My iMac has stopped recognising my external hard drive.

How do I get my iMac to recognise this external hard drive again?

Yes, while WD makes great drives in my experience, their enclosures & chipsets really don't do anybody justice.
Might try something like this...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/U3NVSPATA/

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My imac has stopped recognising my external HD

my imac has stopped recognising my external HD connected by USB. My macbook can read it. Is there some way of reset on the USB?

I would recommend doing the following two steps, as explained by our Expert User "rkaufmann87":
iMac SMC and PRAM reset:
SMC RESET
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
PRAM RESET
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Hope this helps

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]

Since updating to Lion the iMac won't recognise the external hard drive (maxtor) when waking from sleep mode,

Hi All, Since updating to Lion, my imac won't recognise the ext HDD (Maxtor) when waking from sleep mode, I have tried another port, diisc utility (Ext HDD not listed in here) but nothing works. I now find that I have to restart the imac to get the drive recognised..which is fine until the imac goes into sleep mode then I lose the drive and have to restart etc etc.....anyone suffering same issue. The Ext Drive worked perfectly until the upgrade..

Thanks for this, and apologies for delay in replying...in between seeing your post I backed up the ext hdd to another mac and used the disc utility to erase and repair and then re mounted the ext hdd. OK. I have then tested the ext hdd being recognised when waking from sleep mode a few times and everything appears to be fine. If this doesn't work (long term) I will follow the instructions as you have suggested....
I now have a new problem with my HP printer (Photosmart Plus) which is not being recognised by a new wireless router..Ok whilst the router is switch on and I have reconfigured the printer..but when the router is switched off overnight and then switched back on...I get a 'printer is not connected' message and have to go through the re configure routine all over. I am minded to think this is a router problem as the same issue is happening to my wifes Mac Book Pro (which is only a few weeks old)...any suggestions..

Tiger randomly stopped allowing my External Hard drive to mount and...

Hello, I have been using an External Hard Drive (1 terabyte Seagate, new) for a couple months if not a year by now for saving movies, and all of my iTunes on it. Its been working wonderfully. However it recently stopped being able to mount citing invalid hard drive and gives me the options of either eject, ignore, or initialize. Im not sure what to do. And also my computer has been acting funny every since the day it started. I will walk you through it step by step.
July 6th I was surfing the web and unfortunetly clicked on a link that aparently contained a trojan. Or atleast thats what my Antivirus notified me of. I had downloaded the trojan some how without a pop up or anything telling me I was downloading anything. (using safari) So i ran a virus scan and saw one virus was in my system and that it couldnt be deleted or repaired by my antivirus program, Im working on getting rid of that but at the time I had my Seagate 1 terabyte external hard drive attached via fire wire to my Macbook. It was working then.
Later that day I unplugged my hard drive and took my laptop around a little bit, nothing unusual. Then when i came back later that night I tried plugging in my hard drive and a pop up stated that the hard drive was unable to mount and I could either eject, ignore, or initilize. I tried may different routes, restarting, letting it all rest, etc. And in Disk Utility i try to verify the disc and it says its unable to and needs repairs. So I try repairing the disc and it says unable to due to an error.
Then yesterday I went to my applications and noticed none of my applications are there anymore. These applications were saved on the internal hard drive so it was very odd to me. However i can still use spotlight to find and open my apps.
My question is, What can I do to allow my external hard drive to mount? I dont figure it is the trojan on my system but could it be? If so how would I fix it? Im mostly worried about getting the data off the external hard drive then I can reformat it. Or if theres a way to just get it back to normal without reformatting Id love to hear it. As for the applications missing and the trojan on my internal hard drive I can fix that, at the very least Ill just reboot my system with my original OS Disc and just start fresh, its about time anyways.
But please. If anyone has ever had their external hard drive just stop mounting and figured out what to do I would be ever so grateful to hear how you did so. The hard drive itself isnt damaged, its not making any unusual sounds. Whenever i plug it into the computer it acts like normal (turning on and what not) until the computer tells me it cannot mount then nothing happens. Ive looked online and it seems to be a software issue.
If its any help I was downloading a torrent (.avi, no viruses) at the time. I know sometimes if one file on the hard drive becomes corrupt the whole thing becomes unusable. Regardless I would appreciate it if anyone knows a way to at the very least retreive the files on the drive, but preferably know how to just get it back to normal. If i could get it to force mount (via terminal or something) I know which file would possibly be the corrupt one or something so I could work with it.

