What to do if an external hard drive is recognized on one macbook pro but is NOT recognized on another?

Attached a friend's external hard drive to my MacBook Pro and it wouldn't mount (Finder is set to show external disks), though I could clearly hear it functioning. However, if it's plugged into his Mac, it is recognized.
Thanks in advance for any solutions and apologies in advance if this has been a topic before.

Reset the SMC and NVRAM:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

Similar Messages

Setting up an external hard drive to back up my MacBook Pro?

I am currently using a 320GB Western Digital external hard drive to back up my MacBook Pro using Time Machine, soon however I am going to be putting Windows 7 onto my machine so I am trying to figure out how I am going to back up the Mac OS X and the Windows partition at the same time using this hard drive. I am thinking about completetly erasing the drive and putting 2 partitions on it in 2 different formats (one for Mac OS X and one for Windows). I am also thinking of using Carbon Copy Cloner instead of Time Machine because it creates bootable backups. However, now that I am thinking about using Carbon Copy Cloner I am wondering if FAT32 will work for both partitions? (I have been using Mac OS X extended (journaled) only because it works with Time machine). I need help though because I would not know how to go about completely erasing/resetting the drive etc.. then partitioning it and formatting it. I am also wondering if there is a windows equivalent of CCC or Super Duper to back up the Windows partition. Thanks for your help in advance.

I'm inferring from the way you wrote about using Windows that you plan on using it through Boot Camp. Have you considered using VMware Fusion (or Parallels) instead? Then Time Machine would back up the virtual machine along with everything else. You also have the advantage that you can use both Mac OS and Windows at the same time - you don't have to choose one or the other. There are two disadvantages. First, since both Mac OS and Windows are running simultaneously, you need more memory. I'd recommend no less than 8 GB if you run any serious software on either OS. You can get away with 4 GB, but at times the system will be really slow. Second, the virtual machine images are BIG - mine typically run over 20 GB - so you'll probably want a bigger backup drive if you go this way.

I use an external hard drive as a Time Machine back up, but I want to use another external hard drive to save movies, photos on it, but it won't give me the option to save anything on the new external hard drive. Nothing is wrong with the external hard.

I use an external hard drive as a Time Machine back up, but I want to use another external hard drive to save movies, photos on it, but it won't give me the option to save anything on the new external hard drive. Nothing is wrong with the external hard.

Hi Clarkett99,
To use an external hard drive for your iTunes library, see the steps in this article -
iTunes: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
iPhoto can be used in a similar way, follow the steps in this previous discussion -
how do I save photos and their albums...: Apple Support Communities
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3744259
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

How do i transfer music from an external hard drive to itunes on my macbook pro?

how do i transfer music from an external hard drive to itunes on my macbook pro?

easy just open iTunes and Finder together and drag the songs into iTunes
George Karakadas, hope this helped u. if it helped u PLZ RATE MY AANSWER AS: "CORRECT ANSWRER" thnx

How do you separate corrupt files from good files on a external hard drive importing them to my macbook pro

how do you separate corrupt files from good files on a external hard drive importing them to your macbook pro

You open them one at a time into thier respective programs and see if they are good or not and then send the bad ones to the Trash and the good ones to the appropriate folder.

What is the best external hard drive to purchase for a Macbook Pro with OS X 10.7.5?

I'm looking into purchasing a new external hard drive for video editing purposes. I own a Macbook Pro which operates on OS X Lion (10.7.5). I would like at least 1TB of memory (2TB maximum) and a FireWire 800 port for a reasonable price. Any suggestions of brands or specific models?

