Imac no longer recognizes external hard drive

my iMac no longer recognizes my external hard drive. An icon used to be on my desktop, at times it would disappear and come back, but it has remained elusive for the past couple of months and is NOWHERE to be found. It doesn't even show up in the Disk Utiity. I need my files!

Please Google, "Intel iMac SMC Reset" and follow the instructions. If the drive is OK this may solve it.

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IMac no Longer Recognizes External Hard Lacie Hard Drive via Firewire 800

It worked for 1 year. Time machine backed up fine. Over the past month it has gone in and out of recognizing the external Lacie d2 quadra via the Firewire800 port. I've tried turning off botht the iMac and the hard drive. unplugging both for 30 minutes. i can't get the external hard drive to connect in teh finder window anymore. should i buy a new firewire cable? is that the simple answer. Can these go bad?

You should try a new or different FireWire cable.
If the drive also has a USB 2.0, try connecting it with a USB cable. Does it work that way?
Also, try running Disk Utility (assuming the drive is seen the sidebar and able to be selected) and running +Repair Disk+ on the +First Aid+ tab. This procedure can take a long time on the drive that is used for the Time Machine archive.

IMAC won't recognize external hard drive anymore

I am running snow leopard on my IMAC with all the latest software updates. I've been using a LaCie Quadra external hard drive with time machine for backups for awhile with no problems. From the beginning is was plug in the hard drive and go, the mac recognized it. Now, suddenly, it won't. When I turn on the LaCie to back up, the icon no longer pops on the desktop. It is also not listed in the Time Machine preferences anymore. I tried to open the LaCie from Mac systems preferences and get a message with something like "64 bit cannot recognize 32 bit" I am asked to close and reopen system preferences, which would change to 32 bit. I tried that and it did not work,and a report was sent to Apple. Has anyone else been experiencing this? Thanks

jraguseo wrote:
Thanks. I don't disconnect the drive, only turn it off with it's own power switch. According to LaCie, this should not be a problem.
No, it's not a problem for the drive, but neither is leaving it (and Time Machine) on. Most externals will "spin down" after a few minutes of activity, but even if they don't, modern drives are built to run 24/7.
Time Machine was designed to do quick hourly backups of changes, and will protect you best that way. Just leave both Time Machine and the drive on; they'll be fine.

Macbook pro no longer recognizes external hard drive

Hi everyone,
My Macbook Pro (2013) running OS X 10.8.5 will no longer recognize my external hard drive.
The hard drive, a Maxtor OneTouch 4, is granted quite old (c. 5 years) but has been working fine with my Macbook pro since I bought it 2 years ago. It is too full to do time machine backups but I just need to get some files off of it. It doesn't appear in Finder or in Disk Utility when connected and turned on.
Since it's only stopped working recently I suspect some software update may have rendered it obsolete. I have also noticed some glitchiness with my USB ports, but some things work fine.
If anyone has any suggestions of what to try, I would really appreciate it! I really need to access those files.
Thanks very much in advance!

Ari343 wrote:
No, the external hard drive does not show up on Disk Utility. I don't have another computer to try it on.
Perform a PRAM reset:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Have you tried all the ports?
Have you tried with a different cable?
Have you tested all the ports with other devices to see that they are functioning?
Ciao.

Macbook Pro i5 no longer recognize external hard drive...

Hi folks,
I have a 2.5" Hard Disk Box Mini USB 3.0 from conceptronic.
Since yesterday my macbook no longer recognize it.
Two days ago I've used it to restore a back up. But , stupid me, I forgot to copy a couple of documents.
Those document are on my external harddrive.
But my macbook just won't recognize the external hard drive...
Someone any ideas?!

Okay, second question: How does this forum software work? According to the thread list, someone named MacWizard has replied to this thread, but I can't see it.
MacWizard, if you could email your reply to spearbrave at gmail point c0m so I can read it there, I'd appreciate it.
15" MacBook Pro C2D Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Macbook No Longer Recognizes External Hard Drive

Recently I bought an external hard drive (Toshiba Automatic Backup Portable Hard Drive) to backup my Macbook (Mac OS X 10.6.8). I found that in order to have my Mac recognize the hard drive, I needed to partition it by formating it to MS-DOS (FAT). I had no problems after that and began to back up my computer. However, the next day, I plugged my external hard drive back in and the icon no longer shows up. I went to Disk Utilities and found it there, but it said that it was not mounted. Then I went to System Profiler to see if it was under "USB" but it did not show up. I have tried shutting down and restarting my computer a few times but each time is no different. I even added a USB 2.0 Hub but even that didn't work. Is there anything else that I could do? I have files already on there and some I do not really want to lose. Is there any uncomplicated way that I could be able to make my mac recognize my hard drive again?

