Mac Book Pro won't recognise portable hard drive won

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I got a Verbatim Store and Go 500gb portable hard drive after buying my MBP a couple of months ago. It says on the box it's suitable for PC or Mac but the computer seems not to be able to recognise it. Today I spent 30 minutes on the phone going through various procedures with the Verbatim technical people and, although she said the drive was correctly formatted, her conclusion was that it may not be getting enough power from the computer to work - even though it was plugged into the mains all the time we talked.

This hard drive is a (free) replacement for a WD Passport which I used with my Windows laptop but which refused to be reformatted on the Mac. This gives some credence to what the adviser said - that it's the Mac, not the drive. She suggested getting a USB extension cable but did not explain why that would make a difference.

Has anyone any experience of this problem and how to resolve it (apart from going back to the shop)? Any advice gratefully received.

I can do back ups via Time Machine but I want a safety net for six years of photos which I transferred from my previous laptop via SD card. Maybe I should just stick to memory cards.
 
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Just to make sure I understand - when you go into disk utilities you do not see the drive at all? You have the drive connected to the Mac with a USB cable. You have the USB drive connected to a power outlet with its own cord? The power supply you are using with the external drive is the power supply it came with? I ask this last question because I personally have a lot of power adapters that would plug into my USB drive but they are not ALL suitable for it.
 
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Thanks for replying. I have just, as suggested by Verbatim helpdesk, tried attaching the drive to my old Windows laptop (with pc plugged into mains) and it's not recognised there, either - nothing in 'Computer' although it appeared to transfer the software. Could I be unlucky and have had TWO faulty drives? I think I have to go back to the store with drive and Mac and see if they have a solution - or at least a device which works.

To reply to your queries:

Drive's own USB 3 cable connected to Mac. Mac plugged into mains. No mains power cable came with drive and it has nothing other than its USB socket. Blue power light appears on drive. Same if I plug drive into Mac when I am running it on battery.

When I attach the drive to the Mac, Time Machine appears in the Finder menu under devices but clicking further doesn't let me see what is on the external drive. Verbatim helpdesk said I should have their icon on my desktop - no sign.

I get this information displayed in disk utilities (and helpdesk had me look at partitions and repair etc):

Disk Description : SAMSUNG HM501II Media Total Capacity : 500.11 GB (500,107,860,480 Bytes)
Connection Bus : USB Write Status : Read/Write
Connection Type : External S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
USB Serial Number : 203211194473 Partition Map Scheme : GUID Partition Table

subtitle under this in the disk utitlities menu is
Time Machine backups:

Mount Point : /Volumes/Time Machine Backups Capacity : 499.76 GB (499,763,888,128 Bytes)
Format : Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) Available : 466.72 GB (466,715,099,136 Bytes)
Owners Enabled : No Used : 33.05 GB (33,048,788,992 Bytes)
Number of Folders : 152,641 Number of Files : 499,206

Thanks again.
 

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... the computer seems not to be able to recognise it. ...

What does this mean? It's not showing up on the Desktop or in Finder when connected?

...I can do back ups via Time Machine...

If your Mac is using the drive to backup via Time Machine then it's recognizing it and clearly is working.

To make it show up on the Desktop or in the Finder sidebar - you need to open up Finder - Preferences and place a check mark in the appropriate box for external drives in both the General tab and the Sidebar tab.

Ref: a safety net - everything in your user account (incl'g your pictures) that you have not excluded from the TM backup are already backed up onto that drive. Placing another copy of them on that same drive does not provide any sort of safety net. The drive dies you're going to lose your TM backup and all the pictures no matter how many times or different places you have them stored on that one drive.
 
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Sorry, but I am more and more lost. (I am a new MAC user - after 15 years of Windows.)

The boxes you mention are ticked. The only menu/desktop items are Time Machine but I can't find any way to view what may have been backed up. Where is the back up? I want a separate back up from what's on the Mac. How do I read what is on the external drive? According to the (minimal) drive instructions, I am supposed to be able to drag items to the drive and vice versa. Can't work out how to do that.

Can I start again and by pass Time Machine?
 

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And what happens when you double click on the Time Machine icon that's sitting on your Desktop? That should be your external drive and it should open a Finder window.

When you open Finder, is there an time called Time Machine Backups listed under Devices?

If that Stor'n'Go has an auto shutdown of the drive built into it, give it 60 seconds after it's opened to populate.
If it's been used for nothing but Time Machine backup, there probably is only 1 item there - the sparse bundle of your TM backup.

Two ways to verify what is backed up in your TM backup.
The first is to click on the TM icon in the menu bar and select 'Enter Time Machine'.
The second is to open a Finder window, select the drive you have title 'Time Machine Backups'. You'll see the sparse bundle there. Right click on it and select Open package contents (something to that effect) and browse away. Do not do anything except browse through this method - you could damage your backup.
 
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Really appreciate this.

"And what happens when you double click on the Time Machine icon that's sitting on your Desktop? That should be your external drive and it should open a Finder window.
It does

When you open Finder, is there an time called Time Machine Backups listed under Devices?

Yes

If that Stor'n'Go has an auto shutdown of the drive built into it, give it 60 seconds after it's opened to populate.
If it's been used for nothing but Time Machine backup, there probably is only 1 item there - the sparse bundle of your TM backup.


Yes, says ' Backups.backupdb 3 August 2011 22.29

Two ways to verify what is backed up in your TM backup.
The first is to click on the TM icon in the menu bar and select 'Enter Time Machine'.
The second is to open a Finder window, select the drive you have title 'Time Machine Backups'. You'll see the sparse bundle there. Right click on it and select Open package contents (something to that effect) and browse away. Do not do anything except browse through this method - you could damage your backup.


Mac has trackpad, no right click....

Can get no further than: (my) MacbookPro' (time) Today 15.29
 

bobtomay

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What you're opening is the external drive - that is it and can be opened from either of those two locations.

The Backups.backupdb is your Time Machine backup showing the date it was created. The (my) MacBookPro with the recent time is the backup and showing you the time of the most recent backup. Leave both of these alone. Anything you want to do in the TM backup should be done by using the TM icon on th menu bar and selecting Enter Time Machine.


When you first open the Time Machine Backups drive - right there is where you would drag and drop any other files you want into it.
Open a 2nd Finder window, browse to whatever you want to move, drag and drop it into there.

Every Mac has a right click.
1st option is to hold down the control key while clicking.
2nd option - open up System Preferences - Trackpad - it'll be different depending on the model of Mac you have, but you're looking for an item that will be called 'Secondary Click'. Check that off - voila - right click. Yours should be just a two finger tap to bring up the right click menu.
 
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Beginning to see the light...familiar with two finger tap etc but expected to see my photo albums, my documents as separate entities as on other memory media, not the full whack of everything. Despite some learning difficulties (!), I would never go back to Windows.

If I'm ever in Texas, I'll buy you a pint - or whatever you drink in Texas. Thank you.
 
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I have a different problem with my new Verbatim Store 'n' Go 2.5" 1TB USB 3.0 (model 53018).. If i plug it before start my MacBook Aluminum late 2008 (13" not pro), it (the mac) won't start and remain blocked with grey screen between the classic boot sound "DONG" ad the apple logo.... On the other hand, if i plug it after the apple logo, everything works good...

Is slightly irritating to be forced to disconnect the drive every time i start my Mac, what can it be? What can i do?

I was thinking of buying a WD Passport Essential SE 2.5 "1TB USB 3, someone has tried this with a macbook?

Thanks
 

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