External hard drives are not only important for their data storing capability but also for their portability function. Whenever you connect your external hard drive or USB to your Mac computer it shows up not only on the desktop but also in the Finder menu on the left-hand side under Locations or Devices.
- External Hard Drive Not Showing Up On Macbook
- External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Macbook
- Macbook Pro External Hard Drive Not Showing Up
Get your Windows computer connected to seagate external drive or WD passport. Remove the partition and reconnect to MacBook Pro. Read Also: How to Factory Reset MacBook Pro. It is hoped that with the solutions above, you will most likely be able to solve the issue of your external hard drive not showing up on Mac. How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up - Duration. MacBook External Hard Drive Not Recognized - How to Reformat Western Digital Hard Drive for Mac - Duration: 2:37.
If you have found that the external hard drive is not showing up on Mac then, the problem could be due to various reasons like the external hard drive or USB corruption, faulty USB connector, hidden drive, physical damage to the drive, improper formatting, etc.
Regardless of the reasons for the issue of external hard drive not showing up on Mac, by following the proven methods given below you can fix it with ease.
How to Fix External hard drive not showing up on Mac?
Here is a complete guide on what to do if Mac does not recognize the external hard drive. And also find out how to safely recover data from external hard drive not showing up on Mac using the Remo Recover tool.
Fix issue related to External hard drive and USB cable connectivity
Method 1: Connect the External Hard drive Properly
The first and foremost thing to do after your external hard drive doesn't show up on Mac is to check if the external hard disk is properly connected to the Mac or not. Once, it is confirmed that the external hard drive is properly connected to your Mac, then your Mac will easily recognize the external hard drive and the data present on it or else move on to the next method.
Method 2: Fix issues with the USB cable
Plug-in the unrecognized external hard drive to a different USB port of your Mac system to check for any hardware issues. It might look like child's play but inserting an external hard disk to other USB port can help you understand whether the issue is pertaining to the hard drive failure or USB cable.
If there is an issue with the USB cable or HDMI cable connecting your external hard drive to Mac then, it is obvious that external hard drive won't show up. If your MacBook such as MacBook Pro or MacBook Air is having USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 ports then, you need to make use of USB-C to USB adapter to connect the external hard drive to your Mac.
Fixing the damaged USB cable becomes a priority to connect your external hard disk to the Mac system. You can easily figure out the issue by making use of a different USB cable to connect your external hard drive with a Mac computer.
In case, if you still find out that the external hard drive is not showing up on Mac despite using different USB cables then, it can be resolved by changing the preference settings on Mac.
But before you move on to the next method, try to restart your Mac computer once.
Fix logical problems related to Mac not recognizing external hard disk
Method 3: Reset Mac computer
Resetting a Mac computer can reboot a few system settings to its default and ensure any issue with respect to it is resolved. To Restart your Mac computer,
Go to the Apple menu and click Restart. (or) Press and hold the power key until a dialog box displays and hit the Restart or press R key.
Method 4: Change Show Preference Settings to Make external hard drive visible on Finder
One of the reasons for Mac not recognizing your external hard drive is due to Show Preference settings. Lyrical 1 7 0 download free. If you have not allowed your Mac to find the external hard disk in the preference setting then, your Mac computer won't show up external hard disk on the desktop. To allow your Mac to show up an external hard drive, follow the below steps to edit preference setting;
- Open a Finder window.
- Go to Preference and select General.
- Under 'Show these items on the desktop', check the External disks option.
If this setting is already setup or your external hard drive is still not showing up on the Mac desktop after the above changes then, here is what it is recommended for you.
In most of cases, the above-mentioned tips will help you resolve the issue of external hard drive not showing on Mac desktop or Finder menu. Despite performing the above steps if the external hard drive does not show up on Mac then, continue reading the further section.
Method 5: Use different Mac Computer
If you still find your Mac not recognizing hard drive then, try connecting the external hard disk to a different Mac system, sometimes there might be a problem with your Mac computer itself.