Bejan:
Thanks for posting back with the pics of the messages from your computer. Disk Utility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing a volume is a directory error which cannot be repaired by Disk Utility. Unfortunately, Disk Warrior may not be able to replace the rebuilt directory, either. Tech Tool Pro has a better chance of repairing it, although this particular directory issue can be stubborn, and is often rooted in a hardware issue. Your surest bet is to backup/clone the information on the HDD using a utility like SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner, completely reformat and erase the HDD (directions below), then restore data from backup.
Formatting, Partitioning Erasing an External HDD
• Connect external HDD to computer
• Turn on external HDD
• Start up computer and log in
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility and launch DU.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select Partition tab in main panel.
• Click on Options button
• Select Apple Partition Map (PPC Macs) or GUID Partition Table (Intel Macs)
• Click OK
• Select number of partitions in pull-down menu above Volume diagram.
For more partitions than one, after you have selected the number of partitions adjust the size of the partition by selecting the top partition and typing in the size; then move down if more adjustments need to be made.
(See Dr. Smoke’s FAQ Backup and Recovery for tips on partitioning external HDD)
• Type in name in Name field (usually Macintosh HD)
• Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
• Select Erase tab
• Select the sub-volume (indented) under Manufacturer ID
• Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
• Click Erase button
• Repeat above procedure to erase each partition
• Quit Disk Utility.
cornelius

My computer doesn't recognise my external hard drive

My macbook doesn't seem to recognise my external hard drive (OS 10.8.3).
The hard drive connects to laptop via USB, but gets power from another plug in the wall. When I plug it in, its icon does not appear on desktop, or in Finder menu.
The hard drive works fine on my sisters laptop (Macbook, about 5 years old). Other storage devices work fine in my macbook, and appear rapidly on both desktop and finder menu when I insert them.
Have any of you encountered this before? Can you tell me how can I fix it???

Check out KB Article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10866 OS X Mountain Lion: If a CD or DVD doesn’t appear on the desktop

Why my new iMac won't read my external hard drive?

Why my new imac won't read my external hard drive??

Liz,
Sorry for not responding sooner, I support your position completely - as for the external drive I assumed that the individual was a previous mac user and knew about that (my mistake) at home I have a couple of external drives
one drive is acknowledged regardless of format (mac/win) its a partitioned drive.... the other one - far as the mac is concerned does exist when i connect it. I believe its a win only drive (will have to check the specs on it) but it works on the win-notebooks.
so my point of reference was coming that perspective, with no additional posts I have to assume you had the correct answer. have a great day.

I don't see a slot on the iMac to plug in my external hard drive. It only has usb ports and the one for plugging in the cable modem. Where/how do I plug it in?

new iMac, old external hard drive - where do I plug it in?

With this adaptor:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD464ZM/A/apple-thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapte r?fnode=51
it appears new iMacs can support FireWire.

Why won't my iMac recognise my external hard drive?

I have a new 2012 iMac 27" and it won't recongnise my external hard drive. It's a Seagate GoFlex desk adapter USB 3.0 and will not come up in Finder or Disk Utility. I'm new to Macs andk unsure what to do.

Are you correctly using one of the new required "USB 3 Compatible" cables for the connection? A "USB 2" Rated cable will not work.

My iMac won't recognize my external hard drive connected by FireWire 400

I have an external hard drive connected to my Intel-based iMac through a FireWire 400 cable. The drive doesn't come up on the desktop after turning on the hard drive power.
If I connect through the USB cable, it appears quickly on the desktop. Why isn't this working through FireWire? I had some trouble with this in Tiger as well, but was somehow able to get it to work.

