Help needed - External mobile hard drive not recognized by my iMac

Hi, i received a Freecom Mobile Drive XXS 250 GB USB 2.0 today, after plugging it into my iMac, i am finding that nothing is showing up, and it isn't being recognized at all.
I've tried connecting it via all the USB ports, i have tried connecting it and disconnecting other cables (like speaker + printer cables) and it's not working. I'm not all that computer literate, but after scouring the internet for hours i understand the problem could be that my USB ports are 1.1 and a bus powered hard drive might not get the sufficient power from them?
I have looked at the system requirements for the hard drive and my iMac apparently has all the requirements this needs to work. I have checked Disc Utility and the external hard drive isn't even showing up there. I thought i might have had to re-format the drive, but i checked and it is already FAT-32 so should be ok?
Very puzzled, and am out of ideas on how to get this to work (need to transfer files quite urgently - want to upload some new software and don't want to risk losing the files on my internal hard drive, as my computer is getting about slow and unreliable also have the problem of my cd burner now being defunct for some reason, but thats unrelated to this hopefully)
Has anyone got any ideas on how i could get this to show up on my computer? Any info will be much appreciated!
Regards, coby x

Hey coby,
Well thanks for the star. Not sure I deserve it.
i then tried connecting the drive to each USB port again, and voila! i have found one it works in. I guess my computer's ports must be a little worn.
Hmm well try looking inside and see if there's some smutz in there, if the contacts are dirty or bent or worn.
i was starting to think i would have to go out and get a USB hub to give it some more power.
Is it powered off the USB? If so that actually might be a good idea since that puts a lot of strain on the connectors. Even if it's self powered it might be a good idea since it would take the strain off an obviously flakey USB.
richard

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2.5" external USB hard drive not recognized by my iMac

I have a small 2.5" external USB hard drive that my intel iMac will not mount or see. My 12" G4 Powerbook sees it fine and it is formatted in Mac OS Extended. My iMac is bootcamped and XP on my iMac sees the drive but not OS X Tiger on the iMac, (wierd) I have Tiger on both my Macs too.
Why does the intel based OS X refuse to see this external 2.5 HD. It sees a 3.5" USB one I have but not the small one. I know it is software.

Hey coby,
Well thanks for the star. Not sure I deserve it.
i then tried connecting the drive to each USB port again, and voila! i have found one it works in. I guess my computer's ports must be a little worn.
Hmm well try looking inside and see if there's some smutz in there, if the contacts are dirty or bent or worn.
i was starting to think i would have to go out and get a USB hub to give it some more power.
Is it powered off the USB? If so that actually might be a good idea since that puts a lot of strain on the connectors. Even if it's self powered it might be a good idea since it would take the strain off an obviously flakey USB.
richard

External USB Hard Drive not recognized on iMac HELP!!

I am currently using a i5 iMac running Lion 10.7.5
I have recently partitioned a Verbatim USB external hard drive and uploaded all my footage from a wedding. This was done with no problems and the QT videos could be opened from the hard drive.
A few weeks later, the hard drive does not show up in my finder. BUT it is recognized in disk utility. Here is a screen shot;
So first I ran "Verify" and it told me to repair disk. After clicking on Repair, I got this;
It is giving me the error message "Invalid B-Tree node"
Here is more info on the hard drive;
Name : Hitachi HTS545032B9A300 Media
          Type :           Disk
          Partition Map Scheme :           Master Boot Record
          Disk Identifier :           disk1
          Media Name :           Hitachi HTS545032B9A300 Media
          Media Type :           Generic
          Connection Bus :           USB
          USB Serial Number :           091004B3066D
          Device Tree :           IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/EHC2@1A,7
          Writable :           Yes
          Ejectable :           Yes
          Location :           External
          Total Capacity :           320.07 GB (320,072,933,376 Bytes)
          Disk Number :           1
          Partition Number :           0
          S.M.A.R.T. Status :           Not Supported
Can someone give me a step by step on how to get the hard drive working again? It would mean the world to me as this footage is priceless and irreplaceable.
OR can you refer me to someone (Geek Squad? Apple Store?) that might be able to help me out?
Thanks in advance!

