Usb ports external drives white macbook

I have a 2008 white macbook. Even when it was under warrantee I suspected the usb ports were not working right, and took it in for repair, they said they were okay. I still have trouble with message saying I did not eject disk properly when I have not ejected anything. I think recently I have lost a hard drive and a camera card because of this random disconnect while in use. I live far away from an apple store and not able to find anyone in my area that works on macs. I am now afraid to plug in my cards and external hard drives (on which I keep all my photographic files), what can I do next, thanks, virginia

If these are bus-powered drives, they aren't getting enough power from the PB's USB ports to be fully operational. There are three remedies:
1. Use external AC adapters with the drives if available.
2. Plug the drives into an AC-powered USB hub instead of directly into the computer.
3. Use a USB "Y" cable to draw power for the drive from two USB ports rather than just one.
USB 2 is backward-compatible with USB 1.1; that isn't the problem.

Similar Messages

USB 2 external drives not showing up

Hi,
I have tried 2 USB 2 external drives with my Powerbook. Neither is recognized by the OS so I can't even try to format them. I was able to format the first one on my old 500 mhz Powerbook (Pismo, I guess) running OS 9.2.2 and turning it into a Standard Mac OS, Mac extended and then a DOS drive. None were recognized by the newer Powerbook and once I had formatted the drive to DOS I couldn't format it any other way. That drive, a WD My Passport Essential, was formatted when shipped as a Windows (FAT32?) drive.
My newer external drive, a Toshiba (who knows what model since they don't say anything on the box or drive), is not recognized by the OS either. It is probably formatted for Windows and I could try to format it on the old Powerbook but instead of going down that road I wonder if there is some reason I am not able to format it with the new one.
The USB ports work. Other devices, printers and a camera, always work when plugged into them.
The drives are USB 2.0. My Powerbook (both actually) uses USB 1. Is that the problem? I've read that USB 2 is backward compatible so I don't understand why I'm having such trouble getting either to work.
All help is appreciated.
Cheers,
John

If these are bus-powered drives, they aren't getting enough power from the PB's USB ports to be fully operational. There are three remedies:
1. Use external AC adapters with the drives if available.
2. Plug the drives into an AC-powered USB hub instead of directly into the computer.
3. Use a USB "Y" cable to draw power for the drive from two USB ports rather than just one.
USB 2 is backward-compatible with USB 1.1; that isn't the problem.

2011 Macbook Pro won't detect my USB 3 external drive

I've got a late 2011 MacBook Pro, running OSX Yosemite with all available updates installed.
I recently purchased a 1TB USB 3.0 (USB 2.0 backwards compatible) external hard drive (Seagate) to use for Time Machine backups.
Quite often when I connect the drive to my Mac it doesn't get picked up - i.e. it doesn't appear in Finder or Disk Utility. The drive does get power each time (you can hear it if you put your ear close enough), however the small light on the drive doesn't come on when the problem occurs.
If I unplug it and then plug it back in it sometimes picks it up - often I have to restart a few times for it get picked up.
Other times it connects first time without any problems at all, which is strange!
It was doing this before upgrading from OSX Mavericks to OSX Yosemite.
My USB2.0 500GB external drive connects and appears in Finder without any problems at all.
I've performed the following troubleshooting steps:
- Connected the drive to different USB ports (no change)
- Tested the drive on various Windows workstations (works fine every time)
- Tested with different USB 3.0 cables (no change)
- Formatted the drive (no change)
- Tried different USB3.0 drives (same problem occurs)
I'm not really sure what else to try. You can't seem to get just USB2.0 drives any more in the UK (not 1TB or greater).
Has anyone else had problems?

