imac does not recognise external HDD

[barr09]

Hope someone can help.I got my new imac running leopard few months ago. I was using my WD 500GB external HDD as my backup disk for time machine etc and was working great till a few days ago. Now,when I connect(with firewire 800)- it does seem to start up but does not appear on the desk top.This happens with the USB connection as well.I first noticed the problem when time machine icon(clock) just kept rotating as if backing up,but it just kept going. this happened several times,so I restarted the imac,plugged/unplugged the WD without any joy. Now it does not even recognise it or appear on the desktop. I have checked all connections etc and all seem ok. I connected the WD to my ibook running 'panther-10.3' and it recognises it(via usb),so I presume the WD is working. The imac recognises another external HDD and appears on the desktop. Not sure what to do next,not really keen on trying a complete new reinstall just yet,and that may not even solve my problem. Otherwise the imac seems to be working all right without the WD connected to it.


PS-not sure if updating to 10.5.8 has anything to do with it,but the problem seems to have started may be 2-3 days after updating
grateful for any advice
thanks

 

[quantum003]

I have heard of those types of issues with Western Digital external HDD's. Try opening up Disk Utility and seeing if the external appears there. If you have Disk Warrior you can also have a look at some external drives that are attached but aren't mounting on the desktop for whatever reason.

 

[barr09]

many thanks
the drive was detected in disk utility. I repaired it using 'repair' in the disk utility and it ultimately mounted on the desktop. I had gone through the same process previously but that did not seem to help,in fact the drive was not detected at the time on one occasion.
I am just curious and concerned re its lack of mounting on the desktop without any warnings or reason. Any ideas
thanks again