External Hard Drive Wouldn't Mount (iMac Late 2013)

Just wanted to drop a line here in case anyone else was having the same problem and perhaps to get an explanation from someone as to specifically why this is the case as it is disappointing/strange.
In short: I got a Seagate Expansion desktop external hard drive (2 TB). Unpacked it, plugged it into my early 2014 iMac (3.5 GHz i7/Build 13E28 running 10.9.4) and.....nothing. Switched out cables. Nothing. Switched ports. Nothing. The drive was initializing, steady light, and you could hear it and feel it running but it not only didn't mount you could see nothing at all in Disk Utility.
Assuming something was wrong with the drive, I went and plugged it into my old trust 2009 Macbook Pro (still running strong!) and the drive this time flashed a few times and then instantly mounted. The 2009 MBP is also running 10.9.4 so Mavericks is not to blame here. Perplexed, I formatted it (Mac OS Extended), went back to the iMac and still.....nothing. Steady light (but not the blink), can hear the drive going but not showing up.
Went to this forum, found a bunch of posts blaming Seagate USB 3 connections, enclosures, and everything under the sun. Tried a few things but nothing. Seemed to me that because of the initial blinking that happened when I plugged it into the MBP that it was a power issue, the iMac is not giving its ports enough juice. Found a USB repeater extension, plugged it in with that- voila. It shows up.
So it appears the iMac is not giving enough power to its USB ports. Strangely I never noticed this before because its never been a problem- I have other Seagate drives (also USB 3 and also plug in powered as this trouble device is) that have always worked fine.
Does anyone have an explanation? Just curious and if there are specs that I have to look out for on drives to avoid it would be good to know. Many thanks,
E

I'm sorry but this not a very good answer. There are hundreds upon hundreds of external hard drives that do not require a power supply. The one I bought is one of them. It is able to mount WITHOUT A POWER SUPPLY ON A 2009 MBP and VARIOUS OTHER MACHINES. Sorry but I seem to need to emphasize this as I'm not sure you're understanding. HOWEVER it will not mount on the late 2013 iMac. Obviously there is a power issue with these ports. I just wanted an explanation as to why a new desktop ISN'T able to do something that a 5 year old laptop CAN do.

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I connected my external hard drive to my new imac to put all of the information from my macbook onto it. i have been working on the macbook now and want to reconnect the external hard drive so my imac is updated with the work. How is that done?

I connected my external hard drive to my new imac to put all of the information from my macbook onto it. I have been working on the macbook now and want to reconnect the external hard drive so my imac is updated with the work. How is that done? or is it possible?

As I said, I don't use Time Machine, so it'd be best to wait for an "expert" answer, but, with my very limited knowledge, I'd say: probably not - so, for now, I'd suggest you read up on Time Machine:
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Home.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=search&src=support_site.home.search&local e=en_US&q=time%20machine
And, you might be attracting more knowledgeable answers if you were to post this question in the Time Machine Forum (part of the Snow Leopard forums).

External Hard Drive Won't Mount- Need to recover files

Hello Everyone,
I am hoping that one of you fine mac experts may be able to assist ~
Problem: External Seagate FreeAgent Desktop USB external hard drive
won't mount on desktop=ie: no access to my important files.. Please Help!
Details:
External seagate freeagent 500 GB Desktop USB HD ( only 2 months old)
(using for document / file backup-not as a startup disc)
on my Mac G3 350 MZ Blue & White Tower /768 ram/ running OSX 10.1.5 & OS9.2~
~
Problem: Started using the external 500 GB HD 2 months ago -with no problems-until this morning. Tried to double click to open it to access files
and got the "beach ball of death" and needed to restart.
My trusty G3 started up fine, however, the external HD was now
not showing up on the desktop as normal. I troubleshooted -by restarting,
trying different a/c plugs/ different USB ports , ran disk utility..called
seagate -not much help . Seagate said to try the HD on another mac-which I did-
a G5 tower- same problem.
~
The External hard drive will show up in disk utility, but is grayed out.
and when click "mount" same two messages keep showing:
message 1: "a disk attempting to mount as unknown has failed verification or has failed to
mount.please use disk utility to check the disk"
~
message 2- when unplugging and repluggin the usb in-and upon
restart:" you have inserted a disk containg no volumes that mac osx
can read to use unreadable volumes,click initialize to continue with the disk inserted ,click continue"
~
( I really need access to these files- and do not want to re-initialize the HD!!)
I ran Disk Utility /first aid "verify & repair , the following info came up:
Repairing disk "main backup 2007 ".
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid key length ( <<<IN RED )
Repair completed. "
~~
Though it said the repair was completed, the "invalid key length" issue
still comes up when re-running disk utility...Hard drive would still not
mount on desktop-even after restarting .
~~~~~
If there is a mac genius out there that can help?- it would be greatly
appreciated. I have tried to call seagate several times in the last several hours-
1st time-they disconnected me after being on hold 10 minutes-2nd call
I was put on hold for 40 minutes ..Finally spoke to someone ( they are not mac users or mac experts!)and he said I would need to send it to Seagate's Data Recovery-... for a fee of course!
~~~
At this point, I am hoping to just get the files and photos off
the hard drive- I heard about Disk Warrior-should I use that and if so
what version?
Thank you very much!
L

