2.5" HD problem - non detection

yujiyuji
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I bought a casing (for my 2.5" HD)by Momobay CX-2 with both USB and firewire. I'm using a powerbook. The seller has tested them on his PC system and both could be detected.



However, my powerbook couldn't detect my 2.5" HD at all. The USB didn't work, from what I suppose was due to a lack of power from my powerbook's USB's port.



The firewire didn't work too! I'm running OS X, and the instructions said to run 'disk initialization that came with my OS'. How do I do that?



I'm at my wits end and I really could do with some help to get my PB to detect my 2.5" HD.



Many thanks people.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    gwoodpeckergwoodpecker Posts: 367member
    Applications --> Utilities --> Disk Utility. Then select the HD in the left side of the screen. Be sure to select the right HD!!! Go to the Erase tab, choose "Mac OS X Extended (journaled)" and click the "Erase" button.



    If your external HD doesn't show up in Disk Utility, not even via FireWire, then somtehing with the Momobay case is broken.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    yujiyuji Posts: 43member
    I opened disk utility but I do not see my HD on the left column.



    I've tried the HD on my office's mac but it hanged the mac instead.



    I've also tried it on a PC and noticed that there are alot of files that are shaded grey in color and they can't be opened. I susepct they are corrupted.



    Please advise what I should do with getting my HD detected AND repairing the corrupted files.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    gwoodpeckergwoodpecker Posts: 367member
    Can you hear spinning the disk up when you connect it via FireWire to your PowerBook? (Via USB it will not work because it needs more current than the PowerBook can deliver via USB)



    If not and only a meep-meep clicking sort of sound comes from the harddrive - or if there is no sound at all - the Momobay case is broken. Those are very cheap cases with even cheaper UBS/FireWire bridges inside. A good friend of mine also had a few issues with those.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    jpenningtonjpennington Posts: 476member
    Try plugging it in and waiting a while (a couple hours).



    I have had the same problems when connecting IDE driving via USB enclosures on my macs (I do it a lot). If it comes up, copy the data to your mac reformat the drive to HFS and then move the data back. I have had the same problem upwards of 10 times and waiting always works (if it spins up, if not it is a hardware problem).
  • Reply 5 of 10
    yujiyuji Posts: 43member
    gwoodpecker - yes, i can hear the HD spinning. so that means the casing is fine and its my HD that has a problem?
  • Reply 6 of 10
    gwoodpeckergwoodpecker Posts: 367member
    That only means that the harddrive is getting power from the computer. Whether the data transmission is actually working, that's another story... jpennington suggested waiting a few hours while the drive is connected to the computer, which seems to be a good idea indeed.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Yuji


    gwoodpecker - yes, i can hear the HD spinning. so that means the casing is fine and its my HD that has a problem?



    No, if the HD is spinning and it's not mounting, that would more likely mean the casing is broken. As gwoodpecker said, it could be the data transmission that's at fault. I had the same problem with a cheap (as in quality not price) enclosure and the HD would spin but it wouldn't mount. I returned it and they said the enclosure was faulty. They replaced it with one that broke after 1 month and just unmounted the drive randomly during the month. I will never buy one again and instead I got a cheaper Lacie FW HD and so far, it's been doing fine.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    yujiyuji Posts: 43member
    I left the HD spinning the entire night, to no avail.



    I tried to verify my disk and have captured a screenshot.



    http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...screenshot.jpg



    It shows the existence of my disk (momobay) on disk utility but not the physical folder, hence I can't access my files.



    The verify disk didn't work, because its been verifying forever, and I had to force shut down my powerbook.



    Is this confirmed a bad casing problem? Should I bring it back to the retailer for an exchange? Or is there more to the problem?



    Please help.



    Many thanks people!
  • Reply 9 of 10
    gwoodpeckergwoodpecker Posts: 367member
    Do you still have important data on that drive? If not, click onto "74.6 GB Momobay" and go to the "Partition" tab in Disk Utility. Then select "1 Partition" from the "Volume Scheme" pulldown menu, make sure the format is "Mac OS Extended (journaled)" and click onto the partition button. If the formatting takes forever or any other error comes up or if your PowerBook hangs again, then definitely the Momobay case is ready for an exchange.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    yujiyuji Posts: 43member
    I still have lots of important data in there that I would like to save.



    I think the entire disk is corrupted.



    Please advise me how I can go about repairing the disk so that I can read the disk temporary to extract out all the files before I reformat the disk again.
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