USB Ports can sometimes be funny like that. If you haven't already, these are some little things you can try:
- First things first, unplug all your usb devices. Try plugging a device that you're sure works on your MBPR over EACH of the usb ports (just to check if they're both working correctly & supplying power on the mac itself).
- Check the USB cable's A plug (the end that connects to the mac) and make sure both the contacts are clean, and that the crevass is free from dirt/lint buildup, as it can interfere with a proper connection. (This can happen if you store cables in cases or bags).
- Sometimes easing the USB plug slightly out from the computer may help mount certain devices. If it DOES mount (abruptly) after this, then see item above on making sure your cable is clean, or swap out usb cable as it may not be working properly & try again with a new cable.
- Lastly, some devices may need a firmware update to even connect, as with the cases of the Lexar USB3.0 Card Readers and some Seagate USB HD's some folks here are experiencing with their Retinas.
Here's another thread that may also be useful concerning an external Toshiba Canvio HD.
It's not much, I know, but hope this helps, if a little.

Recovering data from "crashed" hard drive - white macbook

I have a 13" white macbook (my daughter's macbook). It looks like the hard drive crashed. She took it to Apple store they told her they can replace the hard drive (still under Apple care), but I am trying to get the data from the hard drive.
I pulled the hard drive out of the macbook, and put it in a external hard drive enclosure, with USB2 connector. Unfortunately I have to connect the USB to a Windows PC, since that's what I have (she took my PowerBook for school work). The wondows machine does not recognize the hard drive. I tried to connect to a Vista machine and an XP machine same problem.
Do I have to connect it to a Mac to be able to recognize this hard drive? I thought as long as I put it in a external disk enclosure I will be able to recognize it even with Windows machine.
I would appreciate any help.
p.s. I do hear (faint) clicking noise from the hard drive - both when it is in the macbook and when it is in the external enclosure.
Thanks.

The enclosure is format "agnostic". A drive could conceivably be formatted in several different Apple formats; HFS+ (aka Mac OS Extended) is likely what you have. There's Windows based FAT32 or NTFS.
Windows doesn't properly recognize Mac drive formats unless you add software. There are a couple of commercial tools that might work.
http://www.macdisk.com/mden.php3
tp://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/

Bus powered external drive for MacBook

Hi,
I'm looking for an external HD to use with my MacBook, and I'm a bit confused about power. I'd rather avoid lugging around an extra power supply and international adaptor when I'm traveling if it can be avoided.
Does the MacBook's firewire port provide bus power? Is it sufficient to power a 2.5" external HD?
Is USB a better option if I want a bus powered HD? Are there any clear advantages to one or the other?

For the longest time, FireWire was the only practical solution to bus-powered hard drives. FireWire provides a heck of a lot of power (typically 7 to 8W) while USB by definition provides up to 2.5W per port (if powered). FireWire has so many advantages, but cost seems to be the consideration that's won out.
Current USB bus-powered external drives seem to be feasible because of newer 2.5" drives with reduced power consumption. Still - many drives come with (or they can be bought) cables with two male ends. One end is used for data/power, while the other draws more power from a 2nd powered USB port.
I have no problem getting a 160 GB WD Passport (Black) USB 2.0 drive to work on my iBook 1.42 or my new MacBook. It does take a while to mount in the OS though, although the same goes for Windows.
Message was edited by: ypw

Western Digital Passport 250Gb external drive and MacBook Pro

Hello,
Has anyone with the 15" 2.2ghz 120Gb hd MacBook Pro able to connect this Western Digital Passport 250 GB external drive to only 1 USB port and has it working?
I intend to buy both of these hardwares, but was told that I may need to get the extra Y-cable that can connect to 2 USB ports of the MacBook Pro since only 1 USB port may not have enough power to work the WD external drive? The WD drive comes with only 1 "standard" USB cable.
Thanks.

I've got the 120GB passport and it's worked when I plugged it into the right-side port. But I prefer my connections on the left (to keep room for my mouse) so I got a powered Kensington Dome hub that I run thru my left USB port and have plugged the HD into the hub and that also works.

