External HD doesn't appear on desktop sometimes

Sometimes my external HD doesn't appear on my desktop (connected with Firewire).
It spins up, and all I generally have to do is turn it off and turn it back on again for it to appear.
But obviously I wish it would just work the first time.
Using 10.6.1 on a Mac Pro, external drive is OWC Mercury.

Re: the link I think all the cables are fine, like I said all I have to do is turn the drive off and back on again and it will work.
DU doesn't find any errors.
By reformat by you mean wiping the drive clean and reinstalling the system and then all my data? Sounds like a lot of work for what might just be a smaller problem (hopefully), I'd like to solve this but it's not worth it to me to do that much quite frankly (combined with the fact that I think 10.6.1 has some gremlins in it, so I'm not sure the problem wouldn't come back anyway).

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Now External Firewire doesn't show on desktop...even on another computer.

This is a continuation of the problem of the disappearing internal hard drives topic but it's taken on a whole new dimension. I have restored two of the three internal volumes affected and they show up. So I thought maybe now I can use the command-, option on the finder to make the third volume appear. Under "show these items on desktop" I checked the box next to "hard disks" off and then back on. I didn't touch the box next to "external drives" but the EXTERNAL firewire drive disappeared from the desktop. Two of the three internal volumes still showed on desktop. The external firewire shows in Disk Utility but nowhere else. I disconnected the firewire drive and connected it to a laptop. It doesn't show on the desktop there either, but it does show in disk utility. Obviously my computer must be doing something to the drives to make them not appear no matter where they're connected. I'm desperate now.

Did you try mounting it in Disk Utility?
Dale

Can't restore iPod because it doesn't appear on desktop

I connected my ipod to my Mac, it showed up on the desktop but not in iTunes. The ipod window said Do not Disconnect. I waited a few minutes, then chose Eject iPod. I restarted the mac, reconnected iPod using a different FireWire port. The iPod no longer appeared on the desktop, and the Do Not Disconnect warning was still there. I switched to USB connection. No go. I ran Disk Utility Repair Permissions on my HD and restarted.
I've been downloading a lot of podcasts lately, don't know if that's the cause of this problem. I'm using iTunes 7.1.1 and Mac OS 10.4.9.
I found a solution for this problem in Archives, but it's dated 12/05, and I'm wondering if it still applies. Part of the solution says to run disk utility, select the ipod, then select Format. But I don't see Format as a choice on version 10.5.6 of Disk Utility. Maybe what was Format in 2005 is now called something else? Like maybe Partition? Here's the post (by john madson) from 2005:
"i can fix this but you will need a mac let me explain
when the last system update for mac os x tiger came through after you are done installing the update the update says it is optimizing the hard drive well it optimizes the hard drive on the ipod as well and cause the internal drive on the ipod to malfunction but this isn't apples fault this is caused by user error im sorry to say
in order to fix this on the mac
here is what you need
1.the latest apple ipod updater software (will explain why later in this)
2. of course a apple ipod mini usb cable
3. apple ipod mini
4. mac os x panther or tiger
1.start up the mac computer
2. connect the ipod to the computer don't worry if it doesn't appear on the desktop
3.go into utilites by double clicking on the hard drive icon and select utility
4.run disk utility
5.you will notice the ipod will apear in the disk utility program but not on the desktop
6. select the ipod in the left pane
7. select format
8. tell it to format it in a mac os extended partition
9.once this is done you will notice the ipod will apear as a removable hard drive but. do not disconnect the ipod
10. run the apple ipod updater
11.reinstall the latest updated firmware
12.unplug the ipod
13. replug in the ipod
14. you will notice the ipod will apear as a ipod icon on the desktop
WARNING:AFTER YOU FORMAT IF YOU DISCONNECT THE IPOD THIS WILL BRICK THE IPOD WHEN YOU FORMAT THE IPOD USING DISK UTILITY IT ERASES EVERYTHING INCLUDING THE IPODS OS SO YOU NEED TO RUN THE UPDATER IMMEDIATLY TO GET THE IPOD WORKING AGAIN
THE FIRST TIME THE IPOD IS RECONNECTED AFTER RUNNING THE IPOD UPDATER RE RUN THE UPDATER SELECT RESTORE THEN IT WILL FORMAT AND SET UP THE IPOD CORRECTLY
FOLLOW INSTRUCTION CAREFULLYNEXT SYSTEM UPDATE DO NOT HAVE THE IPOD CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER DURING UPDATE"
G5 Quad 2.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.9)
G5 Quad 2.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5)

