Hard Drive Stopped Showing Up Mac

Macs aren't immune from hard disk corruption and failures. They're just as common on Macs as they are PCs. Although most Macs have solid-state drives, even these systems can have problems. Apple's built-in utilities and some third-party programs will get you up and running.

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• Hard Drive Stopped Showing Up Macbook
• Access Hard Drive On Mac

Symptoms of a Hard Disk Problem

The worst noise you'll hear from a mechanical hard disk is a clicking or grinding noise. That means the drive is failing. At that point, the drive isn't repairable. It's time to back up your data and then replace the drive. You already have a backup though, right?

If you plugged the external hard drive into your computer's port and it isn't showing, it could be the cable or the connection. You'll want to review these steps to determine if these issues are present when Mac isn't reading an external hard drive. Check to see if you have a secure connection. Review the connector for damage. To do this, shut down or restart your Mac, switch it back on and immediately press these four keys together for at least 20 seconds: Option, Command, P, and R. It should look as though your Mac has started again; if it has, release the keys when you hear the second startup chime. Hopefully, the hard drive has shown up now. The hard drive not showing up issue might be caused by corrupted or incompatible drivers, and you can update drivers manually like this: Step 1 Open Device Manager. Press Windows logo key and R to open Run dialog box, type devmgmt.msc and click OK button.

Not all drives exhibit symptoms in this way. Sometimes you'll get the prohibitory no symbol at startup or a flashing folder with a question mark. After turning off your Mac and turning it back on, the system boots just fine. Other times you'll get the spinning rainbow wheel, letting you know your Mac is waiting on something. That could be because your Mac is waiting on the hard drive.no symbol at startup or a flashing folder with a question mark. After turning off your Mac and turning it back on, the system boots just fine. Other times you'll get the spinning rainbow wheel, letting you know your Mac is waiting on something. That could be because your Mac is waiting on the hard drive.

Diagnosing the Problem

My WD Hard Drive has always worked fine. I haven't used it in a few months, but now when I plug it in, it doesn't show up anywhere. The drive makes some noises, and lights up, but my Mac os not reading it. I'm running 10.12.3 (Sierra). I've tried on 2 separate Macbooks, and have tried multiple different cords.

If you suspect your hard disk is failing, it is time to make a backup. Now. Again, you should already have a backup of your Mac. Don't proceed before you try to make a backup. Apple's

When you reboot, you'll see the

Some Macs have a built-in hardware diagnostic. Reboot your Mac holding down the D key. That runs a full hardware test on your Mac. Install mojave on mac pro 5 1. The diagnostic will report any problems, including the hard drive.

Your Might Have a Confused Hard Drive

The Mac's journaled file system usually keeps things in order. Glitches and improper shutdowns might leave things scrambled. If

You'll need to boot your Mac off a Disk Warrior flash drive to do testing and repair. The program creates a Recovery flash drive. During its diagnostic process it will repair and optimize the drive. If it detects a hard drive error, the program warns you.

Sometimes it isn't the Hard Disk

If you've tried all this and are still having problems, there could be something wrong with your Mac other than the hard drive. If you have a MacBook Pro, the ribbon cable that connects the hard drive to the rest of the computer can go bad. The Mac exhibits all the same symptoms as a failed hard drive. The best way to figure this out is to remove your hard drive and try it in another Mac. If the hard drive works on another computer, then it isn't your hard drive.

The other typical problem is operating system errors. A system update or upgrade was interrupted leaving your Mac in a confused state. You can reinstall your operating system from the recovery mode. That won't erase any data on your Mac.

Rarely the problem is in the Mac's System Management Controller (SMC) . Before you give up hope, try Apple's procedure for resetting the SMC.

What if You Have a Solid State Drive?

Solid State Drives (SSDs) don't make the typical noises of a mechanical hard drive. After all,they have no moving parts. The testing procedures are the same. You won't be able to easily remove the hard drive to test it in another machine. Programs like Disk Warrior are smart enough to change the optimization procedure for an SSD drive.

Hard Drive Not Showing Up Windows 10

Some Macs have easy hard drives to replace. Some Mac models hard drives aren't replaceable by end users. Most Mac-savvy retailers know the difference and can guide you towards the right repair. Replacing your hard drive with an SSD will give you the best performance, but may limit your storage space. We cover the differences here.

