External HDD Issue

Okay to start off I really wasnt sure where I should post this but I need help with it and figured the Mac community is usually very helpful so I thought I'd give it a try. My friend bought a notebook on IBUYPOWER.com and along with it he bought a 100GB external usb disk. The hard drive keeps giving us issues. Im not sure what it does on windows but on OS X the hard drive will mount up and you can open it but if you try to put anything on it it will give me a blank error message and then cause the finder the crash more or less. I tried opening Disk Utility to mess with it hoping it would work but it doesnt because when i do so much as verify the disk it tells me error: disk could not be unmounted. I tried taking out the 100GB disk and replaced it with a Hitachi Travelstar 15GB hard drive pulled from a Dell Jukebox mp3 player and it did that same thing leading me to believe its the USB bridge in the external case. What should I do. i tried contacting Masscool but havent heard a response and it's been quite a few days and I just emailed IBUYPOWER. Your thoughts?
iBook 1.33 GHz 512 RAM Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Give it back and get yourself a firewire hard drive.

Similar Messages

Leopard/external HDD issue.

Being that my paltry 80GB hard drive in my Powerbook cannot hold even my music collection, I run my iTunes library from my external HDD. Since externals are notoriously unreliable, I have it stop spinning after a time without usage.
However, since getting Leopard, this is becoming horribly irritating. Even with no use at all—maybe I won't even be at the computer—my external will start spinning. Then, soon, it will shut off again. After a while, it'll start spinning, and so forth.
This is annoying in its own right. Then, just as annoying, is that it will start up even with such little actions as waking my display from sleep. The hard drive shouldn't be used in that instance, so why does it start up?
Is this just an irrevocable issue with Leopard, or is there something I can do?

Pat Francis wrote:
I run my iTunes library from my external HDD. Since externals are notoriously unreliable, I have it stop spinning after a time without usage.
I'm not sure where you get your information that external disks are unreliable. IMO they are no more or less reliable than internal disks.
As far as spinning up, that's happened to me in every system I've used. Usually it will spin up just when I'm about to enter a name in the "Save As" field
Also, the choices to "put the disks to sleep" in System Preferences >> Energy Saver do not work on external drives. Any drive will spin down after 10-20 minutes of inactivity and spin up again when called upon.
So the short answer is there's nothing you can do about it, except to unmount the external.
-mj

LaCie External HDD issue

I have a LaCie Porche external HDD (the SAMSUNG HD753LJ model) connected to my iMac. When I unmount the HDD it stops spinning. But when I turn off the computer, it still keeps spinning and make noise unless I turn the HDD off as well.
Any ideas if this behavior can be fixed or not? I searched the LaCie website but couldn't find a patch or something for fixing this issue.
Is possible to fix this using OS X tools and utilities?
Thanks in advance,
Behrang

This is an "old" one - I think. I tried to find the last thread but failed. Anyway, here goes - there is a slight difference in what you have said your problem is and the problem I had (have). I have two La Cie Porsche drives. The first a firewire 250GB. This has worked fine from the first day and whether connected to the iMac or the MBP shuts down after a period of inactivity or when the computer goes to sleep. It stays permanently plugged into the mains and the iMac.
The second drive is a 500GB USB 2.0. This is where the problem starts. If it is plugged into the mains and switched on it will spin. It does not matter if the computer is asleep or not. It does not matter whether it is connected to the computer or not - if it is powered up it will spin. The only way to stop it is to unmount it and switch it off. I only switch mine on when I need it.
I contacted La Cie about this. Initially they said it should spin down but later contacted me to say the early ones did but there was a design change in the driver and now they do not. So there you have it - not sure if these are Samsung drives or not. Your observation that it spins down when you unmount it does not match the above so they may have changed something else again.
Hope it might help.
TY