One more thing: I reset my iPod (toggled Hold, etc.). It appeared in iTunes but not on the desktop, with the message "If your experiencing problems with your iPod, you can restore its original settings by clicking restore." Which I did. Got a window asking if I wanted iTunes to check for a new software update. I said yes. Got an exclamation-point msg "There was a problem downloading iPod software. The requested resource was not found. "
G5 Quad 2.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Blank CD-R doesn't appear on desktop/ burning impossible

Whenever I put a CD-R into the drive, iTunes starts, and everything looks ready to burn. However, the blank CD doesn't appear on the desktop. Also, I don't get the "what would you like to do with this CD-R" message. I have never burned many CDs, but I have burned a few in the past without this problem arising. I have tried reseting the computer to no avail. It doesn't just spit the CD out (like other people seem to have trouble with). It just will not burn. This is frustrating... anyone help?

Hi MagooVU,
Welcome to Apple Discussions
What company makes the CD-R? You may want to look at Knowledge Base Document #88275 on Troubleshooting the slot load disc drive (Portables) and Knowledge Base Document #25402 on Factors that affect writing to or reading from optical media.
Jon
Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, iPod (All), Airport (Graphite & Express), G4 1.33Ghz iBook, G4 iMac 1Ghz, G3 500Mhz, iBook iMac 233Mhz, eMate, Power Mac 5400 LC, PowerBook 540c, Macintosh 128K, Apple //e, Apple //, and some more... Mac OS X (10.4.5) Moto Razr, iLife '06, SmartDisk 160Gb, Apple BT Mouse, Sight..

External Hardisk does not appear on desktop

My external disk no longer appears on the desk top when I reboot. I used Disk Utility to attempt to find and repair the disk. The Lacie disk appears in the list on the left. When I click Verify button, the following messages appear:
"Verifying volume “disk1s6”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair
The volume LaCie Disk needs to be repaired.
1 volume checked
0 HFS volumes verified
1 volume needs repair"
When I click the Repaair Disk button, I get:
"Repairing disk for “disk1s6”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair
Repairing volume.
The volume LaCie Disk was repaired successfully.
Repair attempted on 2 volumes
1 HFS volume repaired
1 volume could not be repaired"
The disk still does not appear on the desktop even after rebooting again.
I have searched the posts and found some similar complaints. Most responders recommend using a 3rd party application like Disk Warrior (~$90). I am reluctant to spend for a remedy that may not actually help. Does anyone know a solution using freeware or command line operations?

DiskWarrior uses a special proprietary technique. It usually works. Even when it does not work 100%, it may restore the disk to a point where it can be mounted in "preview" mode to copy off critical data. There are no freeware apps, or UNIX commands, that replicate what it does.
Maybe try this... See if you can make a disk image of the volume or volumes with critical data. It may not mount to the Desktop, but maybe you can use Disk Utility to make a disk image and save it to your internal drive. If that works and the disk image mounts, at least you can access your critical data. Then you can reformat that external drive and restore from the disk image.

External Hard Drive Not Appearing on desktop

My external HD has disappeared from my desktop. If I connect it via FW it does not appear in disk utilities or system profiler but if I connect it via usb it appears in both. I've switched out the cables, tried different ports and reset the PRAM and NVRAM. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to a fix?
Thanks in advance

Scott:
I take it from your explanation that even though it appears in all three of the utilities that my only remaining option is to use DataRescue II. Correct?
Let's say that it is the only one that occurs to me at this time of night
The demo version will at least show you that the data is still there. Another option might be to use SuperDuper to see if you can clone the User's Folder, or indeed the entire volume to an external firewire HDD, then using DU to reformat and erase the HDD (post for directions if needed) and clone back from external firewire HDD.
Yes, the drive does show up in sidebar in all three of the utilities I mentioned.
Is it possible to run Repair Disk in Disk Utility and see how it comes out? Or if you have done it already, what does it say?
While in Disk Utility, select the Manufacture ID of the external HDD and then look at the look at the icons at the very top. Is Mount dimmed or active? If active, click on it to mount the HDD.
Also, what happens if you try to Option boot?
If anything else occurs to me I will post back in the morning.
Cheers
cornelius
Message was edited by: cornelius

How to eject a dvd that is stuck and doesn't appear on desktop?