The drive does not appear in Disk Utility.
And I don't think I'll be installing DiskWarrior until Leopards countless bugs are fixed, especially after reading THIS:
Alsoft: There are some DiskWarrior "compatibility issues" with Leopard
After previously stating "you can run the (current version of DiskWarrior under Leopard) knowing no harm will come to the hard drive or to your data," Alsoft has now posted a message to its Web site stating "there are some compatibility issues when running an installed copy of DiskWarrior 4.0 while started up from Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Alsoft currently recommends that you do not run DiskWarrior 4.0 while the computer is started from Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard."
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20071026153956503

IMac won't boot if external hard drive running Time Machine powered on

Upon rebooting, my iMac 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM, running OS X 10.5.4, locked up in a gray screen, the "gray screen of death."
At the recommendation of the Apple Tech Support rep, I turned off the iMac using the power button, and rebooted with my USB and Firewire devices removed.
The iMac boots fine with everything except my G-tech drive 1GB external hard drive running Time Machine with no partitions, attached using a Firewire 800 cable.
If the external hard drive is on, I get the interminable gray screen.
If I boot with the external hard drive powered off and then power it on after I'm at the Mac desktop, the disc image mounts normally on the desktop.
I've already repaired all disc permissions and it doesn't help.
My external hard drive has used 907 of the 931 GB true capacity. Supposedly, Time Machine removes the old files to make room for the new files.
Time Machine itself is running properly once I get my iMac booted in this peculiar way.

Raja,
Do a SMC reset perhaps even a couple of times and see if that helps. Also in System Preferences + Startup Disk make sure the internal HD is selected.
SMC RESET
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
Release the power button.
Attach the computers power cable.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
PRAM RESET
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Roger

My iMac cannot read my Verbatim external hard drive since I updated to Yosemite today - what can I do?

I updated to Yosemite today and now have no access to my Verbatin external hard drive. My anti virus software - Kaspersky for Mac has also stopped working. I have identical problems on my Macbook Pro.
Does anyone know of fixes for either problem please?

I updated to Yosemite today and now have no access to my Verbatin external hard drive. My anti virus software - Kaspersky for Mac has also stopped working. I have identical problems on my Macbook Pro.
Does anyone know of fixes for either problem please?

Why won't my MacBook recognise my external hard drive?

I've just upgraded to a new MacBook.
I have a Maxtor Mini4 external hard drive which I used with my old iBook G4 (running OSX 10.4).
When I connect the hard drive to my MacBook it isn't recognised (it doesn't appear in Finder and the MacBook doesn't acknowledge the existence of the hard drive in any way).
I've downloaded the Maxtor software and installed it successfully on the MacBook.
Any ideas on why the MacBook doesn't recognise the hard drive? (the hard drive is powered by USB - it has no external power cord).
I still have my iBook and it continues to recognise the hard drive, so there is no problem with the drive.
Thanks
Nick

Mac Medic ([email protected]) wrote:
Are there two USB plugs connected to the wire coming out of the drive? Do you see the drive in your System Profiler? Even if it doesn't mount, it should show up in there.
I second that suggestion as the first thing your should look at. I had a SimpleTech drive that worked off of one port on a certain PC, but didn't mount with a single plug on any of my Macs. It always showed up in the USB Tree in System Profiler although I'm guessing it gave up trying to mount after sampling the power output.
The USB ports are likely to be and sometimes there are enough differences in the power output of two USB ports that a bus-powered hard drive can work in one but not the other. In general it's because a bus-powered device doesn't properly work with a standard spec 2.5W USB port.

Imac doesn't recognize my external hard drive--all of a sudden

i've been using a LaCie external hard drive as my timemachine back up for several years without incident. a few days ago i unplugged the lacie and when i plugged it back in, imac could no longer recognize it. when i go to time machine and try to"select disc" it tells me there is none to select. when i go to system prefs disc utility i can see the lacie icon in the left column, but when i click on it i just get the spinning beachball forever, and have to force quit. any thoughts?

Your HD might be corrupted, try going to spotlight, look up "Disk Utility" select your external and verify disk, there might be some errors on the disk, if so, then click repair disk, try that and get back to us.

My new iMac doesn't recognize my external hard drive

I've been using a Seagate external hard drive to back-up everything from my old laptop. I just got a new iMac and plugged it in (via USB) and it's not recognizing it. I can't find it in the Mac system. I'm not super computer savy but on other iMacs I've used when I've plugged in something external (iPhone, camera card, thumb drive) it pops up right away.
Any help you can give me would be much appreciated. THANK YOU!

So what is the APPLE HDD?
Here is a screenshot of my devices on my iMac:
The top entry is the internal hard drive and "iMac ML" is the one and only partition on it which is by default normally "Macintosh HD" - I renamed it (except the hidden recovery).
Can you post a screenshot of yours?

My iMac has stopped recognising my external hard drive.

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