Trying to hook up a third external USB drive

I have been trying with no luck to connect a third external usb drive to my ibook so I can keep music, photo and movie content on separate drives only to find that the 3rd usb drive will not stay connected. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong. My ibook is a g4 running 1.5 gb of ram @ 1.33.

First thing to do is connect this 3rd device directly to a port on the computer. If that works OK, then what you need to do is get a powered USB hub to replace the non-powered one you're using.
Do all the drives have their own power supplies?
~Lyssa

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Trying to install Mountain Lion on external USB drive. Will not boot!

Running mid-2010 MBP 15", OS X 10.8.5 (upgraded from orig. 10.6 Snow Leopard). I'm trying to create an external boot disk from scratch -- 500gb USB drive.
Working from instructions on this page:http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5911
1. Re-partitioned the hard drive with GUID partition table, 1 partition, formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled)
2. Downloaded the installer from the App Store. Ran the install. Installer runs without incident. So far so good...
When the installer is finished running, and the system tries to re-boot, it just hangs at the grey screen.
The drive mounts normally if I set the start disk to the original internal disk. I ran 'verify disk' from disk utilities and all appears to be okay.
Tried a different USB cable, I'm about to swap the drive into another USB enclosure to see if that's the issue.
Any suggestions on how to further troubleshoot?

Just swapped the drive out to another USB enclosure. It's booting. Who knew the enclosures could be so sensitive? Wondering if it's a power supply issue on the other enclosure?

Trying to move backup from Time Capsule to external USB drive

As per the title, I'm getting rid of my Time Capsule and am trying to move the backups to an external USB drive instead.
Initially I used AirPort Utility 5.6.1 to archive to the USB drive. However, when I switched TM back on, it wanted to do a full backup rather than incremental.
I then found Pondini's very useful page at http://pondini.org/TM/18.html and decided to try it this method instead. It also made me realise that I'd incorrectly formatted the new drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) when in fact the TM backup was case sensitive. So I thought this could have been the issue, but still persued Pondini's method. I formatted the drive again, this time in the correct format, and followed Pondini's guide, copying the Backups.backupdb folder from the sparse bundle to the new drive, which completed fine. But unfortunately, TM again wanted to backup everything from scratch when I turned it back on.
Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

So it looks like I was wrong on both counts.
I misunderstood AirPort Utility's archive feature. I failed to realise that archiving actually puts the sparse bundle in a separate folder called "Data Archive" on the new drive, so of course TM won't continue using that existing backup.
It would also seem that I was incorrect in thinking that Pondini's method didn't work. When I tried it again, I realised that TM was in fact continuing the backup. Initially it looks like it's going to do a big backup, but actually only backed up a few hundred megabytes, then everything was back to normal.
Incidentally, I've also found that if you do use AirPort Utility to archive the backup, you can effectively using Pondini's "How can I copy my TM backups to a different location?" by mounting the spare bundle in the "Data Archive" folder, then dragging Backups.backupdb to the root of the drive.
I just wanted to post this for completeness and in case it helps anyone in the future.

Trying to use a new, larger external hard drive for my Time Machine backup. However, every time I start the backup, it gets started then fails. And, I can't delete the few files that did save on the external. Sort of a catch 22. Any ideas?

Trying to use a new, larger external hard drive for my Time Machine backup. However, every time I start the backup, it gets started then fails. And, I can't delete the few files that did save on the external. Sort of a catch 22. Any ideas?

Is it a USB hard drive? USB hard drives have the problem of not giving full speed if they are hooked up on the same bus as keyboards and mice. Double check your profiler to make sure that is not a problem. If it is Firewire, make sure there aren't other firewire devices in use at the same time. I recommend not only keeping a Time Machine backup, but also a clone, and if you do use Time Machine, to make sure the Time Machine drive or partition is at least twice the size of the original drive.

External USB drive won't mount after 10.9.5 upgrade

Is anyone else reporting the following issue? Immediately after installing OS X update 10.9.5 (13F34) on 09/18, my external USB drive (IOMega 1GB OS X Extended FS) used for Time Machine would no longer mount and isn't recognized. When I look at the drives in finder, it is missing. However, it does show up under the USB Hi-Speed Bus device tree:
USB Mass Storage:
Product ID:    0x0376
Vendor ID:    0x059b (Iomega Corporation)
Version:     0.00
Serial Number:    ABCDEF012314E2ED
Speed:    Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer:    Iomega
Location ID:    0x1a120000 / 3
Current Available (mA):    500
Current Required (mA):    0
Console message when device plugged in:
10/6/14 3:22:31.000 AM kernel[0]: USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): ABCDEF012314E2ED 0x59b 0x376 0x0, 2
mount command results:
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
/dev/disk1s2 on /Volumes/Mac-Mini 2 (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, noowners)
System is Mac-Mini (late 2012), 2.5 Ghz i5, 8GB ram, 500GB local storage, 1TB on second Firewire disk for media, 1TB USB disk for Firewire (PROBLEM)
I have reinstalled the combined 10.9.5 OS upgrade, and verified that the drive works when connected to my other MB Pro (mid-2012 running Yosemite beta 3). There is no third party software that I'm aware of in use for this drive, as it's only for Time Machine backups.
Thanks

