External hard drives wont mount

I ejected my two external hard drives before disconnecting them. I have reconnected but they do not show up in the Finder or Disk Utility. The drives show up when plugged into my macbook. jp

Hello, are the USB? Do other USB things work in those ports?
Might try this...
reset FW bus, same goes for USB reset...
Reset the Firewire bus
If your Firewire or USB isn't recognizing any device. A solution which has worked for some whose hard drive became invisible in 10.4 was simply to follow these four steps to reset the Firewire/USB bus:
1. Shut the machine down.
2. UNPLUG the power lead to the computer and any firewire/USB drive.
3. leave it for 10 minutes.
4. Connect back up and reboot.
http://www.macmaps.com/firewirebug2.html

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My external hard drive wont show up in the "Save to:" menu when I try to import videos

My old external broke so I found my old one and plugged it in and went to import some videos on imove from an sd card but my external hard drive wont show up on the "save to:" drop down menu. I've been on utility disk to try and repair disk permission but I can't because the button isn't lit up. I can only click on verify disk or repair disk. I tried both of these but it still wont come on the drop down menu. It is showing up on the left in the event library but it has a little yellow triangle with a black exclamation mark in it.
Hope that all makes sense!
Any help would be very much appreciated!

Ok in disk utility it says Format : MS-DOS (FAT32)
Sorry Im not sure what you mean by can it connect via firewire? Sorry I'm a bit useless with technology haha

Tiger randomly stopped allowing my External Hard drive to mount and...

Hello, I have been using an External Hard Drive (1 terabyte Seagate, new) for a couple months if not a year by now for saving movies, and all of my iTunes on it. Its been working wonderfully. However it recently stopped being able to mount citing invalid hard drive and gives me the options of either eject, ignore, or initialize. Im not sure what to do. And also my computer has been acting funny every since the day it started. I will walk you through it step by step.
July 6th I was surfing the web and unfortunetly clicked on a link that aparently contained a trojan. Or atleast thats what my Antivirus notified me of. I had downloaded the trojan some how without a pop up or anything telling me I was downloading anything. (using safari) So i ran a virus scan and saw one virus was in my system and that it couldnt be deleted or repaired by my antivirus program, Im working on getting rid of that but at the time I had my Seagate 1 terabyte external hard drive attached via fire wire to my Macbook. It was working then.
Later that day I unplugged my hard drive and took my laptop around a little bit, nothing unusual. Then when i came back later that night I tried plugging in my hard drive and a pop up stated that the hard drive was unable to mount and I could either eject, ignore, or initilize. I tried may different routes, restarting, letting it all rest, etc. And in Disk Utility i try to verify the disc and it says its unable to and needs repairs. So I try repairing the disc and it says unable to due to an error.
Then yesterday I went to my applications and noticed none of my applications are there anymore. These applications were saved on the internal hard drive so it was very odd to me. However i can still use spotlight to find and open my apps.
My question is, What can I do to allow my external hard drive to mount? I dont figure it is the trojan on my system but could it be? If so how would I fix it? Im mostly worried about getting the data off the external hard drive then I can reformat it. Or if theres a way to just get it back to normal without reformatting Id love to hear it. As for the applications missing and the trojan on my internal hard drive I can fix that, at the very least Ill just reboot my system with my original OS Disc and just start fresh, its about time anyways.
But please. If anyone has ever had their external hard drive just stop mounting and figured out what to do I would be ever so grateful to hear how you did so. The hard drive itself isnt damaged, its not making any unusual sounds. Whenever i plug it into the computer it acts like normal (turning on and what not) until the computer tells me it cannot mount then nothing happens. Ive looked online and it seems to be a software issue.
If its any help I was downloading a torrent (.avi, no viruses) at the time. I know sometimes if one file on the hard drive becomes corrupt the whole thing becomes unusable. Regardless I would appreciate it if anyone knows a way to at the very least retreive the files on the drive, but preferably know how to just get it back to normal. If i could get it to force mount (via terminal or something) I know which file would possibly be the corrupt one or something so I could work with it.

