*** My external HD's won't show up

I am having a problem finding my external HD's on my desktop. The beach ball was spinning so I had to manually shut down my computer, and when I restarted, my 4 external HD's don't appear anymore. Where do I go from here?

Is your data backed up? Analyzing this may require a hard drive repair tool. These symptoms can be something as simple as a directory issue, or as bad as a dying hard drive, or the need for an updated firmware for the drive. But without a backup, we wouldn't want to run the wrong tool on the wrong issue.

Similar Messages

  • After installing snow leopard my external hard drive won't show up on screen or backup

    Afer installing leopard my external hard drive won't show up on my desk top.  It also won't backup my hard drive with time machine. I need help.

    Try going to finder preferences, general, make sure show these items on desktop external disks is clicked. You can also go to sidebar (same pane) and click it there so it will show when you open your HD.  Time Machine>system preferences>time machine>turn it off click select disk, make sure the correct disk is selected, the turn TM back on.  Hope this helps.

  • My external hard drive won't show up on my MacBook Pro

    So, I'm trying to transfer my music from my PC to my MacBook Pro. I put all my music on an external hard drive, but for some reason when I plug it into my MacBook it won't show up on the desk top. I've already changed my preferences in Finder so that hard drives and disks will show on the desktop, but still nothing. I looked in utilities to see if the hard drive was there, and still nothing. The hard drive is a Toshiba and is fairly new, the light goes on when I plug it into my laptop, so I'm very confused. Can anyone help me with my predicament?

    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?
    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.

  • My external hard drive won't show up on the desktop!!

    Alright!
    I bought a 250Go external hard disk at the same time as my alumnium iMac around september 2007. Since then I had no problems.
    I also created partitions on my hard disk:
    1 - Mac = Mac OS extended (Journaled) 202 Go
    2 - PC = MS-DOS (Fat) 30 Go
    When I turn on on my hard disk, both icons usually appear on my desktop but since yesterday, ONLY my PC icon appear.
    I went in the Disk Utility and it seems that the MAC partition is always here but won't show up on the desktop. It's like it's become invisible or something.
    Should I be worried? Because I use the MAC partition to back up all my files with Time Machine.
    I find it annoying so anybody can help me out? Thanks!!

    Patrick, I have same issue with my (Intel) MacBook's internal HD. Tried your Script solution but recv'd Systems Events ERROR "Can't set disk "MacBook HD" to true".
    The (missing) HD is Boot Camp Partitioned and running Fusion. BTW, Fusion/WinXP will no longer open - "File not Found" error. Also, I didn't immediately notice the disappearance because my MacBook started booting from one of ext HD's (w/o me changing the startup drive).
    Any ideas greatly appreciated. I haven't tried the Terminal solutions posted since I'm not Terminal savey.

  • New external hard drive won't show up in disk utilities...

    I have a 2010 macbook pro 13" and just bought a 1tb toshiba canvio external hard drive.
    The hard drive itself has a USB 3.0 hub running out of it and the specifications say that it needs to run into at least a 2.0 hub, which I have.
    I know I will need to reformat the external drive to get it to work on a mac, but it won't show up at all when I plug it in... the drive starts spinning but there is no recognition by my mac.
    Does anyone know what this is and how to fix it?

    So far all MacBook users have been able to use this drive as a USB 2.0 by using a USB 2.0 cable with a micro usb connector (same as smartphones, Kindle, Nook) on one end. Connect the micro connector to the opening on the left side of the USB 3.0 connector on the Canvio - if you look closely you'll see that side is exactly like the USB 2.0 micro receptacle. That's all you need to connect as a USB 2.0 - the other connections are for USB 3.0 which no Apple system has yet (Dec 2011).  Connect the other end (a standard USB type A plug) to your MacBook and it will work. If you want to use it for Time Machine, you'll have to reformat it. None of the supplied software will work with Mac  You can read more at this thread:
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3510032?start=0&tstart=0

  • HELP! External hard drive won't show up in finder!

    Last night, I was updating my macbook (from August 2008, still runs on leopard) and it needed to restart. I forgot to eject my LaCie Porsche 1tb external hard drive first and, when it rebooted, I got the error of death (aka "disk was not ejected..."). When connected to the USB port, the drive lights up, I can hear it spinning, but it won't show up in finder and I can't see it in Disk Utility to repair it (after the first error of death, the computer wouldn't even acknowledge that I had the drive plugged in). I've tried plugging it into the different USB ports and even on a different macbook, but no luck in getting the computer to recognize it long enough to use Disk Utility or DiskWarrior. Any tips on how I can get my macbook to read the drive again?

    If the external hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility when connected to two or more different computers, then the problem is with the hard drive, it is broken. Get a new one.

