Mac Mini won't read external hard drive

Hello, I have an external Toshiba hard drive and my Mac Mini will not read it. It was originally used on Windows. I plugged the hard drive into my Macbook and it worked as a read-only device. I can take stuff off of it but can not write stuff onto it on my Macbook. I want to use it so I can back up files on my Mac Mini, but it will not read it. I know I have to format it to make it writable with Mac, but I want to make it a read only device on my Mac Mini because I want to back up all the data already on it and my Mac Mini has 400gb of its hard drive available. How can I get my Mac Mini to read the Hard Drive?

If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
Boot into Recovery and launch Disk Utility. Is the drive recognized?
Start up in Safe Mode and test.
Reset the System Management Controller
If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, and if another drive does work with the same Mac, then the drive has failed. You may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

Similar Messages

HT1338 My Mac Mini stopped recognising Iomega external hard drive via USB 2.0 connection. Any suggestion to get way around? Thanks.

How can I make my Mac mini recognise again iomega external hard drive, if it has stopped to do so?
many thanks.

[USB and FireWire Quick Assist|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1151]
[Common fixes for USB device issues (unrecognized, etc.)|http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20070824012114701]
[What to do if your computer won't recognize a FireWire or USB device|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1317]

Whats the best way to transfer everything from my old macbook pro to a new mac mini, i have a external hard drive which i backup to regularly via time capsule

whats the best way to transfer everything from my old macbook pro to a new mac mini, i have a external hard drive which i backup to regularly via time capsule

Check out > OS X Lion: How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from another Mac

Using Mac Mini, Time Machine and External Hard Drives as a Backup Server

Hello...
I own a graphic design studio and have been looking for a long time to create/buy a no-thinker backup system for my macs. I have 4 workstations that I would like to backup to one central "server".
So what I was thinking was buying a Mac Mini, 3-4 external USB 2.0 Hard drives, external Blu-Ray burner and upgrade all our systems to OS 10.5. What I need to know is, will each work station with Time Machine on it back up across the network to a specific drive on the Mac Mini? If I have each workstation automatically mount one external across the network onto the desktop, will Time Machine recognize that hard drive as a legitimate drive to backup to?
Having the external Blu-Ray disc burner will give me the ability to burn data to a disc so I will have a way to take some of my information off-site. Since we are a graphic design studio, we use large amounts of disc space and regular DVD-R (4.6 gigs) is just not enough to back up some projects.
Can someone enlighten me, and tell me if this would work or not. It's the only way I can see me creating something that has enough space, will back up automatically across the network and allow me to make off-site copies of my data without spending $5,000.00.
Thanks for any comments you might have on this topic.
-SoupGFX

I'm a member of a freelance graphic artist team and have been scraping by with my MacMini and CS3. I recently obtained a used iMac (approx. 2 years old) and, instead of painstakingly transferring everything left on the Mini to the iMac, I wanted to know if it's possible to turn the MacMini into a pseudo external hard drive using the FW800 port.
I already had an external attached to the Mini and plan on using that as well, but I tend to hoarde information and run out of space really quickly. So keeping the mini around, preferably in a way that I can access it as an external through my iMac, would be perfect. I have very little experience with networking and don't have a wireless connection (yay modem cables!) so I don't quite know how to figure this out.
Has anyone done this? Would a FireWire 800 work? Would I need to set up a network between the two and use them as independently connected computers?

My mac mini quit recognizing the external hard drive i am using for time machine.

I have an IOMEGA external hard drive hooked up to my mini for Time Machine. It was working for about 4 months then quit. The PC will not recognize the hard drive and I have switched usb cables and tried different ports to no avail. Any help would be gladly appreciated!!

Yes, that will work fine. It will back up normally once you plug it in again. I do this with my MacBook.

10.9.5 won't read external hard drives

I just updated my imac with OS X 10.9.5 and now I can not read two of my three external hard drives although I was able to read them just fine before
the update. The one I can read is dedicated as my Time Machine; it is a WD My Passport 1 tb drive that I don't believe is formatted in FAT32. The other
two hard drives are NTFS formatted but I installed Tuxera to enable translation (based on another Apple forum) and it has worked great. I can read all of these external hard drives on my macbook air and my other imac at home so it is not the hard drives or cables themselves. Its possible that Tuxera may not read on this new OS version; my recollection is that Western Digital places their own version of Tuxera on the hard drive to enable translation.
Under Finder I do not see the hard drives under "Devices". I do see the hard drive in Disk Utility but the name of the drive that appears beneath the drive description is grayed out. I tried Mounting the drive but it did not work. I tried "verify disk" but it does not work. Any suggestions that could help me read these drives once again would be most appreciated!
thanks much

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It makes no changes to your data.
Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
ls -@ORaen /S*/L*/E*/AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext | pbcopy
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered.
The output of the command will be automatically copied to the Clipboard. If the command produced no output, the Clipboard will be empty. Paste into a reply to this message.
The Terminal window doesn't show the output. Please don't copy anything from there.
If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

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.