ALSO READ:DaisyDisk: The Best, Most Intuitive App to Find Large Files on Your Mac's Hard Drive

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By Nathan E. Malpass, Last updated: August 8, 2020

I use an external hard disk drive in order to save most of my pictures, videos, and music. I store my documents in my external hard drive too. The problem right now is I'm connecting my external Hard drive on my MacBook Pro but it's not showing up. How do I fix this?

~External HDD User

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Part I: Why isn't my external hard drive showing up mac

You might be panicking right now because your external hard drive cannot be recognized by your Mac device. But you really don't have to go crazy.

Most likely, nothing has happened to your files within the external Hard drive. All of it will still be intact within the storage device. But, whatever the reason may be, you simply cannot access these data.

Lucky for you, there are methods you can implement in order for your Mac device to recognize the external Hard Dick Drive and keep you back on your feet. Let's get started on why your external hard drive or flash drive isn't showing up on your Mac device.

Part II: Reasons For Disk External Hard Drive Not Showing Up On A Mac Device

There are cases wherein you plugged your external hard drive or flash drive on your Mac and the device cannot recognize it. This could be caused by a broken cable or a faulty USB port. Before you delve into some methods for troubleshooting your system, you should begin with the basics first.

First, you have to make sure that the external hard drive is really plugged into the device. It might not be plugged properly. After which you have to notice the structure of your USB connector. Is it damaged? Is it misshapen? Ensure that the cable is in perfect condition. There might be exposed wires or it might be frayed.

If you plug your external hard drive into an outlet, you should try a different one. It might be the wall outlet that's faulty. You can also try using another USB cable. The USB cable might be broken even though it's not obvious or physically damaged.

You can also opt to plug the external hard drive to another Mac device. If it works on other Mac devices, your USB ports on the previous Mac might be broken. There might be cases wherein your hard disk drive is formatted to work on Windows computers.

That's why you should test it out on a laptop or computer with Windows in it. It might be possible that your external hard drive is formatted to work on Windows PCs and not on Mac devices.

Another thing you can do is to simply turn off your Mac device and turning it on again. Simple rebooting can do wonders on your Mac. You can also try to reboot USB drives.

First, turn off your Mac device, after which, restart it. While in the process of restarting, hold the keys CMD + P + R + Option. Release the said keys when a sound comes up and the screen flashes. Then, let your Mac devices boot itself up as it normally would.

If you have done everything that we have listed above-- inspected your device visually, tested the external hard drive on different power outlets, cables, and computer devices, and implemented various systems-- and nothing happened, then it's high time to follow our guide below:

Part III: Methods To Help Your Mac Device Recognize The HDD

There are different ways to let your HDD show up within your Mac device. The first thing would be to modify the settings of Finder. The next would be mounting the external HDD on your Mac device and so on. Let's get started with the first one:

Method 01: Modifying Settings Of Finder

There is one common reason why Mac doesn't display or recognize an external hard drive. The reason we're stating here is the state wherein the Mac device' system is not set up to actually show external hard drive within its Desktop.

This can be fixed easily by following the steps below:

1. Launch a Finder window.
2. Visit the Preferences.
3. After which, visit General.
4. Make sure that the feature External disks are activated.

Mac Hard Drive

But what if it doesn't work after you have done this? Well, the next thing you should do is to mount the external hard drive manually on your Mac device.

Method 02: Manually Mounting Your External Hard Drive Within The Mac Device

If Mac still doesn't recognize the external hard drive you plugged into it, the next thing you should do is to force it to recognize the said storage item. Here are the steps you should follow:

1. Go towards System Preferences.
2. Visit Disk Utility.
3. Examine if the external hard disk drive is shown on the sidebar towards the left.
4. Select the hard drive and make sure it is highlighted.
5. Choose Mount. Now, the external hard drive should be seen within the Finder window under Devices.

Again, what if forcing your Mac drive to display external hard drive doesn't work? Well, the next step is to utilize First Aid.

Method 03: Running First Aid Through Your External HDD

Mac has a built-in utility called First Aid. This is utilized for the verification and repairing of a wide variety of issues especially with those that are related to apps and files that are corrupted. It also fixes issues with regards to startup and of course, external hard drive.

The steps below are for one type of issue. This issue is with that of a hard disk drive that is displayed on your Mac but doesn't give you access to data. First Aid would be the tool you would use if you have to fix this issue. Simply follow the steps below: How to use webcam on mac.

1. Visit System Preferences.
2. Launch Disk Utility.
3. Make sure the external hard drive is highlighted or selected.
4. Press First Aid.
5. Choose Run. This will now start the process of diagnosing the Mac for any issues and fixing the corresponding problems.