Bejan:
Thanks for posting back with the pics of the messages from your computer. Disk Utility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing a volume is a directory error which cannot be repaired by Disk Utility. Unfortunately, Disk Warrior may not be able to replace the rebuilt directory, either. Tech Tool Pro has a better chance of repairing it, although this particular directory issue can be stubborn, and is often rooted in a hardware issue. Your surest bet is to backup/clone the information on the HDD using a utility like SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner, completely reformat and erase the HDD (directions below), then restore data from backup.
Formatting, Partitioning Erasing an External HDD
• Connect external HDD to computer
• Turn on external HDD
• Start up computer and log in
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility and launch DU.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select Partition tab in main panel.
• Click on Options button
• Select Apple Partition Map (PPC Macs) or GUID Partition Table (Intel Macs)
• Click OK
• Select number of partitions in pull-down menu above Volume diagram.
For more partitions than one, after you have selected the number of partitions adjust the size of the partition by selecting the top partition and typing in the size; then move down if more adjustments need to be made.
(See Dr. Smoke’s FAQ Backup and Recovery for tips on partitioning external HDD)
• Type in name in Name field (usually Macintosh HD)
• Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
• Select Erase tab
• Select the sub-volume (indented) under Manufacturer ID
• Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
• Click Erase button
• Repeat above procedure to erase each partition
• Quit Disk Utility.
cornelius

2 different brand USB external hard drives not mounting- Firewire ok

Hi, first timer here so apologies in advance.
i have to different brand external hard disks and they both show up fine with a firewire connection. the trouble is that i need to use the usb connection and neither show up. (shows up in system profiler though but not disk utility.) why USB if i can use Firewire? I will be using the disk to connect to a Wii console via usb port and the Wii is not recognizing either disk either?
Any ideas on how to get one of these disks to mount by USB?
cables are fine as work with USB only hard disks.
Thanks in advance

Hello Bob,
Thanks for your reply.
Unfortunately it does not show up at all in "disk utility". But appears in System Profiler under USB. This is true of 2 different external hard drives that mount fine with the firewire cables. One is a 3.5 inch and the other is a 2.5 inch portable. The USB cable is not faulty as tested it with another USB peripheral. Now a big believer in coincidences. Am i doing something wrong?
any other thoughts?
thanks again

How do I setup an external hard drive to mount at boot (without any login action) in Mavericks?

First the Details:
MacBook Pro, Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013
OS X Mavericks 10.9.5
USB 3.0 External Hard drive
I am currently using an external drive for my user storage. Right now I log in with a separate User account to mount the drive, log off, and then log in with my user. I am trying to remove the extra steps so I can boot my Mac and log right in. I have not found any method that pertains specifically to Mavericks, and all of the methods I have tried for older OS versions do not seem to work properly.
Thank you for your help.

How is the EHD formatted? It is USB powered? If it's formatted OS X Extended (journaled) with ownership set to be ignored and connected to a USB port it should mount as soon as the MBP is booted up and the EHD is spun up. It should be accessible to all accounts on the Mac.
Do you have additional software that came with the drive that you've installed? What make and model drive is it?

External Hard Drive not mounting on bootup

I have a USB2.0 Hard Drive formatted with ntfs, which holds my music. I have an fstab entry for it using ntfs-3g and I can mount it fine after booting up. But the drive doesn't automatically mount like it should. It looks like the system is mounting the fstab entries before it is finished detecting my external drive. Anything I can do to fix this?

fwojciec wrote:I let my external ntfs drive be mounted by hal - I have no entry for it in /etc/fstab. In order to have it mounted with read/write privileges I had to create a hal policy like this wiki page describes: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HAL … ntfs-3g.29
I'm not sure if this solution is what you're looking for though...
I actually tried using hal to do it and it didn't work right for some reason.

External Hard drive wont show up in Finder

Hi,
After Mountain Update, the external hard drive icon wont show up in Finder sidebar, Desktop and in Disk Utility.
Is there anything which needs to be set in System Preference ??
I have the External Hard Disk checkbox checked in Finder Preference, inspite of this I cannot see the Hard drive icon
Please help.

You can try looking in Finder Prefereneces.
Go to the Finder Menu > Prefeences
Look at the sidebar pane. Make sure the Devices box is checked.
Go back to your finder window and make sure that Devices are not hidden. To the right of the Devices work there is a dimly visible show/hide command that is visible only when you have your cursor next to the Devices word.
You can also try unpluggin the drive and unplugging its USB cord then plugging it all back in to try again.
Jay

External hard drive not mounting on emac, works fine on windows xp machine

I am running an emac 1ghz powerpc G4 with 768MB sdram and version 10.4.9
I have an external hard drive that up to a few days ago ran smoothly. It contains all my itunes, iphoto, and imovie libraries.
Now it will not mount. It lights up, it runs, etc but I can't use it. I tried restarting machine etc. No avail.
it is a usb drive. Today I took it downstairs and plugged it into my daughter's windows xp machine. It recognized it right away (I was shocked too) and everything is there good as before.
I plugged it into every usb port in the emac and nothing. I am using the same cord on the xp and it works fine.
Any idea what it could be and how to fix it. I read on hear a lot to use disk utility. However when I run it it just freezes. When I turn that external drive off disk utility runs fine.

