07-08-2007, 10:36 AM

I am experiencing some weird problem with my HITACHI 40G external USB HDD (FAT32)...It has been working for 2 years no problems on both Mac and PC. Haven't used it for 4 weeks as I sent my macbook to repair due to the random shut down problem. Now the device starts but it doesn't show up as a external device, i.e. I don't have access.

Is it because of the new Software Update?

Funny thing is I have 3 hard drives (External all using USB connection, 2x 3.5"desktop drive, and 1x 2.5" laptop drive, all formatted as FAT32) The 2 desktop drives work perfectly on my mac book pro however only the 2.5" HITACHI HDD does not work anymore. The light on the HDD was on when I plug it in and I can hear it running but just my lovely OS X does not wanna show it as a device in either Macintosh HD, desktop or disk utility.

I still can't figure out why, because:
- The two 3.5" ext. HDD work on my macbook pro, so it is not usb port problem as such.
- The 2.5" ext HDD works on my colleague's macbook pro and my work pc (win xp), so it is not the ext. hard drive problem either!!

I am confused, I am lost........

What problem could it be????????????? It will be great if someone have any ideas of what weird thing is going on... Thanks Millions

08-08-2007, 08:18 PM

Do you have OS 10.4.10?

It is possible that it is because you have OS 10.4.10. Many people have been unable to use their USB hard drives since the update. It is very annoying and apparently still unfixed. I find it hard to accept that an apparently good company like Mac would leave so many of us with unusable hard disks for so long now. For us, the 10.4.10 update was just like receiving a virus!

See this thread for example:
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=67484

Justin

08-08-2007, 09:08 PM

yup, 10.4.10 caused my external to stop mounting also. If you look around there's a solution involving taking a couple extensions from the 10.4.9 update. That worked for me.

08-16-2007, 01:24 AM

Originally Posted by visualpurple

yup, 10.4.10 caused my external to stop mounting also. If you look around there's a solution involving taking a couple extensions from the 10.4.9 update. That worked for me.

Can you tell how to do it? Or post the link?
Thanks
Justin

08-16-2007, 11:12 AM

Sorry, I don't have the link anymore... I found the instructions on macosxhints.com... so try a google search... it involved downloading 10.4.9 and using Pacifist to install 2 extensions from it, and using AppleJack to clear the cache... hope that helps you find it..

03-28-2008, 05:51 PM

Hi all,

I know this is slightly out of date post but has anyone found a solution for this?

I believe I am experiencing the same problem with my Portable Media player which is essentially a 160GB HDD (Laptop one)

I have tried many of the solutions offered arround the net to solve this issue. Here are my findings to date

It mounts fine if I re-install the Mac OS X to 10.4.8 and don't do any further updates. If any further updates are done the device appears in the System Profiler but fails to mount on the desktop.

I tried the Mac OS X 10.4.9 for iTunes 7.6 to work, then it stops mounting again.

The 10.4.10 USB Update found here still doesn't allow my portable hard drive to mount.
http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...ev11intel.html

I am nbot too sure on these other solutions as they muck around with the kernel etc but they may help others
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...y=10.4.9%2BUSB

This is very frustrating! I have tried for months on and off to find a solution for this. The drive works fine on a Power PC G5, any Windows machine but fails to work on any iMac that has 10.4.10. Is there another solution?

03-05-2009, 10:43 PM

*sigh* I'm experiencing a similar problem with my Toshiba portable HD

03-05-2009, 11:38 PM

Have you guys tried upgrading to 10.4.11? I notice all of you stop at 10.4.10.