Mac doesn't recognize external drive

[LDnow]

My Mac mini will not recognize the external drive I have been using for CDs - music, etc. It was working before the last update... help! thank you - please help in laymans terms - I only know enough to be dangerous - thx

 

[Fishrrman]

What was "the last update"?

If you open Disk Utility, can you see the drive in DU's window?

Do you have another Mac that you could try the drive with, just to see if it "mounts" on the desktop?

 

[LDnow]

Thank you for trying to help me. no, I do not have another mac. last update - when it updated to El Capitan. I went to utilities then clicked on disk utilities and it does not open - wheel keeps spinning and it says "Loading disks" but nothing shows on the screen but the spinning ball...Also - when I put the cable into my belkin hub it recognized it and said to plug it into the other for more power... so something recognized it... now I have a cd in the drive and no way to remove it if the mac won't recognize it...

 

[garirry]

Thank you for trying to help me. no, I do not have another mac. last update - when it updated to El Capitan. I went to utilities then clicked on disk utilities and it does not open - wheel keeps spinning and it says "Loading disks" but nothing shows on the screen but the spinning ball...

Well, I would suggest finding another Mac and trying it on it. Alternatively, you could press Command+R while booting and see if Disk Utility actually sees it.

 

[LDnow]

Well, I would suggest finding another Mac and trying it on it. Alternatively, you could press Command+R while booting and see if Disk Utility actually sees it.

Ty - we accomplished removing the cd from the unit. I restarted using Comm R and was shown my choices - I chose repair and the external showed along with the cd - I was able to eject the CD (yeah!). upon restart, the drive did not "show" when disk utility finally loaded.

 

[garirry]

Ty - we accomplished removing the cd from the unit. I restarted using Comm R and was shown my choices - I chose repair and the external showed along with the cd - I was able to eject the CD (yeah!). upon restart, the drive did not "show" when disk utility finally loaded.

Glad it worked. Does the CD mount now when you booted into the main OS?

 

[LDnow]

The unit didn't show on the finder but when I reinserted the disc - voila! it worked. Rebooting and the Comm R repair did the trick. thank you very much. do you get points for this??

 

[garirry]

The unit didn't show on the finder but when I reinserted the disc - voila! it worked. Rebooting and the Comm R repair did the trick. thank you very much. do you get points for this??

Well, you can like my posts

Anyway, I think you should be able to see the optical drive in About This Mac>More Info>System Report>Disc Burning/USB, even maybe without disc. Anyway, glad it worked.

 

[LDnow]

I liked them all -thank you for being especially helpful - what do you think of iExplorer? I want to save phone messages from my grandchildren but now my voicemail is 94% full..... is it safe to use?

 

[garirry]

I liked them all -thank you for being especially helpful - what do you think of iExplorer? I want to save phone messages from my grandchildren but now my voicemail is 94% full..... is it safe to use?

Yeah, it's just a file importing utility, it should be safe to use.