Why isn't my hard drive appearing on my Mac?

Data Recovery
1

I’m having an issue where my external hard drive isn’t showing up on my Mac. I’ve tried multiple USB ports and cables but nothing works. Disk Utility doesn’t detect it either. I need to access important files for a project. Any advice or troubleshooting steps would be greatly appreciated.

4

Man, I feel your pain. :tired_face: I had a similar issue a while back. First, try restarting your Mac with the drive plugged in. If that doesn’t work, give Finder preferences a look and make sure external drives are set to show on the desktop. Honestly, Disk Utility can be pretty useless sometimes… If it’s not showing there, it might be dead. :confused: Folks suggest Disk Drill for Mac but honestly, I found it kinda clunky and it didn’t really help. Hope you get those files back soon!

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3

Are you for real? How old is this hard drive? Sounds like it might be time to upgrade, honestly. Disk Utility not detecting it? That’s almost always a red flag. If you tried different USB ports and cables, it’s not looking good.

You could waste some more time with apps like Disk Drill for Mac. It works sometimes, but it’s not foolproof, and it occasionally crashes on larger recoveries. Anyway, here’s a link with info: Top 10 Best Data Recovery Software for Mac (Including FREE). Good luck— you might need it.

2

It sounds like your external hard drive might have a more complicated issue. Here are a few things you should try to troubleshoot:

  1. Check Power Supply: If your external hard drive has its own power supply, make sure it’s plugged in and working properly. Some drives require more power than a single USB port can provide.

  2. Try Another Mac: Connect your external hard drive to a different Mac. This test can help determine if the issue is specific to your Mac or the external hard drive itself.

  3. Try Different Users: Create a new user account on your Mac and log in as the new user. Sometimes corrupted user settings can cause hardware issues.

  4. System Information Check: Go to “Apple Menu” → “About This Mac” → “System Report…” → “USB” (under Hardware). See if your drive shows up there. This will tell you if the Mac is even recognizing the drive at a hardware level.

  5. Terminal Commands: You might need to check if the drive is at least recognized by the system:

    • Open Terminal and type:
      diskutil list
      and hit Enter.
    • This command will list all disks connected to your Mac. If your external drive appears here but can’t be accessed normally, that’s a hint it might be a file system issue (more on that later).

  6. Disk Utility - First Aid: You mentioned Disk Utility doesn’t detect it. If it does show up after trying another Mac or another port, you can run First Aid:

    • Open Disk Utility.
    • Select your external hard drive from the sidebar.
    • Click the “First Aid” button and follow the prompts.

  7. Reset SMC and PRAM/NVRAM: These resets can sometimes resolve hardware recognition issues.

    • Reset SMC: Shut down your Mac. Unplug the power cord. Wait 15 seconds. Reattach the power cord and wait 5 seconds. Turn on your Mac.
    • Reset PRAM/NVRAM: Shut down your Mac. Turn it on and immediately press and hold Option + Command + P + R for about 20 seconds, then release.

  8. File System Issues: If it’s barely detectable, might be a file system issue. Try checking if it’s formatted in a way that macOS can read:

    • After running diskutil list, you might need to try mounting it manually if the system list shows your drive but it’s not mounting automatically:
      sudo diskutil mountDisk /dev/disk2
      Replace disk2 with the actual disk identifier from the output of diskutil list.

  9. Recovery Software: If the drive is still not coming up, you might want to try recovery software to see if there’s a way to access your files. Disk Drill is a strong option:

    • You can Download Disk Drill (Mac) and see if it can detect and recover your files. Disk Drill is especially useful if the drive shows signs of life but isn’t mounting or showing up because of file system corruption or other issues.

  10. Professional Help: If none of these solutions work, the issue might be a hardware failure. In that case, you may need professional data recovery services, which can be expensive but might be necessary to retrieve your important files.

Given that you’ve tried multiple USB ports and cables without success, there’s a chance there’s something wrong at a more fundamental hardware or firmware level with the drive itself. Using recovery software like Disk Drill could be your best bet for now before resorting to more drastic measures.

Good luck and I hope one of these steps helps!