Usually while you plug in an exterior onerous drive to your Mac’s USB port you will notice it seem on the desktop. You can too see it in a Finder window within the left column below Areas (or Gadgets in older variations of macOS). If the drive isn’t exhibiting up in your Mac likelihood is it has not been formatted appropriately, has been corrupted, or is defective. Alternatively, you might have set a password for the drive that it’s essential enter earlier than it’ll join.
We present you the right way to work out whether or not the explanation the exterior drive isn’t mounting in your Mac up is because of an issue with the drive itself, the cable or the port, and the right way to resolve the issue and entry knowledge in your drive.
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This text assumes you could have an exterior drive that ought to connect with your Mac through the USB-A, USB-C, or a Thunderbolt port. When you have a NAS drive that connects over the community then it is best to learn our article about connecting to a NAS drive.
Why is your onerous drive not exhibiting up on Mac?
We’ll begin by making an attempt to establish the explanation why your onerous drive isn’t exhibiting up on the Mac earlier than explaining what it’s essential do to seek out the onerous drive in your Mac. For those who can establish the trigger your ought to be capable of repair the issue that’s stopping your exterior drive from opening in your Mac.
Broken cable, port or inadequate energy
The primary port of name is all the time to examine that it’s plugged in, however we’re positive you could have achieved that. The issue is perhaps with the cable.
One of many predominant explanation why drives fail to mount is that if the drive isn’t receiving sufficient energy. If the drive is powered through a USB-A cable it’s essential examine that enough energy is being delivered to the drive. Very previous Macs might require a USB energy cable, a cable that splits into two USB connectors that must each be plugged into your Mac, with a purpose to ship sufficient energy to the drive. Equally, guarantee that the drive doesn’t have an exterior energy provide it must be utilizing.
As regards to cables, guarantee that it’s not at fault. Attempt utilizing a unique cable with the drive to see if that fixes the issue. Equally, if you’re utilizing a USB port on a hub examine that’s not what’s inflicting the issue.
Additionally examine that the port in your Mac isn’t the issue. Attempt utilizing a unique port. Or for those who solely have one port, plug one other system in and see if that works.
The subsequent step is to attempt plugging the drive into one other Mac. If it additionally fails to mount there you’ll know that there’s a drawback with the drive whereas if it does mount then the issue is along with your Mac.
Drawback preferences
Hopefully, there’s a very easy repair to get the onerous drive to mount in your desktop. Attempt the next to ensure your Mac is ready to point out mounted drives on the desktop.Â
- Open the Finder.
- Click on on Finder within the menu on the prime of your display.Â
- Click on on Settings (Preferences in older macOS variations).
- Click on on Common.
- Be certain that there’s a tick beside Exterior disks.Â
If it was already arrange in order that the exterior drive would seem on the desktop then proceed to observe the steps under.
Password protections
You’ll be able to defend a drive with a password while you initially begin utilizing it, so examine to see if the explanation your drive isn’t mounting is {that a} password request field has popped up and also you didn’t discover it.
Generally the password popup takes a couple of minutes to look as properly, so it helps to be affected person.
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The drive is formatted for a PC
It’s attainable that the drive has been formatted utilizing a file system that your Mac can not learn.
- Home windows PCs use NTFS or ExFAT file codecs.
- Mac computer systems earlier than Sierra used the HFS+ file format.
- In Excessive Sierra, Apple launched a brand new file system referred to as Apple File System (APFS).
- There’s an previous FAT32 format will be learn by Window and Mac computer systems, however has limitation on what recordsdata will be saved.
A simple technique to discover out if that is the issue could be to examine on a PC. If the drive mounts on the PC it’s possible that you’ve found what the issue is: the drive is formatted for PCs and might’t be learn by your Mac. 
To ensure your drive will be learn by Macs and PCs it’s essential format it utilizing exFAT or the older FAT32. We’ll clarify how to do this under.
It’s a corrupted or defective drive
If not one of the above had been the explanation why you couldn’t see the exterior drive in your Mac, maybe the drive is defective. Whether it is, you should use Apple’s Disk Utility program to entry the disk and doubtlessly repair no matter is inflicting the problem. We’ll focus on how to do this under. We’ll additionally take a look at methods you possibly can cease a drive failing sooner or later.
How repair an exterior drive that gained’t present up on a Mac
If not one of the above solved your drawback, it’s possible the drive is both formatted incorrectly or broken.
Relying on the explanation why you possibly can’t see the drive, here’s what it’s essential do to get it working.
Tips on how to reformat a drive so you possibly can see it on a Mac
Hopefully, the drive is ok, however the format is mistaken.
