Ticket Options
Question Profile
| DATE | Nov 1, 2006 |
| TICKET | #330397 |
| STATUS | Closed |
| SUBJECT | Macbook not recognizing my external hard |
| CAT | Computers, Operating Systems, Applications or Connected Devices |
| TYPE | Computer Hardware (RAM, Drives, Video Cards, Motherbaord, CPU, etc) |
| DESC | Memory |
| DESC | |
| PLATFORM | Apple Macintosh (Intel) |
| MODEL | Apple MacBook |
| PROC | 2 Ghz Core Duo |
| RAM | 1GB |
| DRIVE | |
| NAME | Andrew |
| USERNAME | KRIMME |
| TECHNICAL | Little Experience |
| ISSUE | Totally Lost |
Question Details
TICKET ARCHIVE -> Macbook not recognizing my external hard
KRIMME - Nov 1, 2006 - 11:57 am
When I called Fantom Drives for support they told me that I lost my partition due to corruption, but that was about it. I have a 150GB hard drive that supports FAT 32.
I moved all my music and pictures to the drive from my old mac to free up space. When I connect to either computer, I get amessage that Mac cannot read the volumes on the disk, and that I need to initialize the disk.
How can I access the drive without losing the files that are already on it? Someone suggested I try to connect using my PC, but the drive only has firewire ports.
Thanks,
Andrew
I moved all my music and pictures to the drive from my old mac to free up space. When I connect to either computer, I get amessage that Mac cannot read the volumes on the disk, and that I need to initialize the disk.
How can I access the drive without losing the files that are already on it? Someone suggested I try to connect using my PC, but the drive only has firewire ports.
Thanks,
Andrew
Stuartpau - Nov 2, 2006 - 7:50 am
It is possible to lose a partition unfortunately and the only standard cure is reformatting.
However there are some things you should try before going that far.
Have you tried the Apple disk utility, in the utilities folder. Inside disk utility there is a part called Disk First Aid. It is a very basic system but sometime it can bring a drive back. I have listed some tools below that are much better than this tool, but disk First aid is definitely worth a shot unless you have already tried it.
Tech Tool Pro has finally released version 4.5 which is Macintel compatible. This application has a fairly good chance at recovering your data.
As far as I know the best application for data recovery is Diskwarrior but I am not sure if it will work on a Macbook Pro. I would check out Alsoft the company that makes Diskwarrior as that is probably the best Application you could use for the situation you are in.
If you by any chance happen to have another Mac that is not Intel Based then you should be able to run the most current version of Diskwarrior and have it rebuild your drive and recover your files.
How long had you owned the drive before you lost the partition (if that really is what has happened?). Also could you let me know exactly what version of the OS you are running. You can find this by going to the Apple menu and pulling up about this Mac. That should let you know on the first window that comes up.
Also you might try plugging your drive in, after doing what I list below, opening about this Mac and then selecting more info. Ths launches the Apple system profiler. Take a look and make sure you do have a firewire section listed in the left hand column. Then click on it and it should show you any device that is attached to the Firewire system. There is also a small Vidcam installed on the Firewire system and you can check to see if that is working by opening Photo Booth. You should see whatever the camera is pointing at, probably you. IF this is not working you need to Contact Apple as there may be a fault with the Firewire system.
It is possible that you could connect it to a PC with Firewire ports but if you don't have them built in as a lot of the newer Laptops do, then you will have to get an expansion card and add Firewire to your PC. I would think that this is a bit expensive especially as the chances of accessing the drive are no better than they are on the Mac and probably less so.
Have you checked out the Firewire system to see if it is working. You might want to try and plug something into the Firewire ports to see if it is operating.
Another trick you can try and although Apple says this is not necessary, it has worked for me in a couple of different situations one where I lost the Firewire on my Macbook Pro and 3 times when I lost the Bluetooth system.
Do the following.
Unplug the power cable after shutting down the computer and any external drives and other devices.
Turn the machine upside down and remove the battery.
One you have done this, hold down the Power on button for about 30 secs, I have been told 10 secs is sufficient but when I lost my Bluetooth, I had to hold it down for 30 seconds.
