iBook issues... again.

[Time Clock]

Well, I think my iBook killed my external HD. I have and a Maxtor 500 gb OneTouch 4 Plus connected to my iBook G3 dual USB that I used to keep my startup disk as clear as possible. I had it connected with firewire because I couldn't imagine USB one being useful for that much space.

I was surfing the web, typing some homework, and listening to music when I got a message that said that the device was removed improperly, and that I needed to eject it properly next time.

Obviously confused, I checked the connections and plugged the HD back in and nothing... at all. System profiler doesn't even show that the HD exists when I use firewire or USB. I even tried it on my mom's Macbook, and it doesn't do anything. Is there anything else I can try? Am I screwed?

One more thing, how can you tell if a firewire port is busted? I thought about Target disk mode, but I don't want to fry my iBook or my mom's Macbook.

Thanks in advance.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Could be the enclosure. The HDD inside might still be good. If it's off warranty I don't think that it would void it if you took the drive out and install in directly into another deskop computer if you have one available or into another compatable enclosure. Have you tried using the USB connection side? Is this an iBook G3 or an iBook G4 with USB 2.0? What OS are you running?

 

[Time Clock]

Could be the enclosure. The HDD inside might still be good. If it's off warranty I don't think that it would void it if you took the drive out and install in directly into another deskop computer if you have one available or into another compatable enclosure. Have you tried using the USB connection side? Is this an iBook G3 or an iBook G4 with USB 2.0? What OS are you running?

I have an iBook G3 with USB 1, 10.4.11, 640 mb of RAM, and a 60 gb HD.

Now, I'm confused, though. I had been looking on the Seagate website for warranty info, and I saw the troubleshooting section (an obvious oversight on my part) and I found a solution. I guess the drive may have went to sleep, so I unplugged and plugged it back in... and it worked.

My only problem is that I was playing music, from the external drive, so the drive going to sleep shouldn't have been the problem. This same thing happened after I had initially gotten the drive months ago and was transferring over a gig of stuff from the iBook. I just thought my computer was having difficulties transferring that much stuff.

With this new development, I'm troubled by my iBook's apparent craziness (or maybe it's getting senile).