It’s attainable that the onerous drive has been formatted utilizing a unique file system (i.e. on a Home windows PC). In that case, if it’s essential entry the info on the drive you’ll want to attach the drive to a Home windows PC that does acknowledge it and duplicate the info earlier than shifting on to the subsequent step as a result of the method will contain reformatting the drive and deleting all the pieces on i).
- To ensure your drive will be learn by Macs and PCs it’s essential format it utilizing exFAT or the older FAT32.
- If you wish to format the drive to simply be used on a Mac you should use the HFS+ or Apple File System (APFS) file codecs.
Having acquired the info of the drive through a PC you possibly can reformat the drive with the intention to add the info once more. Right here’s the right way to reformat your drive so it may be learn by a Mac or a PC.
- Open Disk Utility (as per the steps above).
- For those who don’t require the info on the onerous drive, choose the disk and click on Erase.
- Earlier than Disk Utility begins to erase the disk it’ll decide a format for you. You’ll be able to change this for those who click on on the Formatting choices. Select your format, ExFAT if you wish to be certain it’s appropriate with PC and Mac, in any other case, Mac OS Prolonged (Journaled) might be the most suitable choice.Â
- Click on on Erase and wait in your Mac to erase after which reformat the drive.
- Give the drive a reputation.Â
Screenshot
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Learn extra: Tips on how to format a drive on a Mac.
Tips on how to repair the defective drive with Disk Utility
If the varied checks above counsel that the disk is defective then you should use Apple’s Disk Utility program to entry the disk and doubtlessly repair no matter is inflicting the problem. Right here’s what to do:
- Discover Disk Utility by opening Highlight (cmd+House-bar) and begin typing Disk Utility, press enter to open this system.
- Look within the column on the left to see if the onerous drive seems there.
- For those who can see the onerous drive in Disk Utility examine beneath it for a quantity. Whether it is there click on on it and choose Mount. In case your Mac has already mounted the drive the choice Unmount shall be displayed as an alternative. (If there is no such thing as a quantity listed your Mac isn’t capable of entry the drive. The Mount choice shall be greyed out.)
- Your choices are First Assist, Erase, and Restore. First Assist will examine the disk for errors after which restore the disk if mandatory and that is the choice to decide on. Restore permits you to erase the contents of the drive and substitute that with knowledge from someplace else. Erase deletes all the info saved on the drive. For those who want the info on the drive don’t select Erase or Restore!
- Click on the First Assist tab and choose Run.Â
- If after working First Assist the Mac finds errors you possibly can repair you might even see the choice to Restore Disk. For those who do, go forward and run the repairs.
Greatest apps to get better knowledge on a misplaced drive
In case your Mac is unable to restore the disk if is probably going that the drive is both formatted utilizing a file system that the Mac can not learn, or it’s properly and actually damaged. If it’s the latter we advise you observe this tutorial about recovering knowledge from a broken disk. You might also need to take into account one of many knowledge restoration apps for Mac we advocate in our round-up of the Greatest knowledge restoration apps for Macs.
Our suggestions embrace Recoverit from Wondershare, Information Rescue from Prosoft and Stella Information Restoration for Mac.
1. Wondershare Recoverit
Value When Reviewed:
1 month/2 Macs: $79.99 (often $109.99); 1 yr/2 Macs: $89.99 (often $139.99); perpetual license/2 Macs: $139.99 (often $169.99)
Learn our full
Wondershare Recoverit evaluate
2. Information Rescue
Value When Reviewed:
Customary license: $79 for a 30-day; Skilled license: $399 for one yr
Learn our full
Information Rescue evaluate
3. Stellar Information Restoration for Mac
Value When Reviewed:
Customary version: $79.99 (presently $69.99) a yr, or $129.99 (presently $99.99) for a lifetime license. Skilled model: $129.99 (presently $99.99) a yr, or $199 (presently $149) for a lifetime license. Premium version: $209.99 (presently $99.99) a yr, or $319 (presently $199) for a lifetime license.
Learn our full
Stellar Information Restoration for Mac evaluate
Tips on how to stop points with onerous drives on a Mac
We have now remaining suggestion to make that’s extra of a guard towards this error occurring once more.
Ensure that your exterior drive doesn’t change into broken sooner or later by all the time unmounting the disk correctly after utilizing it. Don’t simply unplug the USB cable.
To unmount your drive you possibly can right-click (control-click) on the icon on the Desktop or within the Finder and select Eject. Drive points can happen when the disk is eliminated with out ejecting it correctly.
Determined there is no such thing as a hope in your defective onerous drive? We have now a round-up of a number of the finest we’ve seen right here: The most effective Mac onerous drives.
