Many people probably won't realize that they are facing a threat of data loss until they are. An easy way to recover data from the unrecognized external hard drive A small reminder: the erasing will deleted all your data. To make the external HDD work properly on MacBook, you need to erase it in Disk Utility. If all settings look useful to you, the removable hard disk not showing up problem might result from the incompatibility between the file system and the MacBook, or the corrupted file system of the external hard drive. Then the MacBook is set up to show up the external hard drive on the desktop and in the Finder. Tick 'External disks' under 'General' and 'Sidebar' tabs. Go to the top menu bar where the Apple logo is and click on 'Finder.' Select 'Preferences,' and you will see four tabs on the top. To see if that is the case you come across, go to verify a few settings. It makes you feel your external HDD is not known. Sometimes, your external hard drive is recognized by macOS, but it doesn't show up on the desktop or in Finder. Solving the external hard drive not showing up problem Did you ever drop the external hard drive? If you did, the disk might suffer physical damages that prevent it from working correctly.
If you are sure that the USB port/adapter/cable is all good and you have restarted the MacBook, but the problem stays unsolved, try to find another Mac or PC to see if the external HDD can be detected. The very first step of solving the problem is to check the hardware conditions of the connection and the hard disk itself.Ĭ) Connect the external hard drive to another computer
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How to make the MacBook detect my external hard drive? The file system/partition table/other core information on the external hard drive is corrupted.Ģ.The incompatibility between the file system of the external hard drive and the Mac OS.The external hard drive is physically damaged.The USB port/USB adapter/USB cable is broken.Any problems in either of the two parts will end up with the macOS doesn't detect and recognize the external hard drive. The recognition process of an external device contains two parts – hardware and software. Why is the MacBook not recognizing my external hard drive? An easy way to recover data from the unrecognized external hard driveġ.Solving external hard drive not showing up problem.How to make the MacBook detect the external hard drive.Why the MacBook doesn't recognize the external hard drive.On the other hand, the disk might be corrupted and result in data loss or difficulties in file transfer.Īfter reading the article, you will learn: One the one hand, the disappeared disk icon makes it inconvenient to open the drive. MacBook Air/Pro may not show up the external hard disk at all. However, people may not go as quickly as you expect. The Mac OS always enables you to have the most convenient access to open the disk and manage files on it. Refer to the following to see if it takes you anywhere you haven't been yet.Īfter you connect a removable disk through the computer's USB port or SD card slot, the Mac OS will read the drive and mount it on the desktop, in Finder, and Disk Utility. If you find it look for First Aid and try to use it on the disk. Launch Disk Utility and look for any signs of your internal drive in the list of hard drives on the left. When booted externally, use Finder's Go menu to open Utilities. Restart and hold down the D key to enter the Hardware Test. Press the power button to turn on the computer.Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.Also, SMC reset may be needed (that usually doesn't fix a missing boot partition, though). Wait until you hear the startup chime for the third time before letting go.īest games that run on macbook pro. Start it and immediately hold down Command, Option, P and R keys at the same time. You mentioned troubleshooting, did it include these: Macbook Air Hard Drive Problems Working.Macbook Air Hard Drive Problems Windows 10.Macbook Air Hard Drive Problems Detected.I was - Answered by a verified Mac Support Specialist We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our website. I have a MacBook Air and I erased the hard drive, and am unable to do a reinstall through the utilities.
To run Fist Aid on an external hard drive: Open Disk Utility. If you are able to fix the hard drive or SSD in your Mac (or an external drive) using Disk Utility you will hopefully be able to recover your files. It helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup HD and external drive problems.