Will zapping the PRAM be of any use in getting the external to mount on the desktop?
Your external Hard drive is already recognized. But it cannot be mounted on the desktop due to its directory damage. You can certainly Zap the PRAM, and it will not hurt anything, but I am skeptical that it will change the situation.
Do you think the Disk Warrior 4.0 cd will even work on my G3 350MHZ running Mac OS 10.1.5?
If you boot from the CD and run it from the CD, absolutely yes. If you attempt to INSTALL it from a download or a CD, probably not.
Have you ever used Disc Warrior and is using it complicated?
I own and use Disk Warrior. You select the drive to be rebuilt, it builds a proposed new directory from the information and file fragments available.
When complete, it will provide a list of problems encountered, tell you what files have been placed in the "Rescued Items" folder, and allow you too look at your drive using the proposed new directory. Your only decision is whether the new directory seems to be an improvement over the old \[in your case, hopelessly corrupted] directory. You then tell it whether to replace the old directory with the proposed new directory, or to abandon its work and leave your Hard Drive unchanged.
Is there a good chance that the ext HD will still have my files on it- or do you think from what I've described that they are gone ?
From what you have described, your files are very likely to still be there. Sometimes in a situation like this, a handful of files cannot be recovered.
My other thought was to take the external HD there and have them try to recover the files.
Make sure you completely understand the costs involved. File recovery using a service like DriveSavers can run into many hundreds of dollars. They are prepared to disassemble your drive in a clean room and replace controller boards and read/write heads to achieve success. Your drive has serious, but not fatal, Directory damage. The Hardware, and most of your files, are likely just fine.

External Hard Drive won't mount on desktop!

Hey, guys.
I ran into a problem this morning that I've never ran into before and I wasn't sure where to write it but I thought this is best.
Here it goes...
Last night I had a power surge and when I restarted my computer, my external hard drive did not mount on my desktop. I than proceeded with restarting my computer, I relinked all my connections and I cant seem to get it fixed. I have a lot of material on my external drive that I dont have backed up (I know, a stupid move) anyways, I dont want to lose that information. Also, when I open up disk utility, the icon for my external drive is there and the partition I made for my external drive shows up also but the title of my partition for my external hard drive is not in bolded font. I tried to click the button to mount my external drive cause the specs tell me that it is not mounted but when I press the mount button, it does nothing. I than tried clicking the unmount button and than restart my computer and still nothing.
What problem am I facing and how can it be fixed?
Thanks.

