External HDD not working on Mac, but working on Windows

[BlaXpirit]

Hello guys,

I'll try to describe my problem most aptly. I have an external HDD (Western Digital My Book Essential 3000GB), which I formatted in exFAT format so I could use it on both Mac and Windows systems.

The hard drive was working just fine until I unplugged it from my Mac and it showed a message that the disc was not ejected properly (something like this: https://discussions.apple.com/servl...Shot-2013-12-28-disk-not-ejected-properly.jpg)

From that time, when I plug it into my Mac, it isn't shown in the finder and when I go into the Disc Utility, it's there, but it says that the drive has not been mounted. However, I tried it to plug it into my Windows laptop and the HDD is working just fine.

I've, of course, tried the first aid help, but with no success.

Can you guys help me resolve this issue? Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[maflynn]

Does the drive show up in the Disk Utility (from there you can remount it), a simpler approach is to reboot the mac and plug the drive back in - does it automatically mount then?

 

[BlaXpirit]

Yes, as I wrote in my first message, the drive shows up in the disc utility, but it says that it's not been mounted. And yes, I've tried many times to reboot my Mac and plug the HDD back in, but with no success. I've also tried repairing the permission in the disc utility, but again, with no success.

The drive simply won't mount in no matter what I did.

 

[AcesHigh87]

Do you have any files already on the drive? If so could they be removed for some formatting tests?

I'm curious if you format the drive for mac will it mount properly. We've had drives at work formatted perfectly for OS X that encounter the problem you describe so I want to see if its that (aka a hard drive issue) or if its the formatting. Sometimes large external HDD's don't take kindly to exFAT.

If it is indeed the formatting and you don't want to get third-party software to work with NTFS or OS X Journaled then your best bet might be to partition the drive and format one for windows and one for mac. Unfortunately that would mean you can't use the same files which might render the solution useless.

 

[BlaXpirit]

Aces: Unfortunately, the HDD is full with more than 1500 GB of files and data. Of course, if it works on Windows I could just back up some of the most important files and then reformat it, which would probably help, however, I'd like to find some not-so-intrusive solution, if you know what I mean...

 

[AcesHigh87]

What appears to be happening is that while the drive is functioning (Disk Utility Reads it which is a good sign) the partition is not mounting. Was the drive originally formatted on mac or windows? I ask because on occasion drives formatted on windows, even with the proper format, don't have a proper partition map to mount on OS X.

Essentially what I'm swing is that the drive itself works and your mac is reading it without issue: that's why you see the drive. However the partition itself, what's been formatted, can't be mounted. My guess is the map scheme (what essentially tells the mac how to mount the partition) is set to something the mac doesn't like and isn't reading properly. When you go into disk utility and select the drive what is listed next to "Partition Map Scheme"?

This could be caused by being formatted on windows, it could also be exFAT. As I said, I would never trust exFAT for a 3TB drive, it simply isn't stable for those sizes.

 

[BlaXpirit]

The HDD was formatted on Mac.

I'll be more careful next time, I didn't know about the instability of exFAT format. Which format would you recommend to me so that it would have the read/write functionality on both Mac and Windows?

 

[AcesHigh87]

The HDD was formatted on Mac.

I'll be more careful next time, I didn't know about the instability of exFAT format. Which format would you recommend to me so that it would have the read/write functionality on both Mac and Windows?

The instability depends who you ask. Some people swear by it while others, like myself, avoid it on anything over 64GB. It's a smart format but doesn't really work as it should.

At my office we personally use OS X Journaled for all our drives. We do have windows machines that need to access them so we've put Macdrive on those machines.

It is a costly solution though. A slightly cheaper one would be format for NTFS and put either Tuxera-NTFS or Paragon NTFS on your mac.

Unfortunately exFAT is the only format that offers read and write on both OS X and windows. Paragon works well and is the cheapest option of the bunch.

Given that, to even do this, you'd have to re-format anyway I would test a few things before you buy anything. Mainly continue to use exFAT (as I said, I don't like it but some swear by it) but try changing the partition map when you format. Or try formatting it on the windows machine and then testing. Basically exhaust all options before paying for additional software. Paragon isn't expensive but better to not pay if you don't have to.

 

[Fishrrman]

Something to try (perhaps you have tried this already):

Power down the Mac completely -- all the way off.

Connect the drive.

Power up the Mac again.

Any different?