Fast External Drive Options Macbook Pro 15"

Hello.
I own a 15" Macbook pro 15" core i5 processor in it etc.. I have a dock style enclosure for 2 SATA hard drives that has USB connect and also eSATA. The USB is INCREDIBLY SLOW. I am waiting sometimes 2-3 minutes just to have a song start playing in iTunes... I am looking for a way to use eSATA on this laptop. I bought an Expresscard/34 with eSATA on it because I read that would work with Macbook pros but I was dissapointed when I found out that this generation of them does not support it!! I am running ProTools M-Powered 8, which requires me to use my only Firewire port to hook up my audio interface.
I love my Macbook and the MacOS, everything about it is better but this small problem is a large hindrance to my workflow. I guess I should add that the hard drive dock is plugged into a Hub. Perhaps If I plug the dock into the second USB port which I hope has it's own separate bus I should see SOME improvement. =(
Perhaps somebody here has something that might help.

I knew it wasn't going to cut it, I just don't know much about all these small revisions to the macbook pro. Having never seen an expresscard before I assumed that the SD card slot doubled as the expresscard slot. The people at my apple store said nothing about the expresscard not being on the 15" model when I bought it and asked questions about it. In fact they went looking for expresscards for eSATA at the apple store and ended up recommending Newegg to purchase one. I've just been really mis-informed about this whole expresscard thing.
I guess I can sell this eSATA/USB dock and look for a firewire hub and enclosure. are there any docks that are reasonable priced?
By the way, My internal drive works fine for playing back audio that has already been recorded. Mixing is actually faster than on my desktop! The mac screams compared to it. I have sessions in excess of 5gb of audio that play back fine off the system drive, but I will need a decently fast external drive in order to record audio. No Digital Audio workstations respond well when recording to the system drive. =/

Time machine won't use see USB added external drive

I have an older Time capsule 802.11n, 500 gb hard drive. It does not have a firewire port, but only ethernet or USB available. I bought a new G-raid external 4tb hard drive to add, but the time machine will not recognize the G-raid that is mac formatted via the usb port. Is it because of the usb or is the time machine to old to work with this external hard drives? If I plug the graid directly to my computer (macbook pro working on OS 10.5.8) I can see it, but can't get the time machine to use it as an extra drive during auto back up.
Am I dreaming, or can I make these multi-generational products work together?

zapski wrote:
I have an older Time capsule 802.11n, 500 gb hard drive. It does not have a firewire port, but only ethernet or USB available.
No TC has firewire.. unfortunately.
I bought a new G-raid external 4tb hard drive to add, but the time machine will not recognize the G-raid that is mac formatted via the usb port. Is it because of the usb or is the time machine to old to work with this external hard drives? If I plug the graid directly to my computer (macbook pro working on OS 10.5.8) I can see it, but can't get the time machine to use it as an extra drive during auto back up.
Am I dreaming, or can I make these multi-generational products work together?
Did you try using a powered USB hub.. between the TC and Graid..
USB on the TC is notorious for failing to recognise USB drives.. either underpowered or not recognising the chipset.
I would suggest this is the wrong setup.. USB on the TC is extremely slow.. if you are moving large enough amounts of data around as to require 4TB.. then USB is not the way to do it. Especially USB on a TC which is much slower than USB on a computer.
If you have a network of computers plug this in by the fastest port you have available.. FW800 ?? and share it with the network.

Format external drive on macbook pro

Hi,
HI,
I have a question on " to format an external drive " (I bought an 'intenso). I have a macbook pro running mountain lion and found already some answers via different replies but before doing anything I should not do, I would like to ask you waht exactly I have to select on the disk utility
- at the left side of the disk utility : what should I choose
                               first line 1tb intenso external USB
                    OR
                              second line intenso mounted partition
- at the right hand side : what should I choose
                       selecting on first line option on the left I have 4 options at the right hand side (journaled, journaled / encypted, case sensitive /
                                                                 journaled or case sensitive / journaled / encrypted)
                    OR
                    selection the second line option on the left I have only 2 options at the right hand side ( journaled or case sensitive / journaled )
What to select ?
After doing the above, will the external be ready or do I have to do something else. Noticed somewhere "encrypt" ?
Thanks for giving me some more details.
Brigiitte