I did insert a dvd a few days ago and now it doesn't appear anywhere and I can not eject it. But when I turn on the computer the disc drive makes strange sounds. How can I eject it?

Disc drive making noises is not good. Even standard media rejection tricks such as holding down the mouse button which restarting the computer might not cause it to eject if the drive is mechanically malfunctioning. You may have to look into getting the drive replaced and have whoever does it try to rescue to disc.

External Hard Drive Doesn't Appear on Desktop / Won't Mount

I have an external hard drive that is used as a server for 3 computers . . . it is hidden from the Desktop.
The "home" computer is running 10.8.5, and the others (which also have the hard drive hidden) run 10.9.5 & 10.10.1.
I can access the drive by going to Go > Recent Folders, and also from aliases to the drive I already have on my Desktop.
The drive shows up on Disk Utility, and was fine when I verified the disk.
I also reset the SMC and PRAM, with no affect on the hidden folder.
The Thunderbolt connectors and Firewire 800 converters all seem to be in working order.
I've seen some fixes out there for the same problem with users running OS X 10.9.3. They've used a Terminal command to reveal the hidden files. Am not sure if the code for 10.9.3 will work for my 10.8.5.
Someone, please help!

upgrade to latest system, that computer will accept, then try again

LACie external HD no longer appears on desktop, can't remount it

Help-
I have a LACie external hard drive, connected to my PowerBook G4 by USB. The computer recognized it until today when the computer crashed. It now won't recognize the external hard drive. I have turned everything off/disconnected/waited/reconnected and it still doesn't work. The LACie also doesn't show up in the disk utility for remounting. It does show up under the system profiler, but there's nothing I can do with it there. The LACie is recognized when I plug it into other computers. Any suggestions as to how to get it to appear on my desktop again?
Thanks.

It might be a hard drive problem. Try booting from your Tiger DVD and running Disk Utility from there to check the hard drive. Disk Utility is a limited app, though; ideally you should be using DiskWarrior or Prosoft Drive Genius. I haven't tried Drive Genius, but did buy DiskWarrior a while back, and it has been worth every penny, saving my hide a number of times.

External hard drives not appearing on Desktop

I have three external hard drives, none of which are showing up on my Desktop. All three drives are mounted, and I can navigate to them through the sidebar in Finder windows, and the contents of the drives are all fine and intact. In Finder preferences under "Show these items on the desktop", "External disks" is ticked. I've tried unmounting the drives using Disk Utility, then mounting them again, but they still don't appear. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Create a new admin user account, log into it, setup Finder's prefs to show all HDs, and see if the issue persists.

CD won't eject, doesn't appear on desktop, or in restart ... how do I?

Cannot eject the CD/DVD that is currently in the drive. It does not appear on the desktop, and when I restart the PowerBook pressing C it doesn't boot from it. The Media eject button doesn't display the eject hologram when I press it, and restarting pressing the trackpad hasn't work. Opening up the DVD player displays the message 'A Valid DVD Drive could not be found (-70012). My PowerBook doesn't have the manual eject button to press with a paperclip.
So that's everything I've tried, as well as searching on these forums but the questions aren't as specific. If anyone can suggest something I'd be grateful.

