External USB Drive Not Shown in Finder... HELP!!!

After upgraded to the latest OS X Lion, external USB drives plugged to my macbook pro (named A) won't show anything. I've tried cmd+opt+r+p twice but no luck; however, i am able to see it in Disk Ultilities and Storage in About This Mac...
Another same macbook pro of mine (named B) did the upgrade and it is working just fine - external drive is shown as normal whenever plugged.
Help please because my daily work depends largely on document on external usb drive!!!???

I've surfed around already before having my problem posted here because it's so frustrated…
AnaMusic: I've tried that but it isn't worked
Eric Ross: it's checked
LexSchellings: I did run "verify disk" and "repair disk" -> but no luck… My hard drive isn't mounted to Lion as shown in status. Is it something to do with NTFS format? I came across some forum and read that Lion is design to natively support NTFS..
Are there any ways around???

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External hard drive not visible in Finder, but is operating

iMac, 2 Gb RAM, Snow Leopard 10.6.4.
It has 4 external USB drives attached through a powered hub. All of a sudden, after about a year, one of them no longer shows up in ‘Finder’. However, all four drives have an icon on the desktop. The drive is visible and verifiable in ‘Disk Utility’. Double clicking the desktop icon opens the drive and I can copy a file from it. iTunes can see it. From a Macbook’s ‘Finder’, over WiFi, I can see and copy files to and from the drive. Finder Preferences shows nothing amiss. I’ve shut down and restarted the iMac several times with no change. The drive just does not show up in Finder on the host iMac.
Searching this forum has not helped. Any suggestions?
Max

Well, this is embarrassing. A suggestion from an older thread on Macrumors.com called "Hard Drive does not appear in Finder / Desktop", solved this problem. Simply drag the missing drive icon from the desktop to Finder! Perseverance and different search wording AND reading a lot of stuff pays off.
If other's problem is not solved with this fix, you might benefit from this 10.5-based thread. They also mention an Apple 10.5 fix. Both URL's below.
The op's problem was that the drive did not appear in Finder OR the desktop but was operational. There was a lot of in-depth information with this fix embedded.
Thanks for the interest and suggestions.
Max
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-209905.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25203?viewlocale=en_US

Iomega external USB drive not working

Hello, I have a K8n neo4f board, 1.9 bios, AMD64x2 4400. For some strange reason my external USB drive doesn't work with this setup. I get i/o or insufficient resource errors, and the system will hang. This is puzzling since I have plenty of system resources available (2G ram), and my USB inputs work with other devices. I currently have a dvd drive, ir receiver,memory card adapter, and a cordless mouse receiver plugged in. All of these devices work flawlessly. There is nothing wrong with the external drive, it works with my Dell Inspiron 8200 Laptop. Is this a bios issue, should I upgrade to the latest 1b ? I'm hesitant of doing so, because of the horror stories I've read in this forum of systems becoming unuseable. Maybe someone with a similar problem can help me out.

Are you sure this is not software related .
Ref:
https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/iomega_eu_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=16552&p_sid=7UzKoC4i&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD0xOTgmcF9wcm9kX2x2bDE9MyZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMj0zNSZwX2NhdF9sdmwxPTUwJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=

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

URGENT!!! external hard drive not readable in Finder

I have a G-Raid external hard drive. Yesterday I accidentally plugged out the cable while it was connected to the iMac. there was usual notice that "the disk was not ejected properly". What happens now is that whenever I plug it back via Firewire 800 it doesnt appear neither in Finder nor disk utility. But when I plug it vby USB 2.0 it works... help me what to do, I appreciate it
Message was edited by: vladog

Hi vladog
Welcome to Apple Support Communities
You may have tripped the FireWire overload protection when you disconnect or reconnected the Drive.
Eject and disconnect all peripheral devices FireWire and USB, then reset the iMac's SMC.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
+1. Shut down the computer.+
+2. Unplug the computer's power cord.+
+3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.+
+4. Release the power button.+
+5. Attach the computers power cable.+
+6. Press the power button to turn on the computer.+
Then test the G-Raid by reconnecting it to the FireWire port.
Dennis

External USB drive not recognized in OS X after rebooting from Boot Camp

Thanks in advance for any help. Here's the situation:
Everything works fine in OS X (10.5.2). In particular I have an external USB harddrive that I keep my iTunes songs on.
Then I boot via Boot Camp into Windows XP and play a few games. Then I reboot out of XP and back into OS X. At that point the external USB harddrive does not show up on the desktop. If I turn off the harddrive and turn it back on again, it shows up and is usable. I can continue to do that, but I would appreciate any advice on how to get the harddrive to show up when rebooting from XP (without requiring it to be turned off and on).
Thanks!

