Macbook is not recognising external back up drive

I had a new hard disk installed on my macbook pro and now when I am trying to set it up and trying to transfer information to mac, it comes up with a message "Looking for source" which doesn't change. Could someone please help what to do.
Many thanks in advance.

Is the new HDD internal?
If yes, has it been formatted in Disk Utility>Erase to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)?
Is there an OSX installed on the new HDD?
What exact Macbook Pro do you have?
What OSX are you using?
Ciao.

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Window 7 on macbook pro not recognising external hard drive

Hello
I have windows 7 installed on my macbook pro.My new external hard drive,western digital black caviah 2.5' 1tb with cradle is not recognised.I want to use it to back up my windows side of my macbook pro.Does anybody have any ideas?
Thanks
John

canofsoup,
in Windows 7
press start, find computer > right click on computer and then in the drop down menu select manage
in the Computer Management window:
Select> Disk Management by click on it in the left menu
Right click on your External Drive > select mark partition as active
Format and enjoy
Cheers,
Sidonsoft

Macbook pro(2008 later) can not recognise external monitor(NEC UXI2090) with mini-DP to DVI adapter with 9600GT

I bought mini-DP to DVI frome Apple several monthes ago and it worked well in that time until yesterday the external monitor show me no signal sign. Other PCs were connected with the same cable and monitor and they are fine. I am wondering there is something wrong in the adaptor or macbook pro. Furthermore I found the external monitor can display nornally when I switched to 9400 graphic card and used mini-DP to VGA adapter. If I switch to 9600GT no signal again. If I switch 9400 using mini-DVI, it is shown on the external screening: Out of range... In a word, In the mode of 9600GT, mac can not recognise external monitor(I can not detect it in the systerm preference even I press detect display buttun) and 9400 works in VGA mode. However when I connect adapter to mac, the screen showed blue flash.
I reseted SMC, no use; I created a new account or enter mac to safe mode, no use; so far I did not reseted PRAM beacuse of something wrong of my system. I am downlaoding Mountain Lion OS and will install it. Then I will reset PRAM and try again.
I do not know whether I shoud change the adapter or the single-link DVI cable to dual-link. Someone said it is useful in their condition. I tried some methods from BBS, such as connected when devices were off and then open, and so on. I failed.
Any suggestion for this problem?
Addition: OS: 10.7.4(Lion)

I turns out that the logic board of my MacBook Pro was faulty (despite being brand new).
I took it to the Apple Store, presented the problem, and one of the Tech's came to the same conclusion that I had -- hardware failure. Phone support was no help in the matter (and even told me that what I was trying to do wasn't a supported option, which is rediculous). However, the Genius Bar did take care of the problem, and my MacBook Pro was back to me with a replaced logic board within a few days.
Hope that htis helps.

Macbook pro OS 10.7.5, what is the best external back up drive to use with it?

Hi
I have a Macbook pro OS 10.7.5 and am looking for an external back up drive. What external back up drives do people recommend?

T4444 wrote:
Hi
I have a Macbook pro OS 10.7.5 and am looking for an external back up drive. What external back up drives do people recommend?
We don't know which MBP you have so start by establishing what ports you have on the MBP that you can connect an external drive to. It'll have USB ports, but if they're USB 2.0, a full, bootable backup could take a very long time. If it's USB 3.0, backups can go a lot quicker. The USB external HD's are common and relatively inexpensive. If you have a Thunderbolt port, that's very fast but the externals compatible with it tend to be more expensive.
If it's just USB 2.0 and Firewire, Firewire is faster but is being phased out. USB 2.0 is backward compatible with USB 3.0 so when you upgrade to a newer MBP, a USB 3.0 external can plug right in.
Also, unless the external must be really portable, look for one that has a separate power source rather than drawing power from the connection to the Mac, since some externals need more power than the Mac is able or willing to supply.

How do I get iTunes songs which were downloaded from external back-up drive to play on new computer and is there a way to get my play lists back?