10.9.3 won't read external hard drives

I recently installed 10.9.3 and now two of my portable external hard drives - one from Seagate and one from Toshiba - will not show up when I plug them in via USB. My MacBook Pro that isn't updated reads them just fine.

Disconnect both EHD's then reset the SMC and PRAM following the directions https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3603. These restarts may need 2-3 attemps before working.

Suddenly Mac mini won't "see" external drives. Possible related to OS software update to 10.6.8?

Suddenly Mac mini won't "see" external drives, neither Firewire nor USB. Possible related to OS software update to 10.6.8? Worked fine under 10.6.4. Any advice? Thanks.

Turns out it was nothing to do with the OS update, it was just a loose cable plug connecting my FireWire/USB hub to the computer. But your tip is a good one -- I'd been wondering why the external drives (even when mounted properly) weren't showing up in the sidebar. Thanks!

Hello, I have two questions on time capsule I can only have it on my external hd files and free up my internal memory to my mac I can use an external hard drive, in my case a lacie rugged as shared memory for my two computers

Hello, I have two questions on time capsule I can only have it on my external hd files and free up my internal memory to my mac I can use an external hard drive, in my case a lacie rugged as shared memory for my two computers

I have a mackbook pro and an iMac if I buy a time capsule 2tb airport, I can use it with time machine and what would be the best way to use it.
There is no particular setup required for TM.. both computers will create their own backup sparsebundle which is like a virtual disk.. Pondini explains the whole thing if you read the reference I gave you.
and how to use time capsule airport whit other external hd to use my old lacie airport with the new time capsule
Up to you.. you can plug the external drive into the TC and enjoy really slow file transfers or you can plug it into your computer and use it as external drive.. which is faster than the TC.. and TM can include it in the backup.
Again everything is explained in the reference.. you are not reading it.

I have my iTunes music folder stored on an external hard drive. I recently purchased a new Mac. After attaching the external hard drive, all the songs imported without any problem except my Playlists. Any clue about where they are or how to revive them

I have my iTunes music folder stored on an external hard drive. I recently purchases a new Mac. After attaching the external hard drive, all songs imported without a problem except my playlists. Any clue about where they are or how to revive them for use on my new Mac?
Thanks!

Rysz wrote:
To retain your playlists, artwork, play counts, etc, you need to move the entire iTunes folder, not just the music files..
Correct.
After that just select the new folder location in iTunes> Advanced settings.
Incorrect.
Hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library and select the iTunes folder.
This will read the iTunes library.itl file in this folder and the library as it was previously will be opened.

I am new to a MAC. I have an external hard drive that I used with my Windows XP computer. Can I reformat it

I am new to MAC. I have an external hard drive that I used with my former computer running Windows XP. Can I reformat it to use with my new MAC? If so, how do I do it?

Yes you can. See the following:
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
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 Security 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 can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

Installing Mac OS X onto an External Hard Drive

Will installing Mac OS X onto an external hard drive erase or mess with in any way files that are already on the external hard drive?
Can I safely install Mac OS X to an external hard drive that already has stuff on it to make it a bootable volume and still be able to access those initial files on the hard drive?

Will installing Mac OS X onto an external hard drive erase or mess with in any way files that are already on the external hard drive?
Not unless an Erase & Install is performed.
Can I safely install Mac OS X to an external hard drive that already has stuff on it to make it a bootable volume and still be able to access those initial files on the hard drive?
Yes.
(42261)

Why won't my external hard drive show up anywhere? Something wrong abt NTFS.

Why won't my external hard drive show up anywhere? Something wrong abt NTFS. After my OS turn to OS X Lion, this problem occur. I couldn't solve it, anybody?

It doesn't make sense.
Anyway, I found the solutions. Download software for solving this problem.
Here is the link:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g

What is the best hard drive replacement for a first generation mac mini 1.25 mhz 40gb hard drive 1gb ram year 2005

What is the best hard drive replacement for a first generation mac mini 1.25 40 gb hard drive 1 gb ram year 2005?

You posted this same question 24 hours ago, which has a reply. Did you have questions on that answer or did you want further discussion? You could reply to that thread, there's no need to start a new thread.

Mac Mini won't read external hard drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for