HT201250 not recognizing external harddrive

I backed up my iMac with a terrabyte external harddrive..June was the last time it did the back up and when I try to set up time machine it does not recognize my harddrive or even being plgged in my computer. HELP

Do you have Finder Preferences set up to show hard drives in the sidebar? If so, does it appear there?
If you haven't used the external hard drive since last June, try shutting it down, wait for about 30 seconds, and then turn it back on. Every time we experience an electrical interruption, I have 2 external hard drives I have to reset.
I strongly suggest you backup more often. You could lose a lot of files which you couldn't replace if something went wrong.

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Computer not recognizing external harddrive

I just did a software update and now my macbook pro will not see my external hard drive

I hope it was not connected at the time you did that. It may help if you gave more (well, any, really) details.

Itunes not recognizing external hard drive

I have a smartdisc firelite external hard drive that was working perfectly until yesterday when I bought a shuffle and now itunes is not recognizing to go the hard drive to locate the songs. Can someone walk me threw this so I can download some songs from my external drive to itunes and then to the shuffle ? Thank you so much

†ry the refresh script from here http://ottodestruct.com/blog/2005/10/20/itunes-javascripts/

Time Machine not recognizing external hard disk

I am trying to set up backups via Time Machine on my external hard drive but as I go through the process the my hard drive is not recognized in the dropdown menu. It the external hard drive is recognized in the Finder but not by Time Machine. What gives?

do you know how the disk is formatted? it may be in a format that time machine does not support, but which the finder can see. just like this guy:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1241053&tstart=0
(solution included in that thread as well).

Maverick does not see External Harddrive

I had a Seagate external usb3 harddrive connected. I was working on a video file when suddenly I got a message in the upper right hand corner saying that the external harddrive was incorrectly disconnected or dismounted. OK. So, I unplug and then plug the ext. HD back into the usb3 port. To make the story short, the hd light comes on, I can hear the disk spinning. But it does not appear in the Finder or desktop. The only sign on the Mac is by going to the "About This Mac" and to the System Report which lists hardware and software. Clicking on the USB line, it shows the external HD plugged into one of the usb 3 ports. The disk info indicates its ID and other data and how much energy it is consuming (it appears it is only using 96 mA from an available 500 mA). So, it appears that the Mac sees it and can read it and has power enough to run it.
I then removed the first ext. HD and inserted another Seagate external usb3 harddrive - the Mac doesn't see it either except in the System report. The external HDs do not show up in the Disk Utility app. The only conclusion is that the harddrives are probably OK but the Mac won't mount them anymore. Most people with unmountable ext. HDs usually see them in the disk utility (greyed out).
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Update - I have three Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex external harddrives. The two that I have connected to my Macbook Pro no longer can be read. I took the two and connected to another MacBook Pro but it would not read the drivers either. I took my third drive which I have not connected to my Macbook Pro for several weeks and connected to the other Macbook Pro and it reads it fine.
I downloaded drivers from Seagate but it didn't help. I started my computer in safe mode, HD didn't work. I have another drive containing a duplicate of my internal HD (using Superduper) and booted with the backup drive. It would not open the two drives. I'm taking the HD to a friend who has a G5 using an early Mac OS, 6.0. These two drives contain my video files and I need to retrieve the files.
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Powerbook G4 is not recognizing external HD

Hi. My computer is dying. I can feel it. It's doing all these weird things it never used to do, like suddenly lapse in to a grey screen where I can do nothing but restart it in order to get it working again. I have about 60 gigs worth of music and pictures that I absolutely must back up. The problem is, some time in the last 6 - 8 months, my computer suddenly stopped recognizing external HD devices. I've tried it with three separate devices now. The first two were loaners but this last one I bought. I know I meet the system requirements, and I can't think of any reason why this would be happening. I've tried 3 different devices, which rules out the problem lying with the devices. My computer used to recognize external HD's just fine. I have no idea why it stopped.
Two things worth mentioning: My battery is dead. Someone stole my battery and replaced it with a dead one, so my laptop is no longer portable. But it shouldn't be an issue of the device not receiving enough power because the computer is plugged in.
The light on the device is not a solid green; it's blinking with orange, and the device keeps making a faint clicking sound.
Any help would be much appreciated. If I can't figure out the problem here I'm going to have to take my computer to the apple store and that's always a hassle.
Thanks