  • My external hard drive won't show up on my macbook air, and my iPhone when connected won't show up as connected in iTunes, help

    When I connect my external hard drive to my MB Air it is to recognizing it. It did 2 days ago and it is compatible I have been using it for a month now. Also when I connect my iPhone 6 to it, it won't show up in iTunes anymore......please help

    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?
    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.

  • USB external hard drive won't show up in Lion

    My external USB hard drive won't show up in Finder, even though it's visible in both the Disk Utility, which says the drive is fine, and in Terminal.
    How can I get it mounted?  I have researched the issue and found no solution.It disappeared while I was downloading IOS6. 
    It has all my iTunes and iPhoto files!
    Many thanks

    I have a very similar issue.  I have a seagate external usb drive 500 GB that is partitioned.  One FAT 32 the other MAC OS Extended (Journaled).  It has suddenly for no apparent reason stopped being able to mount the Mac OS volume.  The FAT 32 vol. works fine.  Disk Utility says that it is fine when I do a repair or verity etc. When I click on mount, it won't work. It says mount failed. Try running First Aid on the disk and then retry mounting.  Same thing happens once that is done. ??????Any ideas?????

  • External Hard Drive Won't Show Up

    Hello.
    I have a Toshiba Canvio Connect HDTC605XK3A1, a little more than three years old. It's a 3.0 HDD and I've been using a 2.0 USB wire instead of the 3.0 wire, it works fine, but since it's not connected in that other connector, it can be loose and the HDD does turn off. So, I finally got a 3.0 wire for it so it doesn't turn on and off by a little movement but now I don't see the HDD in my finder? This is strange because it works with the 2.0 wire. The light on the HDD is a different color as well, it's blue instead of white. Nothing in the manual indicates what this means, I've also searched online to see what it means, can't find anything. Does anyone know why it won't show up in my finder? It won't show up in the disk utility as well and when I go to the terminal and type in "diskutil list," it doesn't come up.

    I've used two different 3.0 USB wires, both with the same results.

  • External Hard Disc won't show

    My iMac hard disc is getting full so I bought an external hard disk. I changed my iTunes folder over to the external hard disc without any trouble and removed the old iTunes music folder as per directions. After that iTunes played fine, the next day when I turned on my iMac the iTunes music folder had reverted back to my iMac's hard disk, and the external hard disk no longer shows. I opened Disk Utility and the external disk shows there but when I try verify disk or repair disk i get "FIRST AID FAILED, Disk Utility stopped repairing “disk1s1” because the following error was encountered: The underlying task reported failure on exit."
    Can anyone help, i have moved other data to the external drive also and its no lonfer in my iMac hard disk meaning if I have to send the external disk away for looking at I'll likely lose everything on it.

    I think what you need to do is get a second external hard disk to attempt to recover data off that drive before you do anything else by using Subrosasoft Filesalvage to do the recovery.
    External drives are best used as backup. If your itnernal hard drive is becoming too full, you need to know how to better manage your data, or get a larger internal hard drive. My FAQs* here should help you:
    http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
    http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html
    Good luck!
    - * Links to my pages may give me compensation.
    Message was edited by: a brody

  • My Passport External Hard Drive won't show up

    I've been using a My Passport external hard drive for the past two years, and it's always worked perfectly fine. All my files are on it since my Macbook Air can't fit much. But just recently, I plugged it in and the disk runs, and the LED light flashes, but it doesn't show up on my computer at all. What should I do? I don't think it's a bad cable because otherwise it wouldn't run at all.

    There is also a chance that the cable may have a poor
    connection, as there are several contacts inside and
    the cable ends may not be making a connection. As
    power to run the device may get there, data may not.
    A spare known-good cable is also something to try;
    be sure to follow the shutdown/restart as previously
    suggested since the device may not appear correctly
    should it be disconnected improperly, at any time.
    A shutdown (then dis or reconnect) lessens the likeli-
    hood of there being an error message, or loss of the
    ability to use the external drive at all. When it doesn't
    appear on the desktop at all, you have to be careful.
    Good luck

  • Third external drive that won't show up!  OS or time machine  issues?