I've surfed around already before having my problem posted here because it's so frustrated…
AnaMusic: I've tried that but it isn't worked
Eric Ross: it's checked
LexSchellings: I did run "verify disk" and "repair disk" -> but no luck… My hard drive isn't mounted to Lion as shown in status. Is it something to do with NTFS format? I came across some forum and read that Lion is design to natively support NTFS..
Are there any ways around???

External USB-hdd not recognised by Finder if connected to Time Capsule

Hello!
I'd like to connect a small external harddrive (40 GB) to my Time Capsule (1 TB) via USB.
I've read on http://www.apple.com/timecapsule/wireless.html the followings:
"... +And if you want to share both a printer and an additional hard drive, you can. Just connect a USB hub to Time Capsule.+ ..."
While I've connected two printers to Time Capsule - so I already use a USB hub - I've tried with the external USB-harddrive, but it wasn't recognised neither by the Finder, nor by the DiskUtility-app. The external USB-harddrive appears not even if I connect it directly to the Time Capsule!
Restarting the Time Capsule / USB-hub / external USB-harddrive / my Mac doesn't change anything
The external USB-harddrive appears only in the AirPort-utility app (5.4.2) in "manual Config" - "Devices", but even here only as a possible archiving device for the internal Time Capsule harddrive.
The USB-harddrive itself is formated as Mac OS extended (journaled) and it works like it should on my iMac (3.06 GHz, Mac OS X 10.5.7).
Do you have any idea why the external USB-harddrive doesn't appear when connected to the Time Capsule?
Thanks!
Regards,
Vlad

Vlad, this might help...
*Accessing External Hard Disk*
Open a Finder window
Select the Time Capsule in the Sidebar on the left.
Click "Connect As..." in the upper right of the window.
Enter the Name of your Time Capsule & its' password (Note: NOT your own Username & password).
Check "Remember password in my Keychain."
You should now see a blue share folder with the name of your Time Capsule.
Any hard disks attached to the Time Capsule’s USB port will also appear here as blue share folders. To mount them on your desktop double-clicking their blue folders. If you had a separate password setup for those disks in Airport Utility then enter that password if asked. Otherwise, it should now mount on your desktop.
Let us know if this solves your issue. If, however, the drive is not showing up either on the Desktop or the Sidebar, you may still need to do the following...
*On Desktop*
In the Finder, go to the Finder menu and select "Preferences".
Click “General” in the toolbar.
Ensure that all the items under "Show these items on the desktop" are checked.
Close the preference window.
*In Finder SideBar*
In the Finder, go to the Finder menu and select "Preferences".
Click “SideBar” in the toolbar.
Ensure that all the items under "Devices" & “Shared” are checked.
Close the preference window.
Did this resolve the issue?
As for Disk Utility, bear in mind that DU won't "see" network attached storage devices unless they are already mounted on the Desktop. And even then they are sometimes not "seen" by DU. If you are going to do any work on a network attached storage device avoid attempting to do it wirelessly. Best to connect it directly to the Mac (USB/Firewire), or at the very least via ethernet.
Hope this helps. Cheers!

External hard drive not recognized... help please.

okay, well here is the story:
my iBook G4 had its stock 30gb hard drive in it and it was running extremely low on space. so i figured i didn't want to carry around an external hard drive, therefore i would buy an internal hard drive an install it. so i purchased a new 2.5" 80gb hard drive and called up the local apple store. they told me that although it was under warranty, that it did not cover hard drive installation. so i looked it up online and found step by step instructions to install the hard drive. so after lots of hard work and many screws, i installed the new hard drive successfully... but i still had this perfect 30gb hard drive. i thought maybe to save a few bucks i could turn it into a usb external hard drive. i found an enclosure for the hard drive and a usb 2.0 cable and plugged it into my ibook. it was recognized and everything. i put some files on the external hard drive and transferred it to another mac. this is where the trouble started. i plugged the hard drive into a PowerMac G4, and it was not recognized... so i tried it on a different mac. this time on a PowerBook G4, but no luck. this issue has been troubling me for a few weeks. but then i tried it on a similar iBook G4... and it was recognized. but i don't know why it was only recognized only on the iBook G4 (not the same iBook G4 it was pulled out of) and no other macs.
does anybody have any ideas what we can do to get this hard drive to be recognized by other macs?
any of even the smallest ideas would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
tyler
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I can walk you through formatting the hard drive:
1. Hook it up to an iBook that recognizes it.
2. Go into your Applications folder, then scroll down to Utilities. Open Utilities and scroll down a bit and you should see Disk Utility. Double-click.
3. On the left side you should see your internal hard drive and your external one. Each hard drive will have a sub-catagory with the partition indented.
4. Your external hard drive will probably be the second catagory. Click it.
5. In the center-top you should see the tabs First Aid, Erase, Partition, RAID, and Restore. Click the Erase tab.
6. You should see Volume Format: and then a drop down menu, and Name: and a text box. Type in the name you want the external hard drive to be named.
7. In the drop down menu, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
8. Then, simply click Erase, watch the progress and it should be good to go!!
Hope I helped you out. Oh, and it might be the enclosure...and also what OS's? Since it's USB it is probably using a USB Mass Storage driver. Mac-wise, if formatting doesn't help, I would get a FireWire enclosure because FireWire is much faster than just USB 2.0. Oh, thats nother thing...Is the enclosure Hi-Speed USB? If it isn't, I would definitely get a FireWire one...If it is, the PowerMac G4 doesn't have Hi-Speed so you're not taking full advantage..Just some insight
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3) 512 MB Ram, CD-RW Combo Drive, 40 Gig HD, bought in October of 2005...
Message was edited by: Hilary_Rose

