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Fix HFS+ partiton table external HDD

T

thechigg

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 29, 2013
7
0
Hi guys,

So i have a Western Digital My passport 1TB external hardrive wich my macbook pro won´t regognice. But on my PC with macdrive it´s regognices it right away, only that the partiton table may be damaged. I have tried this guide http://perrohunter.com/repair-a-mac-os-x-hfs-partition-table/ but since it´s won´t regognice the hard drive on the mac i can´t performe these steps on it. But when i have tried it on the pc i have come to step 7 but from there i don´t know how to proced. So i´m wondering if anyone knows how to do from step 7 on the PC or how to get the mac to regognice the hard drive so i can do it on the mac?
 
Anyone? I find it very weird that it won´t show up on the mac in the finder or in disk utiltys but i can find it on the PC without a problem just that it´s says the disk may be damaged.
 
thechigg said:
Anyone? I find it very weird that it won´t show up on the mac in the finder or in disk utiltys but i can find it on the PC without a problem just that it´s says the disk may be damaged.
Click to expand...

You did not specify, but is there data on there you cannot lose? If not, can't you rust format to fat32 on the PC and that should straight it out, then move the drive back to the Mac and reformat to HFS+.
 
Weaselboy said:
You did not specify, but is there data on there you cannot lose? If not, can't you rust format to fat32 on the PC and that should straight it out, then move the drive back to the Mac and reformat to HFS+.
Click to expand...

There is data on there that i can´t lose, sry for not specify this!
 
It's a 2.5" inch drive, isn't it? Do you power it from the USB ports? If so, that may be the reason for your trouble.

I've had 2.5" inch drives behave strange because of that. The fact that they spin up doesn't necessarily mean (the mac thinks) they have enough power.

Just a thought.
 
olegunnar said:
It's a 2.5" inch drive, isn't it? Do you power it from the USB ports? If so, that may be the reason for your trouble.

I've had 2.5" inch drives behave strange because of that. The fact that they spin up doesn't necessarily mean (the mac thinks) they have enough power.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Yes it´s a 2,5" inch drive and powerd by a USB 3.0 cable. The strange thing would be that it shows up on the PC with mac drive but not on the mac but it has shown up on the mac before. And when i plug it in on the PC it says the drive may be damaged or something like that, don´t realy remember exaktly. So i don´t think it is that it dos´nt get enough power?
 
Every USB port probably doesn't deliver the same amount of power, so it's possible the Windows computer delivers more. It's also possible that the mac delivers a tiny bit less, or that the drive for whatever reason demands a tiny bit more during startup.

I am not familiar with USB 3.0 or its specifications, though. For USB 2.0 one can get a usb-cable with two plugs in one end to be able to draw twice the power from the computer. That's definitely needed on my iMac, but not on my Windows laptops.

It's anyone's guess, but mine would still be insufficient power (and maybe also corrupt partitions, but that's secondary) . A corrupt partition table should still make the drive(but not necessarily its partitions) show up.

Of course it could also be that the drive is simply done for.
 
[[ Yes it´s a 2,5" inch drive and powerd by a USB 3.0 cable. The strange thing would be that it shows up on the PC with mac drive but not on the mac but it has shown up on the mac before. And when i plug it in on the PC it says the drive may be damaged or something like that, don´t realy remember exaktly. So i don´t think it is that it dos´nt get enough power? ]]

You may need either:

1. A "Y-type" connector (has 2 USB connectors for the "Mac end", and one for the drive).
or
2. An external power supply for the drive (IF the drive enclosure has a port for external power input)

olegunnar explains why this may be necessary in reply 11 above.

Suggestions:
IF the drive mounts on the PC (but not on the Mac), COPY whatever you wish to keep from the drive to another drive (or flashdrive) on the PC. Then bring the new drive/flashdrive to the Mac and see if that works better.

If you think the drive itself is corrupted, you might consider trying Steve Gibson's "Spinrite" on the PC to repair it (I've never used Spinrite on the PC side, but others report it's the best software available for such tasks).
 
cerberusss said:
Why take crazy chances? Just get a new one, copy your data on there, and then get rid of the old one.

And if there's really data on there that you can't lose, buy a second one for the backup.
Click to expand...

Iv got the most importent stuff off it and a new external hdd is on it´s way :)
 
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