Usb port not recognizing external drive

When I plug my external backup drive, Lacie, into either USB ports on my MacBook Pro, it is not recognizing the drive. Not sure if I powered down incorrectly. It use to recognize it. Help.

Start by looking for the drive in the Apple System Profiler (from the Apple menu's far left Apple logo>About This Mac>More Info>Hardware (in left column) >USB.) If the drive is correctly powered and connected, it will show up here.
If it doesn't show up, the problem is with the drive. With the drive plugged in, put your ear to the drive and listen for the whirring sound the drive makes when it is powered up. If it isn't making any sound, ot's either a bad drive or a bad power supply.
If the drive is making sound , then the problem is probably the USB cable or your USB port. Try a different USB cable. This should fix the problem; if all the above tests were good and the drive still doesn't mount, it may be the USB controller in the Mac. That's a serious problem that requires repair or installation of an aftermarket USB controller.
Hope this helps

Similar Messages

USB ports not recognizing external drive

My external (backup) drives are not regularly showing up when plugged in to the USB port.

Start by looking for the drive in the Apple System Profiler (from the Apple menu's far left Apple logo>About This Mac>More Info>Hardware (in left column) >USB.) If the drive is correctly powered and connected, it will show up here.
If it doesn't show up, the problem is with the drive. With the drive plugged in, put your ear to the drive and listen for the whirring sound the drive makes when it is powered up. If it isn't making any sound, ot's either a bad drive or a bad power supply.
If the drive is making sound , then the problem is probably the USB cable or your USB port. Try a different USB cable. This should fix the problem; if all the above tests were good and the drive still doesn't mount, it may be the USB controller in the Mac. That's a serious problem that requires repair or installation of an aftermarket USB controller.
Hope this helps

HT2494 USB ports not mounting external drives. Would appreciate a way to troubleshoot. Thanks

My MacBook Pro is no longer displaying the drives I plug into the USB ports.
Could someone tell me what might be wrong and how to troubleshoot? It's still under warrantee, thank goodness.
Many thanks to all,
Natalie

I've noticed the Firewire bus to be less stable under Intel chips, but I'm not positive. It may be that my devices are just getting tired.
Anyhow... troubleshooting (when was the last time you cleared the PRAM?)
1. Turn off your MacBook (not restart, power off)
2. Turn it back on, wait for it to fully startup
3. With the power connected and the drive turned on, connect the Firewire drive
If it still doesn't work, can you try a different Firewire cable? I'm guessing the cable probably works fine on your iBok G4, right? If it still doesn't work, it would seem that the Firewire port is not working properly. You can also try booting up with your install DVD and see if Disk Utility can read your Firewire drive. If it does then you might need to reinstall OS X.
USB portable drive
Repeat steps 1 and 2 above
3. Plug your MacBook into AC power (my USB drive will not mount unless I plug into AC power)
4. Connect your USB drive
Again, I'm guessing this drive too works fine with your iBook?
You could try accessing the drive while booting up from the install DVD too. This should rule out whether it is a software or hardware problem.
It's a hardware problem if you can't access either the Firewire or USB drive (on AC power) while booting up from your install DVD. It's a software problem if you can.
Good luck
Greg

Help!! Ipod Video usb Port Not recognized !

Could anyone tell me what's going on with my ipod video 30g?
My friend borrowed my ipod for a file copy to his desktop, when I got it back and pluged it in the dock, the computer said: usb can't be recognized.
I am sure that the USB hub of my IBM is perfectly okay. And It is okay for the ipod to play music, photos and videos.
By the way, My friend's External Portable Hard drive also had the same problem after connecting to his desktop.
Have we got the Ipod usb port burned? Is there any way we can fix it?
Thank You!

Also see this:
Your Windows PC doesn't recognize IPod:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61711
It seems that many people are still getting the 'USB Device not Recognized' problem from time to time. Unfortunately there is no easy fix.
Firstly, it's recommended that you make sure every one of your motherboard drivers are completely up-to-date, but you probably already knew that.
In XP, after a USB port isn't used for a long while the USB driver built into the OS sets the OHCI controller to suspend. When you plug a device back in, it can sometimes fail to 'wake up' properly. This problem was supposedly fixed in SP1 but there is a related registry hack that may still be able to help.
Run regedt32.exe and navigate to;
HKEYLOCALMachine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Usb
Create the Usb key if it doesn't already exist. Under this key, create a new DWORD value called DisableSelectiveSuspend and give it a value of 1. Then restart the PC.
A long shot perhaps, but I recall having similar problems with a USB hub built into my Microsoft keyboard and adding this key seemed to solve it. It wouldn't hurt in trying .
Alternatively, removing all entries relating to USB in Device Manager and all associated USB drivers will force XP into refreshing the USB driver stack.
Begin by unplugging all USB devices, then use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel to uninstall any USB driver software. Next, boot up into safe mode and go to Device Manager. Once in device manager make sure 'Show hidden devices' is checked under the View menu. Uninstall all device entries in this order;
1. USB peripheral devices (printers etc.)
2. HID and/or Composite USB (Human Interface Devices) You're using PS/2 input devices so you may not have this entry.
3. USB Root Hub(s)
4. USB Host Controller(s) (Universal or Enhanced Host Controllers)
Then boot back into Windows (not safe mode) and it should populate the Root Hubs & Host controllers again. Proceed to plug your USB devices back in, starting with your powered hub. Be aware that most USB printers and scanners need to have their drivers installed first before you plug them in.
Hopefully some of this may be of help, let me know how you get on.

