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haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

haroldo

Member

External drive not working with MacBook

I have a backup drive in an enclosure »www.macally.com/EN/?page_id=2392.
When I connect it to my MacBook Air Mid 2011 with OS X 10.9.1, the drive starts to whir and the indicator light turns blue (which is good).
When I connect it to my daughter's MacBook Early 2008 with OS X 10.7.5, the drive whirs for a second, but the blue light turns red and it stops whirring. Needless to say, the drive can't be seen by her computer.
As soon as I swap it back to the Air, the drive works perfectly.
It seems the the cause might be the USB connection on the MacBook.
Is there any way to check to see if it's the problem or fix it? The computer is fully up to date.

Thanks!

pike
Premium Member
join:2001-02-01
Washington, DC

pike

Premium Member

Possibly a software incompatibility? I looked at three different sources to try to find the minimum system requirement for this unit and they're all different.

MacAlly: »www.macally.com/EN/?page_id=2392 Ambiguous. On one line, they say OS X 9.2 through 10.4 but on the next line they say 9.2 through 10.8 "and above".

Newegg: »www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· %20250cc Says 10.1 through 10.7

Amazon: »www.amazon.com/Macally-P ··· hr+250cc Says 9.2 through 10.3

None of which explains why it works on 10.9.1 ... Maybe try a firewire cable and see what happens?

TamaraB
Question The Current Paradigm
Premium Member
join:2000-11-08
Da Bronx
·Verizon FiOS
Ubiquiti NSM5
Synology RT2600ac
Apple AirPort Extreme (2013)

TamaraB to haroldo

Premium Member

to haroldo
said by haroldo:

I have a backup drive in an enclosure »www.macally.com/EN/?page_id=2392.

The Specs on that drive says it's PC and MAC "compatible". Meaning it's formatted with either MSDOS or NTFS. Did you reformat it as a MAC Journaled drive? There may be a quirk in the way the various OSX implementations deal with non-MAC formatted drives?

tango_bob
join:2001-12-16
Evanston, IL

tango_bob to haroldo

Member

to haroldo
My moneys on the Macbook not supplying enough power for the drive. Try a dual USB to mini USB cable which draws more power.
»www.monoprice.com/Produc ··· odhzQABw

pike
Premium Member
join:2001-02-01
Washington, DC

pike

Premium Member

I considered that too but according to Apple, both those laptops are equipped with USB 2.0 and thus supply the same level of current (500mA). »support.apple.com/kb/ht4049

haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

haroldo

Member

The drive in the enclosure was pulled from a MacBook Pro that converted to SSD.
The enclosure has its own power supply.

tango_bob
join:2001-12-16
Evanston, IL

tango_bob

Member

Did the enclosure come with a USB cable that plugs into the small power port on the enclosure?

haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

haroldo

Member

It came with the power cord as well as a three way USB connector (one end has a mini USB trapezoid shaped connector and the other end has a full sized USB connector that also has a separate wire that has another full sized USB connector)

tango_bob
join:2001-12-16
Evanston, IL

tango_bob to haroldo

Member

to haroldo
Have you tried plugging in both full sized USB connectors to the MacBook and the other end to the drive to see if it works?

rjackson

join:2002-04-02
Ringgold, GA

rjackson to haroldo

to haroldo
Try a sudo dmesg shortly after you plug in the drive. Sometimes that gives you a clue as to what the kernel is trying to do with the USB device.

Thinkdiff
MVM,
join:2001-08-07
Bronx, NY

Thinkdiff to pike

MVM,

to pike
said by pike:

I considered that too but according to Apple, both those laptops are equipped with USB 2.0 and thus supply the same level of current (500mA). »support.apple.com/kb/ht4049

Depending on the revision, some MacBooks (especially the Air) support outputting more than 500mA. The Air supports up to 1A, I believe, as the USB SuperDrive requires more power. Edit: »support.apple.com/kb/HT4 ··· le=en_US

haroldo See Profile's issue sounds like a power problem to me. Does the drive have a selector switch to use AC power or USB power?

haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

haroldo

Member

Only switch is on / off
Drive fails to be seen when connected via USB power, works better when plugged in to electric outlet

pike
Premium Member
join:2001-02-01
Washington, DC

pike to Thinkdiff

Premium Member

to Thinkdiff
That's the same KB article I linked to. It specifically states only Apple branded products have the capability to request current levels greater than 500mA, which does not apply to this device. This discussion is moot anyhow as haroldo See Profile is apparently using an AC adapter.

At this point, I would suggest contacting MacAlly to confirm compatibility with OS X 10.7.5.

roc5955
Premium Member
join:2005-11-26
Rosendale, NY

roc5955 to haroldo

Premium Member

to haroldo
I had the same problem, with the same type of drive.
Apparently those cheap enclosures don't work as well as others.
I got an enclosure with an upgrade I got from OWA (macsales.com) and it miraculously worked!
It was one of those clear plastic cases.
Why it didn't work with the other enclosure, I don't know.

haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

haroldo

Member

Please show me the specific one you bought (if you can find it).
I've researched enclusures before buying this one (it's my second) and EVERY unit has reviews that span form "they're great" to "doesn't work".

roc5955
Premium Member
join:2005-11-26
Rosendale, NY

roc5955

Premium Member

Sure, here you go: »eshop.macsales.com/item/ ··· OTGS3U3/

dennismurphy
Put me on hold? I'll put YOU on hold
Premium Member
join:2002-11-19
Parsippany, NJ

dennismurphy to haroldo

Premium Member

to haroldo
said by haroldo:

Please show me the specific one you bought (if you can find it).
I've researched enclusures before buying this one (it's my second) and EVERY unit has reviews that span form "they're great" to "doesn't work".

I have NEVER had an issue with the numerous OWC enclosures I've used -- from the Mercury on-the-go that's linked above to the Guardian MAXimus enclosures I'm using daily.

They make nothing but quality gear.

haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

haroldo

Member

WFM!
thanks!
haroldo

4 edits

haroldo to roc5955

Member

to roc5955
So I ordered the disk and now nothing works.
Finder can't see the disk, although Disk Utility can
I can't reformat the disk
It tells me I need to repair the disk, but it can't repair it.
It tells me to reformat, but it can't
This is my third enclosure.

I give up....this is way too confusing and time consuming

Maybe I should just throw it in the garbage and get a Time Capsule?

What's the difference between the older (flat) 2TB and the newer (tall 2TB) Time Capsules? There's $100 difference...is the newer one that much better?
»store.apple.com/us/searc ··· apsule#!

which one should I buy?

roc5955
Premium Member
join:2005-11-26
Rosendale, NY

roc5955

Premium Member

Hmm, you couldn't unmount the disk, you couldn't erase it. Sounds like there may, in fact, be issues with that disk. Was that disk ever working properly? Was it a boot disk at some point in time?

haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

haroldo

Member

said by roc5955:

...Was that disk ever working properly? Was it a boot disk at some point in time?

Yes, no... but it doesn't matter anymore as the Time Capsule gets here tomorrow. At that point I'll just destroy the hard drive.

MarvMonkey
@btcentralplus.com

MarvMonkey to haroldo

Anon

to haroldo
Since upgrading to 10.9.1 the optical drive I was using on my mac mini 2011 is no longer compatible and I assure the drive works fine with snow leopard on my macbook pro 2010,

Teasip
join:2001-05-14
Plano, TX

Teasip

Member

I swear that prior to Mavericks my Thermaltake 2 bay HD dock wouldn't run both drive slots simultaneously but it does now (SD on one drive, TM on the other).