External HDD Issues with Snow Leopard and Time Machine

Hello,
I have a 1TB WD 10EADS External HDD, and it had some files on it. I connected it the other day to an iMac I recently upgraded to 10.6, and wanted to do a complete time machine backup of the computer to it (250GB HDD). I copied the files off the external HDD I needed and then Time Machine needed to format it as it was a FAT32 drive. This went successfully, and I started the Time Machine backup. This went quite slowly and failed after ~2.5GB or so. I restarted and tried again to no avail upon which Time Machine told me I should reformat it in Disk Utility. So I did, and to no avail.
I tried this a number of times and sometimes when doing a reformat I was told that the drive could not be unmounted. I tried manually copying files to the disk which started to work but then failed promptly with error (-36) and the message "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in “ [Program/File Name]” can't be read or written." I upgraded to 10.6.1 also to no avail. I even repaired permissions and the disk, and booted Disk Utility from the Snow Leopard disc and formatted that to no avail.
I have read this is an I/O error and can be associated with bad drives, but as I stated before, the drive worked perfectly until Time Machine formatted it. I took the HDD to another Mac running 10.6, and it told me it had a POSIX error. I did some googling and found that if I format it under a Windows machine, and then reformat under the mac it might work.
What I want to know is, is this a 10.6 error or has the HDD decided to go kaput after Time Machine formatting it?
Thanks for your help

Thomas Huxley wrote:
Time Machine backup failed. I think it's a glitch with the computer, not the HDD. Going to zero out the drive now.
Any other suggestions on how I might bypass this error to get data onto the Disk eg. transfer over to another computer, so I can reformat the computer and install Snow Leopard from scratch? The whole purpose of doing this time Machine backup was to get all the files off the computer to perform a clean install of Snow Leopard.
I assume you're positive the TM disk has both the correct *Partition Map Scheme* (GUID) and Format (Mac OS Extended (journaled), but not case-sensitive)? One of them being wrong is the most common cause of a first TM backup failing.
Did you do either a +*Verify Disk+* (not permissions) or a +*Repair Disk+* (not permissions) on your internal HD, or only your TM drive? The message you got could be a result of a problem on either one.
Other options are to make a "bootable clone" via CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper. CCC is donationware, SD has a free version that will do it. If you do that, boot from it, and be sure everything works before erasing your internal HD. Google them.
Note that there are many, many reports of problems here with WD drives, and that some of them are not bootable.
I would not upgrade without backups (Murphy was an optimist!), but is there a reason you want to erase your HD? It's not required, and rarely does any good. The normal install will simply install Snow Leopard and remove Leopard. Your apps, data, etc., won't be touched.

WRT610N external hdd issue

Hi,
I have bought wrt610n and connected to him WD 1TB hdd. When I save files to hdd when it is connected to router is everything ok. But when i disconnect it from router and connect to pc and write files to external hdd, then connect back to router, I cannot see files written, when hdd was connected to pc. Maybe there are ideas how to solve this problem?

When you connect the hdd to the computer and write files on hdd probably you are not able to see those files in the hdd when you connect it to the router due to different file format.
So, it's better to leave the hdd connected to the router and write the files through the computer and then check.