ellybook7,
In OS X you can read from an NTFS disk but not write to it - at least not without thrid-party software such as Paragon's NTFS for Mac.
I'm not sure what was working FINE in Mountain Lion that wouldn't work in Mavericks.
Clinton

My iMac does not recognize external hard drive

My iMac does not recognize my external hard drive. Disk utility recognizes it and a test of the hard drive does not review any error. I use the hard drive as a back up for the time machine. This problem comes and goes. It comes when I turn off and turn on the computer, with the hard drive attached.
Please help.
Insightful

can be this reasons
01 , you have problem with connection ? check the port if you can find any problems physically .
02. if not try to change the cable and with connection ,
03. may be its good idea to check the hard drive with another mac ?(if you have )
Did you note any diference of sound from Hard Drive ? listen to it that carefully to note some unusual sound comes when the hard drive works.
check this link this might usefull: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjgOSxKy-FQ

Lion no longer recognizes external hard drive.

I've had Lion since the first day it was out. All of a sudden, as of Sunday July 31, it is no longer recognizing my external hard drive, prevoiusly used for time machine. I can see the disk in disk utility (disk repair does not fix the issure); however, it does not show up in the finder. Anyone know how to fix this?

Since you haven't provided any helpful information all I can suggest is this:
Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder. If the drive does not appear in DU's sidebar listing, then it most likely has died and needs to be replaced. Take it into Apple for service.

IMac G5 no longer recognizes external hard drive

I have a Western Digital 250GB external USB drive. Yesterday, my G5 no longer recognizes it. I've restarted the computer, restarted the drive, unplugged and replugged the USB cord etc...
It's like it no longer exists ! Please help

Does the drive turn on? Is the power brick working? Have you tried plugging it into another computer or another USB port? I know you have plugged and unplugged it, but do it several times in a row. Unplug, turn it off, plug it in, turn it on and unplug etc etc, repeat the sequence several times.
BTW, is it an iMac you have, or a G5 tower?

I made a bootable disc on an external hard drive, with Yosemite on it. I am running Snow Leopard on my iMac. How can I open the Yosemite disc from the desktop on my iMac? Does the external hard drive need to be connected to my iMac by firewire to

I made a bootable disc on an external hard drive, with Yosemite on it. I am running Snow Leopard on my iMac. How can I open the Yosemite disc from the desktop on my iMac? Does the external hard drive need to be connected to my iMac by firewire to do that?

kahjot wrote:
Snow Leopard's Startup Disk pref can’t see Yosemite volumes. So the only way to switch from Snow Leopard to Yosemite is to do what Niel mentioned. Doesn't matter whether it's connected by USB or Firewire, although performance via FW would be faster.
Are you saying that Yos/10.10, as a volume located in a mounted external drive won't appear as an option in Snow Leopard's Startup Disc, in Sys Prefs? I've never heard this one before. AFAIK any mounted volume, regardless of OS, should appear there. I would think that, if it appears in the Boot Picker/Startup Manager it would also appear and could be booted to from Snow's Startup Disk. I can't test this myself, since I don't have Yos. Is what you are saying documented somewhere?

Doesnt recognize external hard drive

After I updated with the latest fcpx 10.0.6, FCPX no longer recognizes my hard drive. I have used this hard drive since fcpx cam out and have had no problems. All of my specs match up to fcpx requirements. So now when I open FCPX, it loads all my projects/events and I can see them in FCPX. When it is done loading, all projects events and the xternal hard drive dissaperas from FCPX window. Any help is appreciated, because all ym projects are on that drive and I am in the middle of editing a project.

Actually four Errors messages now. These come up, and I am stuck witht eh spinning wheel of rainbow death.

IMac Finder cannot see external hard drive but Disk Utility can

I have a WD external hard drive and it has been attached to my iMac for a year or two. About two months ago I upgraded to Lion 10.7.5 and hard drive still worked. Then suddenly about a week ago the iMac no longer sees the external hard drive in Finder.
I have connected the hard drive to the iMac with different USB cables and into different ports and it makes no difference so deduce there is no issues with the cables or the ports. I have connected the hard drive to an old Macbook and it can see the harddrive and read some of the info but I really need the hard drive attached to the iMac as I store all my music and photos on the external hard drive.
I read another thread and someone asked if you can see the hard drive in Disk Utility. I tried this and Disk Utility can see the hard drive.
What does this mean? Any suggestions as to how to get the iMac to see the hard drive so I can access the data on it?
I dont really know how Disk Utility works therefore if that is any help to me.
thanks

Open the Finder.
From the Finder menu bar click Finder > Preferences then select the General tab.
Make sure: External disks is selected.

