External HD not recognized on new macbook pro

[lwmcanada]

I recently bought a 2.2 Ghz Macbook Pro, and one of my external hard drives isnt recognized, its a USB powered Western Digital Passport

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=317

(Same as this one, but only 120GB)

It runs fine on my old iBook G4, but when plugged into my new MBP, it doesnt run at all. Has no recollection of the hard drive at all. I've tried reformatting it, still nothing.

Anyone have any ideas? Any opinions are much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[CanadaRAM]

Do you have an AC adaptor for the drive? If not, get one and see if it is recognized when it's not trying to draw bus power.

 

[CrzyCanuck72]

I had the problem of my USB external HD not being recognized either... it wouldn't mount, nor was it even recognized by Disk Utility. I did some research, and realized that it had stopped working after I updated to OS 10.4.10. It's a well-documented issue with the 10.4.10 update... I don't know if this is the cause of your problem, here's what I did to fix it.

- Download the 10.4.9 combo update
- Download Pacifist
- Download and install Applejack
- Mount the combo update dmg
- right-click on the update package and select open in...Pacifist
- In Pacifist, navigate to >System>Library>Extensions
- Scroll down to IOUSBFamily.kext
- Right-click and Install to Default Location
- Agree to replace any files it asks about
- Repeat with IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext
- Restart the computer, holding down Command-S as it's starting
- You'll get a black screen with text. Type exactly: applejack AUTO restart
- If you want to, you can now skip the first two operations
- The third step cleans the caches. Don't skip that.
- You can quit at the next prompt, then restart

don't hold me responsible if anything effs up.. but it worked for me. I wish I had done it before reformatting my HD on a PC, though

 

[lwmcanada]

Weird

OK, now i have some weirder news.

It works fine on the right USB port, which i never tried, stupid me. BUT doesnt work on the USB port on the left uhhh what da.???

Is this a hardware problem or what? because everything else I have plugged into the left works fine.

 

[killerrobot]

@CrzyCanuck72

Awesome. Finally found a post that works for this. Thanks!!!

@OP
If it works on one and not the other then it does sound like a hardware issue to me... good luck.

 

[esmuz]

I have 10.4.8 installed in my MBP with the same problem.. should I upgrade to 10.4.9 and then do what CrzyCanuck72 says?

I hope this issue gets solved in Leopard it´s a shame.

 

[killerrobot]

I have 10.4.8 installed in my MBP with the same problem.. should I upgrade to 10.4.9 and then do what CrzyCanuck72 says?

I hope this issue gets solved in Leopard it´s a shame.

Not sure what to tell you about that. I never lost support of my external until 10.4.10. I would double check that another computer can still read/mount it,
and upgrading to 10.4.9 shouldn't make the problem any worse.

 

[arezendes]

Don't install applejack and extract any files from an earlier OS. You'll do more damage than good.

Check to see if any other USB device works in your USB ports. If so, it's not a USB issue, it's a hardware issue. Check your external drive casing to ensure the enclosure is properly connected to the drive (mine wasn't). Save yourself the headache of having to reinstall your system software by NOT following the the instructions above. They don't work. In fact, they make your mouse and keyboard freeze up! Ask him why he doesn't want to be held responsible for the results? He knows....It's a BS solution! If you can't get it to work take the drive and your laptop to a local Mac Genius at the apple store. They'll hook you up.

 

[sickmacdoc]

Don't install applejack and extract any files from an earlier OS. You'll do more damage than good.

Check to see if any other USB device works in your USB ports. If so, it's not a USB issue, it's a hardware issue. Check your external drive casing to ensure the enclosure is properly connected to the drive (mine wasn't). Save yourself the headache of having to reinstall your system software by NOT following the the instructions above. They don't work. In fact, they make your mouse and keyboard freeze up! Ask him why he doesn't want to be held responsible for the results? He knows....It's a BS solution! If you can't get it to work take the drive and your laptop to a local Mac Genius at the apple store. They'll hook you up.

Not that it particularly matters, but you do realize you are digging up a post from well over a year ago right? I am sure most people that were involved have moved on to Leopard now making this Tiger thread pretty moot.

The reason I ask is that there were several points in the Tiger update cycle that the IO kexts were certainly the cause of some people' USB problems and reinstalling those from the previous version using Pacifist was a proven and workable fix- not a BS solution by any stretch of the imagination. Doing the procedure right (when warranted) did not cause mouse or keyboard freezes.

 

[lostinTX]

USB external HD not recognized by OS X 4.11

Well I had the same problem with OS X 4.11 not seeing an external USB hard drive. I was trying to clone my powerbook HD to a new USB hard drive. So I had to buy a self powered USB hub (like Belkin) which has its own AC adaptor. This worked and my powerbook had no trouble seeing the USB drive through the hub.

As for that crap posted by CrzyCanuck72, I agree that is BS and I wouldn't do that to my powerbook; if you have Tiger you should be running 4.11 anyway.