Hi Alan, Just an off-the-wall thought - you aren't running Windows under parallels or fusion are you?
If you are - is the USB drive being "captured" by Windows and so unavailable to OSX (though, if so, I wouldn't have thought Time Machine could see it either - unless it can "override" the Windows allocation). In Parallels, under USB preferences, you can choose from 3 options - so that connecting an USB device: 1) Connects it to the Mac 2) Connects it to the active VM 3) Asks which to connect to. So selecting option 2) would result in the device being "captured" by a running VM if it was connected whilst the VM was running. Just a thought. Cheers Neil -- Neil R. Houghton Albany, Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 Email: n...@possumology.com on 26/2/10 11:35 AM, Alan Smith at sma...@iinet.net.au wrote: > > Hi Ronni > > Thanks for your interest in my mysterious OS X SL problem. Perhaps you can > point me in the right direction, else I will open a new thread. (Its taking > a long time to peruse the WAMUG archives!) > > External USB HDD (2 partitions) is not showing on Desktop, in Finder, Disk > Utility or System Profiler. BUT Time Machine hourly backup seems to trigger > a temporary respite when all four Mac sources display the USB HDD data. I > then get a system error message (red caution) to the effect that "the disk > was not ejected properly -- and next time connected will attempt repair". > This first displayed just after installing the Apple updates yesterday. A > trigger for the error message may be when the iMac wakes from Sleep mode. > I haven't got a clear pattern of observed events. > > The iMac was cleanly powered off, external devices unplugged etc, but then > Time Machine kicks in as another variable and changes things. This email > sent from a PC, not the Mac, so I can test and observe its behaviour. Next > time the HDD shows up on Desktop I'll try ejecting them cleanly and then > begin the cycle of powering up again. > > Cheers, Alan > > > On 26/02/2010, at 8:54 AM, Alan Smith wrote: > >> I'm in the middle of searching WAMUG archives for help to >> restore my USB hard drive (Time Machine and iTunes). It disappeared > after >> I installed the last batch of updates (iTunes, digital cameras, keyboard > and >> Apple mobile devices) with a mandatory restart. > > Hi Alan, > > Do you mean the External USB Hard Drive is not showing in Finder, on your > Desktop. > Is it showing in Disk Utility or System Profiler? > > Have you tried disconnecting the USB Drive from the USB Port, restarting > your Mac, and then connecting the USB Drive again. > > Cheers, > Ronni > > 17" MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo > 2.4 GHz / 4GB / 800MHz / 500GB > OS X 10.6.2 Snow Leopard > Windows 7 Ultimate (under sufferance) > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>