Unable to mount/see USB 2 external hard drive.

[Maritan]

I have a 15" 1.25 GHz PowerBook running OS X 10.4.3.

I want to transfer some information off a friends external USB 2 hard drive onto my PB. It is an HD that was used with another Mac.

I connected it to my computer and on comes the green LED. No drive gets mounted though. With the HD connected, I restarted the computer, but that didn't help. I used both USB ports, but that didn't help either. I checked in Disk Utility, but only my own HD shows up.

Any one have any idea what's going on? Anything that I can do to rectify this problem?

TIA.

Edit: Sorry if this is in the wrong forum. Mods, please move to where it is appropriate.

 

[mad jew]

Do the USB ports on your Mac work with other peripherals? How about the drive, what format is it? Is your PowerBook running from the battery? Are you using other port(s) whilst trying to access this drive?

 

[Maritan]

Yeah, other peripherals work. I've used USB sticks, and connected a camera to the same port.

I'm not sure what format the external HD is. I'll check, but I believe the person that gave it to me was using on his Mac that is also running OS X 10.4.3.

This happens when I'm running the comp both on the battery and off the charger.

And no, I'm not using any other port while I'm trying to access the HD.

 

[Maritan]

Anybody? Somebody? Bueller?