Finder/Desktop not recognizing/seeing external Hard Disks

For 2 weeks, I've used two external hard disks for Time Machine. Both have Mac partitions, with GUID Partition table, and Mac OS Extended (journaled) format. Things worked for 2 weeks.
Then today, the Mac wouldn't recognize one of the Hard Disks, i.e. the disk icon does not appear on the desktop, and the Disk Utility does not see them either.
I thought the problem was one of the disks, so I attached the other disk, and that one doesn't appear on the Desktop or Disk Utility either.
Concurrently -- and I don't know if these issue are related -- I see that the iMac doesn't seem to turn on automatically when I press the on-button. Instead, I have to keep it depressed for a long time before it comes on.

A few hours later, it started working again. No idea why it happened, and no idea why it resolved.

Similar Messages

My MacBook Pro is not recognizing my external hard drive. The hard drive is listed in disk utilities but an icon does not pop up and I cannot access the data. Is there any way to resolve this?

My MacBook Pro is not recognizing my external hard drive. The hard drive is listed in disk utilities but an icon does not pop up and I cannot access the data. Is there any way to resolve this?

WE know Disk Warrior is more reliable, hence more useful, and should be in any disk mechanics toolchest.
For the record, I don't know anything of the kind. I have yet to see evidence that Disk Warrior is useful at all.
What I do know is that you seem to take every opportunity you get to promote it in these forums. Do you work for Alsoft?
Let me be a little more explicit. My opinion is that Disk Warrior is a waste of money if one has backups. If a journaled HFS directory is so badly corrupted that it can't be repaired by Disk Utility, then the volume should be reformatted and restored from backup, which has the same effect as running DW, but is probably faster and doesn't cost $99.

Can not connect an external hard disk

Hello,
For the second time , I have a problem while connecting a external hard disk. (the first issue was not solved).
Previously, I was triying to connect my external hard disk. But my powerbook 10.4.11 could not see it. I could heart my external disk "running". It was doing a small repeatitly noisy. But in the finder, it was not displayed.
Now I am triying with another one and I am experiencing the smae problem. Finder does not displayed it.
I guess the USB port does not display enough power. But I am not sure.
Do you have a idea how can I solve my proble in order to be able to see external hard disk and copy file in it?
Many thank for your help

I connected the external hard disk to a pc and checked the in disk management management tools. I activate the partition of the external hard disk, then I reconnected it to my Powerbook 10.4.11 and FInder can not see it...

Mac not recognizing USB external hard drive

My Mac OS X 10.5.8 isn't recognizing my Samsung USB external hard drive. The hard drive has already been formatted for a Mac (rather than PC). My computer has recognized the external hard drive before with no problems. I've used it on a campus computer to copy video files from a documentary I was filming, and I've also used it on another campus computer to copy video files from a multimedia piece. I still need these files, so having to erase my hard drive would be DEVASTATING. Now, my computer won't recognize my external hard drive, even when I have it plugged in before turning on my computer.
When I go to Disk Utility, my mac recognizes it, but when I try to repair and verify it says that it failed.
It's also not a problem with the external hard drive because I've plugged it into another computer and it is recognized on the other computer.
What should I do?

When I go to Disk Utility, my mac recognizes it, but when I try to repair and verify it says that it failed.
Sounds like it's very badly damaged, and it may be too much to expect the data to still be intact. However, you can try repairing it with a more powerful utility, like [DiskWarrior|http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html] or [TechTool Pro|http://www.micromat.com>. If neither of those can fix it, then your only options will be using a data recovery tool, such as [Data Rescue|http://www.prosofteng.com> or [File Salvage|http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?mainpage=product_info&productsid=1], or paying an expensive data recovery service to disassemble the drive and recover what they can.
Of course, this would all have been avoided if you had backups of your data. In the future, you must have a minimum of three copies of any data you don't want to lose.

Time capsule not recognizing Toshiba external hard drive

I have a new time capsule unit. it is up and running and works great. I bought a Toshiba 1TB external drive and plugged into the usb port on time capsule. I restarted Time capsule and it does not show up on my Macbook air anywhere (just bought this week). i plugged the Toshiba directly into the Mac Book and it recognizes it just fine, but not recognizing through Time capsule. Please help!
thanks!

Is the Toshiba drive formatted HFS+ without guid partition. If not redo the format.
Not all USB devices are recognised on the TC.. you sometimes have to use a powered hub. even though the hard disk is powered.. even then there can be usb chips the TC is not able to recognise as it has a limited number of drivers.