LaCie is a good brand name.
Avoid WD "combos" ... the pre-packaged boxes with WD drives. WD tends to pick controller/interface cards that fail and scramble the disk data.
But you can go to macsales.com and buy a "OnTheGo" enclosure and add "bare drives" from WD as their drives are good.
I ahev this "toaster" that allows easy chaning of "bare drive": http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/FWU3ES2HDK/

External Hard Drive No longer Appearing on Macbook Pro

Hello, I have a Iomega ldhd-up 1TB external hard drive which I have owned for about 3-4 years. The enclosure case of the hard drive is very poorly designed and the port for the USB cable does not fit the cable tightly. Over the years I often would have to turn off the hard drive and adjust the cord so it would appear on my computer. (yes i know its a bad idea to turn it off without unmounting, but i didn't have much choice)
However, as of today, it is no longer appearing at all no matter what I do. (not on the desktop, or disk utility, or anywhere). It is making the same sounds and the light on the external is showing up as if should be working though.
Does anyone have a fix for this or suggestions to make my hard drive appear and function again. Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you.

Since you have had a history of connection problems with the Iomega, get a new enclosure for the HDD. That of course assumes that the HDD is functional.
Ciao.

External hard drive connected and running time machine backups but icon not showing up in finder

My external hard drive has been connected for a couple of years and is using time machine perfectly. i am trying to save my iphoto library on the external drive but the icon is not displayed in finder. Only time machine icon is displayed......thanks for your help!

Did you create a second partition for your iPhoto Library or did you just use the same single partition that TimeMachine is on?
Formatting & Partitioning a Hard Drive in OS X
Apple Tips: Using Disk Utility 3. Add a Partition

How do I access an external hard drive that shows up in Disk Utility but will not show up in finder or on my desktop?

I have an external hard drive that just stopped showing up one day. Is there a solution to this problem that allows me to secure the data on the drive before reformatting?

I'm having the same problem bpay14, but with a CalDigit VR2 6TB RAID0 external hard drive.
One day it was showing on my desktop, the other it wasn't. And I still didn't update my Mavericks to 10.9.3 (still with the 10.9.2).
It shows up in the disk utility, and I can even Verify the disk and Repair it (but I don't wanna start repairing
something that probably doesn't need to be repaired, so I haven't clicked the Repaid button, only the Verify button) and it says its working just fine.
But it doesn't show in the Finder or the desktop for that matter.
And even if I force disconnect the cable, I get the usual "this disk was not ejected properly" notification
presumingly the disk was mounted on the desktop and I forced eject by unppluging it...
I found a way to force open the disk, through Disk Utility that's by clicking with the right mouse button
on the disk icon, and chosing OPEN "CalDigit AFRICA 6TB"... (see picture 1)
But... after that, it open a Finder window showing all my internal and external drives, but that drive's
name is in washed grey, like if it was unmounted (see picture 2).
When selected, I can see everything and work normally on the harddrive, even opening FCPROX projects or Libraries, copying from it and writing documents into it... just normal... (see picture 3)
BUT IT DOES NOT SHOW IN THE DESKTOP...
that's my problem...
I even did a Command+i for Info on the hard drive. (see picture 4)
Can anyone shed some light on this issue?
I would be eternally grateful!
Thanks in advance!!!
Cheers!

Reformating external hard drive for use with new MacBook Pro

I'm trying to figure out how to use an existing external hard drive (formatted for a Powermac G4) with my new MacBook Pro. I understand that the file formats are different and that I need to erase the hard drive and reformat it with a GUID partition, but how does one do that?
I've already erased the drive with disk utility (using the old Powermac) and connected it to my MacBook with the hope that it would be recognized. No dice, alas. It doesn't mount at all.
Any suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

My external harddrives all work just fine with the MacBook Pro. You shouldn't have to reformat anything. I think if you did then it would not be backwards compatable with the older systems. Stick it back in your old computer and try to mount it again, repair permissions shutdown your macbook pro and connect the external drive then reboot

My hard drive failed. I was able to restore my files from an external hard drive. I have my bookmarks saved but am not able to import them into Firefox as the only option is to import them from another browser. Any suggestions?

-My hard drive failed.
-I was able to restore my files from an external hard drive.
-My bookmarks are saved to a folder on my new hard drive.
-I am not able to import them from this folder on my hard drive into Firefox.
- the only option Firefox offers for importing bookmarks is to import them from another browser...is there another way?

