Toshiba external disk suddenly "unwritable "

I have read through so many forums, and I have yet to read a competent response.
Please understand that I am frustrated as well as that:
1) I no how to "get Info";
2) I know how to "unlock" with the little golden padlock:
3) I do NOT wish to "format" the drive; and
4) the Mac utility does not work.
So, where are all the Mac Geniuses on the Mac "support" Community?any forum have I read where similar–and I mean SIMILAR, not merely related–problems, all of which are answered with the grade-school teacher responses above.
If I must reiterate myself, I'll instead buy a Windows Tablet despite 27 years of sticking with Macs (I have to keep FOUR Macs thanks to the Intel chip; prior to 2006, I kept ONE Mac for several years and traveled frequently as well as published mags, books and more. Those days are GONE. Macs are clearly no less vulnerable to viruses and far more expensive.)

Attach the external HDD and click on it COMMAND+I. It will generate an image such as this. Post it.
Ciao.

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External disks suddenly frequently 'unreadable'

I have 2 external disks that in the past few days have been connecting unreliably to my MBP.
Sometimes I can plug them both in (via a FW hub) and both will mount immediately - as they have always done. But it's becoming just as likely that a red dialogue box will appear instead - saying (I think) 'The disk you have inserted is unreadable' (with options to erase or initialise).
Switching the disks on/off and reconnecting to the MBP works sometimes, but not always.
Rebooting the MBP, with disk still connected works sometimes, but not always.
Neither of them show up in Disk Utility when reported as 'unreadable'.
Once they mount, they stay mounted.
I have eliminated the hub (by plugging them in individually) and the 400/800 adaptor (by connecting directly to the MBP with a FW800 cable).
Since both disks started behaving in the same way at the same time (one of them is only a few months old, the other maybe 18 months old - both are Lacie d2 quadras) I wonder whether the fault may be with the MBP?
I have always been able to get the disks to mount- eventually, one way to another - so far, over the past week or so. But there is no clear course of action that works every time.
Any ideas what might be happening here, and how to fix it?

It could. It could also be that one of the supplies was weak and that drive tried to draw power from the bus and eventually caused the other one to go. As much as I like LaCie drives, though, the power supplies are sub-par.
That being said, if one of the drives is under warranty you may talk them into sending you a replacement supply at no charge to at least see if that is what is causing problems.

LaCie External Disk Suddenly not on Desktop

I've had a LaCie External Hard Drive (Firewire) connected to my iMac for about six months without any problems. I use it for backup, and use software (SuperDuper) to make it bootable.
Suddenly, today, it's not showing up on my desktop. The System Profiler sees it under Firewire as "Unknown Device." I've tried switching ports (I use both Firewire and USB) and testing my USB hub to no avail. I also powered down the computer for ten minutes and then rebooted.
I just read somewhere that LaCie drives have problems with the power supply, but I don't know how I would use this information.
Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.
I've also contacted LaCie support via email (as they charge for phone support!)
Thanks,
Donna

