My external hard drive has stopped working on my MacBook Pro

Hi guys,
So my hard drive, which was working earlier today, no longer registers when I plug it into my Mac. It flashes once and then stops, and it does not appear anywhere on my laptop. It still works in other laptops so I know it is not dead and other USB drives etc still register on my laptop.
I have read through the other discussions but nothing quite fits my situation. If anyone has any sort of information or advice that may help, I would very much appreciate it! Thank you.

Basically my external hard drive would not eject so i force quit it and the hard drive does not come up at all anywhere on my mac pro OS X version 10.9.4 and it isn't visible in disk utilities no and it doesn't say format either and i have tried it on a windows computer it does not show on their either. the format is Fatdos i think so i can use it on windows and mac and i cant see anything in system reports and yes it is connect by a USB. also it isn't making any noises either

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My External Hard Drive used to work on my Macbook Pro but it has now stopped working?

I was using a Seagate Expansion Portable Drive which used to work on my mac just fine.
but lately the hard drive will start humming once I connect it to the mac and then but it wont show up under devices and the blue light on the hard drive wont light up.
I have checked my USB ports, and they are all working fine.
If somebody knows the answer to this question would you please help
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One can't read the other.
Just to be clear Mac's can read/write FAT32 but windows cannot use OS X Extended. So to use a drive on both systems it needs to be formatted FAT32
FAT32 does have limitations and possibly the best solution is to use NTFS, a more modern, robust filesystem. The drawback here is that OS X does not natively read NTFS so a third party kernel extension is needed.

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If you're having issues with the display out on your MacBook Pro, you may want to take a look at the troubleshooting steps in the following article:
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WD Smartware, external hard drive back up not recognized by Macbook Pro

I use WD external hard drive as back up for my Macbook Pro using WD Smartware. All software is upto date but when I plug in my external hard drive it is now not recognised by my Mac. It does not appear in Finder or Disk Utility but it does show up in System Profiler. It has worked fine until now. I have changed the UCB cables multiple times, the external WD hard drive has its own power suppy and other external hard drives work in the same usb port. When I plug the external drive into a PC it is recognised but obviously will not let me use it. When I go to access via the PC it prompts me for the password to open the drive, however when I plug into my Mac, when I click on 'unlock drive' its says that the drive is not locked. The WD Smartware software runs to check the files on my Mac but after categorising them the 'back up' option is not highlighted and it will not access the external WD drive.
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My Book 1110:    Capacity:     804.4 MB (804,421,632 bytes)   Removable Media:     Yes   Detachable Drive:     Yes   BSD Name:     disk1   Product ID:     0x1110   Vendor ID:     0x1058 (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)   Version:     20./My Book 1110:    Capacity: 804.4 MB (804,421,632 bytes)   Removable Media: Yes   Detachable Drive: Yes   BSD Name: disk1   Product ID: 0x1110   Vendor ID: 0x1058 (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)   Version: 20.18   Serial Number: 574341565931323033383539   Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec   Manufacturer: Western Digital   Location ID: 0xfd130000 / 5   Current Available (mA): 500   Current Required (mA): 2   Partition Map Type: Unknown   S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported   Volumes:   Capacity: 700.4 MB (700,448,768 bytes)   Writable: No   BSD Name: disk1s0   Capacity: 32 KB (32,256 bytes)   Writable: No   BSD Name: disk1s0s1 WD SmartWare:   Capacity: 229.7 MB (229,672,960 bytes)   Available: Zero KB   Writable: No   File System: HFS    BSD Name: disk1s0s2   Mount Point: /Volumes/WD SmartWare18   Serial Number:     574341565931323033383539   Speed:     Up to 480 Mb/sec   Manufacturer:     Western Digital   Location ID:     0xfd130000 / 5   Current Available (mA):     500   Current Required (mA):     2   Partition Map Type:     Unknown   S.M.A.R.T. status:     Not Supported   Volumes:   Capacity:     700.4 MB (700,448,768 bytes)   Writable:     No   BSD Name:     disk1s0   Capacity:     32 KB (32,256 bytes)   Writable:     No   BSD Name:     disk1s0s1 WD SmartWare:   Capacity:     229.7 MB (229,672,960 bytes)   Available:     Zero KB   Writable:     No   File System:     HFS+   BSD Name:     disk1s0s2   Mount Point:     /Volumes/WD SmartWare

