Can't open file from Lacie F-A Porsche 120G external storage

SOURCE: LaCie Design by F. A. Porsche 160 GB not showing on MacBook Pro

The first thing that I would do is try connecting the drive to different USB Ports. If that does not work see if there is any software that came with the drive or that you can download from the internet that you might need to get the drive working. Next I would connect it to a different computer to see if it works that way. If it works when connected to a different computer I would at least get the files on to that computer and transfer them to the computer that you need them on using a network connection, a CD/DVD, or a USB thumb drive.

Dean Joly

• 788 Answers
• Posted on Jan 23, 2008

SOURCE: Lacie 120GB dropped

If you open it up you will see that the drive is a regular computer drive. You should be able to plug it into a computer as a secondary drive and try to get the data off. But if it's clicking and making noises there may be no hope. Sorry!

SOURCE: LaCie F. A. Porsche Hard Drive

Try this...

use a long bladed kitchen knife to get carefully spread apart the sides from the bottom plate. there are 4 small tabs along each side of the case going int 4 slots on the bottom plate. The long sharp blade inserts easily between the side and bottom plate.
Carefully pry the side away from the bottom plate starting from the front working towards the back. You gently twist the blade to get the tabs out of the slots. the first one is the hardest. After that they pop out easy.
to remove the hard drive mechanism, once you have the bottom plate off, remove the four silver screws--two along each side--then use the knife to separate the sides of the hard drive from the case, so that the front of the drive is angled up (you'll also have to pull the activity LED loose from its hotmelt glue), then slide the drive out of its metal mounting bracket--you won't be able to pull the drive out along with this bracket.

SOURCE: My Mac suddenly cannot find my Lacie external

A continuous flashing light on a Lacie drive is a notification of a problem. I do wonder if the light is flashing the same if the drive is plugged in to the Mac or unplugged.

Lacie external drives tend to have power-supplies which become weak/bad. Most users replace the supply and it will work again for awhile until the supply dies again. Try bringing the drive to a retail dealer with Lacie drives -ask them if you can just test your drive with another power-supply (if you do not have another). You can also try calling Lacie, it's always slightly possible they will be aware of this problem.

Alternately, IF the light is only flashing when the drive is plugged-in to the computer, try using a different USB or Firewire cable.

SOURCE: Lacie extern. hard drive is recognized, but I can't access files

Try connecting the Lacie to another computer, if it doesn't work then the hard disk may need to be formatted using Disk Manager. I suggest you format as a primary partition in FAT32.
If it doesn't work then it is possible that the hard drive in the Lacie has failed.
To test the hard drive, remove it and connect it to an USB hard drive adapter and connect it to a working computer's USB port. If it deosn't detect it as an external drive and you connot open folders and files then it is faulty.
You can install a new hard drive in the Lacie and then format in FAT32
There are companies that can recover data from faulty hard drives BUT it will cost you an arm and a leg for their services.