In Firefox the bookmarks are saved in a database file called places.sqlite in the profile folder. If you have got this file from the external hard drive you can restore the bookmarks by copying this file to your current profile folder. For details of the location of the profile folder see either https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Profiles or http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

How to combine external hard drive iTunes account to my MacBook Pro's iTunes account?

Hey All,
I have external hard drive that contains my Macbook Air's iTunes account, and I want to combine it to my 'main' MacBook Pro's iTunes account.
I have spent endless hours organizing the music on my external hard drive (ie: genres, groupings, comments, etc) and am hoping to retain all of this precious information.
I am a newbie and obviously not very tech savy.
Any and all help is appreciated.
Ask me anything to assist in the process and I will get back to your promptly.
Cheers,
Danny

I just answered a question like this about an hour ago so I won't type it all in again. No, there isn't an easy way to merge libraries. You can copy the entire iTunes library to the internal drive and then try to export playlists and import them into the other library, Haven't done it myself but it may work. Fortunately most of the things you mention are contained inside the files themselves (unless you use WAV format) so even if you end up having to add the files to the main library as new files they will still have your data (but not ratings, or date added, or playlists).

Which external hard drive is best for the MacBook Pro? Can I use the SuperDrive?

I am looking to buy a new external hard drive for my new MacBook Pro and just want the best one for this laptop. Can i use the SuperDrive? It looks like the SuperDrive is for the MacBook Air but wasn't sure if it could be used with the Pro as well.

Apple does not make external harddrives, except maybe the TimeCapsule which is Router/HD combo for use with the TimeMachine software.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/storage
There are many to choose from, and you will I sure get much advise across the board.
I would stay away from WesternDigital.
Othere then that OWC are a dependable supplier.
I am using a 1TB/QuadInterface/DiskGo/ by Edge they had a very sweet back to school discount promo.
Look around for your "sleek and thin in design" and a good deal as they all go on sale periodicly.
Think along the lines of USB 3, Thunderbolt if your machine supports it or at a minimum FireWire800.

Two hard drives, two operating systems, one MacBook Pro

Dear community,
     I have a MacBook Pro (mid-2010) with Mac OS Lion. I plan on having this computer all through the rest of college (another two and a half years, hopefully) so I want to upgrade it just a bit. What I would like to do is take out my optical drive, install a second hard drive mount, and put an SSD in that spot. Now, this would be pretty simple if it were just Mac OS Lion that I wanted on it, but here's the catch - I'd like to put my copy of Windows 7 on that drive as well. I currently use one hard drive for Mac/Windows 7 using boot camp, so I figured it'd be possible to do this with 2 hard drives.
     Basically I'd like to put the OSes and a few programs on the SSD, and the files/remaining programs on my big HDD. Is this even possible? Any suggestions?
     In summary: Mac OS Lion and Windows 7 + a few Mac/Windows apps on the SSD; Mac OS and Windows data files and programs on the HDD. Can it be done?
Thanks a lot.
-Grant
*Note- here is the hard drive caddy I'm looking at: http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Unibody-MacBook-SuperDrive-Replacement/dp/B0058AH2US /ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1MJCRJMNCU4QQ&colid=1LV4HAU48M27X