When I try to play a song from my re-installed iTunes library, I get the error message: "Song xxx could not be played because original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" > "Locate" or "Cancel." When I click on "Locate" I can't figure out how to get the song to play from any of the places that were "located." The path is C:\users\Janet\libraries\music\iTunes
However, iTunes songs chosen from my library will play in iTunes (current version) when I have the external back-up drive plugged in! I recently copied my backed-up iTunes library from my external back-up drive to a new computer.
Most of the songs, but not all, magically appear in Windows Media Player and I can play those just fine.
I can see my iTunes library in the newest version of iTunes, recently downloaded to new computer, but can't play songs without connecting to the external back-up drive - so maybe there is something else on that external drive that needs to be on my C: drive?
I am using an HP Pavillion Notebook, Windows 7, 64-bit. My previous computer was Windows Vista. Before Vista, I had XP.
Back when I had XP, I wanted to purchase some songs to download to my computer. Because iTunes had the ability, I used it to create a massive library of songs, most of which were ripped from my CDs. I don't have an iPod and iTunes worked fine for creating playlists and then burning them to CDs.
Also, I'd like to know if there is a way to get back my playlists.
And another thing - in the older version of iTunes, there was a folder in the lists on the left-hand side of the screen where I could click to see all the songs I had purchased. I'd like to get that ability back if possible.
In hindsight, iTunes was probably not the best choice for me to build my music library in a Windows operating system, but it seemed to be the best choice at the time. I really wish I could convert all the songs to mp3 format.
I have been working with computers since the days of DOS, black and white screens, and no mice. The first computer I bought for my own use at home was a Mac and it had "Flying Toasters" as a screensaver. (I miss that screensaver.) It did not have a tower and I believe they called it a laptop, even though the thing was as big as a suitcase and probably weighed around 30 pounds. However, I am by no means a computer expert. In other words, pretend you're trying to tell your mother how to do what I am asking. =)
Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.

I copied the iTunes file from the external drive and it's in both places. I thought all I would need is the iTunes program (which I downloaded to new computer) and my iTunes library file. There must be something else that's missing. My iTunes library looks the same on the new computer as it does when I open it on the external drive. If I click on an iTunes library song from my new computer, it will only play if I have the external drive plugged in.
My back-up drive is a mess. I have multiple copies of music, video, photo, and document files and I don't know how that happened. ={ Obviously, I don't know how to back up stuff properly and there are back-up files extending over a 6- to 8-year period. I think all I did was just drag and drop the main folders from the back-up drive to the same main folders on the C: drive. Also (and I'm kind of fuzzy on this) Windows used to automatically save music files in a folder within my document files (which makes no sense to me). As my Jewish friends would say, "Oy Vey!"

Since installing Lion, I have not been able to utilize Time Machine (does not recognize the back-up drive); my wireless mouse does not function properly; I have experienced unreasonable delays in the system. Is there a fix or upgrade coming?

Is there a fix or upgrade to deal with the many problems I am experiencing since I installed Lion? I can no longer utilize Time Machine (Does not see the back-up drive); my wireless mouse does not work properly; my iMac has slowed down considerably. I am reminded of having a PC machine again. Bummer!

Either downgrade to Snow Leopard or try reinstalling Lion.
Reinstalling Lion Without the Installer
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alterhatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You can also re-download the Lion installer by opening the App Store application. Hold down the OPTION key and click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should now see an active Install button to the right of your Lion purchase entry. There are situations in which this will not work. For example, if you are already booted into the Lion you originally purchased with your Apple ID or if an instance of the Lion installer is located anywhere on your computer.
Downgrade Lion to Snow Leopard
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
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. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
This will erase the whole drive so be sure to backup your files if you don't have a backup already. If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard (see below.) I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.1.
If you have Snow Leopard Time Machine backups, do a full system restore per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. If you have subsequent backups from Lion, you can restore newer items selectively, via the "Star Wars" display, per #15 there, but be careful; some Snow Leopard apps may not work with the Lion files.

