How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on Mac? [6 Methods]

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:59 Why external hard drive not showing up mac
1:42 Method 1: Check the cable
2:25 Method 2: Ensure enough power for the drive
3:14 Method 3: Edit the Finder Preferences
3:45 Method 4: Open "Disk Utility" to mount the external hard drive on Mac
4:17 Method 5: Run First Aid on an external hard drive
5:04 Method 6: Change the drive format (❗❗❗Warning: It can erase your data. Please carefully operate or skip this method.)
5:53 Bonus: How to recover data from the external hard drive on Mac?

Why is my external hard drive not showing up on mac? Many people might have asked the questions? an external hard drive not detected on mac due to different reasons including the USB port is broken, there are partition problems on the hard drive, Your MacBook’s drivers are outdated, the hard drive is formatted in the wrong file system, etc. Luckily, there are several solutions to fix the external hard drive not showing up on Mac error.
First, check the hard drive’s cable and ensure it hasn’t encountered any physical damage. You can replace the cable with a new one and your MacBook will start recognizing the hard drive again. Also, check that the port on your Mac isn’t the problem. Try plugging into a different port. Or if you only have one, plug another device in and see if that works ok.
Second, ensure enough power for the drive, as an external hard drive needs an adequate amount of power to connect to a computer.
If changing the cable didn’t fix the mac external hard drive not showing up error, and there is no issue with the power, the next step would be to change the Preference settings of “Finder”, there you can check the video at 3:14s. If your Mac still doesn’t recognize the hard drive, you can use “Disk Utility” to access the drive. Here you need to open "Disk Utility" to mount the external hard drive on Mac. After that, if the external hard drive still not detected on mac, then Run First Aid in the Disk Utility. In case none of the previous solutions work, it’s possible that the hard drive is formatted with the wrong file system. So, you can try to change the drive format by using “Disk Utility” again.
We hope you can fix the mac not detecting external hard drive issue from any methods introduced above. But in case, if it is still unable to repair issues, your drive truly is broken or formatted using a file system that the Mac cannot read - in this way we suggest you try Wondershare Recoverit to recover data from the disk drive.

#Wondershare #WondershareRecoveritDataRecovery

[RecoveritDataRecoverySoftware]

Hello everyone, when you try to use the 6th method in the video, ‼‼‼🤔please note that it can erase your data. So please carefully operate or skip this method.

[Fashion-Cybersecurity]

Please it is important and let the audience know that formatting a disk erases the content and they may not be able to recover them. Just a hint before erasing or formatting a disk.

[adistidaramutia]

My hard drive suddenly undetected on my mac. Then I tried all your methods. It worked on the fifth method. THANK YOU SO MUCH! May God reward the kindness of those who share knowledge

[bbreyette]

what do I do if my external hard drive doesn't even show up in the disc utility ? the light comes on and there is power to it but can't find it

[MLFilmss]

Thanks for the video. What happens if your external drive is not showing up at all in disk utility?

[iDude]

I tried everything its not showing up on my Mac
Even though the light is on and i hear the drive is running.

[LeonPhythian]

right, so how do you actually fix one that actually isn't showing up, by not showing up I mean it isn't in any list, not in the disk utility, not in the list on something like Disk Drill, basically actually not showing up, even when multiple tested cables and ports aren't helping the drive appear in any utility programme? as in NOT SHOWING UP ?

[RachelDesignsvideos]

You have brighten up my morning with suggesting we used the utilities disk to find our external hard drive.

[boukjevdslik]

You literally just saved my life and tens of thousands of photos. YOU'RE A SAINT!

[fabiandsouza]

Hi, love the video. I am still not able to view my External Drive even in the Disc utility. I took the drive over to a friend's Windows laptop and it show up with all the data on the drive. Please could you help find a way for the drive to show up on my MacBook

[thecodebloodedpixe]

what to do if the external hard drive isn't getting detected in disk utility as well?

[vickytuff]

SAVED MY BACON! first aid brought my hard drive back to life! Thank you!

[caitlinbaker]

This question has been asked multiple times with no answer: my drive isn't showing up in disk utility. What now? It's not the cable or the power, the light on the drive is blinking, and there is no where to locate my drive. Please address this question as it's been asked multiple times!

[captainavenger]

Thank you so much. I almost lost some animation files, after my hard drive got slightly corrupted. Thing unplugged from my laptop when I wasn't looking. You're a life saver.

[nudiaufia]

The 4'th method really work for me! Glad to know you share this kind of effective explanation. Big thanks!

[TightTifannyPussPuss]

yoo method four thank you so much, I was losing my mind today

[atifak]

Not sure how many years I come back here to re-find my external hd....thanks.

[EveryDayTrucker]

Ok bro, there's one thing you didn't cover which is something I've done many times before. Unfortunately, it's been a while and I always forget how to find it. So, when I plugged this external cradle in, I accidentally told the computer to ignore it. This means it doesn't matter what drive I put in, it doesn't see it. I've done this years ago and did figure it out. But I can't remember what to do! Can you help me?

[emersonmartins]

This was the best video EVER to solve my problem.
Extremely easy to watch and go straight to the point.
It deserves millions of likes.
Thanks a lot mate.
You are a gem.

[adriannebenzion]

I never leave YouTube comments but this video was super helpful. FirstAid saved my hard drive. Thank you!!!