grantmcconnaughey wrote:
Dear community,
     I have a MacBook Pro (mid-2010) with Mac OS Lion. I plan on having this computer all through the rest of college (another two and a half years, hopefully) so I want to upgrade it just a bit. What I would like to do is take out my optical drive, install a second hard drive mount, and put an SSD in that spot. Now, this would be pretty simple if it were just Mac OS Lion that I wanted on it, but here's the catch - I'd like to put my copy of Windows 7 on that drive as well. I currently use one hard drive for Mac/Windows 7 using boot camp, so I figured it'd be possible to do this with 2 hard drives.
     Basically I'd like to put the OSes and a few programs on the SSD, and the files/remaining programs on my big HDD. Is this even possible? Any suggestions?
The SSD should be the boot drive in the present hard drive spot for these reasons.
1: You want the SSD as the boot volume for speed of OS X, Windows and applications (must be on boot drive along with one bare bones user, each OS)
2: You want to inflict as little change to the SSD as possible to make it last longer as they can wear out with a lot of use, thus a boot/app drive is ideal for this.
3: Present hard drive becomes the exFAT formatted drive to use for Windows or Mac file storage use in the optical bay caddy.
Problems:
You can't install Windows from a external optical drive, only the internal one.
You also won't be able to boot off a 10.6 install disk just the same.
However you can option boot off 10.6/10.7 previously installed, or cloned (Carbon Copy Cloner), on a external drive.
Windows in Bootcamp is subject to the same problems requiring reinstall like it is on PC's, which to reinstall would require you to install your internal optical drive each time.
You can't make a bootable clone of Windows on a external drive and use it (because of validation issues with the drive Windows is installed on) or use it to restore Bootcamp (there used to be software that did this for Snow Leopard, but it hasn't been updated anymore)
Also if your 2010 MBP doesn't have SATA 6, your going to be using SATA 3 and not the full speed capability of the SSD.
What you might consider doing instead is getting a 1TB 7,200 RPM boot drive, you get storage size to partition and decent speed, without excessive speed which you might not be able to use it all with your hardware.
Another option, if your using Windows for non-hardware presisng issues (3D games, heavy CPU loads) is to use virtual machine software (VMFusion, Parrallels Desktop etc) and run Windows in a window on OS X. This gives the advantage of Windows running as a file, and you can have earlier "snapshots" in case Windows gets hosed like it does sometimes.
Also Bootcamp restricts you to Windows 7, with virtual machine software you can run any Windows version, even cool Linux distros too (install older versions first then upgrade) Plus you don't have to dual boot or worry about file formatting issues, which both is a pain in the butt.
Lion is a pain to reinstall on a new hard drive directly with older hardware (two steps involved), luckily you've got a older machine and can install 10.6.8 first, then upgrade by holding option key and clicking on Purchases, then apps, then files, then bootcamp or virtual machine software, then Windows.
Should make a copy of that 10.6 disk
http://www.walterjessen.com/make-a-bootable-backup-snow-leopard-install-disc/
So anyway, that's a loadful to think about.
What you should do is join the MacOwnersSupportGroup and ask Bmer how best to go about installing the optical drive kit. I've send all these sort of hardware hacks his way as he has done it himself so he knows.
Apple obviously doesn't support such a thing and nearly none here can offer any support in such a thing.
OtherWorld Computing has a kit as well, gives a enclosure for the Superdrive to use as a external optical drive as well. (just can't boot or install Windows with it.)
As always this is all I know and subjective to change, so ask around further and perhaps you'll find more answers, but likely not here.
See this for fast SSD choices
http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/high_end_drives.html
Good Luck and hope that helps.

Can't get my external hard drive to show up on MacBook Pro

I used Time Machine to keep backups for my MacBook Pro using the latest version of Lion. I backed up to a WD external drive. My computer went to be repaired and they had to put in a new hard drive. When I got home and plugged in the external drive it appeared on my desktop. The Apple rep told me to drag over folders from the backup. I looked through a few of the backups (dated) and everything seemed to be there. But I got the spinning wheel as I tried to copy over "latest". I couldn't get rid of it and had to reboot.
So next it appeared, showed one folder but when I clicked on that folder there was nothing inside.
Then I couldn't see the hard drive any longer. Now I take out the drive and plug it in again and the drive won't appear in the list of devices. I use the disk utility and it doesn't see it either.
Needless to say I'm pretty concerned. I've had the problem of an external drive not appearing a few times over the years but a reboot or unplug and plug back in always fixed it. not this time.
Help!
Much appreciate,

If you have recently upgraded to Lion, it would be probably a matter of drivers. You should go to the official web site and download the latest drivers. If not, try to format the HDD with disc utilities. If your disc doesn't appear even in disc utilities, try to format it with any copy of windows in fat 32 format

What to do if an external hard drive is recognized on one macbook pro but is NOT recognized on another?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for