kenlotterman
asked on
External hard drive - MacBook connects, iMac doesn't
My iMac hard drive started clicking and the I Mac wouldn't boot. Removed HDD and put it into a "dock" making it an external USB drive. Connected it to my MacBook Air and it eventually mounted. Started copying files to a windows 7 PC acting as a server. Copy process is extremely slow!! Three days later, Microsoft decides its more important to restart that computer than whatever else i had it doing.
Meanwhile, I had replaced the hard drive in the iMac and installed MacOS on it So I moved the external drive to the iMac, intending to "restore" the files directly to the iMac.
When I connect the external HDD to the iMac, I get NOTHIN. Reconnect to the MacBook and it discovers and mounts it. Reconnect to the iMac - nada. Repeat, same results.
Checked USB ports - they work fine.
In Finder, I check-marked the option to show external drives on the desktop - still no joy.
Why would this happen?
Anyone? Anyone? Beuler?
Meanwhile, I had replaced the hard drive in the iMac and installed MacOS on it So I moved the external drive to the iMac, intending to "restore" the files directly to the iMac.
When I connect the external HDD to the iMac, I get NOTHIN. Reconnect to the MacBook and it discovers and mounts it. Reconnect to the iMac - nada. Repeat, same results.
Checked USB ports - they work fine.
In Finder, I check-marked the option to show external drives on the desktop - still no joy.
Why would this happen?
Anyone? Anyone? Beuler?
ASKER
1. agreed, but I must try to extract data and "playing" is necessary to do so.
2. as was stated in the question, I cannot get the imac to read the disk or boot from it.
3a. imac 10.7.5
3b. macbook 10.12.6
3c. yes, IMac access any OTHER drive connected through this USB adapter
4. The dock is powered, not taking power from the USB.
2. as was stated in the question, I cannot get the imac to read the disk or boot from it.
3a. imac 10.7.5
3b. macbook 10.12.6
3c. yes, IMac access any OTHER drive connected through this USB adapter
4. The dock is powered, not taking power from the USB.
CLONE the drive if you can when it is connected to the Mac. do not see a point to continually bring it back to the imac, was the imac OS restored from a backup, such that it sees the old imac drive as a conflict?
not sure what the point is of continually attempting to attach a failing drive to the system from which it came when another method to get the data of exists.
If you have two external USB ....
Connect the two to the MAC, clone the disks and see whether attaching the new cloned drive will have a different behavior when connected to the IMAC
i.e. once cloned, and using the new drive, there is no potential for data loss because the drive kicks the bucket, keels over and ......
When the drive is plugged into the imac via USB, looking at system info, HW more info, does the drive appear there but is not mounted?
not sure what the point is of continually attempting to attach a failing drive to the system from which it came when another method to get the data of exists.
If you have two external USB ....
Connect the two to the MAC, clone the disks and see whether attaching the new cloned drive will have a different behavior when connected to the IMAC
i.e. once cloned, and using the new drive, there is no potential for data loss because the drive kicks the bucket, keels over and ......
When the drive is plugged into the imac via USB, looking at system info, HW more info, does the drive appear there but is not mounted?
Rest the SMC on the iMAC befor you do anything else.
Then just install a new SSD and install a new OS before you do anything else with the faulty drive. You're just making it worse by continually playing with it. Once the new OS is installed, start Migration assistant to copy the data, if it's the same OS X version, otherwise, you should manually copy it over with rsync on the command line so that you can restart it if it fails.
- Unplug the power cord.
- Press and hold the power button.
Then just install a new SSD and install a new OS before you do anything else with the faulty drive. You're just making it worse by continually playing with it. Once the new OS is installed, start Migration assistant to copy the data, if it's the same OS X version, otherwise, you should manually copy it over with rsync on the command line so that you can restart it if it fails.
Started copying files to a windows 7 PC acting as a server. Copy process is extremely slow!! Three days later, Microsoft decides its more important to restart that computer than whatever else i had it doing.How did you copy those files? Drag and Drop? You can continue where you left off with rsync.
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Just copy the data or image the disk...... depending on how much space you have on the MAC... hard to say.
which version of OS X is running on the imac versus the MAC and what is the USB external supports, i.e. does the IMAc access any drive connected through this USB adapter? if the answer is no, that would suggest the USB adapter is not compatible with the USB ports on the IMAC.
Check whether the issue is that the IMAC does not provide enough power to the USB adapter requiring an additional power source to spin up the HD.