Hi,
Apple Knowledge base lists the follwoing:
The drive doesn't eject discs
If the drive ejects discs slowly or appears to be struggling, insert and eject a disc several times.
If the drive does not eject discs, press the F12 key or, on original PowerBook G4 computers, the manual eject button located on the side of the slot. Holding down the trackpad button during startup should also eject a disc.
If the disc still does not eject, update the optical drive's firmware. This step may not be needed for all computers.
Reset the parameter RAM (PRAM) and/or the Power Manager (PMU.)
If the disc still does not eject, contact Apple to arrange for service.
volker

External drive icon not appearing on desktop

Hi - I have also posted this in the Time Machine forum as this is where my problem started. New iMac yesterday - replacement for faulty iMac which I had backed up using Time Machine. Reinstall from Time Machine effortless - no problem. Downloaded available software updates and 10.5.7 onto new iMac. No problem until I go to do another backup. Time Machine does not recognise external drive and I get "volume could not be found" message. At this point in time the external drive icon is showing on the desktop. Give up and go to bed thinking I will reformat external drive in the morning and start again
This morning, I boot up the machine but the external drive icon has disappeared from the desktop. Unplug external HD from usb and plug in again. No icon on desktop although it shows in Finder and Time Machine.
Anyway - I turned Time Machine off and then pointed it at the Ext. HD - went to back up now and magic - did complete backup and has done a second subsequently. Seems to have created a second backup folder separate from the one created by previous machine from which I reinstalled. Still no desktop icon! Switch iMac off and on again - still no desktop icon. So why - the Ext. drive is recognised and works so why isn't an icon for it appearing on the desktop?
Please help - I need answers to these weird happenings
Thanks
Ann
.

Problem solved and it was so simple - just had to go to Finder, Preferences, General and tick the box that says external devices. Desktop icon has returned:-) Don't know why it became unticked but everything now is working absolutely fine (as far as I know lol) Hope this is the start of a good relationship between me and my new Mac!
Ann

CD doesn't appear on desktop, can't eject from drive

Hi All,
I just got my new iMac today, love it! But when I inserted a CD into the drive, it won't appear on the desktop, and I can't eject it. I've tried these things:
-Restarting
-Restarting after pulling the power plug for 20 seconds
-Restart while holding down the mouse button
-Restart while pressing down the command-option-F-O keys
-Opening Disk Utility and selecting File > Eject (it's dimmed)
These are suggestions I found from other Discussion posts. Do you have any other suggestions? The last suggestion I read was to take it to the Apple store, I hope I don't have to do that.
From the number of posts I've seen on this problem, it seems to be common!
Thanks,
Lizzy

Restaart your Mac while holding down the trackpad or an the button on an external mouse

Nano doesn't appear on desktop or iTunes after HD wiped, 10.2.8 reinstalled

Initialized the hard drive and reinstalled 10.2 from CD, then upgraded back up to 10.2.8 where I had been before the crash.
Lost my whole purchased library, of course, but almost all had been burned to CDs.
Now, when re-connecting iPod nano with USB, it doesn't show up on the desktop or in the iTunes window. I'm running the latest version of iTunes, 6.0.3
When I connected it, and it didn't show up, I disconnected it, and it froze up. I did the reset thing with select and menu button which seemed to work fine.
Now that my computer is back up and running 10.2.8, what do I have to do to get the nano and iTunes to talk to each other again?
I saw something about a "restore" on the support page, but I sure don't want to erase everything on the iPod. I would have no idea how to back up or save the songs on the iPod.
Is there just some setting that got wiped off when I initialized my HD, that I have to restore?
G4 Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Restoring the iPod may well fix your problems, but you're correct that it wipes the iPod clean. You might want to try less drastic things first, such as a Reset. There are ways to get songs from the iPod back to the computer (third party programs) but they will require that the iPod show up on the desktop first.
For various things to try (including the Restore) check out
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/five_rs/

Thunderbolt drive doesn't appear on desktop?

I have a G-Raid Thunderbolt drive that I've connected to an iMac and Air. In both cases, the drive doesn't show up in the Finder, or under the Devices sidebar. However, Disk Utility reports the drive is available, fine and is mounted. (Running Verify says the volume is fine)
I see the drive contents in Terminal by browsing /Volumes/
Any ideas why I can't see the drive otherwise?

My one Thunderbolt drive shows up in Finder when I tick the External disks box in Finder Sidebar Prefs. It disappears along with FW Drives when I untick that box. Cannot think why that does not work for you.

External HD doesn't appear on desktop sometimes

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