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Model A1174 with 2 GHz Core Duo or Model A1207 with 2.16 or 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo

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Why won't my iMac see my external hard drive?

I have an iMac 20" 2.16 Core 2 Duo. The machine is operating fine. That's not the issue. I am trying to plug into it a 1TB Maxtor external drive that I used on my G4. The problem is the external does not show up on my iMac. I have tried using disk utility, but it doesn't see the drive. Here's the kicker. When I do System Profiler, it is seeing that the external drive is there. I have tried it through both the Maxtor's firewire and USB connections. In either connection, the System Profiler sees the drive. My question is how do I access to it?

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Will the G4 still see it?

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Do the ports work for other things? Did you re-format the drive when you got it? If so, what did you format it as?

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I appreciate all your suggestions. However, as it turned out, the problem was the external drive was password protected by the G4. I needed to use the same password on the new iMac to get it to recognize the external drive. Once I did that, I had no trouble opening it.

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Open your Finder Preferences, click "Sidebar" and under "Devices" you have to check "External disks" and that should do the trick. I hope this helps.+

Update

... and under the "General" heading, check "External djsks" there, too.

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+ I think you got it, excellent

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Could you have setup FileVault (or other HD encryption software) on your G4 systems HD's? If you have your external might be encrypted which would explain the odd reporting as the low level system tools see it yet the OS doesn't as it can't access it.

Can you setup both systems on a network with the external hanging off of the G4. Then see if you can access the G4 from the iMac over the network. If you can you should be able to copy over the files you need. If you can move everything over you could try reformatting the HD on the G4 (don't setup any partitions) then put the HD on the iMac and finish prepping it there and copy back the files. At that point you should be able to access the HD from either system.

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both the external disk under devices and under the general heading are checked but it still does not show up

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Lawrence will be eternally grateful.
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