Disc utility

[sapper]

I have two external hard drives connected to my iMac. One is not recognised by the iMac. I thought to run disk utility, but all I get when I open it, is the spinning beach ball, 'loading disks'. Anyone got ideas what the problem may be? Running OS X El Capitan 10.11.3

 

[mrplow]

I would suggest one of the disks (or the controller in the enclosure) is damaged.

Start by not having either connected and launch Disk Utility.

Providing that loads ok, connect the first disk.

Providing that works connect the second one.

Report back with any failures

 

[gsahli]

Try this -
on the one that isn't recognized, unplug USB, wait 10 secs, and then plug it back in. Does it show up?

 

[Slydude]

The spinning beachball is likely due to Disk Utility having trouble reading the drive that is having problems. As has been suggested try launching Disk Utility without that drive connected then connecting the problem drive after Disk Utility has finished launching.

Also, how long are you waiting for Disk Utility to recover from the beachball? I've sometimes had to wait several minutes.

 

[sapper]

Thanks guys, for some reason the disk is showing and working OK now, don't ask how, but it is.

 

[mrplow]

I'll stick with what I said about the controller on the enclosure. I'd be wary of putting anything critical on that disk as-is.