    Hi,
    This is driving me crazy...
    This is my third seagate drive manifesting similar issues which leads me to believe maybe there is an issue not with the drive, but with my operating system (maybe Time Machine)??
    My original extenral drive (set up to be backed up using time machine) one day would no longer show up in finder.  (My macbook pro still under warranty; I went to Apple genuises.  Drive at first took a while to power up, then next try didn't.   It wouldn't "mount," they showed me in Disk Utility.  They said problem was the drive.  I returned drive and got a "new" refurbished replacement as I was still under seagate warranty also. 
    Then same thing with next one, showed up at first to do back-ups then intermittently--and then, it, too wouldn't even power up.  Returned that one.
    NOW I HAVE A REFURBISHED REPLACEMENT THAT DID ONE SUCCESSFUL BACKUP AND TODAY, PLUGGED IN AS USUAL, WILL NEITHER POWER UP NOR SHOW UP IN FINDER.  (I have tried numerous outlets, btw).
    I won't go into the whole story, but in case it's relevant: I have had major issues for over a year with Time Machine (since updating to Mountain Lion and changing my internal HD). Time Machine can't find my time capsule disk.  There were other system failure problems with my computer which after my HD was wiped out TWICE have not recurred; nor were they ever clearly diagnosed. 
    Could the above string of issues be a software problem with Time Machine (or my operating system) causing all the rest of the issues???
    I was about to box up the second Seagate and return it!  Now the identical problem showing itself with the new one!!!  What to do??  (Because TC not being found and this disk not showing, I have no backups I can rely on at the moment...  Makes me very nervous.  (I am going to look into clones etc. but want option for successful TM backup as well.
    Thanks!

    just want to add, that these are Seagate drives for MAC:  Free Agent GoFlex 2 TB.
    I have disconnected.  Rebooted computer, reconnected.  To no avail. 
    Have checked with firewire and power cords from second and new drive in varying combinations.  No powering up.  no showing up in Finder.  (I did install the software that came with the new drive.
    Also, when I just tried to back up via TM it looked for the seagate that I have just erased with a 3-pass security, preparing it to return to Seagate.  I wanted to delete it from list of back up disks in TM and it does not give me option to do that.
    So now, I have two big check marks, one next to Time Capsule and one next to the second seagate in TM preferences telling me that disks are not available.  (Btw--after not finding Time Capsule for months, one day, TM was able to findTC and did a back up two weeks ago, then couldn't find it anymore after that. 
    Just wanted to give full picture.

  • External HD suddenly won't show up in finder

    I have an Iomega external HD that I've had connected to my iMac for several years now. All of a sudden, it has disappeared from the finder. System Report shows it is connected, but neither rebooting the computer, the HD nor both has caused it to reappear. It contains my iTunes library and iTunes can't find it either. I connected it to my wife's iMac, also running mountain lion, with the same results. I've connected it via firewire and USB. My Focusrite audio/midi interface is connected to my iMac via this HD and shows up, but doesn't work.
    I've tried disk utility. It shows, but under the name of the HD, the name I gave it, "music", is grayed out and the Mount Point is "not mounted". Verify Disk says it is okay. Trying to mount it returns the message:
    The disk “Music ” could not be mounted.
    Try running First Aid on the disk and then retry mounting.
    Running First Aid again doesn't change anything. Any ideas? If the disk is dead, can I get my data from it to another disk? 
    Kevin

    I have an Iomega external HD that I've had connected to my iMac for several years now. All of a sudden, it has disappeared from the finder. System Report shows it is connected, but neither rebooting the computer, the HD nor both has caused it to reappear. It contains my iTunes library and iTunes can't find it either. I connected it to my wife's iMac, also running mountain lion, with the same results. I've connected it via firewire and USB. My Focusrite audio/midi interface is connected to my iMac via this HD and shows up, but doesn't work.
    I've tried disk utility. It shows, but under the name of the HD, the name I gave it, "music", is grayed out and the Mount Point is "not mounted". Verify Disk says it is okay. Trying to mount it returns the message:
    The disk “Music ” could not be mounted.
    Try running First Aid on the disk and then retry mounting.
    Running First Aid again doesn't change anything. Any ideas? If the disk is dead, can I get my data from it to another disk? 
    Kevin

  • External Hard Drive won't show.

    I use a FreeAgent GoFlex (Seagate) Hard Drive, I've previously used it on a Dell computer without any issues but when i plug it into  my MacBook Air the hard drive shows in finder but when i click on it it's empty, i've tried to make it compatible with Mac with the help of youtube and google but nothing works and i need this content on the hard drive for my school work like yesterday so if you know how i can fix this problem fast, please comment.

    Honestly I've no idea, i've done so much with it today.. But if you have any clue on to how i can fix it just comment..

  • My external hard drive won't show up anymore.

    It worked perfectly yesterday, but today it wont show up on the desktop or in disk utility at all. I have windows 8 on a bootcamp partition in parallels. if i connect it while my VM is open it asks whether to connect it to my mac or my boot camp. If i connect it to the mac, same as before. if i connect it to boot camp then it works just fine. What can i do?
    Edit: It is formatted as exFAT so it should work properly on mac and windows.
    Edit: I just connected it to my roommate's laptop (also a macbook pro) and it worked just fine.

    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?
    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.

Maybe you are looking for