Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

I would contact Apple if you have new iMac.
Some suggestions. Turn your computer on and off a few times. See if you get a mount.
I recently had issue with my 6 year old iMac that had been so reliable. Couldnt get it to start
got grey screens etc etc. When on line and until one concept was the power source. So I moved
my plugs around and isolated the computer power. And purchased a new power cord on Amazon.
After a few tries the iMac came back.
Another issue is the operating software on the WD drive. They sell them mostly with PC software
installed. I just bought one to send client his original videos. I had to use disk utility to install
the Mac software on the WD Drive. You erase the drives PC software and install as Mac.
it works fine. I realize this is not where you are at. Lastly I have multiple drives for backup
of my files. Good luck.
Last thought do you have another Mac or friend with Mac try another machine.

quigsby

Thanks everyone for all you help. Ive tried most everything suggested, won't mount, won't repair, so its off to the geek squad.

AJFRED Loc: Alabama

I agree with Trix. This just happened to me yesterday. The problem was that the drive’s power module or else its connector, had failed. Luckily I have an identical power module, and was back in business. My plan now is to have a second external HD to guard against a future catastrophe.
There are any number of competent companies out there who can retrieve most or all of your files from even damaged hard drives. Good luck!

anotherview Loc: California

Best practice: "My plan now is to have a second external HD to guard against a future catastrophe."

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I went through this last week. I hope Geek Squad can help find a solution to get your pictures back.

Some other resources: Apple Store Genius Bar, Apple support by phone, Apple message boards, Western Digital support.

No backup? Please get yourself an extra external drive, in addition to the one you keep your photos on, and back up the contents of your external. I had never had to use Time Machine until last week but learned its value very quickly. But my external with the photos died, as yours did (possibly with more drama, the computer crashing repeatedly every time I connected it and it attempted to mount). With a few clicks and a wait of a few hours, the entire 4TB external copied over perfectly to a new external, I pointed Lightroom to the new drive and all was as before.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've had just the opposite kind of luck, so I suppose it's a coin toss.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Always check the cable first.

applepie1951 Loc: Los Angeles,California

I had the same issue with the same drive(Western Digital 4TB), this discussion took place some months ago and I said then that those Western Digital drives are no good, $89 bucks for a 4TB Drive, BS...I would never use a Western Digital even if someone gave it to me for free, oh! and one other thing...When you eject your drive make sure the light is off before you unplug it, the safe is way I do now and this may sound stupid is I shut down my Computer completely and also make sure the light is off and then and only then I will unplug the drive, better safe then sorry my files and images are to important to me so I do take no chances anymore with no external drive by any manufacturer. With that said this is what I did and I recovered my file and images and the drive was back to the way it was before the problem, I garentee this. I used Data Rescue 3 software, with the drive plugged in open data rescue 3... click on recovery and you will see the drive even though it’s not mounted, start the recovery and the software will start reading the drive and recovering the files it will seem like it’s gonna take forever but after a few hours, yes a few hours, just leave it alone and let it work, and as I said after a few hours the drive will mount on your desk top at that time stop the recovery process and it will ask do you want to stop early and click yes, it will still continue but eventually it will stop and your drive will be on the desktop and all your files will be there, but what I then did was transferred everything to a new LaCie rugged 2TB external hard drive, made sure all my files and images we’re there then formatted the Western Digital drive and threw it in the trash, end of story, 💯% works, good luck

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks for that.

https://www.prosofteng.com/data-recovery-software/

catchlight.. Loc: Wisconsin USA- Halden Norway

If you feel it vibrate and it has a gyroscopic feel is is most likely OK. The issue could be two drives with the same identifying letters don't allow one to be recognised. Just rename the drive and see how that works.

twillsol Loc: St. Louis, MO

Any computer store should be able to help you. And this is why I back-up to three external drives.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

I would never ever (Mac or PC) use a USB attached hard drive as primary storage.
I would never ever not have 2 or more copies of my files.
The entries from UHH users are uncountable (because so many) about the subject of backups and the need for at least 2 copies of them.
In fact I would suggest that every reader, for the next 2 months, stop ignoring entries that they "think" they are not interested in or that plain just don't interest them because it will never happen to them and actually read the entries. We will have much less items like this one.
I will even go so far as to say that every UHHer (I 'might' excuse any that have only joined in the last week) who doesn't have at least 2 copies of backups AND who doesn't update both (or more) copies at the least every few weeks are probably incapable of learning anything. Harsh but very true.

Feiertag Loc: British Columbia, Canada

I had the same problem and started a thread on the subject. I took it to Staples and Greek Squad and was informed that it would be sent to an independent company because it was out of their league. I was also advised that it could cost me anywhere from $300.00 to $1500.00 to have it fixed. I declined at this time.

Lesson learned about the size of external drive to buy. Keep it to one or two terabytes. This will cut your loses to half or a quarter, if and when the same thing happens in the future.

jtwind

Have had similar issues, in one case I never could get it to remount, though it turned out there was nothing wrong with the drive, I erased it and am using it now, good to have backups of the backups! The other a small SSD sandisk 2TB drive and if left alone it will eventually just remount itself! One moment it's not there after goofing it up and the next minute it is!

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

Had the same problem 10 years ago. I have been preaching have 2 back-ups ever since. I now have 2 on different computers. A pain with putting up with.