External hard drive not suddenly recognized

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