mac does'nt see my HDD

I have tried the paragon's NTFS driver which doesn't show the HDD either. so finally i guess i should just give up connecting my HDD to MBP. Thanks for your support.

sreeram said:

@lifeisabeach I have erased everything of the mac installed OSX via internet recovery, still my HDD doesn't show up on disk utility. Here are the pics of my HDD, when connected to MBP. In the pic u can see the light on my HDD. it is connected directly to my MBP via USB3.0. I really appreciate your patience, hope this will be resolved...

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It's the drive, not the Mac. Trust me. I've been through this a few times with my own, and friends' drives. If you still have access to a PC, with enough HDD space to back up the Seagate, back up all your files from the Seagate to it (minus the preinstalled software). Once you have it backed up, keep the Seagate connected to your PC, reformat it to FAT32. Load back all the backed up files to the Seagate once it's been reformatted. Plug into your MB, then copy all the files. Done.

As I mentioned before, you don't need that bloat ware pre-installed on the Seagate. If all your using your external drive for is storage, and your not going to be using it on PCs, plug to your MB and reformat to Mac Journal Extended. You can keep it at FAT32 if you like. Keeping it formatted to FAT32, will allow your Mac and PC to access the drive.

erics72 said:

It's the drive, not the Mac. Trust me. I've been through this a few times with my own, and friends' drives. If you still have access to a PC, with enough HDD space to back up the Seagate, back up all your files from the Seagate to it (minus the preinstalled software). Once you have it backed up, keep the Seagate connected to your PC, reformat it to FAT32. Load back all the backed up files to the Seagate once it's been reformatted. Plug into your MB, then copy all the files. Done.

As I mentioned before, you don't need that bloat ware pre-installed on the Seagate. If all your using your external drive for is storage, and your not going to be using it on PCs, plug to your MB and reformat to Mac Journal Extended. You can keep it at FAT32 if you like. Keeping it formatted to FAT32, will allow your Mac and PC to access the drive.

Click to expand...

It was format to FAT32 ever since i started the post... Still my MBP doesn't see the HDD. That is the problem...

erics72 said:

It's the drive, not the Mac. Trust me. I've been through this a few times with my own, and friends' drives. If you still have access to a PC, with enough HDD space to back up the Seagate, back up all your files from the Seagate to it (minus the preinstalled software). Once you have it backed up, keep the Seagate connected to your PC, reformat it to FAT32. Load back all the backed up files to the Seagate once it's been reformatted. Plug into your MB, then copy all the files. Done.

Click to expand...

It *IS* the drive. It doesn't matter how the drive is formatted, Disk Utility should be able to see it and reformat it to whatever one pleases. It doesn't HAVE to be in a recognizable format for that to happen. The fact that DU can't even recognize that the drive is plugged in suggests there is some hardware issue in play here, even if it's something done deliberately by Seagate to prevent it from connecting to anything but a Windows PC. The fact that their own documentation on this drive only lists Windows, when virtually every external drive sold for many many many years now lists both Windows and Macs as compatible, suggests that is exactly what has happened here.

Lifeisabeach said:

It *IS* the drive. It doesn't matter how the drive is formatted, Disk Utility should be able to see it and reformat it to whatever one pleases. It doesn't HAVE to be in a recognizable format for that to happen. The fact that DU can't even recognize that the drive is plugged in suggests there is some hardware issue in play here, even if it's something done deliberately by Seagate to prevent it from connecting to anything but a Windows PC. The fact that their own documentation on this drive only lists Windows, when virtually every external drive sold for many many many years now lists both Windows and Macs as compatible, suggests that is exactly what has happened here.

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I've bought drives that didn't indicate compatibility with Macs. And all it took was reformatting it to Mac Journal Extended. Been trouble free since. ALL drives are usable by both platforms. Just depends on how it's formatted. Unless Seagate has added some sort of hardware that can only be read on a Window's box, the culprit is an NTFS partition on the drive (software based). The OP replied that the format is already FAT32. But if he hasn't reformatted the drive, the NTFGS partition is still there. Hence why he should reformat. It will wipe the NTFS partition. Get rid of anything NTFS about the drive, and your golden.

Like I've said, I've had these drives before. Can only be read on a PC, not a Mac. After I backed up the files, and reformatted the drives, it worked like a charm on both a Mac and PC (as a new formatted FAT32). Unless the OP has need of an NTFS partition, there is no harm in reformatting. Just make sure to BACKUP your files first.

sreeram said:

It was format to FAT32 ever since i started the post... Still my MBP doesn't see the HDD. That is the problem...

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Did you reformat to FAT32? Or is it originally a FAT32 format? The format is not in question. It's the NTFS software that's kicking in whenever you plug it into a computer. Hence why a Windows box is the only computer that can read it. The drive has an NTFS partition doing all of this. You need to get rid of it. Only sure way is to reformat the drive. Just make sure to backup your files first.