This procedure resets the PMU or MMU or SMU whatever they call it these days in Macbook Pros. This pretty much cleans out any garbage that has accumulated on the Mother board that may be blocking your drive.
Once you have done all that, insert the battery, plug the Power back in and turn the computer on. Once it appears to be running as it should be, try plugging your ext drive in. Let me know what happens OK.
Are you certain that the drive itself powers up. The power light may come on, but the drive unit inside the box has to spin up before it will function. You should be able to hear this as you power the drive up. IF you don't then there is a good chance that either the Power supply to the drive is faulty or the drive itself is faulty.
Losing a drive like the way you are describing is pretty rare on a new drive and one that has been recently partitioned, unless your Mac has been crashing a lot or the drive has had some kind of external shock.
Try that little lot first and let me know how things go OK.
Stuart
However there are some things you should try before going that far.
Have you tried the Apple disk utility, in the utilities folder. Inside disk utility there is a part called Disk First Aid. It is a very basic system but sometime it can bring a drive back. I have listed some tools below that are much better than this tool, but disk First aid is definitely worth a shot unless you have already tried it.
Tech Tool Pro has finally released version 4.5 which is Macintel compatible. This application has a fairly good chance at recovering your data.
As far as I know the best application for data recovery is Diskwarrior but I am not sure if it will work on a Macbook Pro. I would check out Alsoft the company that makes Diskwarrior as that is probably the best Application you could use for the situation you are in.
If you by any chance happen to have another Mac that is not Intel Based then you should be able to run the most current version of Diskwarrior and have it rebuild your drive and recover your files.
How long had you owned the drive before you lost the partition (if that really is what has happened?). Also could you let me know exactly what version of the OS you are running. You can find this by going to the Apple menu and pulling up about this Mac. That should let you know on the first window that comes up.
Also you might try plugging your drive in, after doing what I list below, opening about this Mac and then selecting more info. Ths launches the Apple system profiler. Take a look and make sure you do have a firewire section listed in the left hand column. Then click on it and it should show you any device that is attached to the Firewire system. There is also a small Vidcam installed on the Firewire system and you can check to see if that is working by opening Photo Booth. You should see whatever the camera is pointing at, probably you. IF this is not working you need to Contact Apple as there may be a fault with the Firewire system.
It is possible that you could connect it to a PC with Firewire ports but if you don't have them built in as a lot of the newer Laptops do, then you will have to get an expansion card and add Firewire to your PC. I would think that this is a bit expensive especially as the chances of accessing the drive are no better than they are on the Mac and probably less so.
Have you checked out the Firewire system to see if it is working. You might want to try and plug something into the Firewire ports to see if it is operating.
Another trick you can try and although Apple says this is not necessary, it has worked for me in a couple of different situations one where I lost the Firewire on my Macbook Pro and 3 times when I lost the Bluetooth system.
Do the following.
Unplug the power cable after shutting down the computer and any external drives and other devices.
Turn the machine upside down and remove the battery.
One you have done this, hold down the Power on button for about 30 secs, I have been told 10 secs is sufficient but when I lost my Bluetooth, I had to hold it down for 30 seconds.
This procedure resets the PMU or MMU or SMU whatever they call it these days in Macbook Pros. This pretty much cleans out any garbage that has accumulated on the Mother board that may be blocking your drive.
Once you have done all that, insert the battery, plug the Power back in and turn the computer on. Once it appears to be running as it should be, try plugging your ext drive in. Let me know what happens OK.
Are you certain that the drive itself powers up. The power light may come on, but the drive unit inside the box has to spin up before it will function. You should be able to hear this as you power the drive up. IF you don't then there is a good chance that either the Power supply to the drive is faulty or the drive itself is faulty.
Losing a drive like the way you are describing is pretty rare on a new drive and one that has been recently partitioned, unless your Mac has been crashing a lot or the drive has had some kind of external shock.
Try that little lot first and let me know how things go OK.
Stuart
IF THIS IS YOUR QUESTION AND YOU WISH TO RESPOND, LOGIN HERE FIRST.