Is the drive's icon on the desktop (perhaps behind another icon, which is possible if Finder > View > Cleanup is enabled)?
If not, is the box Finder > Preferences > General > External Disks checked?
Is the drive listed in every Finder window's sidebar?
If not, is the box Finder > Preferences > Sidebar > External Disks checked?
Are Time Machine backups to the drive happening on schedule?
If not, does the drive appear in System Preferences > Time Machine > Select Disk?
Can you open /Volumes/Mac-Mini 2/Backups.backupdb using Finder > Go > Go to Folder...?
Does the drive appear in Disk Utility? Is it (or can it be) mounted there?
Have you tried to plug it in to a USB port on the Mini (not a hub) or into a different USB port on the Mini?
Have you tried this: shut down; unplug the drive; boot the Mac; after you have logged in and the Finder is done populating the desktop and menu bar, plug the drive in?

Can't access external USB Drive

I have a Seagate external USB drive that I'm trying to access. This drive has not been used in awhile, but as far as I know it ok.
When I plug it into my G4, and power it up, it never comes up on the desktop. Instead, I get a message saying "the disk you have inserted is not readable by this computer", and gives me the choice of "initialize", "ignore", or "eject".
This drive has worked in the near past. Why do I now not seem to be able to access the data on it?
I tried a "restart" with the external drive hooked up, but get the same message. I really don't think the drive is bad.
Is there any way I can force the computer to recognize an external drive?
Note: System Profiler sees the drive, but it just never mounts.

Hi Japamac, good to speak with you again. You have helped me in the past.
Sorry for the repeated posts in multiple forums. I've been desperately trying to figure this out, and was looking for maximum views of my problem.
A couple of days ago, I was able to get this drive to mount making me believe that is (was?) formatted for Mac. Nothing that I know of has changed since then except that now the drive will not mount.
Disk Utility sees the drive, but verify disk and all other choices are greyed out. Clicking on "mount disk" also has no affect.
Under disk utility, I clicked on the "info" tab for the external drive, and under "Partition type" it says "WindowsFat32" but I don't know what might account for that if the drive is Mac formatted.
My primary concern is if the data on this disk is still ok. If it can still be accessed on a PC, I can get together with a PC owner this weekend.

TimeMachine wearing out external USB drives??

I have noticed an issue with external USB drives connected to my iMac. I have been using one as a TimeMachine target and have had to replace three of them over the past two years as they eventually fail and no longer mount. I am not sure if it is an issue with TimeMachine or not, but I have noticed that the USB drive seems to spin up every 15 minutes even if there isn't a backup scheduled, which could be wearing it out prematurely. Once the iMac goes to sleep the drive does not spin up. My third drive started whining a few days back and Disk Utility will no longer repair the drive. Anyone with a similar issue?

Hiya mem16421,
this is definitely related to timemachine. the following could solve your issue:
{quote: wrote:}{quote}I spoke to apple about it today and they suggested the > following course of action:
1. disable time machine
2. delete the spotlight index on the external drive
3. allow spotlight to rebuild the index
4. re-activate time machine
The above is from another forum and pertains to 10.5.x. And it shows a console entry that might look familiar to yours. Maybe the failure is due to TM trying to write permanently to an incorrectly formatted drive or a drive that wants to "go to sleep"? (hence my previous comment).

How can I do backups on internal disc while sharing an external USB drive?

Hi,
On my Airport Utility there are two lines: "Time Capsule Disc", and below (indented) "Data".
(When I plug an external USB drive I can see it in this window as well)
Clicking (selecting) the first line, on the right hand side I can see the disc details (name, capacity and SMART Status (Verified)), and two buttons: Compress and Erase (I don't know if these are the words used on the english version mine is spanish).
Clicking on the second line (Data) I can see the Name "Data", capacity, used and available sizes and number of users connected.
First question:
Why Time Machine can't see the "Data" volume if I untick the "Share files" checkbox?
Second question:
Moreover, I've got a USB External Drive attached to my Time Capsule, so I have to have the "Share Files" checkbox ON, this makes my USB disc (fat32) available to my Windows computers but ALSO the "Data" volume can be seen from Windows. If there is any attempt to assign a Windows drive letter to the "Data" volume, next time Time machine wants to do a backup I'm getting a "disc wrong or missing, check credentials (or something similar)".
In summary, what I'm trying to do is Time Machine backups to the internal Time Capsule disc (making that disc unavailable/invisible to any other computer in my network) while sharing a USB external drive attached to Time Capsule.
Advice, please!

