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Hard Drive Not Mounting (erasing a dead drive)

KettyKrueger

KettyKrueger

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 17, 2007
509
4
UK
Hi all,

Is there any way to force mount an external hard drive?

Basically, my 'Seagate Freeagent For Mac' 1TB external is not mounting correctly.

It's visable in 'System Profiler' (under Firewire 'unknown device' is listed) but other than that, it's not recognised by my Mac at all.

I can hear the drive spinning up and down but it won't power down with my system, like it used to. I've tried changing the FW cable, tried connecting with USB, tried different Mac, tried connect directly to Mac (had to daisychained) and I've tried giving it a good whack (usually works a treat with electrical equipment!).

I could send it away for repair but I have sensative data on there that I would like to erase before parting ways.

I guess I want to know if I can force mount it and/or erase it before sending it away for repair.

Many thanks in advance.

KK.
 
Jethryn Freyman said:
Does it appear in disk utility? You could download a trial copy of Data Rescue 2 to see if it can detect the drive.
Click to expand...

Nope. Would Data Rescue be any use if it's not shown in Disk Utility?

I think I may have tried to locate a trial of DR2 but I think they may have finished giving trials away.
 
Failing that, anyone any idea how to open a Seagate Freeagent For Mac external drive?
 
KettyKrueger said:
It's visable in 'System Profiler' (under Firewire 'unknown device' is listed) but other than that, it's not recognised by my Mac at all.
Click to expand...

This sounds like a controller failure, not a hard drive failure. If it's under warranty, send it back to Seagate. Otherwise, pull the drive and connect it using another controller.

I don't buy canned drives from the drive makers any more (e.g., Seagate, WD, etc) because they often skimp out on their enclosures. For me, I generally buy only Macally, Rosewill or OWC enclosures, then put the drive of my choice in it.
 
Cave Man said:
I don't buy canned drives from the drive makers any more (e.g., Seagate, WD, etc) because they often skimp out on their enclosures. For me, I generally buy only Macally, Rosewill or OWC enclosures, then put the drive of my choice in it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm starting to think that too! In fact, can anyone recommend a multi-bay firewire enclosure?

Also this is the drive in question, is there anyway to tell if I need an IDE enclosure or SATA? I've got two of these drives and I might just bang them in a multi-bay enclosure.

FWIW, Disk Rescue didn't detect the drive!
 
KettyKrueger said:
Yeah, I'm starting to think that too! In fact, can anyone recommend a multi-bay firewire enclosure?
Click to expand...

If you're wanting RAID, check with OWC for sure.

Also this is the drive in question, is there anyway to tell if I need an IDE enclosure or SATA? I've got two of these drives and I might just bang them in a multi-bay enclosure.
Click to expand...

If it's the 1 or 1.5 TB model then it's SATA. If it's the 500 GB model then it's likely SATA, but could be PATA. Only way to know for sure is to crack it open.

FWIW, Disk Rescue didn't detect the drive!
Click to expand...

If the controller has failed, DRII won't be able to see the drive (which supports the hypothesis that it's the controller).

You should also think about picking up a Universal Drive Adapter. I use mine quite often - best $30 I've spent.
 
Cave Man said:
If you're wanting RAID, check with OWC for sure.



If it's the 1 or 1.5 TB model then it's SATA. If it's the 500 GB model then it's likely SATA, but could be PATA. Only way to know for sure is to crack it open.



If the controller has failed, DRII won't be able to see the drive (which supports the hypothesis that it's the controller).

You should also think about picking up a Universal Drive Adapter. I use my quite often - best $30 I've spent.
Click to expand...

Very useful post, thank you.

Never heard of a Universal Drive Adaptor before, they look amazingly useful!! I should buy one of those!

It's the 1TB version so should be SATA.

I'm wondering if I could take the drive out of the enclosure, erase it using a Univ. Adaptor, then place it back send it off for a warranty replacement??
 
KettyKrueger said:
It's the 1TB version so should be SATA.
Click to expand...

There are no PATA hard drives larger than 750 gb.

I'm wondering if I could take the drive out of the enclosure, erase it using a Univ. Adaptor, then place it back send it off for a warranty replacement??
Click to expand...

If they can tell you opened it, it will certainly void your warranty. Might be worth a call or email to them to explain what's up with it and get their advice (which likely will be to send it in).
 
RE: Hard drive not mounting

"Basically, my 'Seagate Freeagent For Mac' 1TB external is not mounting correctly.
It's visable in 'System Profiler' (under Firewire 'unknown device' is listed) but other than that, it's not recognised by my Mac at all.
I can hear the drive spinning up and down but it won't power down with my system, like it used to. I've tried changing the FW cable, tried connecting with USB, tried different Mac, tried connect directly to Mac (had to daisychained) and I've tried giving it a good whack (usually works a treat with electrical equipment!)."

You've probably already taken care of this, but...

Are you trying to use the power of the firewire port to "power up" the Seagate drive, OR, does it have its own power supply?

If you've been trying to use the drive withOUT the power supply, try using it WITH the power supply and see if that makes a difference...

- John
 
Yep, as Caveman said, it's powered.

After spending a couple of hours research, I think I may opt for a Drobo. For £399 I can get the FW version with free Network adaptor thing.
 
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