ITunes will not recognise my CD/DVD drive

iTunes will not recognise my CD/DVD drive but other windows programs does

Here's the info
Microsoft Windows 7 x64 Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)
System manufacturer System Product Name
iTunes 10.2.2.12
QuickTime 7.6.9
FairPlay 1.11.17
Apple Application Support 1.5.1
iPod Updater Library 10.0d2
CD Driver 2.2.0.1
CD Driver DLL 2.1.1.1
Apple Mobile Device 3.4.0.25
Apple Mobile Device Driver 1.55.0.0
Bonjour 2.0.5.0 (214.3)
Gracenote SDK 1.8.2.457
Gracenote MusicID 1.8.2.89
Gracenote Submit 1.8.2.123
Gracenote DSP 1.8.2.34
iTunes Serial Number 0040B0400138AD20
Current user is not an administrator.
The current local date and time is 2011-05-02 23:12:22.
iTunes is not running in safe mode.
WebKit-accelerated compositing is enabled.
HDCP is supported.
Core Media is supported.
Video Display Information
ATI Technologies Inc., ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series
**** External Plug-ins Information ****
No external plug-ins installed.
iPodService 10.2.2.12 (x64) is currently running.
iTunesHelper 10.2.2.12 is currently running.
Apple Mobile Device service 3.3.0.0 is currently running.
**** CD/DVD Drive Tests ****
No drivers in LowerFilters.
UpperFilters: GEARAspiWDM (2.2.0.1),
B: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22LS50, Rev TL03
Audio CD in drive.
Found 16 songs on CD, playing time 62:58 on Audio CD.
Track 1, start time 00:02:33
Track 2, start time 03:16:25
Track 3, start time 07:08:50
Track 4, start time 10:59:65
Track 5, start time 15:38:50
Track 6, start time 19:56:65
Track 7, start time 24:21:48
Track 8, start time 28:47:25
Track 9, start time 32:04:43
Track 10, start time 36:14:23
Track 11, start time 40:20:10
Track 12, start time 44:06:20
Track 13, start time 47:14:20
Track 14, start time 51:00:68
Track 15, start time 56:10:15
Track 16, start time 58:42:55
Audio CD reading succeeded.
Get drive speed succeeded.
The drive CDR speeds are: 4 8 16 24 32 40 48.
The drive CDRW speeds are: 4.
The drive DVDR speeds are: 4.
The drive DVDRW speeds are: 4.
The diagnosits can see the drive under 'Optical drive detected' and passes all the tests but it does not show up under 'Devices' (on the left hand panel). I've tried repair under Control Pane/Uninstall a program (twice) removed and re-installed iTunes. I don't believe the problem lies with my drive OR Windows as the drive is visable in all my other programs (Windows Media Player, Windows Explorer, RealPlayer + all my other software that can access a drive.

I recovered my back up via a wired connection. now Time Machine does not recognise older back ups wirelessly and wants to do a first back up

I recovered a back up from my time machine via a wired connection after getting the 'white screen of death'. Now Time Machine does not recognise any back ups on the time machine when connected wirelessly and wants to do a first back up of the whole machine. How do I get my mac to recognise these older back ups? It connects to the wifi network the time machine creates fine, with the same name and password.

I recommend the following.
1. Reset the TC to factory.
Universal Factory Reset.. any model TC or AE.
Unplug your TC/AE from power or turn off at the power point.
Hold in reset. and power the TC/AE back on.. all without releasing reset and keep holding in for about 10sec. (this is often difficult without a 2nd person or a 3rd arm).
Release it when the status light flashes rapidly. If it doesn’t flash rapidly you have missed it and try again.
Note..
Be Gentle! Feel the switch click on. It has a positive feel.. add no more pressure after that.
TC/AE will reboot after a couple of minutes with default factory settings and will wipe out previous configurations of the router.
No files are deleted on the hard disk in a TC.. No reset of the TC deletes files.. to do that you use erase from the airport utility.
2. Rename the TC to SMB standard.
That means short names.. 2-20 characters but less than 10 is excellent. eg TCGenx (use number for x that is actual generation of the TC)
No spaces.
Pure alphanumeric. No apostrophe.
3. Ensure IPv6 is set to link-local..
Do the same thing for ethernet if that is used.
4. Manually mount the TC disk in Finder.
Use Go in the top menu.. connect to server.
Type in
AFP://TCname.local (where TCname is your new short name for the TC and local is default domain .. it helps using the domain I found).
You will then find the computer either can or cannot find the network resource.. if it fails something else is wrong with the actual network and you will need to fix that.
It will request the password if it is found.. password is public by default unless you changed it.. type in the password and check to keep it in your keychain.
5. Delete current TM setup and redo it with the newly named TC.
See A4 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
If your backups cannot be found, try B6 again, now that you actually know that the disk has been properly discovered.

