Hard drive will not mount. At first would not back up.

I use an external hard drive to do Time Machine backups. After a while Time Machine was no longer able to back up. I thought I would do an experiment and switch out it's Firewire 800 cable with a USB cable. Since then it has not been able to mount at all. I tried replacing the USB cable back to the Firewire 800 cable back yet it still wouldn't mount.
When I check the under Time Machine Preferences it says that the back up volume could not be mounted. Any ideas how to make my drive mount and back up again? Thanks!

pik80 wrote:
No my firmware probably isn't up to date. I went to Western Digital's site and they only had one download for the Mac I could see. It is WD Drive Manager 2.23. It doesn't say it is firmware but if it's the only download it's probably the right thing.
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=103&lang=en
When I upgraded to Leopard I was very cautious to what applications got installed because of capability problems. That was one of the things I don't think got updated.
After installing the software and restarting the drive still doesn't mount.
pik80 wrote:
No my firmware probably isn't up to date. I went to Western Digital's site and they only had one download for the Mac I could see. It is WD Drive Manager 2.23. It doesn't say it is firmware but if it's the only download it's probably the right thing.
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=103&lang=en
When I upgraded to Leopard I was very cautious to what applications got installed because of capability problems. That was one of the things I don't think got updated.
After installing the software and restarting the drive still doesn't mount.
I believe you need to update the drive firmware not the Mac software. I did not see any firmware on the page you referenced. You might contact Western Digital for more information.
Under "Latest Support News and Updates" they mention new firmware for Leopard, but when I click it I just go back to the same page.
After some more extensive searching, I came up with this page which is the right one:
Click on the word Link
[url=http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?p_faqid=1707&p_created=1196704418&p_sid=7Q2FjFbj&p_accessibility=0&p_red irect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NSw1J nBfcHJvZHM9MjI4LDIwOSwyMjQmcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PTMuMjI0JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9Y W5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9ZmlybXdhcmU*&p_li=&ptopview=1]->Link<-[/url]

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External Hard Drive won't mount - tried Disk Warrior, am backing up as a .dmg...will this work?

Hi Guys,
Hopefully someone can help! Fairly desperate situation here...
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You didn't say what format (filesystem type) the disk was.
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FYI Sytem Info:
Mac OS X Version 10.7.5
Processor: 2 X 2 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon

Well you need to install the OS to another drive if you didn't have a clone of the system already.
Ideally put it in a FW external case so you can turn it on and try to work with it. The best candidate is $90 Alsoft Disk Warrior.
Data Rescue 3 is $90 also has a demo and rescue or scavange files to another drive. The demo lets you get to see if it can do anything.
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Recovery drive to backup onto.
New system drive.
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Hello D1P. I understand that the hard drive will work on one computer, but not another one. I do have to point out that the computer you pointed out (FQ578AA), does not have Windows 8.1 drivers, as indicated here. You should reference this document for more information: What if I don't see my operating system.
If you are interested in troubleshooting the issue under this environment, you can test the computer for hardware failures. If there is an error, this indicates that the computer could have a hardware failure. Otherwise, you are likely facing a compatibility issue.
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Robb

I recently had a similar issue (different conditions, same issue) and here is what I posted, maybe it can help you:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1638087&tstart=0
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Message was edited by: hempomatic

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Hello cuckoo55,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3746
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My WD 2tb external hard drive will not unmount from my MacBook Pro.

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Can you see them in Disk Utility?
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Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the computer's power cord.
3. Wait fifteen seconds.
4. Attach the computer's power cord.
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Hello Everyone,
I am hoping that one of you fine mac experts may be able to assist ~
Problem: External Seagate FreeAgent Desktop USB external hard drive
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Details:
External seagate freeagent 500 GB Desktop USB HD ( only 2 months old)
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on my Mac G3 350 MZ Blue & White Tower /768 ram/ running OSX 10.1.5 & OS9.2~
~
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~
The External hard drive will show up in disk utility, but is grayed out.
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~
message 2- when unplugging and repluggin the usb in-and upon
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~
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Invalid key length ( <<<IN RED )
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~~
Though it said the repair was completed, the "invalid key length" issue
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~~~~~
If there is a mac genius out there that can help?- it would be greatly
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~~~
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L

Will zapping the PRAM be of any use in getting the external to mount on the desktop?
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Firewire hard drive won't mount - Filesystem verify or repair failed.

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disk utility can see it but won't mount or repair it reporting the following error
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best
darren/uk

Try Disk Utility first. It's in your Applications/Utilities folder.
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Hard drive will not mount. At first would not back up.

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