Have you tried using Disk Utility's 'repair disk' function on the LaCie external drive
to see if some basic issue in the drive's software function could be repaired by it?
In some cases, where a bootable system in an external is involved, there may be
an issue similar to that of the internal hard disk's system, when a third-party disk
utility such as DiskWarrior, may be used to attempt to rebuild or replace a directory.
Not certain what path is best or most likely, but do know some LaCie issues include
a power surge from the computer on startup that could affect some models of LaCie
external drive via FireWire port; so if the external FW drive is not needed all the time
and the computer is attached, consider not plugging in the LaCie's FW cable if you
do not intend to use the drive. I leave one of my LaCie's in its box when not in use,
and a second one has both the power adapter and FW cable, not attached to anything.
The one issue some had, was a surge; that affected the circuitry in the enclosure. But
this is not likely to produce the issue you refer to in your inquiry. However, a replacement
power supply of similar spec to replace a suspect LaCie supplied one, is probably handy
to have as a backup to the original part. Even if from a different manufacturer.
Some of the LaCie forums have some information or ideas on what others have tried;
and when tracking down info on one model I was given (that has a mixed history) I
was curious as to what caused several of them to fail. One I bought to troubleshoot
a failed iMac G4 under AppleCare when the supposed expert authorized resellers in
my region were unable to find anything wrong, and I could reproduce the issue on
demand repeatedly, and my iMac would freeze solid. And my notes of experiences in
dealing with the computer were disregarded; so I took matters into my own hands.
The LaCie Porsche-design external FW HDD enclosure so far has been flawless; but
this other D2 or whatever (not thinking clear; getting an interruption at the moment) is
likely to fail first; starting with a noisy hard drive sound inside the case.
You may be able to try to fix the mount issue of that LaCie by using a third-party disk
utility; sometimes, issues result from improper mounting or re-mounting of a peripheral.
Can you get the external drive to mount correctly via your computer's Disk Utility? Not
sure if that is capable of fixing a mount issue, in that instance; but DiskWarrior may. A
correct version of Drive Genius may also have a tool capable of this job. I have not been
impressed with two versions of drive genius; and I was lucky to have full bootable clones.
Perhaps a more seasoned veteran of these battles can offer a more clear position to take.
Good luck & happy computing!

The finder window for an external USB hard disk suddenly started separating files by time (today, yesterday, etc.) and stopped allowing me to change column width, order, etc. Also the header bar shifted to flat white from gray.

The finder window for an external USB hard disk suddenly started separating files by time (today, yesterday, etc.) and stopped allowing me to change column width, order, etc. Also the header bar shifted to flat white from gray.
All was normal until the icon for the disk stopped showing up on the desktop when I would plug it in. I rebooted the computer, and the disk icon now shows up but this new look to the finder window started as a result. The hard disk does not have this problem when I use it on another Mac running Snow leopard. Also, two other external hard disks that I use on this computer running lion 7.4 still have the normal header bars with columns that can be reordered, etc.
I have tried looking in preferences and other places but have not seen this discussed.

Well duh - I finally figured out that somehow in the View options for the hard drive, the "arrange by" option had been changed to "by date" from "none". Not sure how that happened, I had never used the "view options" menu tem before. Changing "arrange by" back to "none" gets the gray column headers and the collapsible folder icons back.

My iMac does not see the new Toshiba external drive in Finder or Disk Utility. How can I get it to see the drive?

My iMac does not see the new Toshiba external drive in Finder or Disk Utility. How can I get it to see the drive?

From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Energy Saver ▹ Power Adapter
and uncheck the box labeled Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible, if it's checked.
If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
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.
Start up in Recovery mode and launch Disk Utility. Is the drive recognized?
Start up in Safe Mode and test.
Reset the NVRAM.
Reset the System Management Controller.
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 is malfunctioning.

•I have just bought a Toshiba external hard disk to back up all my work from my macbook and its not working! I have checked the hard disk

•I have just bought a Toshiba external hard disk to back up all my work from my macbook and its not working! I have checked the hard disk

its not working: (sorry for being so ambiguous), the computer recognises it, it comes up on my desktop, when i open it and try and drag a file across, it is unable to go into the drive, there is just a symbol indicating 'no' (i've read the instructions from Tosheba and there is no help). I have not partitioned the drive using the GUID partition scheme - i dont know what this means?!

External Hard disks suddenly "Access locked"...

Help!! :))
Whilst doing a Disk Utilities Permissions Repair on the system disk (Leopard)... After successful repair, all external disks are now locked and won't allow access.
Opening the INFO panel (Comand + I) for each disk simply reveals that the Read /Write privileges area is set to "custom".
Unlocking the Padlock using System Admin name and Password does not allow me to change the "custom" denomination back to "Read / Write".
Any ideas please...?
Many thanks.