Run First Aid Utility to repair unrecognized or corrupt external hard drive
Method 6: Repair external hard drive not showing on Mac using Disk Utility
(It is recommended to perform this method to run first aid utility to fix external hard disk only after performing the above methods.)
Make use of the Disk utility function to check if your external hard drive is showing up or not and fix some common USB or external hard drive errors on Mac.
- Navigate to Go > Utilities > Applications > Disk Utility
- If your external hard drive appears in the Disk Utility, right-click on the drive and select Mount. This will make your external hard drive option available on the desktop and in the Finder menu. Thus, you can access all your files present on the external hard drive.
(Note: If the Mac has already mounted your external hard drive (volume) then, the option Unmount will be displayed.) - If the drive is not accessible then, the Mount option will be greyed-out.
(Note: To repair your inaccessible or not showing external hard drive Run First Aid.) - Now, choose the First Aid option and click Run.
- After running the First Aid, if the Disk Utility detects any issues or errors on the external hard drive then, click Repair Disk.
With the help of the above method, you can easily repair the minor external hard drive errors to mount it on the Mac computer to access data from it. In case, if the first aid utility fails to repair the external hard drive or SSD, this indicates the following reasons;
- Your external drive is severely corrupt or broken
If First Aid Disk Utility fails to repair the drive, it could be due to the RAW or broken drive. The file system registry that holds the information of the data present on the drive gets broken or damaged then, Mac would not recognize the external hard drive connected to it. - The external hard drive file system is not compatible with Mac
External hard drive or USB is formatted using a file system that your Mac cannot read. For example, if an external hard drive is formatted using the NTFS file system then, no Mac computer can read or write the external hard drive. In the same way, if the external hard drive or USB is formatted with the HFS+ file system then, no Windows operating system can support it.
ExFAT and FAT32 are the two most common file systems that can be easily supported by both Windows and Mac operating systems.
The only method available to fix this issue of external hard drive not showing up on Mac is to format the crashed external drive on Mac using exFAT, FAT32, HFS+, or APFS, etc.
Note: It is recommended to copy all your external hard drive data by connecting it to you a Windows computer if it is visible on it. In case, if the external hard drive is neither showing up on Widows computer due to severe malfunction. Then, the below method can help it.
Recover Data from external hard drive not showing up on Mac without formatting the drive
Utilize Remo Recover Mac, a specialized data recovery tool designed to recover data from an external hard drive that is corrupt, unreadable, or inaccessible on Mac devices. https://besthfile548.weebly.com/2do-2-6-5th.html. With the help of advanced scanning algorithms, the tool safely recovers data from external hard drive not showing up on Mac. The tool also supports data recovery of more than 300 file types such as photos, videos, PDF files, audio files, raw-images, excel files, etc. Download this tool now!
Recover data from external hard drive not showing up on Mac using Remo Recover Mac software:
Download and install Remo Recover (Mac) software > Launch the tool and click on Recover Volumes/ Drives > choose Volume Recovery > Select the external hard drive to be recovered > click on Advance Scan > Select the files which you want to recover and click Save button to restore the data on any location of your choice.
Watch this video to know how to restore data from unrecognized or corrupt external hard drive on Mac
Format external hard drive not showing up on Mac safely
Method 7: Reformat your unrecognized External hard drive to exFAT, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), FAT, or APFS File system
Before you reformat your external hard drive on Mac to fix the issue of not showing external hard drive on Mac, it is suggested to recover data from it using the Remo Recover Mac tool.
- Navigate to Disk Utility
- Select the external hard drive not showing up on Mac and click the Erase option
- Now, give a new name to your external hard drive (optional)
- Click the Format button to choose the format type you want to perform on it. (Select exFAT if you want to make sure it's compatible with PC and Mac, otherwise, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is probably the best option)
- Click on the Erase optionand wait until the Disk utility function removes all the files present on the external hard disk and then reformat it with the selected file system.