External hard disk not recognized by time machine

I have an external backup disk, Passport, that is no longer recognized by time machine or my computer. I used it a couple of weeks ago to restore my wife's MacBook. Hers is an older model and uses Lion. Since then my MacBook Pro--mavericks will not mount the external hard disk.
OKAY==after leaving the Passport on for a couple of hours it now is mounted. Don't know what happened, but it is now working.
CANCEL problems

I see it's now working but make sure you are running the latest version of WD software.
http://community.wd.com/t5/News-Announcements/New-Release-WD-SmartWare-Version-1 -3-6-for-Mac-10-5-10-9-11-25/td-p/628441

External Hard Disk not showing up on Finder

Hi
My HP Pocket Media Drive (USB), when plugged into my MacBook, does not show up on the Finder, even though it shows up on System Profiler. It only shows up on Disk Utility in certain occasions (such as after shutting down and starting up again). I have checked my Finder preferences, that external hard drives are shown on desktop.
I have tried resetting my PRAM and SMC too, but I still can't access the hard disk.
Any help will be appreciated.

Ian Sen wrote:
I get the following message in a window:
“connecting to server: resolving alias to… (my itunes folder on the external disk).”
On the chance that your Mac has a phantom folder in its Volumes folder, with that external drive not mounted, invoke the Finder menu option Go > Go to Folder. Enter "/Volumes" (without the quotes) in the field and click "Go". In the resulting window if you see anything with a name that resembles your external drive, trash it.
Anyone know how I can have the external hard disk automatically mount onto my desktop (and thereby bypass the need for several click-thru’s via the finder window)?
Once you're able to mount that external drive, open the Accounts panel of System Preferences and click on the lock in the corner to authenticate if needed. Select your account on the left, then the "Login Items" tab. Drag the mounted disk icon into the window then close System Preferences. That disk should now mount when you log in. A Finder window will open, but you can close that manually. If that bothers you sufficiently, if you search these discussion groups you may be able to find threads that discuss how to work around that.

Since updating my Mac to 10.8.4 any external hard disk doesn't show on Finder sidebar (but shows on desktop). Anyone else have the same problem?

Since updating my Mac to 10.8.4 any external hard disk doesn't show on Finder sidebar (but shows on desktop). Anyone else have the same problem?
It's annoying because now I can't use Finder sidebar for drag and drop to thumb drive etc.
Thanks for your thoughts and help!

Hi Barney-15E,
Thanks for your reply and suggestions!
It is set to show on the sidebar in Finder prefs and I tried toggling the setting multiple times but it didn't fix anything.
I went into Preferences (I'm Administrator) but the strange thing is I don't see com.apple.sidebarlists.plist anywhere in the folder. Not sure what that means..

MacBook does not see content on external hard disk

I copied my user directory from my PowerBook to an external hard disk. Now i have a MacBook instead and it cannot see my files. I can however see files from another user. If I look at the filesize and how much is in use, then I can see that there is more on the external hard disk. It also says I have the right to read and write.
What should I do?

If you can see the home folder on the external disk and it has a red circle on its icon, drag the folder to your desktop and type in your administrator password when prompted.
If you cannot see the home folder in the external disk but know where it is, navigate to the enclosing folder, choose Go to Folder from the Finder's Go menu, and enter the folder's name as the path.
If you cannot see the home folder and don't know where it is on the hard disk, copy and paste the script posted here into the Script Editor in your /Applications/AppleScript/ folder, run the script to show the invisible items on the disk, locate it, and do what you want with the contents.
(14652)

External hard disk does not show in finder

WD usb external hard disk does not appear in finder. Disk utility sees it and will mount/unmount and eject. I ran repair disk util. and all is well but still does not appear in finder

Hey Hatter, Thanx for the input.
Among other things I tried was a terminal routine someone suggested with no luck and new drivers/firmware for the drive, again, no luck.
I still don't know for sure what caused my problem, but I re-partitioned the drive and re-formatted it and that seemed to solve the provlem. Sadly, I lost all my info that was backed up on that particular drive but hopefully it won't come back to bite me later.
Cheers!!

External Hard Disk SUDDENLY NOT RECOGNIZED!

The mac is suddenly no longer recognizing my external hard drive. I have called apple support, but the only solution they suggest is for me to bring it into an Apple store for a repair... Unfortunately I don-t have the time right now to go to an apple sotre, and I was wondering if any of you out there had a solution,
ISSUE: External Drive (Buffalo Ministation 1TB) no longer recognized by mac.
INFORMATION/TESTS:
- PRAM AND SMC rests were done, but this made no change.
- Safe boot and login with another account didnt change anything
- Disk doesnt appear on disk utility
- Did another update of OS X 10.8.2
- The external drive works fine on other macs and PCs so the external drive it self is fine.
- All the USB ports are fully funcitional with other USB sticks and External hard drives.
PROBLEM:
I believe and so does the apple care, that the computer is no longer supplying sufficient power to the external drive in order for it to run.
Does anyone know a fix?
OR, is it possible that a hard disk, which has both USB 2.0 and 3.0 capabilities, suddenly stops working on USB 3.0 ports but continues working on a USB 2.0 port? I have no other USB3.0 ports in my hands in order to test the device!
Thanx for your help!

