Mac mini cannot see my Seagate external drive?

[geordiejohn50]

hello i have got a mac mini 10.13.4 with high sierra and when i connect my 2tb seagate external hard drive it is not recognised,i had the same problem the i went to sierra and seagate got me to download something but i have forgotten what to downloads have just spoken to seagate again but he kept getting me to check the external drive which i know is ok, does anyone know what to do please?
thank you.

 

[honestone]

This link might be of assistance:

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/007813en?language=en-us

Since you did not state the exact Seagate model you have, I don't know which one it is on that list. But that so-called Paragon Driver looks promising.

This additional link might be of assistance:

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/003581en

 

[geordiejohn50]

Thank you my model is Expansion Desk Top Drive SRD00F2 and i tried Paragon but still could not see the seagate.

 

[honestone]

Sorry you could not find anything on Seagate's site. Actually, for the Expansion Drive, according to that first link that I provided, there is no software available.

Did you try to connect the drive to another USB port on the Mac Mini? Also, no matter where you connect it, can Disk Utility "see" the drive at all?

Also, in doing some searching about your drive model and High Sierra, saw this link:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8170082

That actually indicates that the drive would need to be erased and formatted before it can be recognized. But I suspect you have a lot of important stuff on your drive, and thus Erasing it is out of the question.

Sorry about so many links, but here is another one:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8170082

Note one of them, where the user states:

"Actually, the screenshot you sent is exactly the one if you have not activated Show All Devices, but only the Show Only Volumes option in the View Dropdown (there are subtle differences. For example, you wouldn't see Macintosh HD, but the drive denomination, and not the used quantity , but the smart status, etc). So, as I see it, Eau Rouge was the right path form start on.
Has High Sierra introduced as default the view volumes only option? what for, to protect a user form himself who has found its way to disk utility?"

This link shows how to set the "Select (All) Devices":

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1...DbAhVQ72MKHTSQAVQQ1QIItgEoAA&biw=1280&bih=792

Hopefully those links will help.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

seagate got me to download something but i have forgotten what to download.

It likely would have been the Seagate Ext Drive Diagnostic Tool:

Seagate Dashboard For Mac OS

Look in the Downloads section on the left side of the window ... clicking the link will automatically download the installer.dmg to your Mac.

 

[honestone]

It likely would have been the Seagate Ext Drive Diagnostic Tool:

Seagate Dashboard For Mac OS

Look in the Downloads section on the left side of the window ... clicking the link will automatically download the installer.dmg to your Mac.

Hopefully that will do the trick!

Let us know if this works.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

In additional to their suggestions/comments:
-Which model Mac mini?
-I assume you are always using the power cable - does the drive spin up normally?
-Is the Seagate making any noises like clicking/clunking?
-Do you have another computer you can try to connect it to?

Normally, the Seagate software is only used for setup and/or specific Seagate diagnostics/tools. It shouldn't be required to operate the drive with you Mac.

C

 

[geordiejohn50]

I was on the phone for 3 hours to Apple and they said it is a Seagate problem, after about 8 emails from Seagate all they say is format the drive but i have got a lot of games stored, so i will keep on asking Seagate for a fix.
Thank you.

 

[honestone]

How much space is the drive using now? Also, do you have a friend that has an empty drive that you could copy your stuff to, Erase and Format your drive, then copy the stuff back?

One other question that one of us should have asked already: when you got the drive, did you start to use it "as is", ie, without Erasing and Formatting it? Many drives come pre-formatted for Windows PCs, and thus typically need to be Erased and Formatted for use with a Mac.

 

[geordiejohn]

Sorry I am not sure how much space is left and I do not know anyone with a Mac and I did format it for use on a Mac.
Seagate are now saying get onto Apple to sort out as it's there problem and Apple are saying it's Seagates problem?
Thank you.

 

[geordiejohn50]

thank you to everyone but i have got no where as Seagate logged in remotely and said they could not see my drive, even though i had explained that to them, in the end he said its an Apple problem and Apple said it is a Seagate problem's i will wait until i think it is September when the new Apple OS comes out and see if it works for my Seagate.

 

[honestone]

So, Seagate was trying to "go through" your Mac Mini to "see" the drive, correct? Any possibility you have a friend with a Windows PC that you can connect the drive to?

Also, Cory asked the following above:

-Which model Mac mini?
-I assume you are always using the power cable - does the drive spin up normally?
-Is the Seagate making any noises like clicking/clunking?
-Do you have another computer you can try to connect it to?

Such information could be useful.

 

[geordiejohn50]

So, Seagate was trying to "go through" your Mac Mini to "see" the drive, correct? Any possibility you have a friend with a Windows PC that you can connect the drive to?

Also, Cory asked the following above:

-Which model Mac mini?
-I assume you are always using the power cable - does the drive spin up normally?
-Is the Seagate making any noises like clicking/clunking?
-Do you have another computer you can try to connect it to?

Such information could be useful.

Mac mini late 2014 with high sierra 10.13.4
drive spins up normally
no clicking/clunking
it works fine on my laptop running mankato linux

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Do you have a different user account on your Mac Mini that you can log into to see if the drive shows up in Finder? I know it's a long shot but hey ...

Has your Mac Mini ever recognised & showed the drive in Finder?
Does the drive appear under Devices in the left column of a Finder window?
Does the drive show up in the left column in Disc Utility?
If you use the following command in Terminal does the connected drive show in the list?

diskutil list

 

[Cory Cooper]

Thanks for the additional information.

Follow-up question: Have you tried an SMC and NVRAM reset on the Mac mini?

C

 

[honestone]

Also, have you tried connecting the Seagate drive to another USB port on the Mac Mini? Probably a long shot, but doesn't hurt to try.

 

[geordiejohn]

I spent 3 hours on the phone to Apple and they had me try everything and in the end they said it was a Seagate problem.
Seagate sent me about 20 emails to try things and even logged in remotely and then said it was an Apple problem,I have tried under a different user and terminal command can't see it,it was working with Sierra and it stopped working when I upgraded to High Sierra,I saw somewhere on the net that Apple had changed there file system in High Sierra to APFS and I think that's why it cannot see my expansion drive.
Thank you.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello again,

We never asked, but is this drive formatted for NTFS (Windows) and not Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for Mac? If so, that may be part of the issue.

I doubt you are having issues due to the new AFPS format for macOS High Sierra. It is designed and optimized for SSD and all-flash storage, and not standard HDD drives.

C

 

[geordiejohn50]

when i got the drive i formatted it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and all ok on Sierra even though someone i think Seagate sent me a download so it could see my driver asked Seagate for a fix to be sent this time but they say there is no fix or download which will help.