The error message invalid b-tree node size indicates that the directory on the disk is corrupt. The way that it can be repaired is to reformat as disk utiltiy says.
It is recommended that the data be backed up first before either of this solution are done.
Since it is not be recognized by the sytem at all it does sound like you can back it up now.
Do you have a backup?
If you don't there is every chance you may lose all your data.
You can check to see if a data recovery service can recover any data for you. If you go that route you are looking at spending $$$$
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Restart holding down the Option key, the system may not know the new drive is your start-up drive. Select the drive and once OS X is up go to System Preferences-Startup Disk and choose the internal drive.
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hard drive not recognized during windows server 2008 setup

Hi,
Whether the hard disk is recognized in BIOS?
Connect it to another computer to see if it could be recognzied incase the cause is the disk itself. Also please check if it is really a RAID instead of a single hard disk - a single disk should be recognized directly while RAID cannot be recognized until
a suitable driver is installed.
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and un-mark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

Where can I get an external mobil hard drive to back up my PowerBook G4 without the Intel processor?

Where and what kind (brand) of external, mobil hard drive can I get to back up my PowerBook G4 without the Intel processor? I have 93GB of Memory and operating system OS X 10.5.8. Thank you.

Donald Morgan wrote:
Gee, I hope I understand this right, you can get a Terabyte from Walmart for around $120.00.
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But for regular transfers with older Macs, I have always found great benefit in using a drive with multiple interfaces that bridge old and new Macs and PCs. The USB version in the PowerBook, USB 2.0, has always been a slow solution. It's slower than FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and Gigabit Ethernet. For my regular backups on G3/G4 Macs and most MacBook Pros, FireWire or Gigabit Ethernet have always been the way to go because they just save so much time over USB 2.0. Maybe not for small incremental daily backups, but when moving large collections of music/videos/photos, or especially when migrating to newer equipment.
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Hello! I'm sure this has been posted before, but excuse my naivety with this sort of thing...
I have a mac mini 10.5.6 (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) and I run the Time Machine function to an external usb hard drive. The hard drive worked fine (plugged into the usb port on an older keyboard), but I went out and bought a new aluminum apple keyboard (because they look so cool ^_^ ) - I plugged the external usb drive into the keyboard and it wasn't recognized, so I tried plugging the external drive directly into the mac mini, but it is still not recognized. It is not showing up in Disk Utility or in System Profiler
Help? I'd hate to have to give up this fancy keyboard...
Thank you!
Dr. E

I believe I had my external drive plugged into the (old) keyboard because with the old mac that I had didn't have a free usb port for it - so when I got the mini I just plugged things back in where they were. But I have always had the Time Machine back up to this drive (connected to the keyboard) though it has been slow (another reason I thought the new keyboard was a good idea).
I tried restarting the computer without the alu keyboard plugged in, but same problem of no drive showing up.
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USB2.0 Storage Device:
Capacity: 93.16 GB
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk1
Product ID: 0x6830
Vendor ID: 0x04b4 (Cypress Semiconductor)
Version: 0.01
Serial Number: DEF107920F07
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Cypress Semiconductor
Location ID: 0x3d130000
Current Available (mA): 100
Current Required (mA): 0
Mac OS 9 Drivers: No
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
USB:
Capacity: 92.84 GB
Available: 53.14 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s2
Mount Point: /Volumes/USB
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Dr. E