Dear Jason,
Gary's advised is, IMHO, a very sound one.
The only thing I can think of about your problem, given the information you have provided us, is to run Disk Warrior on your external HD.
In fact, DW is particularly indicated in events, like:
"...you should run DiskWarrior when you suspect that there is directory damage on one of your disks. Directory damage can result in the disk not mounting (not appearing on the desktop when the computer is started), missing files or folders, an inability to move or copy files, or crashes when files are used...".
You could actually buy your copy of DW Licence on-line and download it directly onto your internal HD, starting from this "Information you must read before you make your purchase" page. A hardware copy of the software you have so purchased, will follow by postal service (or currier, if so you choose), shortly.
Follow all the instructions you will find in the download to install the DW software onto your main internal HD and then run it on your external hard drive.
DW has saved my data several times and in similar situations as you are experiencing. IMHO, you should seriously give it a try and, even in the unfortunate event it does not manage to solve your problem, it is one of those Mac OSX utilities which ANY Mac power user MUST have handy at all times.
So, no matter what, my opinion is that it is always well-spent-money those used to purchase your copy of DW: in the long run, you won't regret it.
In the event that even DW is unable to retrive your precious data, my suggestion is to contact Micro Com data recovery. It's going to cost you some money, but if you make a leaving out of the data you've lost on your external hard drive, it's going to be worth it.
All the best.
Costa

External hard drive won't mount, even after disk repair.

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Hello maccynicwhoalwayshasmacs,
Thanks for the question. After reviewing your post, it sounds like trouble with an external HD mounting. I would recommend that you read this article, it may be able to help you resolve or isolate the issue.
USB and FireWire Quick Assist
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
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Hi!
I have a WD my book external hard drive plugged into my imac and I want to share it over my network with my apple tv. I went into system preferences > sharing, checked "file sharing" and added my external hard drive to the shared folder. So now it is listed in "shared folders" but under "users" everything is grayed out (it says "read and write" for "everyone" - but "read and write" is grayed out, and it doesn't let me add or subtract users). Now I can access all of the folders I shared from my imac except for the externalhard drive. What's going on?

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External Hard Drive does not mount

My 2TB external hard drive does not mount and I cannot get it to. Have tried turning the hard drive off and then back on. No response. Any thoughts as to how I can get it to be recognized?

You can try doing a SMC reset, if it doesn't work the first time it's totally OK to reset the SMC several times.
SMC RESET
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
Release the power button.
Attach the computers power cable.
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.

My external hard drive will not mount on the desktop?

My external hard drive no longer mounts on my desktop, the hard drive has been checked & is working-has anyone ideas?

Hello cuckoo55,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
For more information on this, take a look at:
Mac OS X v10.6: How to show your hard drive icon on the desktop
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3746
In the Finder, choose Preferences from the Finder menu.
Click the General icon on the toolbar.
Select "Hard disks" in the "Show these items on the desktop:" section.
Close the Finder Preferences window.
Best of luck,
Mario

Hard Drive Wouldn't Mount on iMac (late 2013)

Just wanted to drop a line here in case anyone else was having the same problem and perhaps to get an explanation from someone as to specifically why this is the case as it is disappointing/strange.
In short: I got a Seagate Expansion desktop external hard drive (2 TB). Unpacked it, plugged it into my early 2014 iMac (3.5 GHz i7/Build 13E28 running 10.9.4) and.....nothing. Switched out cables. Nothing. Switched ports. Nothing. The drive was initializing, steady light, and you could hear it and feel it running but it not only didn't mount you could see nothing at all in Disk Utility.
Assuming something was wrong with the drive, I went and plugged it into my old trust 2009 Macbook Pro (still running strong!) and the drive this time flashed a few times and then instantly mounted. The 2009 MBP is also running 10.9.4 so Mavericks is not to blame here. Perplexed, I formatted it (Mac OS Extended), went back to the iMac and still.....nothing. Steady light (but not the blink), can hear the drive going but not showing up.
Went to this forum, found a bunch of posts blaming Seagate USB 3 connections, enclosures, and everything under the sun. Tried a few things but nothing. Seemed to me that because of the initial blinking that happened when I plugged it into the MBP that it was a power issue, the iMac is not giving its ports enough juice. Found a USB repeater extension, plugged it in with that- voila. It shows up.
So it appears the iMac is not giving enough power to its USB ports. Strangely I never noticed this before because its never been a problem- I have other Seagate drives (also USB 3 and also plug in powered as this trouble device is) that have always worked fine.
Does anyone have an explanation? Just curious and if there are specs that I have to look out for on drives to avoid it would be good to know. Many thanks,
E

Thank you for the reply, Eric. Here's screen shots from within Disk Utility and "info" on the Internal Drive (that is not mounting)
Message was edited by: TwoFishKahuna