USB external HDD issues

Hi,
I was wondering whether anyone can give me some clue as to how to get my Astone 320G portable HDD to work under Leopard? It works perfectly under the other Windows mchines I have in the house - 1 Dell laptop and the other a no-brand PC workstation.
The Macbook Pro doesn't see it at all in Finder or Disk Utility. A USB Probe does see it and the output is pasted below. Any help would be great as it's now in hair pulling phase
Cheers
Martin
High Speed device @ 4 (0xFA200000): ............................................. Composite device: "USB4500 FW1.04"
Device Descriptor
Descriptor Version Number: 0x0200
Device Class: 0 (Composite)
Device Subclass: 0
Device Protocol: 0
Device MaxPacketSize: 64
Device VendorID/ProductID: 0xED06/0x4500 (unknown vendor)
Device Version Number: 0x0001
Number of Configurations: 1
Manufacturer String: 16 "DATAST0R Technology Corp"
Product String: 32 "USB4500 FW1.04"
Serial Number String: 48 "1966051022645658"
Configuration Descriptor: ....................................... "1966051022645658"
Length (and contents): 32
Raw Descriptor (hex) 0000: 09 02 20 00 01 01 30 C0 31 09 04 00 00 02 08 06
Raw Descriptor (hex) 0010: 50 40 07 05 81 02 00 02 00 07 05 02 02 00 02 00
Unknown Descriptor 0020:
Number of Interfaces: 1
Configuration Value: 1
Attributes: 0xC0 (self-powered)
MaxPower: 98 ma
Interface #0 - Mass Storage/SCSI
Alternate Setting 0
Number of Endpoints 2
Interface Class: 8 (Mass Storage)
Interface Subclass; 6 (SCSI)
Interface Protocol: 80
Endpoint 0x81 - Bulk Input
Address: 0x81 (IN)
Attributes: 0x02 (Bulk no synchronization data endpoint)
Max Packet Size: 512
Polling Interval: 0 ( Endpoint never NAKs)
Endpoint 0x02 - Bulk Output
Address: 0x02 (OUT)
Attributes: 0x02 (Bulk no synchronization data endpoint)
Max Packet Size: 512
Polling Interval: 0 ( Endpoint never NAKs)
Device Qualifier Descriptor
Descriptor Version Number: 0x0200
Device Class 0 (Composite)
Device Subclass 0
Device Protocol 0
Device MaxPacketSize: 64
Number of Configurations: 1
bReserved: 0
Other Speed Configuration Descriptor: ....................................... "1966051022645658"
Length (and contents): 32
Raw Descriptor (hex) 0000: 09 07 20 00 01 01 30 C0 31 09 04 00 00 02 08 06
Raw Descriptor (hex) 0010: 50 40 07 05 81 02 40 00 00 07 05 02 02 40 00 00
Unknown Descriptor 0020:
Number of Interfaces: 1
Configuration Value: 1
Attributes: 0xC0 (self-powered)
MaxPower: 98 ma
Interface #0 - Mass Storage/SCSI
Alternate Setting 0
Number of Endpoints 2
Interface Class: 8 (Mass Storage)
Interface Subclass; 6 (SCSI)
Interface Protocol: 80
Endpoint 0x81 - Bulk Input
Address: 0x81 (IN)
Attributes: 0x02 (Bulk no synchronization data endpoint)
Max Packet Size: 64
Polling Interval: 0 ms
Endpoint 0x02 - Bulk Output
Address: 0x02 (OUT)
Attributes: 0x02 (Bulk no synchronization data endpoint)
Max Packet Size: 64
Polling Interval: 0 ms

Rastarr,
The problem here seems to be that you have an external hard drive that can be compatible with either the Mac or the PC. The problem as I see it is that it was formatted for the PC which means of course when you plug it into the Mac that the Mac isn't going to see it. The second problem is erasing it and reformatting it for the Mac. Sounds like you are pretty tired of fiddling with it here. Your best bet might be to call or email the drive manufacturer's support desk and ask them.
I'm not sure but I don't think that Leopard will recognize the FAT32 format.
I know you probably have tried this but try erasing the disk and then try mounting it to your Mac and then run disk utility. It sounds like a pure formatting issue and you have to get it into a format that the Mac will recognize.

Itunes and all my movies have disappeared,i can no longer add to library from my external hdd which ive always used and can only add from the laptops own hard drive,any ideas what the issue could be?

ive recently updated, itunes and all my movies have disappeared,i can no longer add to library from my external hdd which ive always used and can only add from the laptops own hard drive,any ideas what the issue could be?if i transfer the movies from the external to the laptop they will add to the library without any problem so theres no issue with the laptop but when i go to add file in itunes i can path to the external but as soon as i select the file nothing happens, just goes back to itunes

This happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout,or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to get info, then cancel when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
Alternatively, as long as you can find a location holding the missing files, then you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes .
tt2

External hdd and usb issue

Hey there... May sound like a silly question but I am having a problem with an external hdd.
I recently bought a brand-spanking new macbook pro w. retina and can't find my external hdd when I plug it in.
Theoretically, there should be no problem between the old hdd's usb 2 and the new macbook's usb 3, and the new computer is only a week old, so what I was wondering was whether anyone knew if there might be any interface issue between the old hdd (can't remember exactly what the os was - it was either leopard or snow leopard...10.6.something as i recall) and the new one (10.8.3)?
Or should I just go ahead and weep over the old lost hdd?
Appreciate any help

Unreliable wireless performance may occur when USB 3.0 external devices are close

Preview issue with external HDD

Hi,
I have a problem with Preview and external HDD. Preview doesn't recognize my external HDD, at least the pictures on it. When I try to open any image on External HDD, Preview says, that the file doesn't exist. But when I open the picture with Safari or Pixelmator or Firefox, it opens. What could be the problem?
Sorry for my bad English.

It didn't help. When I tried to add it on the privacy list, it says, that it couldn't be added because of unknown error. And i noticed, that when I open something in TextEdit or Pixelmator, they wont save it on the External HDD, but when I choose Save As... and from there choose my External HDD, theres no problems.
Messy text but I hope You understand.