Hi,
Thank you so much but I need some more help.
The drive is new and there is nothing on it so that should be fine.
But when i go to "partition", I see indeed the "options" buttom but I can not select it. It says I have to select a partition scheme. On the screen it shows "Partition layout -- current" and when I change it to "1 partition" I can follow the steps you mentioned (I can select up to "16 partitions").
Should I select "1 partition" ? What does this mean ? Maybe you know a link where I can find info on that subject as I want to learn something more and know at least   what I am doing.
Thanks.

Extremely slow file copy from USB 3 external Seagate on MacBook

I copied my iPhoto file of 20GB onto a new Seagate USB external drive from my 2011 MacBook in about 20 minutes over USB 2.0. I am copying up the same file from the same drive on my newer 2012 MacBook pro and it is taking 7 hours. The newer MacBook has a 750GB SATA SSD and is equipped with USB 3.0. Why would it take so much longer to copy from the drive to the newer Mac using a faster USB spec?

Well, I solved this myself with some searching on other threads. I turned off Spotlight indexing on the drive, and killed the copy job, disconnected and reconnected the drive, and the copy is now going quite fast. Will be done in lest than 5 minutes.
System Preferences> Spotlight>Privacy> Press the + and added the external drive.
Apparently, this is the default behavior of Spotlight, and the indexing was causing the bottleneck.

Can I physically install my 0.5 TB USB 2 external drive in my Mac Pro?

Hi guys.
I bought a .5 TB external USB hard drive a while back when I used to produce/sequence my music on a PC. Since switching I've re-formatted the drive to HFS, re-installed my samples etc, and now use it with my Mac Pro. My question is:
Could I remove the drive from it's external housing and install it to a bay inside my Pro? Would the data transfer be quicker if I were to do this? Although the drive works fine, there are times when I experience a tiny dropout in audio when a sample is launched - as a result of the file being streamed from USB - and would installing the drive internally improve this?
The specs of the drive are:
USB2.0 Storage Device:
Capacity: 465.76 GB
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk1
Version: 0.01
Bus Power (mA): 500
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Cypress Semiconductor
OS9 Drivers: No
Product ID: 0x6830
Serial Number: DEF10D4838C4
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Vendor ID: 0x04b4
Volumes:
External Drive:
Capacity: 465.64 GB
Available: 383.83 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s3
Mount Point: /Volumes/External Drive 1
I'm a little inexperienced with drives, so any advice would be very much appreciated.
Dan

if it is SATA (unlikely) it would have an SATA port on the case along with USB2.
As you say, it is unlikely that a commercial USB drive will utilize a SATA hard drive inside. This will probably be true in most cases until PATA hard drives are more difficult to find.
However, there are several empty enclosures on the market that support SATA hard drives and only have a USB port. I prefer external SATA combo enclosures that provide both SATA and USB so that they can be used with wide range of enclosures and with a SATA data port when speed is required.
One SATA hard drive enclosure with this feature is the ICY DOCK Hot Swap eSATA/USB 2.0 Mobile Enclosure (MB559US-1S)
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/cremax/mb559/
I imagine this user will find when he opens the USB case that it is a PATA hard drive and he will be limited to placing it in a 3.5" to 5.25" bracket and installing it in the second bay of the Mac Pro DVD housing. This should double the performance of the hard drive compared to the USB connection.
If it is SATA the mounting task is simpler. Either way the hard drive should be able to be utilized internally.

USB ports not working on MacBook pro

I Am trying to hook up a portable hard drive (2.0) via a USB port. I've now checked with other items as we'll and it appears that the connections through the USB ports are no longer working.
PLease help!

Jkp54,
have you run your MacBook Pro’s Apple Hardware Test, to see if it can detect anything amiss?