USB Port not reading External Hard Drive

I have a WD External Hard Drive, it has worked well in the past, but all of a sudden it has stopped working when plugged into my USB port. I can't see it in my finder window at all so I can't access any of the files. BUT, it does show up when I open Disk Utility. Why has my Macbook stopped picking up the Hard Drive? Why does Disk Utility recognize it and not allow me to access the information? Please help.

I can click on it and choose to repair or verify it. But neither work to gain access to the information. The Hard Drive shows up in a light grey text somehow signifying that Disk Utility isn't able to tell you what is on the Drive, so it can't tell me how much is stored or how much space is still available for storage. With other Hard Drives, they show up in black text and are able to tell me this information. Is there something else I should try besides verify and repair?

USB ports not recognizing my Memory/USB/Flash drives

My macbook, 2 GHz Intel Core 2 duo (if that even helps), with Leopeord 10.5.5 's USB ports stopped working, but the weird thing is, when I plug in my iPod or mouse, they work. But when I plug in my Flash drive to try to open up some homework or SD card drive, anything that contains memory, it doesn't work, the computer shows that it has been plugged into my macbook through System Profiler, it also shows when it's gone, but the drive doesn't show up on my desktop and I can't find it anywhere. I know the flash drives are working because I tested them on different computers, safely removed them as well. Some people on a different forum suggested PRAM and SMC reset, I've done PRAM, but I don't see how it helps. please help! I need to be able to finish hmwk!!
Message was edited by: AEROpotatoe

I am having the exact same problem!
UGH

Finder is not recognizing external drive

Yesterday, (Mar 28,2012) Finder was listing my external drive but when I went to eject the drive, it no longer showed in Finder. I cannot eject the drive properly. It is showing on my Desktop. I've done a disk utility verfy disk and it is recognized and no problem was found. I tried a new USB cable and the old Fire Wire (which doesn't work??). I used a different USB port but nothing seems to work. I've also tried restarting. I am running a MacBook Pro with 10.6.8. Any ideas??
Thanks for the help.

Just a thought, if your external hdd shows up on the desktop and disk utility I would start simple and check Finder preferences. Once Finder preferences is open click on the tab sidebar and see if External Disks is checked under Devices. Also, you can properly eject the external hdd icon that shows up on the desktop by dragging and dropping it to the trashcan.
If this didn't work, and what necronym didn't work, I would suggest deleting this file found at /library/preferences/com.apple.finder.plist , then restart the computer. Then test the external hdd with Finder again.

MBP Retina not recognizing external drive

I have a strange problem with an external SSD. When I put the drive into an external USB3 case, the computer will not see it. If I plug it into a GoFlex expansion, it sees it fine.
If I take this drive and plug it into another MBP (Via USB3) it finds the drive fine. It will just not see it on my MBP.
Anyone have any ideas? Is there a hardware cache in Mountain Lion that needs to be cleared?

There have been numerous - see the "More Like This" column at the right - reports of the USB 3.0 ports not working properly on 2012 models. The July 18th Software Update was supposed to address some of these problems but it seems that it did not provide a 'fix' for all. I think that at this point in time there are a lot of folks just waiting on Mountain Lion (which will surely be released in the next week?) to see if it fixes these problems.
I would suggest just waiting until ML is released and, if it doesn't offer a solution, take your unit back to your local Apple Store or AASP. There's no reason that the USB 3.0 ports should not be working - they're on all sorts of Windows machines and I have yet to hear a peep from that community about the ports not working.
Good luck,
Clinton

Not recognizing external drive - WD in an Enclosure...