I'm guessing it's connected via USB, however, if connected via firewire I'll include the following links.
USB and FireWire Quick Assist
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1151?viewlocale=en_US
What to do if your computer won't recognize a FireWire device
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88338
Dealing with FireWire problems (drives not mounting, devices unrecognized, etc.)
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20041221081432908
Common fixes for USB device issues (unrecognized, etc.)
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20070824012114701
 Cheers, Tom

Can I move an external hard disk off the finder window, to the Dock or menu bar, for instance?

I use a couple of external hard disks, one with Time Machine for every day back-ups and another for occasional back-ups of large work files and videos I have purchased. It bothers me to see them sitting up there in the top right hand corner of my screen. Can I move them permanently somewhere else, into the Dock or Menu Bar say, and still have them permanently available?

Yes.
You can drag the drive icon from the desktop into the Dock.
Then you can go to Finder > Preferences > General > Show these items on the desktop > uncheck External disks, and it should stay in the dock but not show on the desktop.
There are third party apps that will give you Finder-like access to things in your Menu Bar, like Download XMenu for Mac - Menubar item lists/launches apps, and more. MacUpdate.com , but I would avoid third party GUI-changing apps like this if I were you, as they tend to be problematic, and install background processes which slow down your mac.

Finder freeze when opening folders of my Western Digital external hard disks

I'm facing a big issue. I'm runnin' Mac Os Lion, I realized a clean install a few days ago. Everything is going fine, but every time I plug an external hard disk on my MBP, I can see the disk appearing on my desktop or in the finder, and when I open it, the finder freezes, I have to reboot manually, or wait to relaunch the finder. My disks are in HFS format, used to work great on Snow Leopard no longer than a week ago... What is weird is that my time machine (external hard disk usb) works fine... Moreover, I can see the disks in the Disk Utility, I can't click on "verify permissions" but on "verify disk" and it says that the disks are fine... Any idea ?
PS : I could have erase everything on them and reformat, but I need the files inside...
Thanks

Hi!
Here's a suggestion from BDAqua:
In finder, select Go menu>Go to Folder, and go to "/volumes".
Volumes is where an alias to your hard drive ("/" at boot) is placed at startup, and where all the "mount points" for auxiliary drives are created for you to access them. This folder is normally hidden from view.
Drives with an extra number on the end have a side-effect of mounting a drive with the same name as the system already think exists. Try trashing the duplicates with a number, and reboot.
cornelius

External hard-disk not working with firewire under Snow Leopard

Hi. I have a LaCie d2 external hard-disk that has Firewire 800, 400 and usb2. I previously used it on my old (angle-poise) iMac connecting using the Firewire 400 socket. I've just a got a new mac with Snow Leopard and I thought it would we best to connect to the LaCie with Firewire 800. However when I do this, the disc mounts ok, but browsing in the Finder is really slow and copying files from the disk to the imac seems to work at a really slow rate (less than USB1 speed) if at all ! However, I switched to using the USB2 connection instead and it works like a dream. What gives ? Is Firewire in Snow Leopard buggy ??

There's no problem with the drive.
Maybe true, and the drive would probably work fine with Leopard. One thing that's obvious is that Apple did make changes in the way that FireWire works in Snow Leopard. Many drives and drive manufacturers work well with SL, but there have also been reports of firmware issues by Western Digital and other companies.
Have you checked with your vendor to see if they are offering a firmware update for your drive?
BTW, I got a new FW case a few months ago while at a Fry's electronic store. The brand new USB2 and FW400 cables worked fine. The FW800 cable did not, but another cable came to the rescue. Just saying...

I have Itunes on an external hard disk, now it's not possible to upgrade my Itunes.

I have an external hard disk drive for my Itunes. Until now it's always been possible to upgrade Itunes.
Now I keep getting message E-drive not found. The hard disk is on the F-drive. And I can't find where I need to select the correct drive before installing.
It seems that it's not possible to select the drive where you want to upgrade your Itunes.

For "Invalid Drive" errors when uninstalling or reinstalling try b noir's user tip:
"Invalid drive X:\" install errors.
For other problems see Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates.
tt2

Finder/Desktop not recognizing/seeing external Hard Disks

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for