OS X Lion will not read external hard drives and USB flash drives

L

Lifeisabeach


Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
I've seen a number of posts from people having problems seeing their external USB drives (thumb drives included) after installing Lion. One person said they had to force-quit Finder before it would show up. It looks like this is a bug in Lion. Judging from Louis' inquiry and the OP's response, it looks like that file is missing for at least some of these people for some reason.
 
chscag

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Yep. If that kernel extension is missing, it's a no go for USB external devices being recognized. What I don't understand is how is it missing from some users and not others? Also, I don't know of any other way to put it back except to do a reinstall.
 
OP
T

tompam


Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, Macbook Pro, Apple TV, iPhone 4, iPad 2
Re-install seems to be the last resort but I'm not sure how to do that since I bought my Lion on the App Store so I don't have an installer CD.
 
RavingMac

RavingMac

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
8,303
Reaction score
242
Points
63
Location
In Denial
Your Mac's Specs
16Gb Mac Mini 2018, 15" MacBook Pro 2012 1 TB SSD
tompam said:
Re-install seems to be the last resort but I'm not sure how to do that since I bought my Lion on the App Store so I don't have an installer CD.
Click to expand...

Already answered . . . see my previous post on how to redownload Lion. Though I have to confess that I haven't tried this yet myself.
 
OP
T

tompam


Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, Macbook Pro, Apple TV, iPhone 4, iPad 2
Thanks, but I actually did try that, that is, I went to the Lion program on the App Store, held down OPTION and clicked on PURCHASES. I still couldn't proceed from there. I'll try again though and see.
 
OP
T

tompam


Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, Macbook Pro, Apple TV, iPhone 4, iPad 2
tompam said:
Thanks, but I actually did try that, that is, I went to the Lion program on the App Store, held down OPTION and clicked on PURCHASES. I still couldn't proceed from there. I'll try again though and see.
Click to expand...

I was able to re-install OS X Lion. It's now downloading. Crossing my fingers.
 
RavingMac

RavingMac

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
8,303
Reaction score
242
Points
63
Location
In Denial
Your Mac's Specs
16Gb Mac Mini 2018, 15" MacBook Pro 2012 1 TB SSD
tompam said:
I was able to re-install OS X Lion. It's now downloading. Crossing my fingers.
Click to expand...

Hope it works out. Keep us posted.
 
OP
T

tompam


Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, Macbook Pro, Apple TV, iPhone 4, iPad 2
Well, I finally re-installed OS X Lion on my Macbook Pro. No difference. It still won't detect or read any external hard drive or USB flash drive I plug into its USB ports. Is this it? Am I doomed to not being able to connect any hard drive or flash drive to my laptop...ever, with OS X Lion?
 
L

Lifeisabeach


Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
tompam said:
Well, I finally re-installed OS X Lion on my Macbook Pro. No difference. It still won't detect or read any external hard drive or USB flash drive I plug into its USB ports. Is this it? Am I doomed to not being able to connect any hard drive or flash drive to my laptop...ever, with OS X Lion?
Click to expand...

Time for you to call Apple. If the problem is in fact the lack of that kext file that Louis mentioned, then "perhaps" they can email it to you or provide some solution. In any event, they need to get on this.
 
OP
T

tompam


Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, Macbook Pro, Apple TV, iPhone 4, iPad 2
I guess I'll have to. Bummer.
 
dtravis7

dtravis7


Retired Staff
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
30,133
Reaction score
703
Points
113
Location
Modesto, Ca.
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini M-1 MacOS Monterey, iMac 2010 27"Quad I7 , MBPLate2011, iPad Pro10.5", iPhoneSE
I don't understand why even a total reinstall did not fix it. I have now installed Lion on 3 totally different Macs including very old Intel Mini and everything works. That is one of the first things I checked. External drives.

Let us know what Apple tells you.
 
OP
T

tompam


Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, Macbook Pro, Apple TV, iPhone 4, iPad 2
i know. it's so frustrating. Here I was excited to install Lion and, once completed, I find out that it won't read external drives. So I tried all the suggestions from the forum - from leaving the drive plugged to the laptop for 8 minutes or more until it mounts, rebooting while the drive is connected, disabling Spotlight Indexing, resetting the PRAM/SMC, and ultimately doing a complete re-install of OX S Lion from the App Store as I did when I bought it.
Still nothing. My only recourse now is to uninstall Lion/reinstall Snow Leopard.
 
L

Lifeisabeach


Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
tompam said:
i know. it's so frustrating. Here I was excited to install Lion and, once completed, I find out that it won't read external drives. So I tried all the suggestions from the forum - from leaving the drive plugged to the laptop for 8 minutes or more until it mounts, rebooting while the drive is connected, disabling Spotlight Indexing, resetting the PRAM/SMC, and ultimately doing a complete re-install of OX S Lion from the App Store as I did when I bought it.
Still nothing. My only recourse now is to uninstall Lion/reinstall Snow Leopard.
Click to expand...

And Apple had no help for you? You paid good money for it and are entitled to service for this problem.
 
OP
T

tompam


Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, Macbook Pro, Apple TV, iPhone 4, iPad 2
I'll complain to Apple first.
 
baggss

baggss


Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
10,345
Reaction score
597
Points
113
Location
Margaritaville
Your Mac's Specs
3.4 Ghz i7 MacBook Pro (2015), iPad Pro (2014), iPhone Xs Max. Apple TV 4K
Perhaps you should take your Mac to an apple store and let a genius look at it...
 
OP
T

tompam


Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, Macbook Pro, Apple TV, iPhone 4, iPad 2
Yup. That's what I'm going to do. Don't know about the genius though.
 
M

micT


Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Texas
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 2.4 GHz, iMac, MacMini
I have same problem with my external drives... Any suggestion how to solve?
 
L

Lifeisabeach


Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
micT said:
I have same problem with my external drives... Any suggestion how to solve?
Click to expand...

Call Apple. We've already established in this thread that it is (or very much seems to be) a bug with Lion installs for some people and that a very specific and very much required file is missing for them.
 
M

micT


Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Texas
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook 2.4 GHz, iMac, MacMini
I went to Apple Store. After waiting for 45 minutes and 20 minutes for the guy to run different test, went to the back room to get more answers, the only way they managed to make my macbook recognize my external drive is to turn of NTFS-3G. Mac OSX discovers the drive and now I can "read" from the drive... Still cannot write to it. Maybe NTFS-3G will have a new compatible version soon... very disappointed with this.

Anyone have other solutions, please post/advise.
 
Dysfunction

Dysfunction


Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
6,879
Reaction score
191
Points
63
Location
Tucson, AZ
Your Mac's Specs
Way... way too many specs to list.
Is the drive, indeed, NTFS formatted? If so, it's not gonna write natively. You'd need a third party application for that.. or to reformat the drive. Same thing with HFS+ on Windows, only there.. it won't even see the drive, let alone read it.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top