Trouble with EXT hard drives

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Ok, so I get a new ext hard drive and it wont pop up on my desktop. It's a toshiba USB 2.0 Portable Ext hard drive (320 G). It has a blue power light that comes on when I plug it into my g4 powerbook, but other than that, i can find no recognition of it on my computer. I bought a different brand the other day prior to this one, and it was the same result--I thought it was the brand until this. Any ideas? Where can I check "visibility" (right term?) settings?

also of note-- I have a printer that plugs into USB and it works fine, also have an iphone that works fine w/ the comp, and another external drive (independantly powered) that works. IS it possible that I would need to erase the software for the other drive? doesnt seem likely, but Im at a loss. Thanks for reading and for any help given!

-Tony
 
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Black Macbook C2D 2GHz 3GB RAM 250GB HD iPhone 4 iPad 3G
Looks like it might be a formatting issue.

Go to Applications --> Utilities and open Disk Utility. Check to see whether the drive shows up on the left side. If so, then you have to format it so that OS X can read it. Click on the Erase tab, pick either Mac OS Journaled or MS-DOS, name it if you like, and in a few minutes you should be good to go.
 
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twrexx
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dang, forgot to mention that I already tried that too.Its not showing up on the disk utility. :( am i SOL?
 
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Your Mac's Specs
MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
This may seem ridiculous, and maybe you've tried it already, but the connection sequence might make a difference.
1. Power on your computer as usual,
2. Then power on your external hard drive,
3. THEN plug your ehd into your computer
I do not know why this happens, but an external Hitachi hd I use is not recognised by either Finder or Disk Utility unless I use the above sequence.
 

chscag

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2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Does your Toshiba also have an AC to DC adaptor plug for power? Or are you just directly plugging into your G4 USB port?

A drive that large more than likely will not directly work from the USB port since it probably uses more power than what is available from the port.

I've had the same thing happen several times with drives and other USB devices that drew too much power from the USB port. Using an AC adaptor cures the problem.

Regards.
 

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