Macbook no longer recognises external hard drive

Hello,
My Macbook Air doesn't recognise my HDD when I plug it in, however my dell laptop does.
When I plug it in the light of the HDD turns on and starts 'working' normally (no bizarre noises).
When I open my parrellel network, Windows recognises it however I still cannot access the files or open it in a window.
Any recommendations?
Thank you

One, post this in a forum that handles hardware, not the Pages for Mac forum.
It sounds like you may have your HDD formatted in something unusual. Like a Linux format perhaps?
With the drive plugged in, open Disk Utility and see if it recognises it and tells you what the formatting is. Don't reformat it or you'll lose all your content.
Peter

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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 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

Macbook no longer seeing external hard drive

I have an Intel Macbook running 10.6.7. Yesterday I had two USB devices plugged in, one of them being my external hard drive. I started to unplug the hard drive by accident and quickly plugged it back in. However, I think this has now resulted in my Macbook no longer recognizing that device. I have turned the computer off with the device unplugged then turned it back on and plugged it in again, but it still doesn't see that drive. I've also tried changing ports, which didn't help, and the computer is able to see other devices using both ports. Any help?

Unplugging the hard drive itself from its power source (it's one that needs to be plugged into a wall outlet) solved the issue.

Every time I try to back up my Macbook Pro with an external hard drive using Time Machine, I receive the error of "the disk does not have enough space". I have a 500GB hard drive and only 120GB Macbook. It worked fine before the latest Maverick's

Every time I try to back up my Macbook Pro with an external hard drive using Time Machine, I receive the error of "the disk does not have enough space". I have a 500GB external hard drive and only 120GB Macbook. It worked fine before the latest Maverick's update. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My guess would be it has created an entirely new backup of your drive when you upgraded to Mavericks.
See Here: http://pondini.org/TM/1.html
And here: http://pondini.org/TM/9.html
Peruse the whole site. There is a lot of information there.

I cannot find videos (not movies) that i have transferred to my macbook pro from an external hard drive, these files used to be on my windows PC!

I cannot find videos (not movies) that i have transferred to my macbook pro from an external hard drive, these files used to be on my windows PC. Photos and a few of the videos came over but i am missing the majority of the videos. Help please!!! I have tried omnidisksweeper with no success in finding them.
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Read this post and do the migration again, putting the library in a portable shape first if necessary.
tt2

How to transfer data from macbook pro to an external hard drive, im using (WD 1TB 3.0) ???. I cannot copy anything from my mac to it not a single file.

how to transfer data from macbook pro to an external hard drive, im using (WD 1TB 3.0) ???. I cannot copy anything from my mac to it not a single file.

ok - since you'll be sharing it with a PC - connect it to your windows pc - then format from there - instead of NTFS format - choose exFAT.
or, you can read the link below on how to do it in dos mode.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/how-can-i-forma t-external-drive-in-exfat-not-in/0f6bf19a-19d6-4470-ae05-53ddf26bb476?msgId=1860 eae3-3488-4eea-8326-f87b89d9851b
once you've formatted it - you can now use it in both your macbook and windows computer.

Just baked up my macbook pro to an external hard drive. my computer died on me and i plugged it in and rebooted it ,started time machine and finished backing up but. just wondering if thats good or should i delete and restart

just baked up my macbook pro to an external hard drive. my computer died on me and i plugged it in and rebooted it ,started time machine and finished backing up but. just wondering if thats good or should i delete and restart

I wouldn't trust that backup.
Make sure the system is connected to AC and Do Over.

Trying to copy ANY file from my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive spins for 45 minutes then fails. I hate this computer and WISH I never would have wasted my money. Any ideas? WD My Passport 2TB Drive, had to buy a program to make the POS write

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This is one of the messages I keep getting; The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in -- File Whatever -- can’t be read or written.(Error code -36)
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I have stored everything on my Macbook pro in a external hard drive (Time Machine) Now that we have "wiped the machine" I am told I can start it over and load ontent--apps, docs, etc from the hard drive, just plug it in, find the time machine and what? I need to know what to highligh, what to click on.

hirogliffix,
take a look at this Apple page — in particular, the “Restoring data from Time Machine backups” section and its “Restoring your entire system from a backup” subsection.

How do i back up my macbook pro to an external hard drive?

how do i back up my macbook pro to an external hard drive?

schmunzelmonster, greetings; Your suggestion is a good one. CCC does create a boot drive which as you point out can be most useful at times. Time Machine does not have that capability but it retains a history of activities and transactions that CCC does not. CCC only retains information as of the last update.
Neither individually is the 'perfect' backup solution individually, but if both are utilized it becomes that. There is no harm in backup redundancy.
My only complaint about CCC is that is is very slow in performing updates compared with Time Machine. Just a nit on my part.
Ciao.

How can I backup my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive

How can I backup my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive?

Basic Backup
For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components:
1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences;
2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is
     used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine
     requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the
     drive being backed up.
Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files. For help with using Time Machine visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
1. Cool Drives
2. OWC
3. WiebeTech
4. Firewire Direct
5. California Drives
6. NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.

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.
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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.
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ITunes on Macbook Air doesn't recognise external hard drive once ejected

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Think ive just found the problem.
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Macbook no longer recognises external hard drive

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