Yes you can go to > Music > iTunes folder and copy the whole iTunes folder and drag the folder to your external and then on the new Mac click and highlight the iTunes folder and then in iTunes click on the button at the top (add folder to library) and you should see all your songs transfer from the external to the Mac and all songs start filling up in your iTunes library on the Mac.
This is the easiest method all songs and other media such as songs, movies, apps will be transferred over however you may not be able to keep ratings & last played counts using this method.
To keep all metadata including ratings & play count use the Apple method exclusively for this if you have to have your metadata, play counts and ratings saved.
I used scenario one above because it one of the simplest methods and I was just satisfied enough just to transfer all media over.

Mini doesn't always connect bluetooth and external (USB) drives on boot

I have had a new Intel mini for 4 months now (we also have a PPC G5, which we love). In the last few weeks the mini started to not connect my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, nor recognize some of my USB peripherals when booting up. When this happens, it also makes a repeated "startup sound - bong!" echo when the start button is pressed. I have two external USB drives, one 500GB Phantom and one 500GB WD MyBook. When the Apple logo appears at boot, I can see the activity lights flashing on the drives as the BIOS interrogates the USB connections, but after the Leopard start up desktop appears, the only drive shown is Macintosh HD, the mouse pointer is at the top left of the display and will not move, nor will the keyboard do anything. I have read every post on this subject and tried all of the resets suggested. Sometimes this works after a few attempts, sometimes it takes 6 or more tries - disconnecting all cables, and turning the computer on again and again. Occasionally the WD MyBook drive appears on the desktop, yet still the Bluetooth is unresponsive and the other drive absent. I am getting frustrated having to disconnect everything and trying to boot this thing up, sometimes for one hour or longer before I can use it properly (all of my work is on the external drives).
There MUST be a firmware update for this by now, because I see that I am not the only one experiencing these problems, and this is obviously some problem with how the BIOS is communicating with the bus.

Hi amyta pdx-
I'd be careful jumping to conclusions or the troubleshooting process may get clouded. For one thing those WD drives are junk and most people using them eventually have problems.
What happens with everything disconnected from the Mac except a mouse connected to a USB port on the Mac and the monitor connected to the video port only?
Luck-
-DP

Errors on external USB drive

I'm trying to track down the cause of failed backups to a brand-new 300Gb Seagate drive in a external USB <-> SATA enclosure.
I observe these errors in Retrospects verification phase.
These errors could
- be 10.4.6 not playing well with external USB drives - that the new drive is essentially DOA
- that the enclosure is a dud.
- reflect an inability on Retrospect's part (e.g. unable to work properly with USB drives on 10.4.6)
I've asked on the EMC Retrospect forum for their take on this, buts that's a very slow forum...
Any pointers are welcome. I strongly prefer not to have to buy commercial solutions; after all, the "fix" may be to ask the supplier to take his drive back and refund me and I wouldn't want to spend if that's the case. Command-line solutions are fine.
The data can be correctly backed up to another external drive (via Firewire) so its not the source data. Its not the specific USB port: tried other ports, etc. At one point there were some errors reported by Disk Utility, but I've repaired these and it now claims all is well.
Dual G5/2Ghz/4GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) ExternalUSB enclosure; 300Gb Seagate SATA drive

I see my question is so popular, I'm left composing a soliloquy... :-/
Anyway, an upgrade to OS X 10.4.7 (from 10.4.6) seems to have put this right, after a lot of different testing exercises and reading. At least for the first time in many attempts I've been able to run a sizeable backup using Retrospect without the verification pass yielding hundreds of errors.
It would seem, at least for Retropsect users, that OS X 10.4.6 needs to be avoided if you intend backing up to an external USB drive--?
Dual G5/2.0Ghz/4GB RAM

