Cannot detect HDD in enclosure

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lilslimshady_69

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Jan 3, 2018
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Hello, I am using a WD Caviar Green 1.5 TB (WD15EARS) with an ORICO USB 3.0 SATA Harddrive Enclosure, and when plugged in to either Mac or PC (tried both) the drive spins and the indicator light comes on, but the drive does not appear in either operating system. The drive is not new, and already has data on it. The drive works with a SATA to USB2.0 connector, so the drive is healthy and does work.

Why is it not being detected? I just wanted to get a USB 3.0 enclosure so that I didn't have to deal with the slow USB 2.0 connector anymore.
 
Solution
marksavio
okay. your issue now is that windows cannot read the MAC file system. so what we need to do is make it readable for both MAC and the PC. the drive have to be formatted to either FAT32/exFAT. the latter allows for larger file sizes.

there is a way to do this in just your windows but im gonna make it easier for you. just follow the steps you see in the link below.
download the tool here
https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

skip all the way to the part where it says You Can Convert NTFS to exFAT in 3 Steps and you wont lose any data
https://www.minitool.com/partition-disk/format-external-disk-for-mac-and-pc.html"

im not sure if it works on the free edition. let me know if it doesnt allow you to. and ill give...
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marksavio

marksavio

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Dec 23, 2017
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did it come along with a power adapter? usually the SATA to USB3.0 adapters/enclosures are self-powered.
also try opening your Disk Management (press winkey+s. type disk management.). check if it sees it there.
 
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lilslimshady_69

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Jan 3, 2018
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It has a power adapter (forgot to mention this is a 3.5" drive). I checked in disk management. It in fact does appear there (except its in Mac OS format, so I can't access it). It says "you must initialize a disk before logical disk manager can access it. --> gives options of MBR or GPT.
 
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marksavio

marksavio

Estimable
Dec 23, 2017
1,679
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2,960
okay. your issue now is that windows cannot read the MAC file system. so what we need to do is make it readable for both MAC and the PC. the drive have to be formatted to either FAT32/exFAT. the latter allows for larger file sizes.

there is a way to do this in just your windows but im gonna make it easier for you. just follow the steps you see in the link below.
download the tool here
https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

skip all the way to the part where it says You Can Convert NTFS to exFAT in 3 Steps and you wont lose any data
https://www.minitool.com/partition-disk/format-external-disk-for-mac-and-pc.html"

im not sure if it works on the free edition. let me know if it doesnt allow you to. and ill give you a alternative solution. make sure you read the site carefully. we dont want you to lose any data.

alternatively you can use EaseUS
https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-software/change-file-system-to-ntfs-fat32-ext2-ext3.html
 
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Solution
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lilslimshady_69

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Jan 3, 2018
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The thing is, I only intend on using this on the mac, so it should be okay in the format it is in (Mac OSX Extended). I'm just confused about why it does not appear on mac in disk utility, and is not recognized at all. When I remove it and put it in the USB 2.0 enclosure, it appears instantly. So the drive is in mac format and not recognized by mac, but only in the USB 3.0 enclosure. I should note that this is not the enclosure's fault either, I have already had it swapped for a new 3.0 enclosure at the store, because I initially thought it was defective.
 
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marksavio

marksavio

Estimable
Dec 23, 2017
1,679
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have you set your mac to show mounted drives. finder. preferences. general. and check external drives. did you check with windows what file format your drive is in? but since youve used this hdd previously with your mac. then it should be in a readable format tho..
 
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lilslimshady_69

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Jan 3, 2018
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I have selected to show mounted drives in finder preferences (tested with 2 other externals, they both show when plugged in). The drive is in Mac OSX Extended (Journaled) format. I just can't think of a reason why this wouldn't work. The drive is SATA II and the enclosure is SATA III, is that a possible issue? (Although i did believe they were compatible)
 
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lilslimshady_69

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Jan 3, 2018
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Okay one more thing. This drive was removed from a WD MyBook. Is it possible that WD encrypted this somehow and that is preventing it from being used in this 3.0 enclosure? Im just trying to think of additional things that could have went wrong.
 
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lilslimshady_69

Prominent
Jan 3, 2018
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So I ended up SOLVING this! Luckily I had a backup of the data, because I lost it all.

1. First, I restarted my mac. Once restarted, the drive appeared but...
2. It said that drive was not initialized and could not be read. I clicked initialize.
3. It said device failed to initialize. It brought me to DiskUtility.
4. I reformatted the drive. It works now!

Very strange. In my 15 years owning Macs, I have never seen a "drive not initialized" message before, but I suppose this is how you fix it. I know this may not be a solution that is feasible for everyone because it involves losing the data, and I was lucky to have a backup.
 
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marksavio

marksavio

Estimable
Dec 23, 2017
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2,960
idk man. but setting it the HSF+J format usually causes alot of these issues. dont know if the WD drive uses a different file structure. :/
i usually just keep it to exFAT for all my external drives with mac.
im glad you didnt lose any data considering. and it worked out for you.
 
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