Problem with Seagate 4tb external Hard drive

[polaxgr]

Hello guys. I got a seagate 4tb external hard drive that was recognisable read/write by my iMac. At some point ( i have windows 10 installed via bootcamp ), i used it to copy some things from my windows partition to the disk, then some days later i started up my iMac ( in sierra enviroment ) and the external hard drive was not showing up ( in windows partition it shows up , read and write also ). Went back again to sierra, disk utility > First Aid, told me to Cmd+r to repair it from recovery mode, did that nothing happend. What to do ? i dont want to get in trouble to erase my hard drive, there are 2tb in there..lots of times.. Any help?!

 

[Not So New Guy]

You can try to repair your internal drive from recovery mode. Disconnect the external drive before starting the process and reconnect the external after its finished. That might do the trick. Good luck.

 

[polaxgr]

You can try to repair your internal drive from recovery mode. Disconnect the external drive before starting the process and reconnect the external after its finished. That might do the trick. Good luck.

Did what you said it still says I have to repair it in recovery mode while I am in recovery mode

 

[Fishrrman]

If you take the drive to a windows computer, does it "show up"?
Are files retrievable from it?
If that works, DO IT.
If you can get things from it in windows, do it that way, but get what you can off it NOW.

Your predicament is why I advise Mac users to always ALWAYS ALWAYS keep important Mac stuff on "Mac formatted drives" (HFS+ with journaling enabled).

It's just that now and then, I've seen reports from users who were using "cross-formatted" drives (using a PC format with the Mac), and then... did something... and then.... all their Mac data went.... POOF!.

Suggestion:
Again, if you can mount the drive in windows and copy from it, copy as much as possible to ANOTHER drive.
Then, you might try re-initializing the drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled.
Then, using Disk Utility, run "repair disk" on it.
Do you get "a good report"?
If so, REPEAT the repair disk function FIVE TIMES in succession.
Do you get a good report every time?
If so, I'd then re-use the drive.

 

[polaxgr]

If you take the drive to a windows computer, does it "show up"?
Are files retrievable from it?
If that works, DO IT.
If you can get things from it in windows, do it that way, but get what you can off it NOW.

Your predicament is why I advise Mac users to always ALWAYS ALWAYS keep important Mac stuff on "Mac formatted drives" (HFS+ with journaling enabled).

It's just that now and then, I've seen reports from users who were using "cross-formatted" drives (using a PC format with the Mac), and then... did something... and then.... all their Mac data went.... POOF!.

Suggestion:
Again, if you can mount the drive in windows and copy from it, copy as much as possible to ANOTHER drive.
Then, you might try re-initializing the drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled.
Then, using Disk Utility, run "repair disk" on it.
Do you get "a good report"?
If so, REPEAT the repair disk function FIVE TIMES in succession.
Do you get a good report every time?
If so, I'd then re-use the drive.

UPDATE : i connected my 4TB to my macbook, with sierra - paragon - same setup versions etc and i can see my external hard drive as normal. on my iMac it doesnt appear. Only in Disk utility. What do i do ?

 

[polaxgr]

update no.2:

Ok so i ve tried another external hardrive ( a seagate 1.5T ) with both cables doesnt work with iMac. Tried it with macbook and macbook air, and it works. Also my 4Tb with both cables work to both laptops. The 1.5T seagate had no transfer from Windows , so i guess its not the windows-transfer thing i did. Neither the cables. Its my Imac's problem.. Any ideas?

 

[polaxgr]

update: update: my usb stick with usb 3 has same problem as my external hard drives. my usb stick with usb 2 has no problem and it shows as normal....

 

[Tech198]

so you have two partitions on external.. Disk utility won't fix Windows partitions... it will only fix Mac partitions..

Try "Safe Boot" (Hold "Shift" key after u switch on till you see Apple logo) or

- Create another user on Mac and test it with that, if the drive(s) show up, then its an account related problem.. Either copy over and delete account and use the one u just created, or reinstall from scratch..

You could try stuff with Terminal but that could stuff it up more.

It's just that now and then, I've seen reports from users who were using "cross-formatted" drives (using a PC format with the Mac), and then... did something... and then.... all their Mac data went.... POOF!.

Poof is right !!... but that's also the logical way to share stuff cross-platform.. (same drive, two different partitions)

Mac can see read Windows partition (NTFS), but Windows can't see Mac without MacFuse, or other (3rd party software).

For FAT32, u can delete any file from any partition on the drive, which is where the problem lies. But at a cost of being more compatible.

 

[Fishrrman]

Tech wrote:
"but that's also the logical way to share stuff cross-platform.. (same drive, two different partitions)"

The better way:
Use a drive that is cross-formatted and DEDICATED ONLY for the purpose of moving files back-and-forth.
A USB flash drive of sufficient capacity works well for this task.

 

[polaxgr]

so you have two partitions on external.. Disk utility won't fix Windows partitions... it will only fix Mac partitions..

Try "Safe Boot" (Hold "Shift" key after u switch on till you see Apple logo) or

- Create another user on Mac and test it with that, if the drive(s) show up, then its an account related problem.. Either copy over and delete account and use the one u just created, or reinstall from scratch..

You could try stuff with Terminal but that could stuff it up more.



Poof is right !!... but that's also the logical way to share stuff cross-platform.. (same drive, two different partitions)

Mac can see read Windows partition (NTFS), but Windows can't see Mac without MacFuse, or other (3rd party software).

For FAT32, u can delete any file from any partition on the drive, which is where the problem lies. But at a cost of being more compatible.

i dont have any partition on external. i partitioned my 1tb from imac so i could install with bootcamp windows on my imac. USB 3's and external hard drives with usb 3 were working fine until something happend to my imac(?) to macOS(?) i dont know, and now i cant see the usb 3's and external hard drives with usb 3. USB 2's work fine. And also all usbs ( 2 + 3 ) and all external hard drives ( 2 + 3 ) work fine in windows partition which are the same usb port -obviously- as in the macOS.
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Tech wrote:
"but that's also the logical way to share stuff cross-platform.. (same drive, two different partitions)"

The better way:
Use a drive that is cross-formatted and DEDICATED ONLY for the purpose of moving files back-and-forth.
A USB flash drive of sufficient capacity works well for this task.

it doesnt make any sense that i can use all usbs and all external hard drives in windows ( usb 2 and 3 ) but in macOS i can only use the usb/external hard drives with usb 2 only.