Fantom external hard drive won't mount

I am using an imac G3 with OS 10.3.9. Until yesterday my Fantom external hard drive mounted. I dismounted it and turned it off. I went to turn it back on later and it won't mount. I selected initialize from the dialogue box that says it won't mount and when disk utility comes up it show the two icons for the internal hard drive and just one for the external so I can't do anything with it. Thanks for your help.
imac Mac OS X (10.3.9)
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imac Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work!
First, you should always Repair Permissions in Disk Utility before and after any update; I would do that now. If you installed your update with FireWire plugged in, your Mac may not recognize it anymore.
Try resetting your FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down your Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 30 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.
If that did'nt work, download the combo update from this site (yours may be corrupt), not Software Update, disconnect all firewire + USB devices except keyboard + mouse, Repair Permissions, re-install update, Repair Permissions again + try. Yours is the 10.3.9 Combo update. Others reading, download the Combo that applies to your system.
If that still did'nt get it Zap the PRAM. While restarting Mac hold down the following key combo Command-Option-P-R. Keep holding those keys down till you hear the second start-up chime, then release.
For those of you with Macs that are not PowerBooks or iBooks, a bad internal battery can cause FireWire to not be recognized, so make sure it's good!
Good Luck!
Cheers!
DALE
p.s. Hi to you too Sherry! Keep up the good work!

Can i use seagate goflex 3tb external hard drive for 2010 27" imac internal hard drive replacment if i take it out of the goflex case.do i need to format it before installation due to it allready having goflex software on it from manufacturer.

i have 3tb seagate goflex external hard drive.its brand new in package.i took it out of case and deleted partitions that were created by manufacturer.so now i have 2800 gigs.its formatted ntfs.will it work for late 2010 27" imac internal hard drive replacement.i found a apple repair place that will charge me 50$ to swap drives for me assuming i have the drive.i will have to install leopard myself at this price.i dont want to have to pay for anything other than the swap.will this hard drive work with this format or do i need to format it differently.

Hello
formatted ntfs
NTFS format not work on mac system , need to be formatted as Extended Mac os Journaled format and partition table need to be GUID
how to do that in video
HTH
Pierre

How can i view and upload photos from an older version of iPhoto which are on an external hard drive to my new iMac? i currently have copied the application version 9.4.2. on my lacie backup and want to view and upload this to my new iPhoto version 9.5.1

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the iPhoto version on the external hard drive is iPhoto 9.4.2 which i upgraded on 29/11/12 onto our old iMac (early 2007 version)
my new iMac is running on version OSX 10.9.1
i have looked at buying iphoto library manager and have emailed them about whether this would work, but any advice would be gratefully received as i cannot be the only person that has had this problem but i cannot find any answers that work.
thanks
Julie

YOu can rebuild with Library Manager and this does not require a purchase:
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.

External hard drives won't mount after upgrading to Tiger 10.4.9. Help!

Hi, I've just got the latest iMac. Very excited! I did all the software updates, connected my Western Digital extended hard drive so that I could copy some files over onto my new Mac. It was fine at first. Then when I wanted to open up the external hard drive icon on my desktop again and double clicked on it, everything disappeared from the screen for a few seconds, then reappeared but my external hard drive simply opened the window to my personal hard drive on the Mac. The WD links to my computer via Firewire. I then connected my USB external hard drive stick and it was the same story.
I used Disk Utility to test everything and everything was fine.
I then reinstalled Mac OSX 10.4.8 and plugged in my external hard drives. Everything worked perfectly. After copying over documents and a couple of programs, and downloading a few more programs, I ran my software updates again, upgrading the operating system to Tiger 10.4.9. I attached my external hard drive and it was the same problem all over again.
I the read up the online discussions and also chatted to an Apple dealer, and their advice was to download the Intel Combo and reinstall the operating system. I have just done this and my external hard drives will still not mount properly. Their icons appear on screen but double click them and everything disappears.
Please help. This is really frustrating as I have a backlog of work to do and I seem to be wasting hours on this. Not only that, this is a brand new machine which I rightly expect to work straight away.
I look forward to your response. Thank you in advance.

Hi, try to put your HDD in other Mac and look if appear the same, also you can try to repair permission.

External Hard Drive Wouldn't Mount (iMac Late 2013)

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