Panther crashed now external hard drive not recognized

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Ive tried restarting a cople of times, I cant firgure out what could be the trick.
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I would try the Combo; it's worth a try!
I don't know if the following will help with your issue , since it shows up in Safe Boot, but here it is.....
External hard drive spontaneously unmounted? Try these tips:
NEW FIRMWARE: Try updating your external hard drive's firmware, which is available from your drive manufacturers Web site--or just use VersionTracker's (www.versiontracker.com) search function to find it. Be sure to back up your data before applying the update, and carefully follow the manufacturers instructions.
OUT OF iSIGHT: If you're using an iSight camera while you're using a FireWire drive, the camera may be interfering with the drive's ability to stay mounted. Try temporarily disconnecting your iSight and moving it to a separate FireWire port. If you have multiple FireWire devices, try using a FireWire hub.
POWER PROBLEM: A faulty power adapter could be causing your drive to unmount. Your drive may not be getting enough juice to stay on, causing the drive to turn off and thereby unmounting it from your Mac. Alternately, the power adapter may not be providing a steady amount of power, causing your drive to turn on and off. Try replacing the adapter. If you can't get a replacement adapter from the hard drive manufacturer, try your local electronics store. Just make sure the adapter you choose has the same connector and input/output voltage. you can find the input/output voltage on the adapter itself.
Cheers!
DALE

New internal hard drive not recognized at all!

Hello everybody!
I really need your help. I tried to upgrade my internal 120gb drive to a Western Digital wd2500bevs. But when I start my Macbook with the Leopard DVD neither the System Profiler nor the Disk Utilities Program recognize the drive for a possible installation. When I reinstall the old drive everything is back to normal and works perfectly.
This is what I already tried to fix the problem:
I took the drive into an external casing => it was recognized immediately
I then formatted it => no change after installing it into the Macbook again.
I cloned my system with CCC on the WD and then installed it => no system found.
I have another disk of this kind but the same problem and another 160gb Toshiba disk which is not recognized as well.
Please help me! I couldn't find help in German discussions yet so I hope anyone of you guys can help me.

You say the drive is "recognized" but your original post stated it was not present in Disk Utility. I'm puzzled. Have you attempted to partition and format the drive?
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disk. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.

External HP hard drive on recognized

I have an HP pd500a hard drive that not being recognized by my new HP Envy 7M laptop with win 8.1

Hi @LoganBD ,
Welcome to the HP Forums!
It is a terrific place to find answers.
For you to have the best experience in the HP forum I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide Learn How to Post and More
I understand that when you connect your external hdd it is not recognized by your computer. It is a plug and play device not requiring drivers so it should be automatically detected and installed.
Here is a link to HP Drive User Manual. Please note the backup software (SimpleSave) does not list Windows 8 so you may need to run the software in compatibility mode if you have an issue.
Have you done all your Windows updates?
Have you tried running the HP Support Assistant to be sure you have all your HP updates?
Does the drive power on when connected?
Try disconnecting the USB cable wait for 30 seconds and reconnect?
Have you tried different USB ports on your notebook?
Have you tried a different USB cable?
Does the external hdd power on?
Do you see any messages or errors when you connect it?
When connected and powered on, is it seen in Device Manager? Is there a mark on it or an error?
If you connect the external to another computer is it recognized?
Here is a link to Product Support HP SimpleSave - Hard Drives HP Portable - Hard Drives
for your convenience.
As the manual does refer you to http://hpsupport.wdc.com for further assistance, here is their contact information.
WDC Contact Us.
You may need to use the serial number on the hard drive to pull up the correct device on the WDC site.
I hope this helps
Sparkles1
I work on behalf of HP
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Advanced Format Hard Drive not recognized by HP DV6000 Controller

Hello,
I have an HP DV 6000 laptop (6276 I think, I'm at work can't check) that came preinstalled with a Western Digital 160gb 1.5gb/s 5400 RPM drive (Vista) that failed a couple of weeks ago. So i bought a Western Digital 750 GB WD Black SATA III 7200 RPM 16 MB drive to replace it. I read about people having some problems with Advanced Drive Format hard drives not being recognized by their controller, but also read that depending on the controller and specific Dv6000 model laptop they had-one wouldn't run into problems.
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"Our SATA II hard drives use autospeed negotiation. This enables our SATA II drives to automatically detect the motherboard data transfer rate, making it backward compatible with SATA I data transfer rates. However, some older SATA I controllers are unable to support autospeed negotiation and cannot recognize the drive. This “drive not detected” condition occurs when a chipset is incapable of correctly negotiating the data transfer speed with a SATA II hard drive."
my drive is a SATA ||| but I'm pretty sure it's the same problem. The site goes on to say a fix would be to "purchase and install a third party PCI or PCI-Express Second Generation Serial ATA controller card for your Serial ATA hard drive(s)."
My question(s) are.
1)Is the problem that I am trying to install a Sata ||| hard drive on a laptop with a controller that will only recognize SATA | hard drive?
2) Or is the problem that the hard drive is an Advanced Drive Formatted hard drive and I need to buy a hard drive with out that specification?
3) Or Should I buy a SATA controller card as WD suggests on their website and if so will this definitely allow my laptop's controller to recognize the new hard drive and proceed with the installation?
4)Or Should I just return the hard drive and buy a SATA | non Advanced Drive Format hard drive? (question 2 basically)
Thanks for your help!