Oh my ....
First, if you have the original OS X disks that came with the system, insert the first one (should say in small print on the label 'AHT Version x.x'), reboot, holding the alt/option key down, and choose the Apple hardware test, and when prompted, choose the extended test. If you have either of the TechTool programs, they can do similar testing. Does that point out any hardware issues?
Faint clicking normally suggests a hard drive about to die. You could always download Smart Utility from http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.phps to get a readout of your SMART sensors. If you're hard drive is 3-5 years old, it may be on it's way out, and causing issues.
Have you reset the PMU? And while you're at it, might as well reset the PRAM. PMU reset is: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1431 and PRAM reset is:
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.
After that, what the status?

Usb port not recognizing external drive

When I plug my external backup drive, Lacie, into either USB ports on my MacBook Pro, it is not recognizing the drive. Not sure if I powered down incorrectly. It use to recognize it. Help.

Start by looking for the drive in the Apple System Profiler (from the Apple menu's far left Apple logo>About This Mac>More Info>Hardware (in left column) >USB.) If the drive is correctly powered and connected, it will show up here.
If it doesn't show up, the problem is with the drive. With the drive plugged in, put your ear to the drive and listen for the whirring sound the drive makes when it is powered up. If it isn't making any sound, ot's either a bad drive or a bad power supply.
If the drive is making sound , then the problem is probably the USB cable or your USB port. Try a different USB cable. This should fix the problem; if all the above tests were good and the drive still doesn't mount, it may be the USB controller in the Mac. That's a serious problem that requires repair or installation of an aftermarket USB controller.
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Photoshop 11 does not recognize external harddrive when trying to reconnect images?

I have moved my catalog to a new computer, using Photoshop Elements 11. All images are on 2 external harddrives. The PC recognizes both harddrives and shows folder structure and files correctly. When in Photoshop Organiser the thumbnails appear, with the question mark, as the drive structure is different to the old PC. When trying to reconnect the images to the second external harddrive Photoshop suddenly does not recognise this harddrive anymore.
Please anybody advise on what I can do to fix that?

Please try steps mentioned on blog: http://psekb.blogspot.in/2013/03/how-do-i-reconnect-missing-files-in.html Let me know if it doesn't help.
~Andromeda

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Someone had the same problem?
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Change the input in Garageband > Preferences > Audio Midi.

Mbp not recognizing external display

I have a 2010 MBP 2.8 and I'm trying to connect to a 24" Samsung LCD display to use as a 2nd monitor.   I'm using the mini display to DVI. And plugging a DVI to HDMI cord to that.
When I plug it into the tv and computer. The screen on computer flashes blue a couple times then nothing happens.   The computer is not recognizing the display.    I'm running Mountian Lion obviously and theres no option in "Displays" in preferences.
Am I doing something wrong? I had a old Powerbook G4 that I did this with all the time with Leopard OS.    Whats changed?

Hey all, did a software update on my partner's mbp yesterday (10.5.8, security update 2009-006) and had the same thing happen where our external viewsonic display was no longer being detected. Plugging the cable in and out of the mini display port had the same effect already mentioned here where the mbp screen flashed blue like it was about to recognise the external display, but then nothing. Selecting detect displays from display preferences also had no effect. Tried resetting the PRAM and also the PMU, still nothing. So I shut down the mbp; disconnected the mini display cable; then turned off the viewsonic monitor at the power outlet and left it off for 10-20 seconds. Then I turned the viewsonic's power outlet back on, started up the mbp, turned the monitor on and plugged the mini display port cable in and the external display was back and working properly. Have shut down/restarted numerous times since then and it's all still working normally. Not quite sure how/why this busted in the first place, or why turning the viewsonic off at the power outlet seems to have fixed it, but it might be worth a shot for those experiencing similar problems... and it sure beats having to install/reinstall a different os version (which was going to be my next option)!

