Communication Breakdown
December 20, 2005 7:04 AM Subscribe
How do I get my external hard drive to talk to my computer again? They seem to be pissed off about something, and now they won't even recognize the other's existence.
I have a LaCie 160GB External Firewire Hard Drive (the Porsche designed one - what a joke). It was working fine until one day it stopped mounting on my Mac. At that point, I could still see it listed in my About This Mac menu - it just wouldn't mount. Now my computer doesn't even recognize that it is plugged in. Is there anything I can do to end this communication breakdown? I am not concerned about the data on the drive, and would be glad to reformat it. Anyone have advice?
I have a LaCie 160GB External Firewire Hard Drive (the Porsche designed one - what a joke). It was working fine until one day it stopped mounting on my Mac. At that point, I could still see it listed in my About This Mac menu - it just wouldn't mount. Now my computer doesn't even recognize that it is plugged in. Is there anything I can do to end this communication breakdown? I am not concerned about the data on the drive, and would be glad to reformat it. Anyone have advice?
i've heard that hard drives sometimes have problems mounting after it's mounted on another computer. it isn't so much a lack of a drive as it is some sort of internal conflict. something something argument something interrupt request something something.
try it on someone else's computer, see if it works there. if it does, you can assume it's your computer's fault; not sure what to do beyond there.
if that doesn't work, open the drive up and check the physical connections. it seems odd for an external hdd to have a wiring problem, but there's always the chance something came loose.
posted by soma lkzx at 7:16 AM on December 20, 2005
try it on someone else's computer, see if it works there. if it does, you can assume it's your computer's fault; not sure what to do beyond there.
if that doesn't work, open the drive up and check the physical connections. it seems odd for an external hdd to have a wiring problem, but there's always the chance something came loose.
posted by soma lkzx at 7:16 AM on December 20, 2005
Response by poster: I have tried connecting it to a couple of other computers - and the same problem exists.
posted by mudhouse at 7:18 AM on December 20, 2005
posted by mudhouse at 7:18 AM on December 20, 2005
Jumpers?
The tiny little plastic deal that goes over the posts of the plug. There should be a sticker or instructions on how to set the drive as "master" or "slave" or "master/slave" I'd guess that this is an extra storage drive, no? So, that would make it a slave.
Computer geeks out there, anyone, can you confirm what I'm saying?
posted by Pollomacho at 7:27 AM on December 20, 2005
The tiny little plastic deal that goes over the posts of the plug. There should be a sticker or instructions on how to set the drive as "master" or "slave" or "master/slave" I'd guess that this is an extra storage drive, no? So, that would make it a slave.
Computer geeks out there, anyone, can you confirm what I'm saying?
posted by Pollomacho at 7:27 AM on December 20, 2005
There may be jumpers on the drive internally, but that's not the issue. All this master/slave stuff is needed to make a generic drive run in a PC.
Take a look at the drive using Disk Utility -- and it's a good thing you would be glad to reformat it...cause that's the next step.
Does LaCie provide some special drivers or utilities? Make sure you have the latest versions of those.
If you have Disk Warrior, that program would likely be able to fix the problem and make the drive mountable again without having to format it.
But as to why your data went missing...?
posted by omnidrew at 7:44 AM on December 20, 2005
Take a look at the drive using Disk Utility -- and it's a good thing you would be glad to reformat it...cause that's the next step.
Does LaCie provide some special drivers or utilities? Make sure you have the latest versions of those.
If you have Disk Warrior, that program would likely be able to fix the problem and make the drive mountable again without having to format it.
But as to why your data went missing...?
posted by omnidrew at 7:44 AM on December 20, 2005
Response by poster: I have tried Disk Utility. It can't see the drive, so I can't really do anything with it. I also tried updating any LaCie drivers. Again the same problem - since the computer doesn't recognize that the drive is connected, it won't do anything to upgrade it.
posted by mudhouse at 7:49 AM on December 20, 2005
posted by mudhouse at 7:49 AM on December 20, 2005
I've had the same problem before, and was never able to come up with a fix for it.
I hear that zapping the PRAM on your computer might actually fix the problem.
posted by bshort at 8:19 AM on December 20, 2005
I hear that zapping the PRAM on your computer might actually fix the problem.
posted by bshort at 8:19 AM on December 20, 2005
Occasionally I have that trouble with my Seagate external drive on win2000; so far all it's taken to get the PC to recognize it again is to physically turn the external drive off, let it spin down and sit idle for five minutes or so, and turn it back on. I'm not sure if this problem is caused by overheating or something else (imminent failure?) or if it would help in your case. But it's worth a shot if you haven't tried it yet.
posted by Tuwa at 8:24 AM on December 20, 2005
posted by Tuwa at 8:24 AM on December 20, 2005
Sounds like the drive is borked to me. Generally, if it's not showing up on your machine or anyone else's, there's a pretty good chance that it's screwed. Is it possible that the drive was dropped/fell over while it was on at some point (or even while it was off)? Any kids around the house that could have done it and then placed it back on the desk, with you being none the wiser? Or any roommates/significant others, for that matter?
posted by antifuse at 8:25 AM on December 20, 2005
posted by antifuse at 8:25 AM on December 20, 2005
Shutdown and unplug both the Mac and the external drive (from each other too). Plug them back in, turn the drive on first, then the Mac. If that doesn't work, try the above procedure but plug the drive into a different port on the Mac.
posted by BrandonAbell at 8:46 AM on December 20, 2005
posted by BrandonAbell at 8:46 AM on December 20, 2005
also, have you tried a different cable?
"90% of all electrical problems are mechanical."
posted by wzcx at 11:17 AM on December 20, 2005
"90% of all electrical problems are mechanical."
posted by wzcx at 11:17 AM on December 20, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Pollomacho at 7:09 AM on December 20, 2005