I am running an emac 1ghz powerpc G4 with 768MB sdram
and version 10.4.9
I have an external hard drive that up to a few days
ago ran smoothly. It contains all my itunes, iphoto,
and imovie libraries.
Now it will not mount. It lights up, it runs, etc
but I can't use it. I tried restarting machine etc.
No avail.
it is a usb drive. Today I took it downstairs and
plugged it into my daughter's windows xp machine. It
recognized it right away (I was shocked too) and
everything is there good as before.
I plugged it into every usb port in the emac and
nothing. I am using the same cord on the xp and it
works fine.
Any idea what it could be and how to fix it. I read
on hear a lot to use disk utility. However when I
run it it just freezes. When I turn that external
drive off disk utility runs fine.
Your external drive is formatted FAT32 or FAT, or the Windows box would have a problem seeing it. (Unless you have MacDrive on that box, that is.)
If it is formatted FAT32 or FAT, you are NOT going to be able to use Disk Utility (or any other Mac utility) on that drive. Disk Utility doesn't do FAT.
I'd copy the contents of the drive elsewhere then start up Disk Utility first and then plug the drive into the Mac and format it FAT32 from Disk Utility. If that doesn't work, format it FAT32 on the Windows machine. Note: if this drive is larger than 32 GB, you're going to need to generate two or more partitions, as while WinXP can read FAT32 partitions larger than 32 GB, it can't create them. Macs and Linux boxes can create large FAT32 partitions. Second note: if the drive is smaller than 4 GB, you might want to think about formatting it FAT instead of FAT32. Indeed, Windows may insist. Do not let Windows format it NTFS; Macs can read NTFS volumes, but can't write to them.

WD Elements External Hard Drive not mounting

My external hard drive is not mounting it is connected by via USB connected directly to my Macbook. When I connect it error "The disk you inserted is not redable by this computer". I can see it on Disk Utility however all options are grayed out. I also tried connecting it to my sister's windows machine same thing not mounting. I've tried this suggestion http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2176 but I got an error "Error: -69877: Couldn't open device".
By the way it's a self powered 2.2TB WD Elements
Badly needed help!

I had the same info (with a WD essentials encolusre where I just replaced a 750 with a 2TB), but after closing both DiskDrill and Disk utility, the terminal worked. So have a look if there are any other disk monitorings on.
good luck

External hard drive NOT mounting to mac

I have never had problems with my external hard drive (I just bought it a few months ago), but suddenly it is not mounting on the iMacs at my work or my Macbook pro at home. The drive does NOT show up in Disc Utility, but when the drive is connected via USB, the light on the drive comes on and it is clearly operating. It will not mount on any mac product all of a sudden. I have no idea why this is happening someone PLEASE HELP thanks

you have a MacBook Pro, we are Mac Pro users.
It uses bus-power? has its own power brick?
Formatted for Mac (HFS)? Used on PC Windows and Mac?
Do you have it backed up?
Has there been an inadvertent outage or crash?
MacBook Pro

How do I get an external hard drive to mount?

I have two Maxtor One Touch 4 Plus External Hard Drives. One works the other doesn't. The one that works is over a year old and has been a trusty loyal aid. The one that doesn't is only a couple of weeks old. It worked fine initially. Now no icon appears and its volumes won't mount. I have switched both HD's between a MacBook Pro and an iMac with the same results. I've also switched between USB and Firewire cables. Same again.
I have a fair idea what went wrong.
The adapter for the new faulty HD was dislodged a little from the power socket. A small electrical crackle was heard, nothing to serious, but obviously enough to create this problem. The power jacks here in this part of the world are not often the best and snuggest of fits.
I have visited the Seagate/Maxtor "support" sites and come away with nothing other than switching on and off, etc... very elementary.
Any suggestions as to how I can get this dodgy piece of hardware to get over itself and get operational again?
Thanking you in advance.

Do you hear the drive spin up?
You may want to contact the manufacturer and ask for a replacement power adapter/cord and see if that helps.
Personally, I think there has been some damage to the circuitry inside the enclosure, which really can't be repaired.
~Lyssa

Help Getting an External Hard Drive to Mount.