mjunder Hong Kong
   I use WD external hard drive as back up for my Macbook Pro using WD Smartware.
To be a parrot,.......REMOVE the WD garbageware.
Western Digital warned its users about its OWN software couple months ago.
Remove ANY and ALL WD software products.

My WD 2tb external hard drive will not unmount from my MacBook Pro.

My WD 2tb external hard drive will not unmount from my MacBook Pro. It no longer even shows up in finder, however it does show up in Disk Utility. I have tired so many of the suggestions on the internet all to a fail.
I keep getting the message to be sure that all applications are closed before ejecting the drive. I have no clue how to tell which appliactions are using the external drive to shut them off. I turned off Time Machiene to be safe.
I don't need anything on the external drive, I am just trying to erase it, save my current info, and migrate it to my new MacBook Pro.
I have been about four days now with this issue all over the internet, in this community, and watching videos on everything and nothing about this topic to a fail.
I think I am doomed and have lossed this external drive because of some wierd application that will NEVER close on my hard drive for it to disconnect correctly. It's annoying.
Does anyone have a solution?

Have you trie using another USB port? Can you test the USB ports with other USB devices to assure they are working? You may want to reinstall OS X in case there has been a driver glitch.
Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
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. 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 installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

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Im familiar with that HD, I have one currently disassembled for just the bare HD...., it has a removable SATA bridge, if the HD wont spin up but the light comes on, on the HD, then the SATA bridge is bad.
If it appears in disk utility and the light comes on BUT the HD doesn't spin up, then either the SATA bridge is dead, or the HD is dead (least likely).
Youd have to crack open the HD, remove the SATA bridge cart thats plugged into the HD and put the HD into an enclosure or a HD dock to get the data
those external HD use a 50 cent SATA bridge famous for failing. The curse of all the good HD externals is the junk 3rd party SATA bridges attached to them that crash and burn.
It doesn't matter it was used once and stored away for 5 years,.....HD lose their ferromagnetic properties at about 20-40% at 4-6 years.
And if stored in a hot place, a LOT more.

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okay. the "My Music" folder has special registry properties in Windows, so the problems have probably been caused by the registry losing track of where it is.
The best place to start with that one is with the following document:
iTunes for Windows: "Disk is locked" or "iTunes folder cannot be found" when installing or opening iTunes
… but if you run into the complication where “My Music” doesn’t appear as an option in TweakUI, perhaps try the alternate procedure from the following Nigel Carpenter post:
Nigel Carpenter: re: Itunes problem

My hard drive has stopped working

Last night I woke my computer from it's sleep mode. I was able to view my desktop but everything froze and I was not able to reboot the computer. So I shut it off manually. When I turned my computer back on, it did not take me to my desktop and OSX did not start. I did some investigative work and tested my hardware with the hardware disk I have. It said everything was fine. So the next step I took was to insert the OSX Tiger disk. It then prompted to install the operating system but only gave me my external hard drive as an option.
I have since reinstalled the OS and I can use my computer but my internal hard drive isn't mounting and I cannot access any of the files I had saved on it. Does this mean my hard drive crashed or is there a way to access it that I haven't thought of?

