Hi Cheryl, This is a long shot, but this sounds like an issue that is described in Apple's Knowledge Base article 75509: Volume or Flash Card Does Not Appear in the Finder
Symptom: MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows-formatted volumes (smaller than 128 GB) do not appear in the Finder. Compact Flash cards in a digital camera or card reader connected to the computer are available to iPhoto and Image capture, but do not appear in the Finder The solution is to remove an invisible file in the /Volumes directory. If you open terminal and type: ls -a /Volumes you will be able to see these hidden files (also called dot files because they are preceded by a period). As an example, if the Compact Flash card is named "Unlabeled" there may be a hidden file named "._Unlabeled" - that is, the name is preceded by a "." (period) and a "_"(underbar) Removing that hidden file is supposed to give you access to the device again. For example, you would type: sudo rm <filename> where in this case <filename> is "._Unlabeled" but you would use whatever the correct filename is for your device. This knowledge base article describes the situation for Mac OS X 10.2 and there are no references to Mac OS X 10.4. However, it does seem to fit your described problem. The Knowledge Base link is: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75509 >From other background reading I've done it appears that this problem occurs when Windows formatted FAT32 devices are being used with Macs, which use HFS+ format Macs store extra information (metadata) in files. Since you can specify that iTunes opens one mp3 file and RealPlayer opens another - something that is impossible in Windows, where all programs with the same extension share the same default application - that extra information has to be stored. The files with the "._" prefix have the resource fork, and the other files have the data fork. This effect is called "Apple Double Format". This is just a guess. There are certain devices that are more likely to have this happen. There's a whole discussion thread on the macintouch reader report pages from a year ago about which brands might be better, but it's a moving target. Hope this helps. Sorry for the long post, but maybe it will point to a solution. Cheers, Esther On Tuesday, January 17, 2006, at 12:59PM, Cheryl Stewart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Hi all,A few months ago I began using a Lacie flash-card reader in >order to transfer files back and forth between my Mac and >Braillelight. At first, the device published fine on the Desktop >allowing me to work with it, but For some reason the reader stopped >publishing. When the reader is plugged in its light is on, but no >one is home. When the flashcard is inserted the lights give a >rhythmic pulsing instead of the random one usually associated with >data being read. I tried my friend's reader (sorry I do not know the >brand name), and after working with it was able to get it to >publish. That too did not last long. Now that is not all... >I called Lacie and spoke with a tech there who thinks the reader has >gone bad but, in my impatience, I purchased another reader made by >Dazzle. Well, suffice it to say I am not dazzled yet, as this reader >does not publish either. > >Things I have already done... >* plugged the device into every USB port available >* plugged in the reader without the card inserted >* plugged in the reader with the card inserted > >* plugged in the reader with and without restarting >* waited patiently each time > >My concern... >* When the Lacie was working and files were transferable the Mac put >some strange stuff on the flashcard which I removed...all except for >the four trashes which I am unable to delete no matter what I try. >My assumption is that those files were a necessity the Mac put there >in order to do the transfer of files, but have nothing to do with the >reader itself as the reader would publish without any card in it at >the beginning of all of this. If the removal of these files has >caused a problem then no matter how many card readers I go through >they will not work. > >Does anyone have any idea what is going on here? >With appreciation, >Cheryl Stewart > > > > >