MacBook not recognizing external hard drive

After months with no problem, my MacBook Pro is not recognizing my external hard drive (USB3.0) as my time machine backup. Yet, when I enter time machine, the backups appear.

Thank u! it worked
Cheers!

Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5fter upgrde does not read external harddrive

Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 fter upgrde does not read external harddrive

Hello there ZamirasDAD,
I was looking through our aricles about what you may be experiencing and recommend resetting your SMC and your PRAM.
To reset your SMC on an iMac you would use this article Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) found here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964.
Resetting the SMC for Mac Pro, Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini, or Intel-based Xserve
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.
To reset the PRAM use this article named About NVRAM and PRAM found here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Regards,
Sterling

Mac Not Recognizing External Hard Drive, I Want to Use the HDD to boot Windows

Let's get this stuff straight first:
The Hard Drive is from a PC that I am not using
The Hard Drive already has Windows 8.1 installed as well as all my documents and data. (from the old PC, of course.)
It does work, however after connecting it to my iMac (late 2014 / 5K Retina) it isn't recognized by Finder, Disk Utility or the (Option) Boot screen.
Yes, I understand I will need to install drivers, so I'll need help doing that as soon as we get Yosemite to recognize the HDD.
What I am wanting to do is use this external drive to run Windows from the boot up screen. But I need OS X to actually recognize the drive in the first place. Then I'll need a little help installing the drivers for Windows onto the Drive, unless those are already installed, since it was originally used in my PC? (I'm not sure how drivers work.)
Nonetheless, if it's not possible to be used as an external boot for Windows, I'd still like to use it to obtain and store files/documents on.
Thanks guys!
-Austin

How do you have the drive hooked up to your computer? Did you but an adapter? If so, is it one that is supposed to work with a Mac? Did it come with a power supply?
Some of those USB adapters don't work well with Macs and that could be causing problems. Test it on a PC if possible, just to make sure the adapter itself isn't bad.
~Lyssa

CS2 not recognizing external hard drive as a scratch disk

I have an external hard drive that I want to use as a scratch disk but while I can navigate to have Photoshop open files from the drive, when I go to my prefs and try and select it as a scratch disk, it's not listed as an option - i.e. Photoshop only shows "start up" and "Mac Hard Drive" as choices. But when I go in that same dialogue box, and look for an additional plug-ins folder, I can navigate to the external drive. It's also doing the same thing for a thumb drive I have and two other external hard drives which mount fine.
I have restarted the program, removed the Prefs file, and restarted the program again but it still doesn't see any of the external hard drives.
Any ideas?

mike,
Most drives are not optimized for Mac as purchased. Unless marked otherwise, consider that every drive you acquire, whether a fast-spinning hard drive or USB flash drive comes formatted as FAT so it can be recognized and used by both Macs and Windows machines. Use Disk Utility and reformat it as HFS+ "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
Just be aware that if you are reformatting your existing drives, you need to back up your data first or it'll be gone forever.
Neil

Not recognizing external hard drive

When I first bought my SimpleTech 320GB external hard drive, it did work. It connected and updated everything through Time Machine. After about, a month, it just did not show up in my Devices or on my Desktop.
I've tried everything. I went to the SimpleTech site and they said to put it in the direct USB port (which I have been doing). I've tried both USB ports and even got a new USB cord and it's not working.
If anyone has some suggestions, please send them my way. I'm in dire need of some space on this thing so I can install some updates.
Message was edited by: lisuhhx

I am having this same problem all of a sudden. My external hd shows up in disk utility; however, it does not show up under devices or is it recognized any more by time machine. When I try and repair it, the repair fails and list a "invalid node structure" and "volume check failed". I disconnect the external hd's power source and firewire connection, reconnected, and this did nothing.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

HT201250 not recognizing external harddrive

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