Mac doesn't see WD external drive

[GMT]

I was away from my computer for a while yesterday and found the screen saver frozen when I returned. Had to force shutdown with the power button. Now the WD external drive (750M) won't mount. For a while, Disk Utility could "see" it, now DU "gearspins": "Gathering disk information". Other utilities don't see it either. System Profiler sees it to an extent: manufacturer, model #, various other specs. So it's probably not the cable. But ultimately, it won't mount. I need to access the data; not immediately, but I must resolve this.

Maybe it's the drive's internal interface? Can I remove the drive itself and put it into another external case? I'm thinking OWC/macsales if that is my best approach. Suggestions?

[Jim]

Your drive may be OK, just your power supply or controller chip bad. By all means go to OWC and get another enclosure, or I believe a company called Weibtech, or something similar, has a USB device that'll let you attach a raw drive.

Best of luck. Keep a clone from now on. I buy my drives in pairs now, so I can use SuperDuper to keep a working copy at all times.

[GMT]

Thanks for your reply. Lesson learned. I'll get a box for this one, a new drive as backup x2, and another for client files.

This brings to mind something I once read:"There are two types of computer users: Those who have lost data, and those who will lose data."

It's unwise to work without proper safety equipment.

[dosuna11]

I know this gonna sound crazy but it saved the drive. The same thing happened to me. Here is how I solved it. I took the drive cover off. You will see there are blue diodes. I took the drive to another outlet and plugged it in and noticed the blue diodes flashed. I immediately plugged it back in to the Furman re-hooked the firewire cable and as I started the computer the blue light came on and the drive mounted. I now had access to the data. I am not sure what is going on but the drive continues to work as long as I eject it before I shut down. It mounts whether I keep it plugged into the Furman or not. I have repeated this several times as a solution. It is now a back-up of a back-up. Hope this works for you to get your data back.