External HDD is seen as drive but no as volume in Disk Utility (unmountable

I've unplugged my external HDD without unmounting it and tried to hook it up via eSata to my MBP.
Now Leopard won't see the Drive neither via USB neither via eSATA (i use expresscard/34).
The drive is seen as USB device in Disk Utility, but not as Volume.
The Dtive is formatted and partitioned for OSX. Has data on it.
What can I do to make the drive appear again?
Resetting PRAM and SMC didn't help.

of course you should be aware that to run esata external drive is not hot swappable. user must power on before Mac and power off after Mac.
even though you did the smc reset did you in fact disconnect all devices, and that means the externals to the point of powering them down and removing the connecting cables from all devices.

Similar Messages

HT1449 I tried to move the itune folder to an external hdd, (precisely as written above) but after "consolidating, happens nothing

tried to move the itune folder to an external hdd, (precisely as written above) but after "consolidating, happens nothing

That's because too many people confuse moving media folder with moving the library properly.
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the iTunes Library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.
For the record there's this reference for iTunes 11 but it really doesn't strike me as having the specifics you need. iTunes 11 for Mac: Move your library to another computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12168

External Hard drive does not show up on Disk Utility

I have a External Hard Drive that I used to use on a PC.
Recently, I just bought a new Macbook Pro 13'' and want to transfer my documents from the old PC to the Macbook.
My External HD requires a password that you need to type in in order to access the files.
This password thing runs smoothly on my PC, which I can type in my password and get the files. But when I plugged it into the Mac, it didn't recognize it. It only shows the files .exe... and other that can be run by Windows.
So I formatted the HD (I already back up the data), and put it back to the Macbook, I still cannot open it. The system does recognize the connection but when I opened the Disk Utility while still connecting to the HD, the HD does not show on the left column of the Disk Utility.
Then I'm stuck.
Is there anyone here can tell me what I can/should do?
A girl who spends hours on the internet and still cannot figure out why this sh*t is happening to her.

A lot of external drives use firmware passwords as a protection scheme. To use them on a mac, you need to unlock the drive on a PC (I've done it in a virutal machine before). Once unlocked, you can format the drive for use on a mac. The firmware won't run properly on a mac so your ability to lock the drive from the mac will be gone. You can still lock it from a PC (I think, never tried to firmware lock a drive with a mac partition on it).

My external HD stopped showing up on my desktop, but shows up in my Disk Utility.. I have tried a disk verify and repair - sometimes that works and completes, sometimes it doesn't. Either way, it wont eject or mount, and still doesn't show up on desktop.

My external HD stopped showing up on my desktop, but shows up in my Disk Utility..
I have tried a disk verify and repair - sometimes that works and completes, sometimes it doesn't.
Either way, it wont eject or mount, and still doesn't show up on desktop.
There are no ticking noises coming from the hard drive, and it lights up still, and i have tried replacing the cords, and restarting/shutting down the computer, and have tried it on a mac desktop also - same problem.
Any help would be great!!!

and have tried it on a mac desktop also - same problem.
Try this on one of the Macs ...
Open a Finder window. From the menu bar click Finder > Preferrences
Select the General tab then select: Show External Disks

TS1440 I followed all of the directions after seeing that my laptop flashed the folder with the question mark. But when I went to disk utility to repair/ verify issues w/ start up disk it would not allow me to.button to repair/verify is there but cant be

I followed all of the directions after seeing that my laptop flashed the folder with the question mark. But when I went to disk utility to repair/ verify issues w/ start up disk it would not allow me to. The buttons to repair and modify we're there but they were grey and couldn't be pressed.

Were you trying to repair the disk you were booted from? You can't do that - you need to boot from your install disk, and choose 'Disk Utility' from the 'install' menu.

