MacBook doesn't detect an external HD

[Tino1948]

I have an external Fujitsu-Siemens, 1Tb, and I made 4 partitions: 1 for the Lenovo Desktop (with Windows8), 1 for the Shuttle Desktop (with Ubuntu Linux), 1 for the MacBook (with Yosemite, as Time Machine) and 1 spare partition. I use the Fujitsu for back ups. No problem at all with the Lenovo and the Shuttle but in the MacBook doesn't show at all, not even in "System" or "Start up disc". Please, help. Thank you.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Can you post a screen cap of Disc Utility showing the partition layout for that drive?

 

[Tino1948]

Hi Lifeisabeach. Thank you for answering.

As I said, doesn't show up anywhere in the MacBook; so, how can I post anything that doesn't show up?

 

[IWT]

How is your EHD formatted? And when making these partitions, was your EHD connected to the MacBook or a Windows PC? Which MacBook and which OS is it running?

Sorry for the tedious questions, but it helps to understand the problems better.

One final comment at this stage—you didn't ask for this, but I'll offer it in good faith—it is a mistake to have a single EHD backing up several different and crucial things. Disk fails, you lose everything. In particular, it is always advised that Time Machine has its own EHD.

I'm only guessing for now, but it strikes me that you are wanting to use the EHD for at least three completely different Operating Systems. Can't see that working, but I could very well be wrong.

Ian

 

[Tino1948]

Hi Ian, Thank you.

When doing the partitions was connected to the Lonovo with Windows 8.

Is an old MacBook Pro and is running, as I did say in my 1st post, Yosemite.

You don’t need to sorry at all, you are helping and you need to get as much information you need to advise properly.

“it is a mistake to have a single EHD backing up several different and crucial things” - I think that that advise makes sense... I have other HDs and a StarTech docking station so I think that I am going to use it to plug on it one of the HDs as Time Machine. But, just to learn, I would like to know why the MacBook doesn’t recognize the Fujitsu.

The Fujitsu is a FAT drive. Any other that I have are NTFS.

Tino

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Hi Lifeisabeach. Thank you for answering.

As I said, doesn't show up anywhere in the MacBook; so, how can I post anything that doesn't show up?

I assumed you meant in Finder. If it's not showing up even in Disk Utility, then either the drive is defective; the cable is defective; the port it's plugged into is defective; or you are using a drive that is compatible very specifically with Windows only (we've seen this before... it was a headache figuring that out). The only other remote possibility is that your install of OS X is lacking the kernel extension to read an external drive, and I very much doubt that.

EDIT: you should tell us which exact external hard drive you have if you want us to look further into this.

 

[Tino1948]

Hi Lifeisabeach.

As I said "in the MacBook doesn't show at all, not even in "System" or "Start up disc"."

The Fujitsu is OK because, as I said "No problem at all with the Lenovo and the Shuttle but in the MacBook doesn't show at all,"

The USB port is OK because it takes another things without a problem.

No, a FAT drive is not compatible with Windows but is not problem at all, you can "jump" that incompatibility pretty easy and I did. With Linux there is not problem at all, Linux takes anything that you can think of.

I don't think that the Yosemite kernel is wrong...

As I said earlier "I have an external Fujitsu-Siemens, 1Tb"

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Hi Lifeisabeach.

As I said "in the MacBook doesn't show at all, not even in "System" or "Start up disc"."

I don't know why you keep saying this. I read that the first time. And the second time. Neither of those are Disk Utility. Do you even know what that is? (EDIT: What are you talking about anyway? What makes you think a drive shows up in "System"? What do you even mean by "System"? Are you talking about the folder on your boot drive? The drive wouldn't show up there. Are you just looking at the "Startup Disk" in System Preferences? That only shows partitions with a bootable installation of OS X, or any other bootable OS)

No, a FAT drive is not compatible with Windows but is not problem at all, you can "jump" that incompatibility pretty easy and I did. With Linux there is not problem at all, Linux takes anything that you can think of.

FAT drives most certainly are compatible with Windows (it is Microsoft's own file system!), but how it's formatted is irrelevant. Barring a hardware failure/incompatibility of some sort, any drive should show up in Disk Utility regardless of how it is formatted. Disk Utility is what you use to reformat it if need be. Again, if the drive is not showing up in Disk Utility, then there is a hardware failure, or some incompatibility on a firmware level in the drive itself. I am absolutely not kidding about the latter. We spent days trying to solve another member's problem with an external hard drive, and as it turned out, that drive was very specifically compatible with Windows and only Windows XP for that matter. Not even Win 7 onwards. It was one of the more bizarre things I've seen, but the documentation/evidence on that was pretty clear once I discovered it.

As I said earlier "I have an external Fujitsu-Siemens, 1Tb"

That doesn't tell us which EXACT model you have. And I do mean EXACT! All you've given is the brand and capacity.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Here's what we need you to do. Plug your drive in and make sure it is on and spinning. Then run Disk Utility and post a screen cap.

 

[Tino1948]

To LIfeisabeach.

I am attaching the screenshot of Disk Utility where it shows only the laptop HD.

The Futjitsu is pugged.

As I said to Ian, I following his advise and I already set up another external HD on the StarTech dock station as Time Machine and it is working, but still I want to learn why the MacBook doesn't open the Fujitsu on spite of that the Lenovo and Shuttle do in this very moment.

I can take a screenshot of the Disk Management on Windows, save it in a stick memory and post it here. It shows the partitions.

 

[johnodd4]

It doesn't because you have a bad Fujitsu

Let me explain.

I had one on my mac mini after partitioning it all was well and worked for a whole week.

Notice: i said whole week only.

I had purchased the drive from the Southcenter Apple store here in Washington State i still had a warranty for it i took it to them and a really excellent genus there ran a diagnostic and found the hard drive had failed due to it not being firmware flashed correctly from the manufacture i ask him is this common he told me they have had 32 come back so far.

My guess would be your hard drive has failed in the same manor.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Ok. So OS X most clearly can't see that the external hard drive is connected. Barring a problem with OS X itself (can it see any other external hard drive attached?), then best advice is to try another cable. Please don't debate this... we don't KNOW what the problem is, so this is typical of troubleshooting, even when the cable you are using now works otherwise. Be sure you are getting the correct cable. Or better yet, tell us which exact model external hard drive it is. Kinda hard to look into this further when all we know it's one of the many models of 1 TB external hard drives that Fujitsu has made over the years.

 

[Slydude]

Others will correct me if I am wrong but I don't think that GUID partitioning would come into the equation at this point. If the drive were properly connected and powering up as it should the OS normally asks if you want to format the drive.

IIRC even unformatted drives trigger this behavior.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I have a feeling it hasn't been partitioned as GUID. It should see even the windows partitions, if it was partitioned as GUID.

As Sly said, that has nothing to do with anything. How a drive is formatted literally has no bearing on whether or not a formatting tool can "see" it.

 

[johnodd4]

Again let me explain.

Fujitsu Drives when flashed with stock firmware when the firmware malfunctions it locks the MBR the only way to fix this problem is a complete reformat of the drive from the last o.s that used it if you where in linux it has to be reformatted in linux if you where in windows and it malfunctioned it has to be reformatted in windows using the admin tools.

These Hard drives are Garbage..

time for a new one