Scanner is not being recognized

[cjscribe]

I have a late 2008 aluminum macbook. I was able to get an old HP Scanjet 5470C scanner from my friend. It's about 6 years old. But when I plug the USB cable into my Macbook, it does not recognize it. The scanner does not display under Devices in my Finder.
Do I need a driver from HP? I thought all Macbooks didn't need any drivers for printers/scanners?
Please help.
Thanks!

 

[MisterMe]

... I thought all Macbooks didn't need any drivers for printers/scanners?
...

Who told you that? There is no way for a Mac or any other computer to print without drivers. You may not need to install a print driver on your Mac because Apple supplies drivers for a plethora of printers from various manufacturers with each installation of MacOS X. MacOS X 10.6 automatically downloads the driver that you need when you install your printer--if one is available. As for scanners, MacOS X does not have scanner drivers installed except possibly for certain model all-in-ones.

The takeaway message is that you need to download and install drivers for your scanner.

 

[kraca]

Who told you that? There is no way for a Mac or any other computer to print without drivers. You may not need to install a print driver on your Mac because Apple supplies drivers for a plethora of printers from various manufacturers with each installation of MacOS X. MacOS X 10.6 automatically downloads the driver that you need when you install your printer--if one is available. As for scanners, MacOS X does not have scanner drivers installed except possibly for certain model all-in-ones.

The takeaway message is that you need to download and install drivers for your scanner.

HP simply does not provide any driver for old models.
It's a shame for such an important brand.
Do I have to dump my excellente Scanjet 4890?
A OSX Catalina installed in iMac mid 2010 does not recognize my scanner at all

 

[macpro2000]

Catalina doesn’t support a 2010 iMac natively anyway.

 

[kraca]

Catalina doesn’t support a 2010 iMac natively anyway.

Yes it's right, but I've installed Dosdude's patched Catalina and it works nice in this 2010 iMac
But the scanner can't be recognized

 

[DeltaMac]

Looks like VueScan should support the HP ScanJet 4890

HP ScanJet 4890 Scanner Driver & Software | VueScan Scanner Software

Want to keep using your HP ScanJet 4890 on macOS Sonoma, Windows 10, and more? VueScan has a built in HP Scanner Driver - so it works even without a driver.

www.hamrick.com

There's no direct HP support for that Scanjet 4890 on Catalina, but Vuescan thinks it should work with the HP drivers.

The newest driver install is for OS X 10.6, and there is an additional patches for 10.8.

HP Scanjet 4890 Photo Scanner Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Support

Download the latest drivers, firmware, and software for your HP Scanjet 4890 Photo Scanner. This is HP’s official website to download the correct drivers free of cost for Windows and Mac.

support.hp.com

You can find the drivers by selecting "Choose a different OS".
You could try installing the drivers + patch. If it installs, then you may be able to scan with HP software.
If not, you could then try the Vuescan software.

 

[kraca]

Looks like VueScan should support the HP ScanJet 4890

HP ScanJet 4890 Scanner Driver & Software | VueScan Scanner Software

Want to keep using your HP ScanJet 4890 on macOS Sonoma, Windows 10, and more? VueScan has a built in HP Scanner Driver - so it works even without a driver.

www.hamrick.com

There's no direct HP support for that Scanjet 4890 on Catalina, but Vuescan thinks it should work with the HP drivers.

The newest driver install is for OS X 10.6, and there is an additional patches for 10.8.

HP Scanjet 4890 Photo Scanner Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Support

Download the latest drivers, firmware, and software for your HP Scanjet 4890 Photo Scanner. This is HP’s official website to download the correct drivers free of cost for Windows and Mac.

support.hp.com

You can find the drivers by selecting "Choose a different OS".
You could try installing the drivers + patch. If it installs, then you may be able to scan with HP software.
If not, you could then try the Vuescan software.

Thanks DeltaMac
Installed Vuescan but I can't register it with data provided by the torrent site.
It behaves always as unregistered and saves images with watermark
Maybe I have to buy it officially?

 

[DeltaMac]

Sounds like you found a torrent for the un-registered version, and the official download is quite small, less than 20MB. You can use the un-registered version as long as you want. It does put a watermark on any scanned documents. Pay for the software if you don't want the watermark.
(I am sure you know that "cracked" downloads for commercial software do not always work. This is another example )
I could not download Vuescan from the Hamrick site using Safari. I used Microsoft Edge, but you could also try Firefox, if that is an issue for you.
And, the Vuescan site has a discounted price during the health crisis. Perhaps the Standard version will be enough for occasional scans.

 

[kraca]

Sounds like you found a torrent for the un-registered version, and the official download is quite small, less than 20MB. You can use the un-registered version as long as you want. It does put a watermark on any scanned documents. Pay for the software if you don't want the watermark.
(I am sure you know that "cracked" downloads for commercial software do not always work. This is another example )
I could not download Vuescan from the Hamrick site using Safari. I used Microsoft Edge, but you could also try Firefox, if that is an issue for you.
And, the Vuescan site has a discounted price during the health crisis. Perhaps the Standard version will be enough for occasional scans.

I appreciate your time to help me! Thanks a lot!
👍