I cannot get my LaCie 120 external drive (connected via firewire 400) to mount on my Mac Pro. It worked fine a couple of days ago. I ejected it and proceeded to connect a second firewire 400 drive and when I tried to reconnect the LaCie, the computer didn't see it. I tried the disk utility and there is nothing for me to select so I can't repair, mount, or format it. It's just not there. I've tried everything I could find information for, new cables, unplugging the computer to get the buses to reset, etc.
What I find odd is that when I plug the LaCie into my macbook it loads fine and all the information is present. I could just do a work around and transfer all the info from the LaCie to the new drive using the macbook, but it's a large amount of video, and it would take a very long time.
If anyone has any info or other ideas about getting my LaCie to mount it would be greatly appreciated.
Mac book, imac, Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I have had a problem on my Mac mini with USB external hard drives. Did you try plugging it into a different port? I find I would need to reboot to get the drive to work again. I fixed it with a USB hub. Works fine now. Probably a different problem, but just making sure.

Lacie firewire 800 external hard drive not mounting in mac os 10.4.8

I have a pm g5 Dual 2ghz system ,i have connected an firewire 800 lacie 1tb external hard drive to the system,now the problem is it is not mounting on the desktop shows in the diskutility repaired the disk say's disk volume ok any way to mount the external hd on the desktop

Hi Veena, Welcome to Apple Discussions.
And you've tried choosing the volume and pressing the "Mount " icon on the tool bar of Disk Utility?
Have you shut down your Mac and disconnected your firewire cable from both ends and let it sit about ten minutes then reconnect and try. Also, it is important to disconnect the AC power to your Mac, this helps to reset the FireWire port(s).
Do you have TTP or DW, both of which you could use to try to mount it.
It is also possible that you have a bad cable or a bad port, do other FW devices work?
-mj
[email protected]

After updating to 10.4.6, external firewire drives wont mount consistantly

I have a swappable external hard drive casing that has two slots. Since updating to 10.4.6, the drives will randomly dissapear from the desktop, then will not remount. It takes a lot of swapping firewire cables around, usually ending up with the same configuration and multiple reboots to get them back. Even then, I can't depend on them to stay mounted. I have had this problem infrequently in the past, though not recently. This last update seems to have resurrected the ailment. Any guesses?
Thanks mac people.
-justin!
Dual 2.5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I'd find out if the Firewire bridge needs a firmware update. I'd also try changing Firewire cables. See this FAQ:
http://www.macmaps.com/firewirebug2.html
Disclaimer: Reference to links I make to my Macmaps.com website are a for your information only type reference. I do not get any profit from this page, and it is open to the public.

External Hard Drive not Mounting any more

Hi all,
I have noticed since couple of kernel updates, my external hard drive - plugged via USB doesn't get mounted any more. To access the drive I need to reboot the computer with the hard drive switch on.
See below for the dmesg output, regular usb keys get mounted normally, I have check autofs set up and it seems fine compare to the wiki,
Many thanks for taking the time to read my topic,
Looking forward for your replies,
[ 37.753349] usb 2-6: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci_hcd
[ 38.139340] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
[ 38.175765] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[ 38.175829] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 38.175830] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[ 38.240086] scsi8 : usb-storage 2-6:1.0
[ 38.240226] usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-cypress
[ 44.726882] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access ST325082 3A PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[ 44.727768] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/232 GiB)
[ 44.728724] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Write Protect is off
[ 44.728727] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Mode Sense: 33 00 00 00
[ 44.729729] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 44.753026] sde: sde1
[ 75.466677] usb 2-6: reset high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci_hcd
[ 75.591741] sd 8:0:0:0: [sde] Attached SCSI disk
[ 2243.446832] usb 2-6: USB disconnect, device number 4
[ 2278.086455] usb 2-6: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci_hcd
[ 2278.211117] scsi9 : usb-storage 2-6:1.0
[ 2285.078375] scsi 9:0:0:0: Direct-Access ST325082 3A PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[ 2285.079220] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/232 GiB)
[ 2285.080209] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Write Protect is off
[ 2285.080212] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Mode Sense: 33 00 00 00
[ 2285.081222] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 2285.101763] sde: sde1
[ 2285.105212] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Attached SCSI disk
[ 2316.159787] usb 2-6: reset high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci_hcd

Yes I have checked System Settings -> Removable Devices - but there is no option for an external hard drive.
And yes it is a ntfs drive, but as I said it worked before couples of updates ago, and just to be sure I checked ntfs-3g - it is installed.
Oh, and I should have said, checking /dev/by-label the drive appear there once turn on, but doesn't get mounted, I use to have a line in the fstab file, but I removed it because it tried to mount it during booting process, and it work anyway.
Any other advice?
Last edited by sweetthdevil (2012-01-24 19:03:00)

External hard drives wont mount

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