If your attempt to fix this problem with First Aid is a success, your hard disk drive would now be available for mounting. If this doesn't work again, you should try the option below:

Method 04: Removing Incompatible Or Conflicting Applications

Did you experience the problem of not having an external hard drive show up just recently? If it was okay a few days before (just a couple of days), then the problem might be with an application that is in conflict with it.

Mac open archive without extracting. Think about it. Have you downloaded and installed apps just recently? These might be culprits. What you can do is to uninstall or remove these programs one by one.

Connect your hard disk drive towards your Mac device after you uninstall each program. Check out which app is causing conflict.

You can simply delete these applications by utilizing Launchpad. Or, for a very simple process, you can drag these apps towards the Trash Bin. However, we do not recommend each of the two methods.

It's because of the fact that even when an app is deleted, leftovers and associated files are still kept intact in your system. These leftover files might be the ones preventing you to access the hard disk drive.

What we do recommend is for you to useFoneDog's Mac Cleaner. It has a module called Mac Uninstaller that you can use to uninstall applications without leaving any leftover behind. Here are the advantages and the steps to use the tool:

* It gives you the ability to make your Mac device perform faster by freeing up more space within the said device.

* It scanning mode is very powerful and helps locate duplicate files, system files, junk files, unnecessary applications, clutter, etc.

* It gives you the ability to clear up junk files. It helps you locate and remove duplicate files. It helps you find and clear up similar images. It helps you delete large files and old files. The Mac Cleaner helps you delete unnecessary applications without leaving any leftovers behind. Plus, it helps in securing redundant searching history. Finally, it helps in the management of extensions, shredding of files, and cleaning of browsers.

* All of the features of the Mac Cleaner can be implemented with just a few clicks.

* Scanned results of the Mac Cleaner can be sorted on a variety of factors including date, time, size, etc.

* The Mac device status is displayed by the device including disk usage, CPU status, memory usage, etc.

* It helps you locate and detect files that are identical. Thus, more space is freed up within your device because no two files are exactly the same. Redundancy is removed within your device.

Here's how to use FoneDog's Mac Cleaner step by step (The following screenshots are under dark mode on Mac):

Step 01 - Download the tool.

Step 02 - Launch it within your Mac device. The main interface will show a variety of the device' system status.

Step 03 - Select Uninstaller, the tool under the ToolKit module. Thus, please click the ToolKit icon and select Uninstaller.

Step 04 - Press Scan button. The tool will now do a comprehensive scan of your device.

Step 05 - Once the process of scanning is complete, click View. This will allow you to check scanned results.

Step 06 - Choose a particular application. In this case, Uninstaller will begin to remove the application you select by clicking the Clean button.

Step 07 - Confirm the cleaning operation.

Step 08 - Wait until the cleaning process is finished.

Note that you simply have to select the Mac Uninstaller tool on Step 03. Select the module Cleaner to scan for unwanted files and clean them afterward.

Step 05 - Once the process of scanning is complete, click View. This will allow you to check scanned results.

Step 06 - Choose a particular application. In this case, Uninstaller will begin to remove the application you select by clicking the Clean button.

Step 07 - Confirm the cleaning operation.

Step 08 - Wait until the cleaning process is finished.

Note that you simply have to select the Mac Uninstaller tool on Step 03. Select the module Cleaner to scan for unwanted files and clean them afterward.

Now, if you have gone through every installed application in your device and still nothing works, it might be because your hard disk drive has already crashed.

Or maybe, it can be completely broken. What you have to do in cases like these is to use a utility called Disk Drill. This tool will help you rescue your files.

Method 05: Disk Permissions Repair

Disk permissions are very important in keeping your files safe and secure. Every single file and folder within your Mac device has permissions associated with it. But sometimes, these permissions can become messed up.

You won't even realize it. These messed up permissions can lead to a big problem. You can actually fix this on your own using a tool for repairing permissions.

Part III: Conclusion

External hard drives can be great for storage. If it is not showing up on your Mac device, you could try out our guidelines above for you to fix it.

The best thing, though, is to back up your data all the time to avoid losing files. Finally, you can use FoneDog's Mac Cleaner to uninstall programs and applications using the Mac Uninstaller Module.

Hard Drive Stopped Showing Up Macbook

It helps you get rid of applications without leaving any leftover files behind.

Access Hard Drive On Mac