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Totally annoying external hard drive problem

MotionMan

MotionMan

Lifer
I have a 2009 Mac Mini. I have two external hard drives that show up perfectly on that Mini.

I also have a 2007 (or 2007-ish) Mac Mini. The same two drives do not show up at all on that Mini (even in Disk Utility).

Both Minis are running the latest version of Snow Leopard.

I have no idea why they won't show up or what to do to fix it. Help.

MotionMan
 
I reset the PRAM;
Plugged in drive;
No go;
Took drive and cables to other Mini and plugged in;
Worked like a charm.

What am I missing?

MotionMan
 
Are these bus powered drives or do they have external power bricks? Are there any other USB devices connected to the problem Mini and if so, have you tried unplugging them before connecting the HDs?

You might try booting from an install CD and launching Disk Utility from there to see if the drives are recognized on the problem Mini. If they are, you might also want to try safe mode or simply creating a new user account.

-KeithP
 
KeithP said:
Are these bus powered drives or do they have external power bricks?
Click to expand...

Full sized drives with external power bricks.

Are there any other USB devices connected to the problem Mini and if so, have you tried unplugging them before connecting the HDs?
Click to expand...

Only the keyboard and mouse.

You might try booting from an install CD and launching Disk Utility from there to see if the drives are recognized on the problem Mini. If they are, you might also want to try safe mode or simply creating a new user account.

-KeithP
Click to expand...

I will try those, too.

MotionMan
 
This sounds more like an issue with the Mini. OP, have you tried the drives on any of the other systems in the house?

Is the bad Mini running the latest updates? Can you connect the two via firewire and use the good mini in target disk mode (just to test if this is possible, not as a solution).

However, as a possible solution, you could do that, make the bad mini into a target disk for the good mini, connect the USB drives to the good mini and clone the data that way.
 
TheStu said:
This sounds more like an issue with the Mini. OP, have you tried the drives on any of the other systems in the house?
Click to expand...

They work everywhere else.

Is the bad Mini running the latest updates? Can you connect the two via firewire and use the good mini in target disk mode (just to test if this is possible, not as a solution).
Click to expand...

The Mini has the latest Snow Leopard update. I want to clone the drive in preparation for doing a clean install of Lion.

However, as a possible solution, you could do that, make the bad mini into a target disk for the good mini, connect the USB drives to the good mini and clone the data that way.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of something like that or trying to do it over my network. I will have some time over the weekend to play with it some more. If nothing works, I may hit up the Genius Bar.

MotionMan
 
The powered USB hub (2 different ones) did not work. I think the problem is with the USB ports on the Mini.

I may try to pick up a USB/Firewire adapter tomorrow.

MotionMan
 
MotionMan said:
No clue. I am just going to plug the USB cable into the adapter, then plug that into the Firewire port and hope for the best.

MotionMan
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't think that's going to work.

BUT you really don't have many options left. Good Luck! 😛
 
I attached one of the drives to my Time Capsule to get it on the network, then cloned the Mini to the drive using Carbon Copy Cloner. That worked.

Next up, clean install of Lion.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

/thread.

MotionMan
 
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