Airport Extreme and external HDD time capsule issues

I'm going to try to provide as much information for you so that you can recommend a fix to the problem.
1. I've just become an Apple owner and also purchased Airport Extreme (AE) a Belkin USB (4 port) hub and a Seagate GoFLex, 1.8T external HDD.
2. My system:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B04
SMC Version (system): 1.69f1
Serial Number (system): XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hardware UUID: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
3. Attached to the HUB is HP 6280 printer and the Seagate 1.8T GoFlex external HDD.
4. I did configure the AE and my internet connect is working spot on.
5. The AE recognizes the HP6280 printer and it works fine.
Here's where the problem starts:
When I open Time Machine to configure Time Capsule I cannot get the AE to add thGoFlex external HDD drive to the WiFi.
Do I have reset the AE to default setting and start all over? Is there another way to add the GoFlex to the AE so it recognizes it; then, I can run the set up program for the time machine and have wireless capability.

New2Guitar wrote:
When I open Time Machine to configure Time Capsule I cannot get the AE to add thGoFlex external HDD drive to the WiFi.
I hate to have to tell you this, but backing-up with Time Machine software via an Airport Extreme is "iffy" and +*not supported by Apple.+* See [Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Airport.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
By the way, a +Time Capsule+ is a wireless router, similar to an Airport Extreme, but a bit larger and with a hard drive built-in, and Time Machine backups to it are supported. In fact, that's the main thing the Time Capsule was designed for. See: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC344LL/A/Time-Capsule-2TB?fnode=MTY1NDA0Mg&mc o=MTMzNzU2MjI

Advice appreciated on a MacBook pro HDD issue

Hello,
I've just suffered my first real system problem and even though I have a few ideas for how to fix it I thought I'd post here and ask for some advice to see what you guys think.
First the problem... Basically my MacBook Pro's HDD has an issue and won't boot. I don't think it's a physical problem with the hardware (although I'm open to advice on this too), I think it just needs a reformat and fresh install of the OS. But obviously I need to get my files off of there first and this is the problem, but read on for more details.
So that's the problem in a nutshell, but here's the full detail.
It's a MacBook Pro, late 2011, 17", 750GB HDD, 8GB RAM, bought in Miami September 2011 while I was on holiday there (I live in the UK), came with Snow Leopard installed, was upgraded to Lion a few days after purchase and then upgraded to Mountain Lion about a month ago.
Last week I was using it when it suddenly restarted itself. I let it restart, then began using it again and about five minutes later it restarted again, but this time it didn't boot properly.
It stayed on the grey screen with the apple logo and spinning clock-type wheel. There was a progress bar at the bottom of the screen, it took ages to move, then finally got to about 33% and the machine restarted itself again.
I tried lots of restarts but every time it did the same thing or it never even showed the progress bar, and just had the spinning clockwheel forever.
So I held down alt and booted from Mountain Lion's recovery partition instead. I launched Disk Utility and tried to verify / repair the drive but it came back with errors and said that it couldn't fix them. Apologies, I realise typing this that anyone reading would probably quite like to read the error long but I can't remember it and I'm not currently at home. If needed I'll run it again and post.
Anyway, the basic point is that Disk Utility is giving a message saying to copy all my files off the drive and reformat because it can't fix it. Incidentally the SMART status of the drive is fine / normal. Not showing any problems there, which is why I'm hopeful it's not a hadware issue.
So I need to copy my files off, and this is the real reason I'm posting this thread, because I don't mind doing a reformat / fresh install of Mountain Lion, but my last backup is a couple of months old (I know, naughty me) so while it wouldn't be the end of the world to copy files back from that, I would lose a bit of data so would like to get them off the MBP's HDD now.
At this point, let me list the kit I have at my disposal:
- At home I have the aforementioned patient (MacBook Pro), a 2TB external HDD with USB2 / FireWire 800 and a NAS box that sits on my network. I also have one of those cables that lets you connect an internal HDD via USB (more on this later, as I suspect it's going to be my best hope).
- At work I have a Windows 7 PC which I do not have any admin rights to, A Windows XP PC that I do have admin rights to and an iMac that is running Leopard (10.5.8) and cannot be upgraded due to various boring work reasons I won't go into here.
So the first thing I tried was booting into the recovery partition, launching Disk Utility and trying to clone the HDD over to the external 2TB drive I have. Cloning the drive like-for-like gives an error message (again apologies, I can't remember it) and trying to copy to an image file on the external drive gets all the way to the end (takes ages because Disk Utility keeps going to sleep) but then when I try to mount the image it gives an error and fails, so I don't trust this method.
So booting to recovery and using Disk Utility seems to be no good.
I thought about trying to take the MBP to work and launching it in target disk mode, then copying files, however I read that you can only have one FireWire device (the target computer) connected when doing this and my iMac at work doesn't have enough internal HDD space to copy all my MBP's files off, so I would need to have an external drive connected to the iMac in addition to the MBP, which sounds like it's not a good idea, or not supported by Apple anyway.
I thought about making a bootable Mountain Lion USB stick as I have a 16GB USB stick I could use for this, however I don't know how to make the bootable USB using my iMac as it's on Leopard (can't be upgraded for work reasons) and doesn't even have the Mac App store on it for me to re-download the Mountain Lion install file.
I think I have the Snow Leopard DVD that came with my MBP so could probably boot off this, but does that allow me into Finder or anything that would let me copy docs from my internal HDD properly over to the external drive? Or is it just going to look similar to the Mountain Lion recovery partition, with Disk Utility and a few other options?
I don't know whether the Mountain Lion recovery partition lets me install Mountain Lion onto my external drive? Or a USB? I was a bit scared to start clicking through options to see whether it would ask me which drive I wanted to install to, just in case it doesn't and begins erasing the main HDD as one of the first things it does.
So this leaves the cable that allows me to connect internal drives via USB. This cable has saved my bacon in the past and I suspect it may be my best option once more. Obviously this means I'm going to have to open up the MBP and remove the HDD but I installed the extra RAM myself and I've installed full-size (3.5") HDDs in the past so I should be able to handle that, unless there's anything radically different with 2.5" drives I'm not aware of.
I've heard people mention DiskWarrior in the past but to be honest if I'm going to spend that sort of money I'd prefer to just put it towards an new, larger HDD, probably a 2TB model.
So there we are, thanks for reading this far. If you have any advice about another (or better) way to get my files off the MBP I'm all ears.
I've never actually done a fresh install of Mac OS before either, only upgrades downloaded from the Mac App Store so any advice around that might be handy too, but mainly it's the file copying I want help with as I'll probably just boot from the recovery partition to reformat and reinstall Mountain Lion.
Thanks

