Seagate External Hard Drive 4tb Not Working

[Arabella Kochanski]

Irecently bought a Seagate for Mac 1 TB external hard drive. When I connect to my MacBook through the FireWire, it works fine, but I also have media on my Dell laptop which is running Windows Vista. When I connect the hard drive to that laptop using the USB cable, Windows doesn't recognize it. What am I doing wrong?

I'm not affiliated with Paragon. I just bought a Seagate drive to use on a Mac I just acquired though I've always had Windows machines. I've given them both a quick test and they seem to work well, but I haven't put them to extensive use this far.

If it is Mac OS Extended or a something similar then your disk is using the HFS+ file system, which is the default for OS X. This file system type is not natively supported by Windows, which is why the disk will not mount when you plug it into your laptop.

Reformat the disk to FAT32, which (as suggested by Michael Sturm) is the lowest common denominator in file systems between OS X and Windows. In addition to limitation to file sizes Create a FAT32 partition on the disk along side the existing HFS+ partition. This could be used to move data between the Mac and the Windows machine, but would suffer from all the same FAT32 issues mentioned above.

Look at additional software which will allow for either NTFS or HFS+ to be read on OS X and Windows respectively. On the Mac, this can be accomplished using add-ons related to the MacFuse project. You should choose the filesystem that you plan on using most frequently so that it is as fast as possible and then reformat the disk accordingly. Using additional software like this will probably create a performance hit, but how noticeable it is depends on your usage pattern.

Depends on the filesystem type and partitioning scheme whether it'll work on both. If the hard drive were formatted for HFS it would not show up on the Windows Computer. If the Partition Scheme were Apple Partition Map, it would also not show up.

I've been using an external hard drive for my photography, and it's been working fine for the last 3 weeks, connecting reading/writing, everything the way a drive should work. Well, yesterday, it stopped connecting. I plug it into a windows computer and it shows up there, so it's not damaged. I haven't reformatted this drive in any way, it is still registered as exFAT so I can use it on both windows and Mac. But, it will not show up on my Mac. I have tried different cables, different USB-C hubs, USB-C to USB- A adapters, but as I said it is being recognized on a windows computer, so the cables are fine.

If you need to use an adapter with the drive to connect to your Mac, then are you also using this adapter on the Windows system? Even if you are, you may need to try another adapter and even a different cable.

Did you receive this drive new and was it already formatted as exFAT? It is usually best to use Disk Utility on macOS to erase the whole physical external drive as GUID partition and exFAT in order to minimize problems. Windows systems may format exFAT with file allocation sizes which are not compatible with macOS. Personally I always erase every brand new drive even if it ships from the factory with a file system I will end up using anyway because you never know what may be hidden on the drive or whether the factory file system is good.

If so, then try booting into Safe Mode to see whether macOS will see the drive. If Safe Mode works, then it most likely means you have some third party software installed which is interfering with the normal operation of macOS. Usual culprits are anti-virus apps, cleaning/optimizer apps, and third party security software....none of which are needed on a Mac.

if you run the first aid it will only checks if there are any errors bugs on your external hard drive it will not erase your data . have you figured out the problem by now? I have similar problem as you my external hard drive was mounting ok afew days ago , it doestnt work any more on ventura 13.3.1 . I have tried mounting it on other Mac lapotps external hard drive works fine

"Seagate External Hard drive not being recognized anymore, not sure what to try next.: what worked for me at the end was I went to setting>>login item >>allow in the background >>disabled most of the softwares . Then rebooted my laptop and the external hard drive finally showed again

I have formated the hard drive as NTFS. I can see my movies files on the hard drive with my computer. I have also reset the WD media player. The WD live stream media player will not Recognised my drive. I might have to buy a WD drive so it is compabile with the media player. I have the 1tb seagate external drive and it works perfectly with the media player.

The fact that you formatted a drive (that came out of the box formatted and ready to use) makes me wonder why you did this and if you did the steps correctly. Also, you need to connect the drive to a PC and have Windows scan it for errors as previously mentioned.

I am having the same issue but with a 4tb Seagate Backup Plus. Brand new drive formated with NTFS, only has movie files on it. Brand new WD TV Live HD Streaming Media Player 1080P WDBHG70000NBK with Wifi, and updated to latest firmware.

You should look for certain signs of hard drive failure that tell you your device is in trouble. You might notice signs of physical failure, like overheating or strange noises, or signs of logical failure, like frequent error messages or corrupted files.

Before you begin any data recovery process, make sure that your Seagate external hard drive is properly connected to your computer. Check the cable connections to ensure that the data and power cables are securely plugged in and check that your USB cable is working. You might also want to try a different cable.

Depending on your hard drive, the cable interface you use may vary. For example, the Seagate portable drive uses a USB 2.0 cable, while the Seagate sSATA drive uses an eSATA cable. Be sure that the USB cable type you use for your device is the one it uses.

To find out if the issue is with your current computer or your USB ports, try connecting your drive to a different computer. In addition to a different computer, you may want to try a different operating system (Windows or Mac) because the hard drive may be formatted for one or the other.

Drive Letter: If the drive letter is missing from your drive, check to see if other drives have a letter. If other drives have a letter but your external drive is missing one, right-click on it and select the option to change drive letter or path. Note that if you do this incorrectly, it could lead to data loss.

The external HDD does not seem to ever want to spin down, which has me worried about its thermals and longevity. In addition, it will not let me run S.M.A.R.T. on it, resulting in error each time I try.

Edit: I searched through this forum but could not find a thread that would answer my problem. A few came close, but the methods they used did not work for me - and the most promising thread is no longer contributed to.

Don't be worried about the thermals or longevity, they are put in those cases and meant to run for many years. It's fine.

Spin down if you want, but you aren't extending the life of the drive.

Next, usually USB obscures the SMART system. Generally SMART via USB does not work.

Thanks for the encouragement. You could be saving me a ton of time here

Other than thermals, I just want the drive to stay quiet when not in use, as I have the OMV hardware set in an otherwise quiet room

I first searched for Seagate Drive Utility which led me to

I got SeaTools installed but those only offer diagnostics. The software saw the drive, I run a quick test just for the sake of it, all seems OK.

It is bloated AF (150MB) but provides the right setting. As johnvick suggested, my drive was to go to power saving mode NEVER. Switched it to 1 hour. Will reconnect to OMV... and check in an hour

Yea I got the same app. Didn't work for me, unfortunately. I meant to ask: How did you get your Windows 10 version number? where did it give you the v.2.1.902 - as my windows reports versions in "1909" format!

BEHOLD THOUGH: PROBLEM 1 SOLVED!

Using Seagate Dashboard I managed to connect the drive to my Windows computer and change its spindown settings. It now goes to sleep after 60minutes!

I know it's been a while but I'm with the same problem: same device and HDD and I would like to make it a little less noisy. I can hear a buzz which I don't know if it's the internal HDD or the power supply itself so I want to to try this sleep mode.

I have a 1tb Seagate external hard drive that I have had for a little while and it used to work fine, but my laptop is now not recognizing it when I plug it in. It has a usb and it has its own plug for power. I have not used it in a little while and wanted to transfer some files over (pictures, movies etc) and now my laptop is not recognizing it. I am not a laptop/ computer whiz so any help would be much appreciated.

Your problem is about not recognizing hard drive but i can't understand the exact problem. Could you please provide me the screenshot of your issue? After that i will understand what the problem exact is. For knowing how to take screenshot goto -to-take-screenshot-on-windows-8/

3a8082e126