HT201250 Time Machine cannot find my external back-up drive when I click on the "select disk" button. No drive is found. I have run a Time Machine back-up to this external drive in the past. I'm on the latest version of Snow Leopard. Thank you!

Time Machine cannot find my external back-up drive when I click on the "select disk" button. No drive is listed. I have run a Time Machine back-up to this external drive in the past. Any suggestions

Does the disk appear in Disk Utility?

How to remove hard drive to create external back-up drive

All,
I have an old Powerbook G4 that has seen better days... I'd like to take the hard drive out of it an make myself an external back up drive.
Has anyone done this?
Lindsay

That should function just fine, with one possible exception. Some very old 2.5" HD's were up to 12.5mm tall (and now at least one of the newest high capacity/300GB drives is over 10, but you don't have to worry about that in your case), and as the specs for this particular case state, it can accept a max height of 10mm. I don't know if Apple ever used 12mm drives in TiBooks, but I don't think so. Even my older Pismo HD is 9 or 9.5mm.
And from your OP, it sounds like you're retiring the TiBook and using its HD as backup for your new MB, which has USB2, so as you say, speed shouldn't be a concern in that situation.

Back-up to an external Back-up drive

Thanks for your helpful questions and posts. I'm trying to backup my IPod to an external back-up hard drive. I cannot change the option from back up to CD or DVD. Has anyone completed a back-up to an external back up hard drive? My external back-up drive is a Western Digital external Hardrive. Thanks for your help.

In the Advanced section of the iTunes preferences, set the music library's location to the internal drive, consolidate the library, and then copy the music folder over outside of iTunes. If there isn't enough space on the internal drive to store the library, the external drive needs to be plugged in.
(29630)

Macbook Pro cannot recognise external drive

Hi,
Been having issues with screen on Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo where the picture became whitewashed. Advice from genius bar was to save all my data to an external drive using time machine, and then erase the disk and re-install Lion OS X 10.7.5
So, i backd up the disk onto an Iomga eGo Helium which i've been using regularly for a couple of years as my back up drive on a regular basis. That done went to disk utility, erased the MacBook Pro drive and re-installed Lion
Issue with the screen now resolved - great - but when i plugged my iomega drive in the MacPro didn't recognise it.
Arrgh. 8yr worth of music, photos and stuff on there!
So far have tried plugging the drive into another Apple Mac and PC without success
Changing the USB2,0 cable also didn't work
Disk utility shows the external drive is there, but no partitions or data present.
Any ideas out there please?
Ian K

IanKennedy72 wrote:
So far have tried plugging the drive into another Apple Mac and PC without success
Changing the USB2,0 cable also didn't work
Disk utility shows the external drive is there, but no partitions or data present.
Any ideas out there please?
Ian K
Read the user manual that came with the external drive - troubleshooting section. Or call Iomega's tech support or visit their support website.

New Macbook Air wont recognise external HDD

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OK forget It , the HD started to work spontaneously..... i guess 236 times is the charm

NEW MACBOOK AIR WONT RECOGNISE EXTERNAL HD NOW !

Well, I am almost on the verge of giving up - not only will this new MACBOOK AIR not link to the AIRPORT it also wont open my external hard drive with all my back up data on it.
I am in despair , I cant see the external hard drive in Disc Utilities , (its plugged into the mains ) and I am feeling less than impressed with this new machine - nothing works on it at all and I just cant recover anything from my back ups - we have the need for backing up drilled into us so why when I do everything I should, does this new machine not respond - the old one has no problems at all but I need to run a network now .
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KarryGee
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You didnt mention that initially, if the data on the HD came from a PC, then the HD is likely NTFS formatted and cannot be used with your Mac.
Youll need another HD and format same in EXFAT for read/write from/to both PC and MAC, however if you plan on using time machine with your Mac, the drive will need to be formatted in Mac OSX ext. journlaed (HFS+).
Please specify what your "older machine" is?
You said---"but I have just tried to access my recovered HD on my old machine and I no longer can"
if your older machine is a Mac, then it is likely that the WD software in conjunction with Mavericks has caused data corrupted (as in the links mentioned above).
If your older machine IS a PC, then the HD has likely failed OR MORE likely the SATA bridge card has failed.
You said---has completly ruined 7 years of work
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Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD

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Macbook is not recognising external back up drive

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