Yes, on your profile.. But, did you phone update just before this happened?
I want you to view this image on both your phone and computer: Fiery Sunrise | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
If it looks different, it is not your images, but rather your iPhone....
Benjamin

MBP mid 2009 sudden HDD issues / slow and unresponsive

Hello all,
First of all i want to apologize if there was a similar topic, but ive tried looking with no result. I am in a big crisis and i think this forum is my only way of finding a solution.
The problem started yesterday, when all of a sudden my computer became unresponsive (finder and apps), although music from itunes continued playing. I had no choice but to **** it down with the button.
When i turned it back on, i got the blinking folder with the question mark. Tried all the advice with no success. Then i opened the computer, checked the flex cable and the hdd which both seemed fine. Closed it back up, started it up again and the same story. Then i moved the computer after half an hour and the thing booted normally. The only obvious thing was that programs tended to freeze for a minute or two and i get the umbrella and then it works.
Since im a photographer i have lots of work on it and immediately bought an external hdd for backup. Time machine wasnt successful since it worked so slowly and it worked on intervals. 2 mins of copying, 5 mins of nothing and really slow ( the hdd graph in activity monitor showed continious spikes with a flat line inbetween. I gave up on that and now im copying the important stuff manually which seems to be working fine.
However the computer still has a big issue - i am hoping its the flex cable, since it suddey started working. In case of hdd failure i dont think i would be able to get back in and use it? The hdd is a year old, its the seagate hybrid - momentus 750xt and the os is mountain lion.
Does anyone have a clue or a tip what to do? I have to order the flex cable via ebay since there are no authorised deLers for apple that have spare parts available here in Lisbon, Portugal. Im afraid making a clean install wont help , although on a windows computer id do that the first thing..
Thanks a lot for any help, im desperate and i have a few weddings to edit this month, and since i study abroud this is the only xomputer i can use!
Regards, Jaka

It does seem to be the internal cable or connection is faulty, but only on an intermittent basis.
My suggestion is to backup your data on an external HDD using Disk Utility>Restore or Carbon Copy Cloner. This will create a drive that will enable you to boot your MBP and use it externally until you get your cable replaced.
Ciao.