Hi Kieran
Welcome to Apple Discussions
You can not write to them because they a formatted windows NTFS.
See > http://www.macworld.com/article/51972/2006/07/ww_drives.html
If you want to use an external disk with both PC's and Mac's, you will need to re-format it MS-DOS/FAT-32.
If you wish to use them with only the Mac's, you will need to Format then GUID partition/Mac OS X.
See > http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/partitioningtiger.html
*+Proceed with caution when re-formatting disks+:*
1. Before re-formatting any drive you will need to backup the current data on it to a computer or another drive, because re-formatting will erase all the data on the drive.
2. Fat-32 has a file size limit of 4GB and will not allow single file transfers greater than 3.7 or 3.8GB.
3. You may not be able to change the format or write to many media players without special software.
Dennis

How to set up a Toshiba external hard drive on my Macbook Pro?

Hi there,
I just bought a Toshiba external hard drive that says on the package it is compatible with Macs. I plugged it in, installed the Pogoplug PC for Mac (no idea what this is) and Tuxera NTFS for Mac (it was in the "Mac Driver" folder). Now what? Is my data now automatically going onto the hard drive? Do I need to install anything else? This seems too easy! What am I missing here?
Thanks!

New hard drives out of box should be formatted for your Mac
go to DISK UTILITY and verify what it says your HD is formatted as under the "ERASE" tab
HFS+ above is the "mac format"
Format (erase) it in "mac osx Extended journaled"
AFTER THIS YOU CAN DRAG AND DROP FILES AS YOU LIKE
To show HD on desktop
go into FINDER at top then PREFERENCES then GENERAL tab
then check "hard disks" and "external disks"
There is no such thing as a MAC or PC hard drive,.....they can all be formatted as you wish for either PC or Mac (or both)
FORMAT TYPES
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
Maximum file size: 4GB.
Maximum volume size: 2TB
You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
Maximum file size: 16 TB
Maximum volume size: 256TB
You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
HFS+ ((((MAC FORMAT)))) (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
Maximum file size: 8EiB
Maximum volume size: 8EiB
You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
EXFAT (FAT64)
Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
Not all Windows versions support exFAT.
exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
Maximum file size: 16 EiB
Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.

How do I get my MacBook Pro to recognize my Toshiba external hard drive?

How do I get my MacBook Pro to recognize my Toshiba external hard drive? I'm working on transferring my music from our home computer to my new laptop and I already got all my music onto the hard drive but now, when I plug it into my MacBook Pro, it doesn't recognize it. There isn't an icon that pops up and nothing happens at all. The blue light on the hard drive that indicates that it knows it is plugged into something comes up but that's about it. Someone told me I might have to "format" it but I don't know what that means and I don't know how to do it. I just want to get my music from the hard drive to my laptop so please help!

natgray17 wrote:
I don't know about your first question... I went to finder, preferences, then general but I didn't see anything for the hard drive.
Huh, in the Finder menu, Preferences, you will see this:
Nope, disk utility cannot see it. I've tried unplugging it and plugging it back in but it still won't recognize it.puter that's a Mac...
If DU cannot see it then the preferences is just an academic exercise.
If this is a USB drive then as mentioned above you may need a powered USB hub since there may not be enough power from the USB to run the drive. What else do you have plugged into the USB ports? If there's some stuff you can unplug it then do it and see if your drive mounts.
What do you mean from a Windows machine? It's a Toshiba hard drive and I put my music on it from my home computer that's a Mac...
Which is all I wanted to know, i.e., whether the drive came from a Winows machine. So it's been formatted and created on a mac. Therefore it should mount on this other mac machine. So it most likely is a power problem.

How can I interchange a Toshiba external drive with my Mac and Windows? It only works read only with the Mac.

I bought a Toshiba external drive IT and I can copy files to it from my Macbook Pro 5,3. I would like to know how canI interchange files with Windows and the Mac.

If the disk is read only, it is formatted for Windows and the Mac can't write to it
Reformat to FAT32
This will of course wipe all data so move it first
Allan

My Toshiba external hard drive is no longer being recognised by my Macbook Air - solution?

My Toshiba external hard drive is no longer being recognised by my Macbook Air. The light on the hard drive is on, but it won't appear on my computer's desktop or anywhere else. How can I fix this?

