WD external hard drive

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Since upgrading to Yosemite my hard drive is not seen by my iMac, how can I resolve this?
 
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MacInWin

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Welcome to the forums!

Please read the link in my sig and repost with more information so we can help you.
 
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WD hard drive

Hi MacInWin,
I have aWD external hard drive used to back up and save photographs, but since upgrading my operating system from Maverick to Yosemite my iMac does not see the external hard drive which is connected via a thunderbolt cable.
 

pigoo3

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MacInWin

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Does the drive show in Disk Utility? Have you tried rebooting? How were you backing up to the drive? Time Machine? Other?
 

bobtomay

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What?
It doesn't show on the Desktop?
It doesn't show in the sidebar of Finder?
It doesn't show in Disk Utility?
 
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Hi, no the drive does not show in disc utility; I have tried rebooting with it connected and also rebooted and then connected, but it still does not see it. I usually just backed up by dragging and dropping from one window into another. I also have a portable external drive manufactured by Verbatim and that isn't seen either.
Cheers, buddy06
 
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MacInWin

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What connection? USB? FireWire? Have you reseated the cables on both ends? Do the drives need external power and is it there? Are there any lights/indicators on the drives?

Please help us here. Playing twenty questions gets pretty old pretty quickly.
 
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Hi bobtomay,
It doesn't show anywhere, desktop, disc utility or side bar of finder. I also have a MacbookPro and a Mini Mac and neither of them show it after I foolishly upgraded all m/c's to Yosemite at the same time.
Cheers, buddy06
 
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Hi MacInWin,
Connection is Thunderbolt; reseated cables several times without success; the drive does require n external power which I've checked and is fine; no lights come up on the drive as usual they do when connected and working. I can't think what else there is to check.
buddy06
 
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MacInWin

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No lights? That normally means no power. Check the power again. Are you sure there is power at the mains outlet?
 
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Hi Macinwin,
Yes power is available; when I say no lights, when working there is a light which comes on and off at irregular intervals, presumably according to the activity, when I connect it up the light flashes on very briefly but then goes off and does not come on again......
My other device, the Verbatim does not need a power supply and that is not seen either, but I can get it to be seen by my MacbookPro if I connect it before booting up and then it is seen, but if I turn off my Macbook Pro and then connect the Verbatim, like the WD it is not seen....!!
buddy06
 
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sounds like the old problem again.

Thunderbolt and firewire drives basically have a bug they write at high speed and happen to cause corruption by accident which makes the drive no longer read or write now for the good news your data is still there and is safe the bad news is i bet that the drive controller board connected to the hard drive is bad which means no power even though the power cord is functioning the unit itself is not getting power due to a faulty power board or power regulator in the box which means time for a new enclosure this is why i still use usb to many things can go wrong with thunderbolt and firewire although it is technically faster doesn't mean it works correctly 100% of the time
 
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MacInWin

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Buddy, are you using any "drivers" from WD for the drive? How is it formatted? I have two WD drives and both are mounted on Yosemite with no problems, but I seem to remember that they came with some sort of software. I ignored the software and formatted them for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and they mount just fine. I am using them on Firewire, not Thunderbolt, but they are connected to a firewire connection on a Belkin Thunderbolt adapter that IS connected using Thunderbolt, so I would discount any problems with either Thunderbolt or Firewire for now.
 

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