Can't see external exFAT hard drive in finder - but can see it under disk utility

I have tried it all.
Running Mac Air OS X Lion 10.7.3 - connected to wifi network via 3TB Time Capsule. Just bought an external HDD for moving around. Formatted as exFAT and loaded files from a friends Windows 7 PC. Tried to plug into TC but couldn't see it neither in Finder nor Time Machine. Then plugged it directly into Mac Air, still not visible under Finder. Tried the following without much success either:
- Used the Verify & Repair functions in Disc Utility: No errors found
- Tried to Mount in Disc Utility: Refused (advised to run First Aid) - Ran first aid twice and still can't mount
- Used various apple scripts to unhide it: still not visible
- Went to Finder - Go - Computer: Still not visible
I'm now creating an image of the disc with the hope that I can mount the disc and acccess the files in it. Should this not work (and I have a strange feeling that it wont), what can I do (without the need to format the drive?)
Thanks
Spinellixx
Mac Air 13" 128 GB, Time Capsule 3TB, Ipod Touch 32GB, Ipad 2 3GWifi 16GB, Airport Express, Apple TV 2

Gesux wrote:
I can see it and access the files only using ... "Path Finder"
been there
try this:
use [_*Path Finder*_|http://www.cocoatech.com> (30 days trial period) to mount the drive and +get info+.
find the entry for *alias bit*. if the box is checked, uncheck it
that should do it.
JGG

HT4106 Will this thing support if I connect external HDD's or Flash drives to watch movies or transfer photos?

I'm very interested in purchasing this accesory for my camera but I would like to maximize it's usage. I wanna know if the camera connector (via the usb port) will support if I connect, say, flash drive or external hdd. I want to know if I can watch movies directly from the hdd/flash drive instead of buying an app to stream

Theoretically you can put movies and videos onto an SD card, satisfy the naming requirements - all files in a DCIM folder and with a name of exactly 8 characters. Then you can use the photo app to import that video file onto your iPad, watch it and delete it.
Does require that you have the room to import....so it's not perfect but it does work.
but if you want to watch a lot of movies and video files, the seagate is probably the best way to go since you can keep tons more than what fits on a 4-32 gig card (which start to get pricey after a bit)

External hard drive suddenly became "unreadable" and the disk utility offers not repair options. The drive is visible in disk utility but may not be mounted... any suggestions?

I have a WD My Passport 070A Media 2.0 TB external hard drive that has suddenly become unreadable on my laptop (MacBook Pro circa 2006 with 10.4.11) and I have tried on a MacBook Pro 2011 running 10.6.8 with the same results. I had tried opening disk utility to repair the drive, but on both machines the drive is visible in the left column, with no indentation below the drive. When I select the drive in the first aid portion the only options highlighted are info and eject... I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to repair the drive. I am currently in Belize and am not home for 3 weeks yet. I'm hoping for a fix while I am down here, otherwise I may have to wait... I appreciate any assistance!
-Christina

Hi Christina,
It's quite possible the AC PSU has given out, if It's only Bus powered as it appears, that's the worst idea ever & asking for eventual problems.
What Format is it?
Did you install any WD SW?
Your best bet is DiskWarrio...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
But others that may work…
Drive Genius…
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
TechTool Pro…
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=83

My external drives no longer appear in Finder, BUT they do appear in Disk Utility (and network drives appear also)

Hi folks, I hope someone can assist. I have a Mac Mini 2011 running 10.8.5. All has been well. Suddenly, when I plugged in an external flash drive (USB), nothing showed up in Finder. Things I have done:
Confirmed SideBar and other Finder preferences are set to show/reveal external, network, and internal HDs
Tried multiple flash drives and hard drives, using drives formated in GUID/OSXExtended as well as FAT and NTSF. None show up.
Confirmed that the Hidden flag in terminal is not set.
Note: I can see the drives in Disk Utility, but the partitions/volumes are gray and will not be mounted.
Note: Network drives and internal drives appear and work as expected
Note: My network Time Machine also appears and performs as expected.
The only suspect I can think of is a small, free app I installed this morning called Caffein (which manages the sleep mode).
Also, I loged out and switched to another user account on the same machine (that I use solely for the purpose of troubleshooting), and it was similarly affected.
Thanks in advance!
Dave

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:
diskutil list | 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.
The output of the command will be automatically copied to the Clipboard. If the command produced no output, the Clipboard will be empty. Paste into a reply to this message.
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.

Move external HD to a new drive, but have Time Machine think it's the same?

I have two external drives, one for data and one for Time Machine backups. Time Machine backs up both my internal HD and my external HD. My external HD is dying, so I bought a new one and plan to migrate the data over.
Is it possible to somehow move the data to the new HD and still have Time Machine think that the new HD is the old one, since the data is the same? I usually just use Finder to move files from the old HD to new one (and then remove the old HD and rename the new one to use the same name), but from what I understand that wouldn't copy over the Time Machine data, however.