External Hard drive not showing on finder or desktop

My hard drive is only a week old and was working fine until i plugged it in today. The hard drive light still lights up when plugged in and it works when i plug it into a tv and my roommates pc.
However on my macbook the hard drive won't show up in finder or the desktop... it shows in disk utility but options to verify disk etc are 'greyed out' so i can't click on them. THere isn't anything wrong with the hard drive because as stated above it worked on other devices.
Other usb and external hard drives are being recognosed fine and show up in finder.
Can anyone please help?

Same problem here. Sometimes drives disappear completely from the Finder sidebar. Sometimes they just gray out. Quick 'n' easy fix: In Terminal, type:
chflags nohidden /Volumes/MY_PARTITION
(where MY_PARTITION is the name of the drive you can't find).
For the UNIX impaired, if there's a space in your drive name, you can use "\ " to represent the space (no quotes, just the backslash and the space). So for example, Macintosh HD would be typed:
Macintosh\ HD

External hard drive not found in mavericks. help

Hi
I have a macbook air (mid 2012) running the latest version of OS X Mavericks. I had to repair my flash storage in an Apple Retail Store to get MAvericks installed. Ever since I've had Mavericks, my two 1TB usb 3 external hard drives (one is samsung, one is toshiba) are not showing up in Finder or on the Desktop.
They showed up and worked fine in Mountain Lion but they haven't worked ever since the upgrade. I've verifyed and tried to mount the disks in disk utility but it says they can't be mounted. Anybody else had this problem and how to fix it?
I can't really repair or rease them because they are full and I don't have a backup for them.

In finder preferences you can hide or show the mounted disks on the desktop, is that what you need?
What error shows when you try to mount them?

External hard drive not showing in finder or disk utility

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USB Drives not always showing Finder

I currently have two USB Drives connected through a powered hub and they do not always show in the Finder window. Also when I pug in a USB memory stick it does the same thing.
I am new to Mac, I love it but this really bugs me. is there a setting somewhere, what is happening? If I disconnect then re-plug in the memory stick it shows up. What is really funny, that doing this also causes the missing USB drives to show up......

I tried that, but still no go with a thumbdrive. I can go to "Computer", and the USB drive shows up under that. All my other USB external HDs, my iDisk, and even FireWire drives show up on the left pane of the finder, just not the USB stick.
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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!

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External hard drive not recognized in finder

I am trying to pull up my Western Digital External Hard drive after connecting it via USB. I used to be able to open it through Finder and there is nothing showing up. What shall I do??

On the menubar, Finder > Preferences > General tab > check External Disks
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External Hard Drive Not Found in Finder

I have an Oxford 120gb external hard drive that I am using with my PPC iMac G5. It is connected via firewire. My computer is not showing the drive on my desktop like it normally does. I have tried using a different firewire cord, using a different firewire port, etc. After booting up the drive, System Profiler indicates that the drive is there. It gives me all the information about the drive. What could be causing this, and are there any possible solutions? It's freaking me out, because I haven't backed up our digital photos in probably 5 months or so! Any help is GREATLY appreciated!
PS - I've tried restarting the drive and the computer/connectng the cord in every combination I can think of, still to no avail!

The good news is that I think I'm narrowing down what my problem is. The bad news is that I've got a huge video project due next Sunday and I'm not able to transfer video from my Canon GL2 video camera to my computer!
I am now putting it together that neither firewire port is working. The reason I say this is because I've tried my external HD in both ports, using two different firewire cords. AND I have tried capturing video to my computer using two different video cameras, and on both firewire ports.
I've trashed the old quicktime receipts and installed the newest version. I'm on OSX 10.4.9. I've also done the "turn everything off, unplug everything, drink a guinness (or two), sit for 30 minutes, plug it back in, plug the power cord back in while simultaneously holding down the power button, then hitting the power button". Still nothing but the good old "maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec!"
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External USB Drive Not Shown in Finder... HELP!!!

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