However, by formatting the drive you would lose all the data on the disk. Hence, you would have to recover the data from the drive. The only way to recover files from the external hard drive not showing up on Mac is by using a professional data recovery software like Remo Recover Mac.
Conclusion
In most cases, selecting External disks under Show these items on the desktop fixes the issue. However, if the issue is related to the external hard drive corruption then, it requires formatting the drive with compatible Mac file systems like exFAT or APFS.
Remo Recover Mac, not only recovers data from corrupt external hard drive on Mac but also recovers data from formatted internal and external devices like external hard drive, SSD, USB, memory card, etc.
Generally, when you connect an external hard drive on your Mac, it shows up on the desktop. To make it easier for you to locate, the drive also shows up on Finder, under Devices. This is due to the fact that Apple treats them as a separate computer device. But if your external hard drive is not showing up on Mac, it might create a problem for you. Hence, we are here with the possible reasons and their solutions.
Read on to find out all about the external hard drive not showing up on Mac.
Why Is My Mac Not Reading Any External Hard Drive?
The foremost reason for the external hard drive is not showing up on Mac will be that maybe there is a loose connection. So make sure you recheck your connections, ports and USB cable and reconnect to try again.
Once you are done with the physical examination and do not find any discrepancy in it that will leave possible reason. This might be some corrupted data present on your Mac which is dismissing the external hard drive.
Additional Tip
Get Smart Mac Care which is a complete solution to keep your Mac in check. It is a tool to help you detect malware and clean up junk files to optimize the computer. This will scan the system completely and then you can fix it all with one click.
What Do I Do If My External Hard Drive Is Not Detected On Mac?
As we have recognized the problem of an external hard drive not showing up on Mac, let's find solutions to it. With the solutions listed below you can fix your issue.
1. Check cables: If your HDMI or USB cable of the external hard drive is not connected properly or is physically damaged this will result in not showing up on Mac. Therefore you need to check the cables and the connections properly when using external hard drive with a Mac.
2. Check Port: Just like the point above, port needs to be checked as well to make a connection. This could be a hardware issue and a potential damage will result in Mac not recognizing external hard drive.
3. Reboot Mac: Sometimes an application running on the system can cause hindrance in the opening of external hard drive. Therefore, you must try to reboot your device and try again. This resolves the issue for many as you can connect the external hard drive before running other programs.
4. Incorrectly formatted drive: Check whether the external hard drive is meant to be connected on Mac or not. To do so, go to the top toolbar and open Apple on the desktop and select About this Mac and go to Storage. Here you can get information on what kind of USB hard drives are supported with your Mac.
5. Reset NVRAM: Non-volatile Random-Access Memory is a type of RAM which works after the power is turned off. Thus making it a way to make the external hard drive appear on your Mac. To use this connect your external hard drive and then follow the method. Restart your Mac and immediately press Option, Command, P and R key for 20 seconds. This gives Mac a command as if it has started again and thus it will allow the external hard drive to appear on Mac.
6. Open Disk Utility: It is possible for an external hard drive not showing up on Mac on the desktop. Go to System Preferences and check disk utility and then you can look for the external hard drive in here. In other methods, you can also use the Spotlight to find the external hard drive which might be showing here but not on desktop.
External Hard Drive Not Showing Up On Macbook
7. Check Finder Preferences: It is possible that you might have changed the settings on your Mac and that is the reason for external hard drive not showing up on Mac. Open Finder from the Dock click on Preferences, here you can check if the hard drive is not to appear on the desktop.
If so, please change it by checking the mark box in front of it.
Wrapping up: Macbook expansion drive.
Using external hard drives and this issue of mac not recognizing external hard drives can trouble us. With the method aforementioned you can resolve this issue and make use of your external hard drive with Mac. If none of these work for you, it could be a faulty external hard drive and you might want to try to open it with another computer.
Also Read: Best Free Mac Cleaner Apps to Clean Your Mac in 2020
External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Macbook
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Macbook Pro External Hard Drive Not Showing Up
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