Macbook won't recognize external Hard Drive and issues with Time Machine

Hello everyone,
I have just bought a new Macbook Pro with Mountain Lion and I am currently having problems with Time Machine.
The issue begun in Snow Leopard: Time Machine was taking too long to backup, and would often not finish the backup because the external hard drive would be unwillingly ejected.
Now with Mountain Lion I have reformated the drive (Mac OS Journaled) and about a third of the way through had the same issue: the drive was ejected before the backup could be finished. I restarted the machine and it happened again. However, now the computer won't even recognize the external drive when I plug it in. I have also tried to power off/on the drive itself to no progress.
I have tested the USB port with another drive and the port is fine. I have also tested the usb cable and it is fine. And Disk Utility does not recognize the drive (even when I try the >diskutil list command in terminal).
Now, I can hear the drive humming normally when I turn it on, and it is not usb-powered (my electricity current does fluctuate).
Could the interrupted backup procedures have damaged the drive? And if so, wouldn't the computer recognize it anyway?
It is a 4 year old WD 1 TB that is used exclusively for TM and has never left the house.
Thank you for your time reading this and let me know if you need any more information that could help out.
Cheers!

From your description, I'd suspect a failing drive. Maybe time for a new external, especially as you've already re-formatted and it's still playing up.
I had a similar problem with one of my clone backups a few weeks ago - it failed, I erased it, re-cloned, worked a couple of times and then it failed again. Disk Utility didn't throw up any errors after re-formatting. I guess all disks die at some point.

IMac Won't Read External Hard Drive

I have an iomega external hard drive which has been working well as backup. My imac (10.7.2) inexplicably crashed and when I rebooted it longer would read the external hard drive. I get the message "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" with the options: initialize.... /ignore/eject. I think that when the imac crashed, the disk wasn't properly ejected. I tried using disk utlity to repair the disk but that failed. Any advice? I have a lot of videos and pictures on the external disk.....

It sounds like your drive directory has been corrupted.
DiskWarrior may be able to rebuild your drive directory. I have had success with DiskWarrior in similar circumstances.
If DiskWarrior fails to restore your drive, then, you are looking at data recovery.
Data Rescue may recover your files. You will need a drive of the same size to copy over your files.
If Data Rescue fails, then, your last resort is professional data recovery services.

Why won't my iMac 27" boot from external hard drive?

I have a new 27in Intel i5 dual core 3.6GHz iMac. It works wonderfully.
My question is this. I have a Pleides Ice Cube external hard drive with a USB 2.0/Firewire enclosure with a 500GB hard drive. I used diskutility to format the hard drive as a GUID Partition Table. I then used SuperDuper to clone the iMac OS 10.6.7 and Apps over to it.
I can select the external drive in System Preferences/Startup Disk to boot from, but when booting the iMac gets as far as the white screen then just stops loading.
I have tried both the USB connection and the Firewire connection (with a Firewire 800 to 400 cable).
I have run Disk Utility and repaired the disk and the preferences.
I have used Disk Warrior to rebuild the directory as well, but the iMac will not boot from the drive.
It does boot from the original DVD's and its own hard drive.
My old 24" iMac had no trouble booting from this hard drive or any of the others I have collected over the years, so I am reluctant to think it is the external drive. It is something to do with this particular processor Snow Leopard and external drives.

It sounds like something in the SuperDuper clone might not have copied well. To get the full answer on that I would check with Apple or SuperDuper to see if they support each other.
As a quick test, if you restart and immediately press and hold "option" on your keyboard do you see your external HD as an option to boot from? If so, click it and see if the boot runs any differently, but if you don't see it at all that could show that the problem is more deep rooted.
Personally, if looking in to either of those didn't give me any other info to go on, I would reformat and start the clone again. BTW, do you know for sure GUID Partition is the format you'd want to do this on? Generally macs use "Mac OS Extended" and some external HDs can use "FAT32" (if you want them to work well with Windows)
Hope that gives a little direction
Alex

Imac no longer recognizes external hard drive

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