Sreeram, if you are willing to do as Eric suggests, I think a number of us would be immensely curious to see how this works out. It certainly would be helpful for future reference if others have a similar problem. Just please be certain you have a good backup in advance.

erics72 said:

Did you reformat to FAT32? Or is it originally a FAT32 format? The format is not in question. It's the NTFS software that's kicking in whenever you plug it into a computer. Hence why a Windows box is the only computer that can read it. The drive has an NTFS partition doing all of this. You need to get rid of it. Only sure way is to reformat the drive. Just make sure to backup your files first.

Click to expand...

Originally the HDD was in NTFS format(default), when i connected the HDD to my MBP it didn't see the HDD . I browsed through some online posts and saw most MBP's do not see the NTFS format properly, so i connected the HDD to my PC and formatted to FAT32. Now my HDD is in FAT32 format, which i myself has done deliberately.

That information about Macs not "seeing" NTFS drives is not entirely accurate. AFAIK every Mac made for the last several years can see/read NTFS drives. My 2008 MacBook Pro certainly can. They cannot write to NTFS drives with a Terminal trick or third-party software.

When you plugged in the drive it should have been seen by the Mac Even if the Mac had trouble with NTFS it should be able to both read and write to the FAT 32 drive. . Both Finder and Disk Utility should see the drive. Assuming the port and cable or good something else is going on here.

Seems like we are plowing the same ground here.

erics72 said:

Did you reformat to FAT32? Or is it originally a FAT32 format? The format is not in question. It's the NTFS software that's kicking in whenever you plug it into a computer. Hence why a Windows box is the only computer that can read it. The drive has an NTFS partition doing all of this. You need to get rid of it. Only sure way is to reformat the drive. Just make sure to backup your files first.

Click to expand...

There is no "NTFS software" that kicks in. It's a partitioning scheme and OS X natively supports reading them. Even if it didn't, you should still see the drive and the partition so you can reformat it to something usable. Here, look. Seagate has a guide detailing how to take a drive that is formatted in NTFS and reformat it using Disk Utility. If I had a drive formatted in EXT2 (Linux's file system), then guess what? That would show up, even though OS X can't read or write that partitioning scheme. I'd have to format it, of course, to be able to do anything with it. But the OP can't do anything of this because the drive is not even showing up in Disk Utility. There is something in the hardware or firmware preventing it from connecting, likely some security feature that Seagate baked in.

The bottom line is that normally, it literally doesn't make a difference how a drive is formatted. As long as it's connected and working properly, Disk Utility should at least recognize that the drive is attached and be able to reformat it to something it can use. I can take a drive formatted in HFS+ and plug it into a Windows PC, and guess what? Windows will recognize that it's attached and let me reformat it to something Windows supports. This is how computers work!

sreeram said:

hi, i have a new macbook pro running mavericks, am trying to move my data from my seagate 1.5TB HDD to mac, when connected to mac i dont see the HDD on finder or disk utility or under usb in system info, so i checked my usb ports by connecting flash drive they are working fine, i tried running my mac in safe mode, still mac does'nt see my HDD format fat32. my HDD is working with my PC but not mac. please help

Click to expand...

Are you sure it is fat32 and not ntfs partition.

Ether way you may need to find a driver for your mac to see windows partition.

write to any NTFS volume on a MAC (including the latest Mavericks) for free | The X Cave

The above link is for ntfs-3g driver that enables you to mount and r/w access to ntfs partitions.

Enjoy. Also if you don't like it you can find others. But I think this one is the best out there.

Also another way to access your drive is install virtual box and in virtual box install windows than connect the hard drive through the virtual windows environment. Virtual Windows should see anything a pc formatted.

erics72 said:

It's the drive, not the Mac. Trust me. I've been through this a few times with my own, and friends' drives. If you still have access to a PC, with enough HDD space to back up the Seagate, back up all your files from the Seagate to it (minus the preinstalled software). Once you have it backed up, keep the Seagate connected to your PC, reformat it to FAT32. Load back all the backed up files to the Seagate once it's been reformatted. Plug into your MB, then copy all the files. Done.

As I mentioned before, you don't need that bloat ware pre-installed on the Seagate. If all your using your external drive for is storage, and your not going to be using it on PCs, plug to your MB and reformat to Mac Journal Extended. You can keep it at FAT32 if you like. Keeping it formatted to FAT32, will allow your Mac and PC to access the drive.

Click to expand...

I don't think it is the drive either. It is the interface on the drive. If you buy BLACX usb drive plug station and take the drive out of the enclosure and just plug it into that. The best drive access around. I had external drives before that I could not access but this one is working with all drives. All I do is plug the bare drive into the socket and it works like external drive. The only draw back is that you need a plug for the power supply. You got to realize that most external drives run of your USB power and that may not be sufficient for larger 3.5 inch drives so you may have power requirement issues. Mac book is lower power supplier than your desk top pc that has a better power supply than that of a laptop. Apple cut corners here and did not use the standard USB required due to the 8 hour battery life claim. I noticed most external hard drives need extra plug in power source due to this.

Your best bet is to buy a new external drive that uses low wattage. The ones that are specifically made for macbook pros and are aware of the lower power supplied on mac book pro usb.