In most of the cases, that Disk Utility message means that the hard drive is damaged.
However, you can try to erase the disk and restore the Time Machine backup to see if it works. Follow these steps:
1. Insert the Snow Leopard DVD and press the C key while your Mac is starting.
2. Go to Utilities menu > Disk Utility, select Macintosh HD on the sidebar, go to Erase tab and erase the disk. If there's an error during this step, take the Mac to an Apple Store to get a new hard drive.
3. Close Disk Utility, go to Utilities menu, choose the option to restore a Time Machine backup and follow the steps.
If the computer is slow after doing this, take the Mac to an Apple Store as soon as you can

External hard drive not recognized in Finder or Disk Utility

Two weeks ago, my 2007 black Macbook stopped recognizing the hard drive. I was told by some IT friends that the controller had likely failed and I needed to purchase a new laptop. I removed the hard drive and placed it into an enclosure (turning it into an external hard drive) and hooked it up to a new Macbook Pro which I purchased a couple days ago. The external hard drive did not show up in Finder or Disk Utility but the light on the enclosure was on and it was making a very soft whirring noise and got warm after a few minutes. I usually backed up the hard drive but, of course, hadn't done it in a couple of weeks before it died so everything I worked on in that time is lost to me at the moment. I'm trying to avoid paying tons of money for a data recovery service so any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

That whirring noise might be due to physical damage on the disk. I know data recovery services are costly but that remains only the solution for damaged HDD. You can get latest quotes on services from different dealers. Proceed only when your data is very important to be recovered.

Format External Drive for HFS+ volume and FAT32 volume with Disk Utility

I just bought a Seagate 1tb external drive from OWC and I want to partition it into a HFS+ (journaled I assume) volume and a NTFS volume. Objective: To manually backup critical folders from my wife’s Dell (running XP) to the NTFS volume and critical Mac folders from my PowerBookG4 to the HFS volume.
My plan was to have my Mac (10.4.11) do the partitioning into a 350gb FAT32 volume for Windows and a 650gb HFS+ volume for Mac – then take the external drive to the Dell and have the Dell reformat the 350gb FAT drive to NTFS.
First question – Is this possible overall?
Second question – I haven’t been able to get my Disk Utility on my Mac to do the initial partitioning into one HFS volume and one FAT32 volume the way I want it. Is this step possible?
I’m happy to be more specific about the steps I’ve taken if the basic plan is good. From what I’ve found in some forums so far, I think I’m on the right track but am unable to execute it. Thank you.

Thank you Limnos for all your help. Last night I tried again and it worked! I’ not totally sure on what I did right but:
• Both volumes on the new ext. driver were HFS (from my last attempt the other day) so I looked into a simple erase of one partition/volume into a different format, but DU did not offer a way of erasing it into MS-DOS(FAT32). But I think I did a simple HFS erase anyway of the volume I wanted to format to FAT32. There was nothing “in” that volume because this was a new external drive but I figured it could not hurt anything.
• So then, I think I went back to Partition, locked the partition/volume that I wanted to keep in HFS+ for my Mac files, and (re)partitioned the other just erased volume to MS-DOS. I think I did it under the MBR option.
• It worked! Not sure why but my Mac recognized both volumes one as HFS, the other as FAT32. Maybe someone will find this useful some day!!
• Then, I hooked up the drive to my work Dell, the Dell found only the FAT32 drive (as expected), and I executed a short simple easy command I found on ehow.com (search for ‘convert FAT32 to NTFS’) to make that volume NTFS.
Thanks again Limnos and everyone else!

My external HD won't mount anymore on Mac OS, Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro, but appears as "media" on Disk Utility. What do I do?

I have this 1 TB Caviar Black drive from WD, I've installed it on an external HD case and have been using to store large files like HD movies and old archive things. Its file system is Mac OS Journaled.
Last year, all of a sudden, it gave me the following error while trying to plug it in: "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"
I was mad and left it for dead while looking for a way to fix it.
Then, again all of a sudden, it started working again, flawlessly and without any problems.
It worked well for at least 5 more months and then BAM... same error again!
I've tried DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro, Disk Utility and nothing... The disk won't show up on any of these apps, except on Disk Utility as a "Media" drive with 0 bytes used and unformatted partition.
What do I do?
Could it be the external HD case?

