Having proper backups of our data is an important part of our workflow. In additon to the redundant file backup in our studio, we carry external hard drives home with us each night to a) protect our data against fire, theft, etc. and b) allows access to our files at home (vpn doesn’t really work all that great for us because of file size). Each night I run Super Duper! to make a cloned backup of my work files.
Last week when I was getting ready to leave for the weekend I unplugged my external drive without hitting eject. I wasn’t in the middle of copying anything to the drive, so I wasn’t too concerned about compromising my data. When I got into the office today, the external drive wouldn’t mount. It worked fine on other workstations, so something must have gotten messed up when I unplugged it last week. Here are some steps I took which allowed me to get up and running again.
1. Swapped out a new cable. I have seen this work in the past, but no luck this time.
2. Reset the PRAM. I restarted the computer, and then hit Command+Option+P+R during restart. Once it chimed, I let go. This didn’t do the trick either, but it often fixes a lot common problems.
3. Factory Reset. I unplugged all cables from the back of the computer including the power cable. Then I held down the power button for at least 20 seconds. Plugged all cables back in and started the computer. Once I logged in, I was greeted with a message asking me if I would like to use my external drive as a Time Machine backup. I simply clicked no and went about my business. This magical factory reset has also worked for us in the past when the internal fans weren’t sounding right.
Hopefully if your having the same problem you will find this post helpful. My advice is if the problem comes up often consider replacing the drive and/or getting your computer checked out by the professionals.