I have a new MBAir 2013 13", and I had a MBPro 2010 13". I've installed iPhoto 9.4.3 but now iPhoto says my library (stored on an external HDD) cannot be read until I update the software because it's made with an updated iPhoto... but it IS updated!

As the tile says, I've recently bought a MBAir 2013 13". When I installed and updated iPhoto, I wanted to use my library, stored on an external hdd, which I used until the day before on my old MBPro 2010 13", without any problems. Now iPhoto says that this library cannot be opened by my iPhoto but it has to be opened with an updated iPhoto... but I had iPhoto 9.4.3 on my MBPro and I have iPhoto 9.4.3 on my MBAir! What can I do? Thanks a lot (sorry for my english, I'm Italian)

It's mac os format
BTW I solved my issue! I repaired my library with the last option... and I did not lost anything thanks anyway!

Upgraded to Mavericks. Now External HDD Enclosure Won't Mount. Is there a fix?

Upgraded to Mavericks. Now I can't get my external HDD enclosure to mount. A little about this enclosure, as it's not the usual settup . I have four 3TB HDDs in a RAID5 settup. The most unique part is that they are formatted as a Windows NT Filesystem (Tuxera NTFS). Basically, when I set this up, I had to get a lot of info from a Windows-formatted HDD, but also be able to read/write afterwards. It's worked fine for ~ 1 year, but now that I've upgraded to Mavericks, nothing will mount. I ran Disk Utility, where I see the HDDs (I've partitioned them into four drives of varying sizes), but they are greyed out. I tried to mount them, but it says it won't and that I should run First Aid. So I did...tried to "Repair Disk," but it just gets stuck on "Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required." For over an hour it's been on that message.
So, does anybody out there have a fix? I've read several similar posts about people having a hard time mounting and, overall, dealing with external HDDs after upgrading to Mavericks. But nothing seemed to fit my exact circumstances. Lastly, I should mention that I've used both Firewire and USB connections. Both resulted in the same.
Thanks.

I can't help with specifics for your issue, but some general thoughts:
The upgrade and the disk problem may be a coincidence. It would help you if you could verify that the drive still works fine on a windows machine. If you run a windows virtual machine or have a windows pc, or a friend does, verify full functioning that way. If it still won't mount on the mac, try to copy/backup it's data onto the windows machine (maybe another external drive connected to it. You could then scrub the disk in windows, leave it unpartitioned, unformatted. Connect it back to the mac and format it as HFS+ (Mac extended journalled) and transfer the data back to it by sharing the windows machine external drive and connecting the two machines with a network cable.

External HDD shows up on Macbook Pro but not on new iMac

I recently purchased a new 21.5" iMac and when setting it up, I utilized the Time Capsule backup from my Macbook Pro; everything seemingly went fine and my iMac was set up with all the data on the Time Capsule at the time (last update was a few months ago). Once everything was ready, I signed into the Mac App Store and downloaded the Yosemite upgrade (the iMac came with Mavericks). All the while, the Western Digital External HDD was not connected to the iMac.
Once everything was complete, the system rebooted and I was off and running with my new Mac.
The problem comes in when I tried to plug in the WD; everything lights up and it seems like the system is picking up the drive but then it just hangs there. It does not show up on the Desktop or the side panel in the Finder but it does show up in Disk Utility. When I verify the disk, it tells me that it is not mounted and when I try to mount it, it tells me that I cannot and to try to run First Aid on it. I have run a Repair disk and that made no difference.
The real head-scratcher is that the Macbook still picks it up without any issue but the new computer does not.
Can someone please help?
P.S.
The WD was never formatted for Mac since it worked on the Macbook right out of the box and now I have about 500+ GB worth of info on there that I would rather not lose.
Thank you.

It's something I can look into doing although I don't have a spare drive to copy all of that to and/or am not really looking into getting another HDD.
I am mostly wondering if anyone can provide an answer, or rather a reason, as to why it will legitimately work on one Mac (without any issue) and not on the other...especially if the new system has been set up using the information from the first one.

External HDD Issue

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