Trouble accessing files on external USB drive after 10.6.8 update

Upgraded to Mac 10.6.8 on my MacBook Pro (I'm not a techie, but the "About This Mac" thingy says 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 - I assume that means something to somebody). Since the upgrade, I've been having problems accessing data on an external HD connected via USB - there were no issues before the upgrade, but now it's impossible to even navigate to a particular file or subfolder half the time, as the process freezes 95% of the time (every so often I am able to get through, for no obvious reason) - usually I just get what looks like an empty folder and a little spinning thing in the bottom right-hand corner. Sometimes when I do get to a file - say it's a ZIP file - I'll try to unZIP it and the process will hang; if I try to drag it to the desktop and unZIP it there, I can't get it to copy to the desktop, I just get the "copying files" box and a bar that never shows any progress, it just hangs at zero bytes out of whatever it might be.
Also having intermittent issues with another external USB drive, which is the one I use for Time Machine - about one in every five backup attempts is successful, the rest of the time I get a message saying the backup couldn't be performed.
I have two external FireWire drives as well, and I'm having no trouble with either of those - so I'm assuming the problem is USB-related (and 10.6.8 related, since none of this was happening before the upgrade).
So - I'm wondering if anybody else is having the same issues, and f there's a solution that a non-techie like me could handle that won't make blood come out of my ears.
Cheers!

Thanks baltwo - the PRAM tip was helpful. For some reason I still have trouble accessing a few files, I'm putting that down to them being somehow corrupted. Eric, thanks, but I tried using Disk Utility and the communication problems I was having with the drive meant that the repair couldn't be performed. I may try again now that that side of things seems to be running a little more smoothly. Anyway, thank you both!

Time Capsule external USB drive won't reconnect remotely over Back To My Mac

I'm running a Mac Mini at work, connected via ethernet to an enterprise network (I have no idea what routers they are using, or how they are set up).
At home, I have a MBP laptop and a Time Capsule (hardwired to cable modem) with an external USB drive attached.
All 3 machines (Mac Mini, MBP, TC via Airport Utility) have Back To My Mac switched on.
I can access the external USB drive on my home TC from my work Mac Mini....until the Mini falls asleep. When I wake it back up, the connection back to the TC fails. However....after restarting the Mini, the connection works again.
My first thought was that the corporate network / firewall / etc was causing the problem - not leaving correct ports open, or someting to that effect. However, I realised that if that were the case, restarting the Mini shouldn't help, but it does.
Does anyone have any idea how sleeping breaks being able to access a TC's external drive remotely over BTMM?
The Mac Mini is a 2.3GHz Core i5 with 8GB RAM and plenty of HD space.
The MBP is a 15" late 2013 retina, 2.6 GHz Core i7, 16 GB RAM, also plenty of HD space.
The TC is a 2 TB 4th generation model.
Thanks!
J

Sorry that did not work. This works well for me using Lacie drives, but I haven't tried Iomega.
Have you checked Iomega's site to see if any software/firmware updates available?
Also noticed during a quick search that a number of users are reporting mounting problems with Iomega. Not sure if this applies to you or not.
http://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?search=Go&q=iomegadrive+won%27tmount

Single-user mode: How to mount and access an external USB drive?

My MacBook Pro HD is acting up. Cannot boot normally or into "safe mode". Cannot reinstall OS without wiping out the HD. Need to recover some critical files but DiskUtil First Aid and Restore options cannot successfully complete. Problem traced down to "invalid node structure" which means I either have a hardware problem or my filesystem partition directory structure is corrupted. I need to recover some files that are not backed up (timin issue with my regular backup process).
I can boot into single-user mode, mount the root file system (/sbin/mount -uw /) and can see/navigate the rot filesystem structure via good UNIX command line. Here's what I would like to do (in single-user mode):
1. Mount an external USB drive (250 GB already formatted as Mac OS X Extended)
2. Copy various files and/or directories from my HD to the external USB drive (UNIX cp command)
I realize I could go spend $$ for the Disk Warrior or Data Rescue products (or something similar) that SHOULD help me recover my HD or files, but it seems silly to do this when I can see, touch and taste them from within single-user mode....
Comments? Suggestions?
TIA --
Trent
P.S. Once I've recovered my files, I'll try to reformat the HD and then reinstall the OS. And THEN go have Apple look at my machine (thank goodness for AppleCare coverage)!

