Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

External HD will not mount

NYmacAttack

NYmacAttack

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I was writing some files to my external hard drive from my MBP. I looked back at my MBP the hard drive was gone off the desktop and when I attempted to plug it back in it was not recognized. It would not mount through disk utility either. Its formatted with FAT32 and used by both my Mac and PC. Any idea how I can get this drive to work again?

Thanks
 
What are the lights on the enclosure showing when you plug it in? Is the green "powered" light on, does it blink red for a bit (showing access) when you plug it in and does it go back to green after a while?
Does the device (as opposed to the device and volumes) show up in Disk Utility?
Does it show up on the PC?
Have you rebooted the Mac and checked the /Volumes/ folder while it's unplugged to see if there's a dead alias sitting in there?
What shows up, if anything, in System Profiler under USB/Firewire when it is plugged in?
Do other devices still work successfully on the same port?
 
Yup the drive lights up and shoes activity. It is listed in the diskutility but it is grayed out. On the PC it says theres nothing on it and asks to reformat it.

Thanks
 
Disk Utility isn't prepared to fix any issues with a FAT32 formated disk.
You're going to have to use some Windows-based software for that.
 
I would suggest you try the windows utility first before you look for another application to do the job.



Bless
 
DiskWarrior might be able to help. I had the exact same thing happen to my external drive and my buddy used diskwarrior to check the drive. We think that the interface is jacked up, so now I have to buy a new enclosure. If I was you, I would try another enclosure and then see if the same thing happens.
 
techster85 said:
DiskWarrior might be able to help. I had the exact same thing happen to my external drive and my buddy used diskwarrior to check the drive. We think that the interface is jacked up, so now I have to buy a new enclosure. If I was you, I would try another enclosure and then see if the same thing happens.
Click to expand...

Can disk warrior repair the file system? I would really like a program that can repair the drive so it mounts. Every program I found so far just copies the files off the drive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back