How to Force External HD to Mount on Mac OS X Desktop

You've plugged in an external USB Hard Drive and it doesn't show up automatically on your desktop!
This video shows you how get the Hard Drive to mount on your desktop when it doesn't show up automatically.
This will work for USB Drives, USB Flash Drives, Thunderbolt Drives and Firewire Drives.
If it doesn't work for you, your drive may be physically damaged or failing and you'll need to replace it.

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Thanks for watching!

[hrithiksharma]

what if extermal drive is not shown on disk utility itself?

[joroland]

this is excellent for those fortunate enough to not have a REAL problem. Completely useless for the bulk of us who desperately need help.

[jaydels]

Greetings sir. What steps should I take if the mount button is gray'd out?

[bysoniamerabet]

Thank you for this ! But when I click on MOUNT nothing happens. Any suggestions please ?

[bputneyPHOTOart]

my mount button shows greyed out, unable to click at this point- what would you suggest ? thank you

[mehmudasif]

It is not mounting. Please help with a reply where I do not have to format the drive, cuz I don't want to loose m the precious data.

[savirahye]

Hey so I remember encrupting my data on the hard drive but now I'm in this situation and the disk isn't mounting. Is their a way to unencrypt the data in order to mount the hard drive?

[lora]

I tried this and it couldn't mount. Please HELP

[jrrobles]

my external drive was working just fine, moved a cable and now It don't mount, If I connected to other laptops it works fine, so I don't know how to fix it, I have updated the disk manufactered drivers (seagate) and still don't work, just moved a cable.... is a nightmare

[failuretolife]

When I did it, it prompts me for my password and then terminal stops receiving commands. (If I type something and hit enter it just drops a line)
What do I do?

[mrjaybennett]

Great video! Not trying to be a tool or anything but why does every video show how to force mount an external drive only? I need to force mount my internal VR (Virtual memory) Disk which when I click to mount it, it just does nothing. Kinda wish we could post less videos with plenty of support already but if I ever need to force mount an external drive, I know where to come!

[masgarbi]

What if I need to force mout the main HD? Thanks!

[CJP]

Mine won’t remount. Was showing up and suddenly disappeared. Doesn’t show up on other Mac either, but does on PC. Go figure.

[tomnoyb]

USB drive shows up in Disk Utilities as mounted, but not on the desktop. Unmounted and remounted to no avail. Ran First Aid with no errors found. Any suggestions?

[rodjudkins]

What do you do if there is no mount button appearing?

[s.k.pranairaju]

Mount button isn't available to me, it's just grayed out, thank you

[mehmudasif]

It still not mounting. Now what to do?

[b-Maker-Street]

Why would you take FIVE separate steps to open disk utility when you can go to spotlight and open it in one click?! That just seems odd...
Also, I think it would help if you forewarned people that the disk _may not mount immediately_ like it does in your video! Where presumably you have a healthy Mac. If you’re using Target Disk Mode to rescue a newer Mac with an older one, it will take some time to mount the disk.

[presleyaronson]

If I Mount the drive with files on it will the files get deleted, please?

[m.r.phillips]

Great Tutorial. Thank you Very understandable if you're basically educated