It could be a problem with enclosure, but it also could be a problem with the drive itself or the drive is possibly corrupted. I would start by contacting WD tech support.
It may be possible to recover files from the drive using file recovery software:
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as MAC Data Recovery, Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads. Recovery software usually provide trial versions that enable you to determine if the software would help before actually paying for it. Beyond this or if the drive has completely failed, then you would need to send the drive to a recovery service which is very expensive.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.
Otherwise, unless the drive fixes itself like before you should try repartitioning and reformatting to determine if the drive has failed or is now working properly.

External hard drive not visible in Finder or Disk Utility

Hi everyone,
My Wester Digital 2TB external hard drive has disappeared, so to speak, with all my photos. I work as a freelance photographer. Mostly on Lightroom 5.6
When I plug it in, with firewire, I can feel the disk rotating normally however it does not appear in finder or disk utility.
I've tried using a USB cable, restarting my mac, forced restart, changing firewire ports (HD has 2 ports), plugging the HD into a different laptop and nothing.
Ive also searched Finder prefrences and visibility is enabled.
I have no idea what could have caused this as I was using the HD the night before. I didnt pullout without properly ejecting. Maybe the HD is full or almost, but I dont think that would the cause of these troubles.
I'm using a late 2011 Macbook Pro OS X 10.9.4
Any suggestions??
Thanx

An update for anyone who can help me:
I have tried the external hard drive in other computers (mac and windows), each time I get the same problem above.
I have removed the HD from the enclosure and purchased a docking station for it (3.5" SATA). When I plug it in to the laptop it disconnects itself straight away before it is visible. With the windows computers it installs the drivers and says that the device is ready to use, then disconnects before it shows up.
As the HD is not visible there is no option to re-format or anything.
This is very frustrating as I was using the HD with no issues and it randomly disconnected and I have not been able to access since.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Bruce

1 TB External WD Drive Not Showing Up In Finder/Disk Utility/Terminal

Hey everyone,
First time posting here so forgive any mistakes. I recently purchased a Late 2013 Macbook Pro Retina, 15-inch, 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 from Apple. Previously, I had the late 2007 Macbook Pro model until a friend spilled some water on it and corrupted the motherboard. Regardless, I was using a Western Digital 1 TB external hard-drive to keep all my documents and files backed up, manually, alongside the time machine feature built in. (This was not connected at the time of the spill, and was not thereafter, so rule out water damage) During the period between when the old one died, (earlier this year May-2013), I kept the drive safely in storage because I knew I would want to transfer my 100gb music librairy along with my photos and other files when I finally got the new one later that year (was waiting for the hardwell processors to come out for the MBP). Just recently after this purchase I tried to connect the drive to my new MacBook Pro but it was not showing up. I have scowered the online forums for trouble shooting tips and took all the steps to no avail. I have replaced the data-drive cable with a new one, connected it to the wall outlet in case it wasn't drawing enough power from the laptop, among a few other simple tricks, but still it would not show up in either Disk Utility or the terminal command to show all active drives, all that's there is the internal Macintosh HD one. It was a fairly quiet drive-however I do notice there is not much of a 'spin-up' noise or any sound of it begining to work when turned on or plugged in, so I'm worried there might be something wrong with the drive itself. Nonetheless, the power signal continues to flash but still no recognition from the computer that it's there, so I'm certain it's not reading it. I have tried on my other buddys Mac and it is the same situation, as well as my roommates PC (which I figured wouldnt anyway because of how its formatted, but it was worth a shot) I am not sure which avenue to take next as I have all my files and college work that I still need access to on the drive, and would really hate to have to format the drive or anything drastic as such. Possibly there is a part I can buy and replace myself to make it start up and spin again, but I am not sure what that part could be or if there is an easier solution out there.
I would greatly appreciate any information or help on this problem, thank you all for the time and advie.

Clicking from a hard drive is bad. Does the external drive have an external power supply? If it does I would use this supply.

External HDD is seen as drive but no as volume in Disk Utility (unmountable

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for