Hi rivraff,
If you are having issues mounting an external hard drive volume, you may want to see if it shows up and/or can be repaired in Disk Utility; you may find the following article helpful:
Apple Support: Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1782
Regards,
- Brenden

Mac no longer recognizes external disk

I have an external disk that I reformatted in FAT32 as I share it with an old PC while I am doing file transfer from PC to Mac. This worked fine for a week and then today all of a sudden the Mac told me I should nt remove the external disk ( I had nt touched it. it was still connected via the USB port) and since then it no longer "sees" the external disk. However the PC continues recognizing it. I have swithched everything off, plugged and unplugged, but no success. HELP!

I did that.
But nothing happens. I guess cmd e doesn t do anything if the Mac doesn t realize that I have an external disk connected!
I have eliminated all hardware pbs in my reasoning. Am I right?
- disk is ok as it is visible to PC
- cable and connector are OK as external disk works with PC
- FAT32 format is ok as it was readable by Mac for a whole week. (and it stopped suddenly while I was n t even accessing disk and the disk disappeared from Finder AS IF I had pulled out the USB port without disconnecting. Mac even ACCUSED me of doing so on screen)
- Mac USB port is ok as I use it with camera
Any other suggestions? Should I take the apple to a store? It is only one month old so under guarantee

2.5'' sata Toshiba Hard disk not detected

Hi everyone, recently I bought a ssd drive for my macbook and formatted my original Toshiba hard disk I bought a box for hdd and when I plug it to usb as external drive it cannot be seen by mavericks.I tried disk utility ,it cannot also see. I tried in other operating systems such as windows 7 and ubuntu 12.
When I plug the disk into its original place in laptop it works else it is invisible.By the way I formated it as journaled I did not expect windows to recognize but non of the systems see it.

Karina_ wrote:
I bought a box for hdd and when I plug it to usb as external drive it cannot be seen by mavericks
It sounds like the new enclosure or the connection is bad. It happens.

Can i delete a file on my external disk?

I have a toshiba external hard disk. When i plug it into my macbook air, i can only see my documents and copy them to the macbook or copy files from macbook to hard disk. But i can't delete any file on my external disk. How can i can do it?

It sounds like you originally used this drive with a Windows PC. Drives formatted as Windows NTFS can be read by a Mac but not written to (files cannot be deleted). If you want to keep the files that are on the drive, you can use Paragon NTFS (it's about $20) to install a driver allowing your Mac to write to the drive and delete files. This will allow you to continue to use the drive with both Mac and PC.
Or, if you have copied off all the files you need, you can use Disk Utility in your Utilities folder to wipe and reformat the drive to Mac format. You will no longer be able to use the drive with a PC.
Matt

How do I make a backup of an external disk?

I have an external disk that is formatted in Mac Extended Journal on which I keep movie files and photos.
I had some bad experiences in the past with my first MacBook Air (version 2.1) in which external drives kept getting erased without any good reason. I think it's due to the fact that I had to connect a USB cord to another computer when I had an external drive plugged into the MBA because the MBA could not power it on its own.
I thought it was due to a bad external drive and I took it to Samsung service center and complained that their drive was malfunctioning. I got a refund. But later on, I found that the same thing happened to another external drive and to a USB flash drive, so I realized that it had nothing to do with the external disks and something to do with the computer. I used the same drives that got erased on a newer MacBook Air (version 3.2) and I never had the sudden erasure problem.
Anyhow that's the background to why I want to make a clone of the external disks in my possession. If for some reason, the external disk gets suddenly erased, I would like a copy somewhere in safekeeping so that I do not lose all my movies.
How do I make a clone of an external disk?
I will be using a MacBook Air (3.2) for this task. It has two USB ports. Can I use Carbon Copy Cloner to do this? Just choose a source disk (external disk I want to clone) and a destination disk (the external disk where I want it to be cloned to)?

Many backup utilities like Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper can be used to clone drives. They can also clone boot drive to make bootable clones. They use "smart" backups in that they only update what has been changed from the previous backup. That is what you need too since you intend to use USB which is not that fast.
With CCC you can set up a task to start the backup automatically when you plug the backup in and it mounts.
FWIW I use CCC to make daily backups of my disks (scheduled backups can be done by these utilities).

Toshiba external disk suddenly "unwritable "

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