Old HDD Not Recognized by Early '11 MBP

[Chocolatemilty]

So, I recently upgraded my Early '11 MBP to an SSD and optibay drive, and wanted to wipe my old hard drive to use as a networked drive for media on our Time Capsule. Well, I cannot get Disk Utility to recognize the drive using this USB SATA Cable (http://www.amazon.com/Cinolink®USB-...1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage). It plugs in and the drive starts spinning, so it's receiving power (there's two LEDs that say Power and Access, and both are illuminated). Did I purchase the wrong cable, or is something up with Disk Utility?

Thanks, all!

 

[treekram]

The Amazon page is a bit confusing - in the color options and the comments they refer to a USB to IDE product, which is not what is being sold or what you have.

In any case, there was one comment from somebody who couldn't get 3 out of 5 drives to work but the drives worked in another docking station. So, if you have a different docking station/enclosure, try it there. If you want to go through the trouble you can try putting the HDD back in the computer. You can also try (if you haven't already) plugging in the second power cable. Make sure your USB port is working properly by trying another device with the port. Generally, these things are straightforward. If the drive doesn't appear at all in Disk Utility, it's either the drive, your USB port or the enclosure (or whatever this device would be called). There shouldn't be any complicated options to make it appear to the system. (Once it appears in Disk Utility and if it doesn't mount, that can be more complicated.) There has been a lot of complaints/problems with the El Capitan version of Disk Utility but working drives in working enclosures not appearing in Disk Utility is not one I've heard of.

 

[Chocolatemilty]

The Amazon page is a bit confusing - in the color options and the comments they refer to a USB to IDE product, which is not what is being sold or what you have.

In any case, there was one comment from somebody who couldn't get 3 out of 5 drives to work but the drives worked in another docking station. So, if you have a different docking station/enclosure, try it there. If you want to go through the trouble you can try putting the HDD back in the computer. You can also try (if you haven't already) plugging in the second power cable. Generally, these things are straightforward. If the drive doesn't appear at all in Disk Utility, it's either the drive, your USB port or the enclosure (or whatever this device would be called). There shouldn't be any complicated options to make it appear to the system. (Once it appears in Disk Utility and if it doesn't mount, that can be more complicated.) There has been a lot of complaints/problems with the El Capitan version of Disk Utility but working drives in working enclosures not appearing in Disk Utility is not one I've heard of.

Now that you mentioned it, I do recall the drive showing up in Disk Utility when I first tried to connect it and now it is not. It's possible it is the drive itself, as I also recall S.M.A.R.T. saying the drive was failing, but I thought after moving to an SSD and wiping and repairing the drive it could work as a secondary media drive. Perhaps it truly has bit the dust. Other usb drives and sticks work as always in Disk Utility (my 1TB External for Time Machine, 640GB old reliable external, et al), so it's possible it is the drive.

Thanks for that, I'm going ahead and getting a refund for the cable and enclosure since I don't have much of a use for this any longer. Most likely will go ahead and get a Time Capsule for backups, an extra external for second backup, use my 1TB as a travel hard drive and tertiary backup as necessary, and my 640GB external as the media drive connected to the Time Capsule.

One of the main things I'm looking to do is move my iTunes library to essentially a NAS so I don't have to have my MBP on to run Plex/Home Sharing. I'm just wary of beginning it until I can secure another backup solution.

 

[treekram]

There was a story about Amazon who closed the account of a person because his returns were high. The last time I tried a "not needed" return (for an HDMI cable), I would have had to pay the postage. I was going to use the cable with a HDMI switch that wouldn't work properly. The cable worked, but I didn't need it since I was returning the switch. I ended up using the "not working properly" option. Considering the price of what you have and the possible uses you could have in the future, if it works you might consider keeping the item.