Resolution:
1) Boot system in single-user mode (SUM) with external HD attached.
2) Execute the following UNIX CLI commands once SUM boot process is completed:
# fsck -fy
# mount -uw /
# mkdir /Volumes/target_directory
# mount -t hfs -w /dev/diskXXX /Volumes/target_directory
# cp -RXv /source_directory /Volumes/target_directory
Where XXX is the device-level name for your external HD's data partition. In my case this was /dev/disk1s2. It may take some experimentation to identify this device name if your system has multiple HD's.
3) Verify contents were successfully copied onto the /Volumes/target_directory.
Comments and observations:
- Do NOT use "/" as your source directory - cp will make a second (redundant) copy of /volumes/target_directory
- I was able to successfully copy ALL files off my HD despite the fsck command's "invalid node structure" error message with this simple procedure. YMMV, depending on the state of your HD.
- The repeated disk0s2: I/O error warnings displayed during the SUM boot process did not seem to have a negative effect on this procedure. I also received this same error warning intermittently as I navigated the mounted filesystem did not seem to be a problem, either. Again, YMMV.
Commercial software:
I downloaded ProSoft Engineering's Data Rescue 3 product (trial version) before spending $99 to attempt to recover my "bad" HD's data via mounting to a good system with FW target mode. It could not successfully complete its "QuickScan" process and immediately hung on block 0 of 390M during its "Deep Scan" process. The product did seem to function properly on an operational system. ProSoft's technical support was responsive and helpful but had no answer for my "Deep Scan" error.
I did not attempt to use Alsoft's Disk Warrior 4 product. I could not find any trial software available and was reluctant to spend $100 based upon the mixed reviews and comments on this discussion forum as well as other reviews. Alsoft does claim to address the "invalid node structure" error in their marketing materials. Hindsight being 20/20 - I saved $100 by using this simple procedure.
Final note:
Neither Leopard nor Snow Leopard's installation DVD could recognize the bad internal HD when trying to do a reinstall. While DiskUtil was able to "see" the bad internal drive it immediately failed when I tried to do an "erase and format". Took the system to my local Apple store and the Genius ran a tool called "SMART Utility" from Volitans Software (www.volitans-software.com). SMART utility confirmed that my HD was bad so it was replaced. AppleCare pays for itself (once again!).

When I try to format an external usb drive the progress bar only goes half way then freezes up can anybody help please

When I try to format an external usb drive the progress bar gets to half way then freezes , or stops and what ever time I allow it never gets any futher on , I have to go to the task bar and click quit to get on and the usb drive is not formatted is there a fault with my disk utility program I have updated the system
to lion 10.7.2
Can anybody advise please

Are these new external drives? How are the currently formatted? Have you tried doing this:
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

No application runs after booting from an external (USB) drive

Hi all,
my best hope is that I just embarrass myself with a blatantly obvious question instead of finding a real issue that will be resolved only in later updates. Here it is:
As I want to upgrade my hard drive in my good ol' MacBook, I wanted to backup my present boot HDD to an external USB drive (freshly formatted, HFS+ journaled, GUID partition table). I tried both SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner. In both cases, the backup/cloning process goes fine, and I can reboot into the external drive, and the OS starts (yes, with wifi working, even iStat menus, textExpander etc. initiating fine). But all applications (not those on the menu bar, though) crash and notify me of some thread having tried some invalid operation, or sometimes I even got some vague reference to kernel protection.
Do you have any ideas what this is? Something new and (supposedly) secure in 10.5.6? I tried a fairly standard procedure, I think. (Also, it is a fairly pressing issue as I would not really want to waste much more time on this drive swap. And I would rather use disk-cloning than the install disk and sucking back data from an apparently unreliable backup.)
Many thanks for any thoughts!
(Just to inform the interested, I ran a fairly extensive cleaning-maintenance-rebuild cycle by the latest Onyx before starting all this, this should clean up the state of the OS pretty much. But I could not run DiskWarrior. Convince me if you think that this would solve the problem.)

Thanks Devin, I think my issue is a bit different.
I am 'long' past the 10.5.6 update (as long as possible), it did not crash, and Software Update checked what it wanted several times since then (as it is set to do so daily).
Thanks for the safe boot tip, I have not tried it yet, though I am skeptical why would this help applications starting up without breaking some kernel protection -- but only if I booted up from an external drive.
I repaired all I could before the cloning of the drive, only the deep maintenance of DiskWarrior was skipped. With the disk or the OS itself, I basically did what you can, even the stuff that you are rarely supposed to do. (Onyx is a great tool to do all these and more, freely.)
I am not sure either that a FireWire drive would have helped, but who knows. (But really, the OS would boot, just the applications would feel that their are on an 'inferior' drive?) In any case, FireWire drives are not that easy to come by, and a risky investment -- e.g. I could not use them with the new MacBooks. Oh, and all my work was done on a firm table, but again, the behavior would be hard to explain as the HDD misbehaving, as the OS had no glitch, just I could not start applications without their crashing immediately.
Thanks again, I hope I run into something useful or if it is a bug then Apple magically pushes out some update before their winter break, or I will sadly watch my precious new drive sitting on a table idly.

Trying to hook up a third external USB drive

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