my mac won't recognize my external harddisk.

tofachinotofachino
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I had an external harddisk with windows platform. my mac won't recognize it when i attach it, so I'm going to format the harddisk .. (format it with a windows pc).. do u have any tips? will my mac recognize the harddisk afterwards?



Thanks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    tofachinotofachino Posts: 69member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by TofaChino

    I had an external harddisk with windows platform. my mac won't recognize it when i attach it, so I'm going to format the harddisk .. (format it with a windows pc).. do u have any tips? will my mac recognize the harddisk afterwards?



    Thanks.





    I formatted it.. but still when i attach it to my PB it doesn't show! nothing happens!~ Help?
  • Reply 2 of 7
    o4blackwrxo4blackwrx Posts: 383member
    Did you format it using NTFS or FAT32? NTFS is not recognized by Mac OS X so if you format it using FAT32 then you can reformat it using Journaling if you like. Regardless you should see the "Invalid Disc Found do you wish to initialize or eject" dialog box when you put in the external HD.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    adamradamr Posts: 72member
    An external hard disc should be recognised in some way. OS X can read FAT, FAT32, NTFS, HFS, HFS+, UFS. File system incompatibility is not likely the cause of your trouble.



    Check in Disk Utility to see whether the drive is recognised at all.



    Adam
  • Reply 4 of 7
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    OS X can read NTFS but not write to it. Sounds like something else is causing a problem.



    First, do what adamr said. If it does show up, try to manually mount it. (The little mount button at the top f the window). If not, use a different firewire port/hub. Sometimes firewire devices are finicky.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    tofachinotofachino Posts: 69member
    ThankYou guys for the help.



    ok I tried the disk utility and its not there either. I read in the harddisk manual that its compatible with Mac..



    I'm sure the USB wire is not the problem coz I used it on a pc (for the format)..



    when i plug it my PB doesn't say or do anything .. nothing happens at all. i still don't know what to do.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    jwri004jwri004 Posts: 626member
    Do you use the port on your mac for anything else? Maybe this is where your problem is - a dead port.....
  • Reply 7 of 7
    tofachinotofachino Posts: 69member
    I went to some computer shops seeking help and thankgod there was one guy who used to be a Mac user .. he helped me and it worked.

    he said that i didn't format the drive properly and that there was some partitions in it ..



    OK.. now I have another problem.



    I have some videos and audios on the external harddisk that i want to transfer to my PB.. k, i attach it.. and then drag and drop the file/folder i want to my PB .. the file appears in the location it was dropped in.. but with faded color... and it doesn't show that its being moved (u know the small box that tells u its being transfered to ur laptop.. and whats the estimated time left)... it just appears with faded color .. and when i double click on it .. the whole Finder freezes.. and i cannot (force quit) it .... ???

    i tried with different folders and its always the same ..

    AND it also doesn't shut down nor restart .. i have to press the power botton till it shutdown..............
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