I hate to post this given all the other posts wrt external drive not working - wish I'd read those before making a purchase....
I bought an internal WD 1TB drive, put it in an enclosure (Vantec NexStar 3) with a firewire 800 conection. Connected and formatted beutifully. Copied files to and deleted from without a problem...
then started moving some iMovie files over - left the room for a while, came back (about 1/2 hour) and the WD drive was no longer recognized. Couldn't figure out how to get it back. I've managed to get it back a couple of times over the past 3 days, but hard to figure out the sequences that make it work.
I also have a WD Network drive and it looks like there may be a conflict between the two as it is hard to get both on at the same time - though that has been successful a couple of times.
2 questions:
1) is there a way to set WD drives to not sleep? or to sleep in accordance with the Mac? (from all the reading of similar issues, it sounds like that could be an issue.)
2) any idea how to check for drive conflicts on a Mac?
any other ideas about what it is would be great!!
I'm right now trying to get it connected so I can get the files off it, format it, and take it back - then purchase a Mac-specific drive from one of the known vendors I've been hearing about on this forum. (any recommendations about which would be better/best? 1TB or greater, firewire 800, for working on iMovie movies prediminently)
Thanks in advance!

WD drive mechanisms work very well. Most of my drives are currently WD, including the one that came installed inside my iMac. I like them because they seem to run quiet and cool. It's the Western Digital branded external drive enclosures that I've seen negative commentary about in various forums.
is there a way to set WD drives to not sleep? or to sleep in accordance with the Mac?
When the drive is in an external enclosure, I believe that is a function of the enclosure, not the drive mechanism. The enclosures I currently own are from Mac-oriented vendors (like OWC - www.macsales.com) and they can sense and follow the wake/sleep/off status of the Mac it is connected to automatically. I tend to buy such products from companies that specialize in supporting Mac users, because they have fully tested their products with Macs. In addition to OWC, others include LaCie, Macally, and G-Drive.
any idea how to check for drive conflicts on a Mac?
So the new drive (Vantec) is FireWire 800. Is the "WD network drive" connect via USB? I don't think there would be any conflict if it was connected over a network.
Mac OS X does not have things like Windows drive letters, so the usual conflict is a hardware conflict, or a case of exceeding the power available on the bus (whether it's USB or FireWire). Disconnect all other peripherals except a standard keyboard/mouse. Make sure each drive works by itself. Then connect the two at the same time. Then add any other peripherals one at a time. And make note of when, and if, there is a failure.
Also, it is easy to not consider how many devices you have connected to one power strip that is connected to one power outlet. There is a limit to how much power can go through a single power outlet, so if it looks even remotely crowded, be sure to spread the power cords for the iMac, external drives, second display, cell phone charger, USB hub, printer, your desk lamp, etc. to two or even three power strips connected to separate power outlets.

Need help with Mac & PC not recognizing external drive (disk not readable)

I am having trouble getting my computer(s) to recognize my Seagate External Drive.
Have tried on my MacBook, iMac, 2 Mini's & my roommate's PC and all reveal the same issue: The Disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.
MacBook/iMac both are working off of Leopard
Both Mini's are on Tiger
It won't show up in finder, rendering it unobtainable. I need to get the information if at all possible off of this hard drive (very important!!) so any help I can get would be greatly appreciated!
It allows me to go into disk utility where it shows up with this information:
Name : ST316002 3A Media
Type : Disk
Partition Map Scheme : Master Boot Record
Disk Identifier : disk4
Media Name : ST316002 3A Media
Media Type : Generic
Connection Bus : USB
USB Serial Number : 3LJ07T540000
Device Tree : /PCI0@0/USB7@1D,7/@4:0
Writable : Yes
Ejectable : Yes
Mac OS 9 Drivers Installed : No
Location : External
Total Capacity : 149.1 GB (160,041,885,696 Bytes)
S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
Disk Number : 4
Partition Number : 0
And it is in the "about this mac" section with this information:
Seagate Mass Storage:
Capacity: 149.05 GB
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk4
Version: 0.00
Bus Power (mA): 500
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Seagate
Mac OS 9 Drivers: No
Partition Map Type: MBR (Master Boot Record)
Product ID: 0x0500
Serial Number: 3LJ07T540000
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Vendor ID: 0x0bc2

Additional info:
on the disk4s1 info in disk utility, this information is seen:
Name : disk4s1
Type : Volume
Disk Identifier : disk4s1
Mount Point : Not mounted
Connection Bus : USB
Device Tree : /PCI0@0/USB7@1D,7/@4:1
Writable : Yes
Capacity : 149.0 GB (160,022,790,144 Bytes)
Owners Enabled : No
Can Turn Owners Off : No
Can Be Formatted : No
Bootable : No
Supports Journaling : No
Journaled : No
Disk Number : 4
Partition Number : 1
so it looks like a whole lot of no's that need to be turned around! I can't understand why it won't be read by either Mac or PC with all of this, or how I can fix it

Right USB Port not reading External HD

I'm using Mid 2014, Retina, 13-inch, Macbook Pro. I noticed that my right USB Port is not reading my 1 TB WD External HD but able to use mouse. How to fix it?