I don't have any personal experience of DiskWarrior, but it does get recommended for that task regularly on these boards. Use the disk as little as possible each write action performs reduces the data you can recover.
What went wrong during the software update?
regards
mrtotes

External hard drive documents not read on a MacBook Pro

Hi all,
I use my external hard drive to save a document from another PC computer last week when I plugged it back on my Mac the documents cannot be read on a Mac as it says they are not supports by apps software or search for application that will open those files.
I have all the documents which I copy from my previous Toshiba Laptop which was windows7 but is there way to clean the external drive on Mac without loosing all the document? or how do I format my external hard disk on MacBook Pro?
Jok2

You can copy these documents to the internal drive of your MacBook Pro and then, format the external drive. If you want to use the external drive on Macs and PCs, I recommend you to format your external drive on a PC to use exFAT, better than NTFS or FAT32. You can also use FAT32 but it isn't compatible with files bigger than 4 GB, and NTFS disks can't be written on Macs. If you want to use this external drive only with your Mac, you can use Disk Utility to format the external drive using "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". Read > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU1.html
Depending on the application you used to create the documents on the PC, you have to install an application that reads these documents. For example, if you created these documents with Office, you can use Office for Mac, iWork or LibreOffice. Each one has got its advantages and disadvantages

What is the best external hard drive i can get for my macbook pro snowleopard?

my hard drive is full and i need an external drive
we dont have a mac store here so i went to radio shack and picked up a toshiba canvio 3.0 plus
all fine and good except the fellow at the store failed to notice i am a 60 year old grandmother
and probably wouldnt know how to install let alone use it or format or whatever it requires... no manual
no nuthin' : (
i dont even know how to get all the stuff i installed off the computer (i uninstalled the driver)
So! i need an external drive but i am not a computer scientist
i just need to plug and play ya know?
Doesnt apple make one and does it have a users manual or operating guide or
whatEVER they are choosing to call the directions this week??!!
the thing is i came into apple's site and the flipping stuff in the middle is moving so fast
i cant even find someplace that talks about external hard drives...
i just get my eyes focused on the new array and it flips to the next one
hope someone can help me
i dont even know if i can find my way back here
will bookmark it but if not....
my email is
by the way... why is it all getting harder as we progress in this techno adventure??
it used to be so easy
[email protected]
thanks
calling apple care tomorrow

the BEST that exists (fact, not opinion) are Hitachi
best options for the price, and high quality HD:
Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or $65 per TB on 2.5"
Perfect 1TB for $68
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba
Nice 500gig for $50. ultraslim perfect for use with a notebook
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb
BEST FOR THE COST, Toshiba "tiny giant" 15mm thick 2TB drive (have several of them, lots of storage in tiny package) $100
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379182740&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+toshiba
*This one is the BEST portable external HD available that money can buy:
HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive $88
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Mobile-Portable-External-0S03559/dp/B009GE6JI8/ref=sr _1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383238934&sr=8-1&keywords=HGST+Touro+Mobile+Pro+1TB+USB+3.0+7 2 00+RPM
Most storage experts agree on the Hitachi 2.5"
Hitachi is the winner in hard drive reliability survey:
Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the hundreds of Hitachi hard drives received, not a single one had failed due to manufacturing or design errors. Adding the highest average lifespans and the best relationship between failures and market share, Hitachi can be regarded as the winner.

The external hard drive is not recognized by my macbook pro (yosemite).

The external hard drive that was recognized by my older iMac (snow lion), is not recognized by my new macbook pro (yosemite).
Can anyone help me with this? Thank you!

Can you see the drive in Disk Utility?
See mount section in 1st linked article.
Disk Unmount Using Terminal
Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk

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No not do it changing preferences. That does as it says; it just relocates media, not the whole library which is more than media.
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the iTunes Library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.

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Kindly help.
Pls note my system is being run on safe mode, as there is a problem in the left shif key. Hence, while booting, it is automatically being shifted to the safe mode. I need to format the external HD, so that I can transfer to store my data.

If you want the drive to be able to both read and write on OS X and a Windows machine, you should format the drive as exFAT on the Windows machine. As to why the drive is not recognized when you boot into Safe Mode, that may be because the drive is formatted for another OS and it MAY BE that it's disabled when you run in Safe Mode (which disables a long list of things: see -> http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564?viewlocale=en_US).
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Good luck,
Clinton

My external hard drive has stopped working on my MacBook Pro

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