Usb port wont work on macbook pro 13" late 2011

Hello, can anyone help please?
I have 2 usb ports but only 1 is working correctly, the other wont take flash drives or my iphone 4 they wont show in the finder or anywhere on my macbook, however my wd harddrive works fine in the same port.
just to be sure 1 port is working absolutely fine accepts flash drives and every thing this problem is only with one of the ports
This does seem to have happened after i installed mavericks but not sure if this is related

Though all USB ports may not have the same power output, based on what you describe on the 'suspect' port suggests a different issue. Take the devices that will not work on the 'suspect' port with the MBP to an Apple store genius bar and have the technicians inspect it.
You might try SMC and PRAM resets, but I have my doubts about success in your case:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
These will not harm your MBP.
Ciao.

HOW TO REPLACE HARD DRIVE WHITE MACBOOK EARLY 2009

I have a White MacBook Early 2009, I need suggestions. My Macbook is still running fine, but would like to know which Hard Drive I should purchase as replacement. Thinking of going 500GB if possible, I already downloaded the instructions. Just trying to get my ducks in order for when that time comes, hopefully not for a few more years.

For a new hard drive try Newegg.com
Regular SATA drives http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Dr ives&Order=PRICE Use the list at the left for larger and faster drives.
SSD drives
http://www.newegg.com/Internal-SSD/SubCategory/ID-636?Order=PRICE Use the list at the left for larger and faster drives.
Or OWC for regular hard drives and SSDs http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Here are instructions on replacing the hard drive in a MacBook with a removable battery. http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=45088
To transfer your current hard drive I like the applications Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. They make a bootable copy of everything on your hard drive. http://www.bombich.com/index.html or http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
You'll need a cheap SATA external hard drive case. Put the new drive in the case then format and partition the new drive and clone your old drive to the new one. Check that it's set up right by booting up from the external drive. Then replace your old hard drive with the new one and put your old one in the external case.
Here's a cheap SATA external hard drive case on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NexStar-2-5-Inch-External-Enclosure/dp/B002JQNXZC/r ef=pd_cp_pc_0
If you don’t have the tools to open up the MacBook OWC has a set for $5
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/

AirPort Extreme and USB NTFS External Drive and Canon MP810 printer

The AirPort Extreme works great as a wireless router. And with the additional AirPort Express, I now have a WDS in my house. I can also stream my iTunes downstairs. This is all great, it's working.
What's not working is:
1. Adding a USB NTFS-formatted external Maxtor drive to the USB port Extreme.
2. Able to copy, scan, and use "all" printing functionality of the Canon MP810 USB printer when connected to the USB port of the Extreme. Please I note I can choose File, Print from most applications and it works, but I can't use Canon's My Printer tool to access the printer wirelessly.
I guess I'd like an unofficial confirmation that this is correct. I am a little disappointed that Apple didn't communicate this correctly in any of their specifications.
I will begin looking into the comparable Linksys wireless router, but I have the strange feeling that I will get the same results.
I don't know how Dell is able to do it with it's AIO 966 printer.
Thanks,
Frank

1. Adding a USB NTFS-formatted external Maxtor drive to the USB port Extreme.
Problem arises as OS X can not write to NTFS formatted drives and therefore you need to use HFS+ or FAT32.
2. Able to copy, scan, and use "all" printing functionality of the Canon MP810 USB printer when connected to the USB port of the Extreme. Please I note I can choose File, Print from most applications and it works, but I can't use Canon's My Printer tool to access the printer wirelessly.
Can I scan using my all-in-one when it is connected to the USB port of an Airport Express or Airport Extreme Base Station?
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=610763&#610763
I guess I'd like an unofficial confirmation that this is correct. I am a little disappointed that Apple didn't communicate this correctly in any of their specifications.
As you can see from this page
http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/specs.html
It does state quite clearly
+For shared printing with a USB printer +
If it allowed scanning, I am sure it would have said
+For shared printing and scanning with a USB all-in-one+
or similar.
If it doesn't explicitly say it will do something I would assume it can't.

Usb ports external drives white macbook

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