If you can not see the external hard drive that you connected on your Mac then you are facing one of the most common problems that Mac users face. However, there are limited reasons why the external drive that you connected is not working. In this article, we will tell you how you can resolve the external drive not mounted problem on your own.
There can be various reasons the external HDD is not showing up on your Mac. Here are some of the easiest steps that you can follow and fix this problem. However, it is recommended that you create a backup of your drive so that you can recover your data easily.
1. Editing Your System Preferences
The first thing that you should try if you ever encounter this problem is that you open your system preferences and check there. In order to do so there are just a few simple steps that you can follow.
You just have to open the Finder, open Preferences, and after that, you can locate General Setting there. Under “Show these items on Desktop” make sure that the box in front of the External Disk is checked. This should get you the icon of the external drive on the desktop. If the problem still persists then you can try the other methods on this list.
2. Check The Cables Properly
As you are done checking system preferences, you can start checking if the cable of the external drive is connected to your Mac properly or not. It is possible that there might be some problem with the cable. You can try some other cable in that case and check if there’s any fault with the cable or not.
If you are using a USB port to connect the drive with your Mac then you should also check of the USB port is working fine. You can plug a different device to check if it is working properly or not.
3. Try Another Mac/PC
If the problem still persists then you can plug the drive in another Mac. This way you can figure out if the external drive is faulty or not. If the drive is working fine then you can try plugging it in your PC and see if it is working or not.
If the drive is working on your PC but not on your Mac, then the drive is formatted for PCs only and can not be used with Mac. In such cases, you can order an external drive that is compatible with your Mac.
4. Using Disk Utility Tool
If you are still unable to solve the problem with any of the methods above. Then it is time for you to put on your glasses and start with the system tools for a more technical approach to this problem.
You start by opening the Disk Utility program in your Mac. You can open it through the finder or thorough spotlight easily. Thereafter you can locate your external disk on the left side of the screen.
After locating the disk you click on its icon and you will see three options i.e. First Aid, Erase, and Restore on the top. With the help of these options, you can check for errors on your external drive and repair those errors. With Restore and Erase options the data of the external drive will be restored or erased respectively.
It is recommended that you do not use these options unless you have a backup of your data elsewhere.
You can click on First Aid and the system will check and repair your disk automatically. This should solve your problem most probably.
5. Change Drive Format
If you encounter any error during this process it is generally due to the fact that the format of the external drive that you are using is not compatible with your Mac. In order to change the format of the drive, you can open system files and use the Erase option to delete all the data of the drive while changing its format that is compatible with Mac.
You get 4 options when it comes to changing the format of the drive, those options are:
- Mac OS Extended(Journaled)
- Mac OS Extended(Case Sensitive, Journaled)
- MS-DOS(FAT)
- ExFAT
Mac OS Extended(Journaled) is considered the best option out of these. You can start the Erase process there and change the format and the name of the drive.
Following these steps will resolve your problem in an efficient way.
Conclusion
You can follow all these simple steps to make sure that you never face this problem again and if you ever come across this problem you can solve this on your own. However, you should take proper care of your external drives by removing them through the recommended procedure.
