My Hitachi ext drive is visible on Windows but not my MacBook

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Dave C50

My Hitachi ext drive is still visible on Windows in Windows Explorer but is no longer visible on my MacBook.
I can see some Apple Time Machine related files named "Donotpresent" but I don't recall ever using this ext drive for Time Machine backups so do not but know how they got there. I can only guess that it is these causing the problem.
Am I safe to just delete these files and will that address the problem relating to my MacBook without losing the data on the drive or corrupting the drive.
Any guidance would be appreciated
 
Need more details...

What was the original file system on the drive? If you don't know that, can you at least give us the history of the drive and what you were using it for... like were you primarily using it on OS X and then put it in a Windows machine and now it doesn't work on OS X? Or was it primarily a Windows drive and occasionally used on OS X.

Does it show up in Disk Utility in OS X? What OS X version are you running (Apple Menu -> About this Mac...)
 
Hi Thanks for taking the time to try to help me.
I'm running 10:13:5 and will imminently be running an upgrade that has recently appeared. The external hard drive doesn't appear in Disk Utility but does in Windows Explorer.
The drive was first used when I only had a PC. Since getting a MacBook I have a specific partition on another drive for Time Machine beck Ups. The Hitachi has never knowingly been used for Time Machine but was often used on both PC and Mac for storing files without a problem. About a couple of months back it just stopped appearing on the Mac but just recently I have seen in Windows explorer that it is showing 2 donotpresent files which I have no knowledge of. Its only from internet search that I understand these are Time Machine related.
I was wondering is it just safe to delete these or might that corrupt something.
I hope this all makes sense to you and will be grateful for any advice
 
Hi Ive just noticed that for me to answer your questions I had to plug in the ext HDD while my MacBook was connected to power but it hasn't attempted to process a back up in accordance with my settings to back up automatically
 
Never seen any thing like Apple Time Machine related files named "Donotpresent"
 
Hi Thanks for the response but as far as I can make out this doesn't help me or otherwise I am just out of my depth in understanding what its telling me
The drive doesn't appear in any shape or form on my MacBook and I only know about the donotpresent file from seeing it in windows explorer. I only understand that it relates to time machine because of a google search but time machine doesn't recognise the drive.
I think I will just have to move the other data on the ext drive to other drives and reformat the drive in windows
 
OS X 10:13:5 is the High Sierra release which now supports the APFS filesystem -- it's NOT VFAT32 or NTFS, so if you attempt ANY reformatting expecting support for both Mac & PC, be sure to use VFAT32 if at all possible. (ExFat will do nicely too).
 
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