According to the fount of knowledge that is Wikipedia…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB
As with previous USB versions, USB 3.0 ports come in low-power and high-power variants, providing 150 mA and 900 mA respectively, while simultaneously transmitting data at SuperSpeed rates.[25] Additionally, there is a Battery Charging Specification (Version 1.2 – December 2010), which increases the power handling capability to 1.5 A but does not allow concurrent data transmission.
It doesn't make sense to me that a 'low power' USB port would output 500ma unless it was working in USB2 mode.
A unit load is defined as 100 mA in USB 1.x and 2.0, and 150 mA in USB 3.0. A device may draw a maximum of five unit loads (500 mA) from a port in USB 1.x and 2.0, or six unit loads (900 mA) in USB 3.0.
You may want to get the genius to confirm the spec for both ports if you go along to a store, I guess they may have limitations.
I would also boot into recovery mode just to see if the disk pops up in Disk Utility via both ports - that could indicate the port is being rendered useless by the OS.
Apologies, you appear to have tried that already.

T440s - Win 8.1 - not recognizing external drive

Hello!
I have this odd problem...
I recently bought Samsung's M3 Portable External Drive (1TB) and it worked fine up until I formatted the drive and unplugged it from my laptop. Now when I plug it back, the drive will not show up anywhere - tried DISKPART, Disk Management and some Samsung's disk management software, but it's not there.
I tried plugging it to other computers (Win 7 and Win 8.1) and it's working fine. Tried formatting it to exFAT, created 30GB partition and formatted it to FAT32 and currently it's formatted to NTFS - still not showing up in my T440s.
I have the latest windows updates installed, I uninstalled USB controllers. Nothing seems to help.
Hoping for your help,
Janek

Update: I tried creating a new user to see if it's Windows profile related issue, but it's not - the drive did not show up there either. What I did find out is that when I booted the Windows to advanced startup mode and used the Command Prompt there, then the Drive is shown in Diskpart. I formatted it from there and assigned new letter for the volume as well, but once I boot the Windows, the drive is still not showing up. So it is definitely Windows related issues not something specific to T440s.
Perhaps there's someone who could help, or has some suggestions?

ITunes Not Recognizing External Drive when Shuffle is Connected

I recently bought an external hard drive and transferred most of my ITunes library to the drive. I also directed ITunes to find all songs in the external drive. The external drive has generally worked well. However, whenever I connect my Shuffle to my computer's USB port, ITunes becomes unable to locate my song library. When I look in my external hard drive folder, my entire library's missing. But if i unplug the shuffle and restart my computer, all the files are visible again, and ITunes has no problem locating them. Does anyone know what is going on and how I can fix this problem? Thanks.

It sounds like maybe the shuffle and the external hard drive are trying to use the same drive letter. Try changing the drive letter of the shuffle. If you change the letter of the drive iTunes will have problems finding your songs.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844

OS X not recognizing external drive

I've tried everything with this USB 2.0 external drive. It was formatted in NTFS, MacBook did not recognize it when I plugged it in. It does not even show up in Disk Utility. The only place that the system even recognizes that there is something plugged into it is in System Profiler:
USB 2.0 Storage Device:
Version: 1.03
Bus Power (mA): 500
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Product ID: 0x5621
Serial Number: 00042222200000115773
Vendor ID: 0x0402
I tried reformatting in FAT32 -- still nothing. Bad enclosure? The drive works on any windows system, so the drive is not bad. It's a Hitachi Deskstar 164.7 GB. Thanks in advance..

Hi all,
Hi,
is it possible that the HD was configured as a 'Dynamic Disk' when created in Windows ?
Macs do have problems with these kind of HDs.
See here for informations about Dynamic Disks: http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B308424&x=9&y=12
and this on How-To convert back to Basic Disks (which Macs can use): http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B309044&x=15&y=14
Also is the HD self-powered or USB-Bus-powered ?
If bus-powered a power-supply for the drive might help.
Regards
Stefan

IMovie 9 not recognizing external drive

Hi - has anyone experienced iMovie 9 not letting you save an event folder/project folder to an external drive?
It seems to see them but has a yellow bang symbol next to it. It is a MyBook drive. I've tried right clicking but there is no indication what the problem is.
I don't have enough room on my MacBook Pro to create my movie so I want to import my event files and same my project on he MyBook drive but the only place I have to save is my local drive. Any suggestions?
--Laureen

Check how your Mybook drive is formatted. iMovie will only recognize drives that are formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled). If your drive is formatted as FAT32, iMovie will not see it.
You can easily reformat a drive using Disk Utility, but be aware that reformatting will erase anything that is currently on that drive.
To reformat,
Open Disk Utility
Partition the drive with one partition using GUID.
Erase the drive using Mac OS Extended (journaled) as format.

Usb port not recognizing external drive

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