osx - Disk Utility not finding disk

08
2014-07
  • dtauzell

    I have an external drive that was dropped. It doesn't mount anymore on my OS X box and Disk Utility doesn't see it. Is this the point where I'd need to bring it somewhere for expensive data recover?

    • Answers
  • R Hughes

    Yep, if the platters were spinning when it was dropped, the heads may have crashed and recovery may be impossible. If the drive was powered down, it's more likely that a wire or solder joint (or circuit board) is broken.

    It could be a cheap five minute fix, or a "throw it out and get a new one". Either way, someone will have to crack the case and take a look.


    • Related Question

    osx - unable to format external drive to HFS+ for Mac
  • dtlussier

    I have an external hard drive (1 TB Western Digital) that is currently formatted as FAT32 and I want to reformat it to a single partition of HFS+ for my Mac. I realize that I can read FAT32 from my Mac but want HFS as it has other feathers like permissions that I'd like to have.

    I have tried using Disk Utility to format the drive as I have done in the past, but when I go through the process it fails and throws out an error stating that it is unable to reformat the drive to HFS.

    Error messages:

    Partition Failed

Partition failed with the error: File system formatter failed.

    What might be the reasons that this could happen? Are there any diagnostics I could run on the physical disk to check if it is running well?


    • Related Answers
  • Nate

    Re-partition the drive using a GUID Parition Table.

    1. Go into the “Partition” tab and choose “1 Partition.”
    2. Click the “Options…” button and choose “GUID Partition Table.”
    3. Set the format to “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” and Apply.