Others have commented on power but it is a big deal. My iOmega would not run either but I had a cable from my PC and Clickfree which has 2 USB connectors so the IOmega gets power from both. It takes about 30 sec to come up on the desktop but it works fine under these conditions.
Also, you will note that I referred to a Clickfree which is really slick but does not work on my Macbook Pro.
It is an earlier generation of Clickfree and was not compatible. Perhaps the same can be said for your Seagate.

Check Tuxera

You said your disk is accessible via PC and not through Mac? I bet your format is NTFS and you should Tuxera on your Mac. I once had a similar problem and needed to upgrade it to be able to see.

roblife said:

Are you sure it is fat32 and not ntfs partition.

Ether way you may need to find a driver for your mac to see windows partition.

write to any NTFS volume on a MAC (including the latest Mavericks) for free | The X Cave

The above link is for ntfs-3g driver that enables you to mount and r/w access to ntfs partitions.

Enjoy. Also if you don't like it you can find others. But I think this one is the best out there.

Also another way to access your drive is install virtual box and in virtual box install windows than connect the hard drive through the virtual windows environment. Virtual Windows should see anything a pc formatted.

Click to expand...

Oh for the love of... guys... KNOCK IT OFF! He's tried an NTFS driver (Paragon) already, not that it was necessary to begin with because OS X can READ NTFS partitions on its own without any help. I've even posted a link to Seagate's own tutorial demonstrating this. Are you people just not paying attention here? You keep adding advice that has already been tried and proven wrong. He's not even formatted using NTFS.

roblife said:

I don't think it is the drive either. It is the interface on the drive. If you buy BLACX usb drive plug station and take the drive out of the enclosure and just plug it into that. The best drive access around. I had external drives before that I could not access but this one is working with all drives. All I do is plug the bare drive into the socket and it works like external drive. The only draw back is that you need a plug for the power supply. You got to realize that most external drives run of your USB power and that may not be sufficient for larger 3.5 inch drives so you may have power requirement issues. Mac book is lower power supplier than your desk top pc that has a better power supply than that of a laptop. Apple cut corners here and did not use the standard USB required due to the 8 hour battery life claim. I noticed most external hard drives need extra plug in power source due to this.

Your best bet is to buy a new external drive that uses low wattage. The ones that are specifically made for macbook pros and are aware of the lower power supplied on mac book pro usb.

Click to expand...

He is using a portable 2.5" drive that is powered off USB only. I posted a link to the PDF file for the drive he's using. Please pay attention. Adding all the advice that has been over and over and over already is just adding more needless confusion.

pm-r said:

It's nice to know all the details, but all Macs and all OS X versions should have the ability to at least read NTFS and FAT formatted USB drives shouldn't they??

But why do I read of so many having trouble getting their USB drives to mount regardless of proper format?

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I still use a virtual machine to mount and format anything NTFS with my mac. I would recommend using exFAT but formatting it with a Windows machine so you can use it on both your mac and pc.

I have issues with NTFS and 10.9.4 but whenever possible I will format as HFS+ and have a exFAT or FAT32 USB drive for file transfers.

If you want more details on your ports you can download a developer tool called USB Prober available on the Apple Developer site. I use this and a few other techniques when looking for issues.

I'm doing some more intense digging. Check this post on Tom's Hardware:
Seagate USB 3 external - Hard Drives - Storage

Sound familiar? It's the exact same drive as the OP here (Seagate 9SCAN4-500). It's working on one Windows PC, but not another Windows PC. The problem is these drives. It is NOT the Mac itself, or the lack of any 3rd party NTFS software. Judging from this conversation, they only work on some computers if you use a USB 2.0 cable instead of a 3.0 cable.

dioioib said:

I have issues with NTFS and 10.9.4 but whenever possible I will format as HFS+ and have a exFAT or FAT32 USB drive for file transfers.

Click to expand...

For those who might be interested in general problems with NTFS and OS X let's start a different thread please. NTFS may be an issue for others but does not seem to be the case here. No need to confuse things more than they are.

BTW If someone starts such a thread please tell us which method you are using to enable writing to NTFS.That's important. Some of the drivers mentioned in this thread have not been updated for ages IIRC and the Terminal hack that is often used appears to be unreliable at best.

I used to have occasional problems and now, whenever I buy ANY new external, I always reformat and I've not had any problems since.

Lifeisabeach said:

I'm doing some more intense digging. Check this post on Tom's Hardware:
Seagate USB 3 external - Hard Drives - Storage

Sound familiar? It's the exact same drive as the OP here (Seagate 9SCAN4-500). It's working on one Windows PC, but not another Windows PC. The problem is these drives. It is NOT the Mac itself, or the lack of any 3rd party NTFS software. Judging from this conversation, they only work on some computers if you use a USB 2.0 cable instead of a 3.0 cable.

Click to expand...

Guess we found our problem. Today i tried the HDD with my friends 2014 DELL laptop running windows 8, with USB 3.0, guess what, the light on HDD is on but DELL doesn't see my HDD.
My sony vaio was running on windows7 and USB2.0, which worked absolutely fine with HDD.

Like you said earlier, "Works with Windows® 7, Windows Vista®, Windows® XP", either this HDD is not supporting USB3.0, or this just works on those three OS...Though seagate claims it should work on USB3.0.. am not sure....