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External HD icon disappear

L

littlekenneth

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 26, 2006
89
0
Hi,

I purchase the WD passport not too long ago. Today I experienced that the desktop doesn't show an external hd icon after I plugin. I do see the WD symbol showing at the very top right corner. I would like to know how would I be able to get to my HD again and be able to display that icon when i plug the hd to my computer. Thanks again.
 
Today I experienced that the desktop doesn't show an external hd icon after I plugin. I do see the WD symbol showing at the very top right corner.

Where does it show? What WD symbol do you mean? One on the desktop or one on the Menu Bar?
Could you give us a screenshot (Cmd + Shift + 4)?

Does the external drive show up in Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities)?

Is the volume greyed out? Screenshot maybe?

Btw, you could try a so-called SMC reset, but it differs from machine to machine. Look for SMC reset and the name of your machine (iMac G4, MacBook Core Duo, ....) and surely you'll find some Apple Support article.
 
I have tried the "Finder>Preferences>Sidebar and make sure that "External Disks" is checked" and it is checked.

I am afraid that my HD is broken because when I click on the WD icon, it shows that "My firewire passport>Used 0% space". I am supposed to have 200gb in the harddisk, and now it is showing nothing. I wondered if anyone know how to fix this problem and retrieve my old data? Thanks a lot for your help.
 

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When I tried to connect it to another Mac, it has a warning saying "! disk insertion - The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer." on the bottom, there are options for "initialize", "ignore", "eject". I wondered if this mean my external hd is having problem? if it does, are there anyway that i can fix it?
 
Yes there is.

What does Disk Utility show when your external drive is connected?

If you manage to mount the drive and there is no data visible, don't copy anything to it.

Use software like DataRescue II to scan your drive and restore "deleted" files.

What Mac do you have and have you tried an SMC reset yet?
 
What does Disk Utility show when your external drive is connected?
I do see the WD external hd at the disk utility, I have attached the screenshot of the disk utility. please take a look.

Use software like DataRescue II to scan your drive and restore "deleted" files.
Is the DataRescueII free? Where can i find that?

What Mac do you have and have you tried an SMC reset yet?
I have a 2.4 mbp, and i don't know how to use SMC to reset. Please let me know how i can use SMC to reset. Thanks
 
Sorry, I forgot to attach the screenshot. please take a look at it.
 

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I tried to follow the instruction from the SMC site you linked, but it is still not working. I think most likely, the hd is defected. I tried to use the mount as you suggest, but diskutility said i can't mount. I tried to repair this hd by using disk utility, but there is an error. I have attached the error message in this post. Is the data rescue II the last step i can try? Thanks.
 

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There are still some tools like DiskWarrior (haven't used it yet, but it got mixed reviews) and TechTools Pro (haven't used it either to its full capacity).

Research those two and maybe they can help you.
But they will cost you some money.
 
First of all, thanks a lot for walking me through the problem.

I would like to know the problem that i am having now, is that an indication that my WD hd is defected or "broken"? If it is, can data rescue be able to save my folders? even if it can, can I still use my hd again? Thanks a lot for your help.
 
I think, it is not physically damaged, only that the boot sector table (in lack of a better and correct word) is corrupted and a reformat will solve the issue.

Data Rescue will help you save the files on it, at least it did for me, when I had trouble like this before. It was a sound investment.
 
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