Hi @jasmine00
Welcome to the HP Support Forums.
I certainly understand your issue with the drive upgrade. Unfortunately it is a bit of the nature of notebooks, the sacrifice of a large amount of upgradeability, in exchange for compactness and portability. Whenever a new technology comes out, older notebooks are never really going to be easy to upgrade, it at all. Normally the unit as a whole is tested with a set list of hardware, and only those items are supported.
That being said there is this document that could be helpful with your problem.
Preparing Advanced Format hard drives for Microsoft Windows installations on HP Business Notebook PC...
And for your reference:
HP Pavilion dv6000 Notebook PC Maintenance and Service Guide
Malygris1
I work on behalf of HP
Please click Accept as Solution if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click Kudos Thumbs Up on the right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Help! External LaCie hard drive 1.6TB suddenly won't appear on desk top.

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I hear it spinning- I think?
That may not be so good because it suggests the power is getting to it and it is something else more critical to the functioning of the drive that is wrong. If it is the enclosure you could try moving it out of the enclosure into a different one, or into the computer.
I just used Disk Warrior to rebuild the directory- no luck.
Ah, so did Diskwarrior see the drive? I didn't think you could see the drive in Disk Utility.
I also replaced the firewire Cable- no luck.
Good try but the flashing blue light suggested something else to me.
I'm now doing to bring it to a local Computer Store to try to retrieve the information.
Try using an application such as [Data Rescue II|http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php] or [FileSalvage|http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?mainpage=product_info&productsid=1]. Both have free trial versions that let you see if the software will help before you decide to buy. You will also need a second hard drive equal to or larger in size than your first drive.
I wrote to Lacie- but they are so slow in responding- it will be days.
Ummmm....

Hard drive not recognized after a brand new replacement put in 2 weeks ago!

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Hi MBPrunner;
It appears you have the misfortune of infant mortality whereby a bring new part fails in a short period of time. This does happen. I have seen it numerous time in my years of server support at IBM. My suggestion is take it back it back to Apple with all of your paperwork. They should make good on it.
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External USB Hard Drive not showing up on Time Capsule

Hi all,
I have a 500 Gb Time Capsule that used to be able to detect my external USB hard drives. I had to store my things for a while and have just started using the Time Capsule again. The TC works fine, however, the same USB external hard drives I used to connect to the TC are not showing up anymore :s They show up on the desktop when I connect them directly to my MacBook via USB. I have been through most of the file sharing options in Airport Utility and System Preferences but have not been able to solve this. I can't think of any settings that would have changed from when they were showing up in the past. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thx

yosemite won't work with ntfs drives for some reason, i've had the same issue with my toshiba. i thought ok lemme buy another one, and transfer it over maybe it's a driver issue which i've tried over and over, apple support can't figure it out.
here's a simple fix, but the problem is i have an external where all my photography and video files are stored, so i can't access them right now and it's making my life ****.
http://guides.macrumors.com/Formatting_an_External_Device
that does work and make the drive mountable now, but problem being i can't obviously reformat the old drive and lose everything. once the new drive is formatted for mac i can't plug it into a pc to transfer the files from. which is the only problem now. but formatting the drive for mac only DOES work. but you're just screwed and not able to use it ntfs. hope the link helps SOME people.

Help needed - External mobile hard drive not recognized by my iMac

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