Why won't my external hard drive mount on my Mac?

Data Recovery
1

My external hard drive stopped mounting on my Mac. It worked fine yesterday, but today my MacBook isn’t recognizing it at all. I’ve tried different USB ports and even another cable, but no luck. Has anyone experienced this? Any suggestions on how to fix it? Help needed urgently!

5

First thing’s first, did you check if the drive shows up in Disk Utility? If it shows up there but is greyed out, try to mount it manually. Sometimes a glitch in the OS can cause this.

Had a similar problem last month and it turned out to be file system corruption. Ended up using Disk Drill to recover the data. It’s a solid tool - check out an independent review here. Also, consider checking System Information to make sure your MacBook’s actually recognizing the external hardware. If all else fails, your drive might be having hardware issues. Good luck!

4

Seriously? Another one of these questions? It’s probably the drive itself. You might’ve corrupted it somehow, or it’s just dying. Swapping cables and ports only does so much. Macs can be fussy with file systems, so if you yanked it out without ejecting, it could have messed things up.

Try using Disk Drill for Mac. It can sometimes pull off miracles and mount drives that seem totally dead. But honestly, if the drive’s kaput, even Disk Drill won’t save you. It’s not perfect and can be slow, plus not everything it ‘recovers’ is actually usable.

Anyway, if you’re desperate, check out Top 10 Best Data Recovery Software for Mac (Including FREE) for other software options. They might not work magic, but at least you’ll have some tools to try before giving up.

3

Ugh, I’ve had the same issue with my Mac before. One day the external hard drive works, the next it’s like it vanished into thin air. You’ve tried different USB ports and cables, so it might be a software issue instead. Have you checked Disk Utility to see if it pops up there? Also, be careful with Disk Drill for Mac. I tried it, and it didn’t help much… kind of made things worse tbh. Sometimes, it’s just easier to get a new drive if it’s fried. Good luck!

2

I’ve definitely hit this issue before. Your Mac not recognizing the external hard drive can be due to a few reasons. Let’s go through some steps you can try to troubleshoot this:

  1. Check Disk Utility: Open Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. See if your drive shows up there, even if it’s not mounting. If it appears, you can try to manually mount it by selecting the drive and clicking the “Mount” button.

  2. First Aid: While you’re in Disk Utility, you can run First Aid on the drive. Select your external hard drive, then click the “First Aid” button. This can fix some issues with the drive.

  3. Reboot Your Mac: Sometimes, simply rebooting your Mac can resolve temporary glitches. Make sure your drive is connected when you reboot.

  4. Try on Another Computer: Connect your external hard drive to another Mac or even a Windows PC to see if it gets recognized there. If it does, the problem might be with your Mac.

  5. Reset SMC and NVRAM: This can resolve hardware recognition issues. Instructions to reset SMC and NVRAM can be found on Apple’s support site.

  6. Check for Software Conflict: Boot your Mac in Safe Mode (hold Shift while starting up) and check if the drive mounts. Safe Mode prevents most third-party software from loading, which can help you identify if software is causing the problem.

  7. Update macOS: Ensure your macOS is up to date, as updates can include fixes for these types of issues.

  8. Terminal Commands: If you’re comfortable using Terminal, type diskutil list to see if your Mac can see the drive at all. If so, you might be able to mount it using diskutil mountDisk /dev/diskX (replace diskX with the appropriate identifier for your drive).

  9. Use Disk Drill for Mac: If none of the above works, your drive might have data corruption issues. Download Disk Drill for Mac users here. Disk Drill can help with data recovery and might salvage your data if the drive has become corrupted.

  10. Check the Drive Format: Make sure your drive is formatted in a file system that macOS can read (like HFS+, APFS, FAT32, or exFAT). If it’s an NTFS drive, macOS can read it, but not write to it without additional software.

  11. Use a Different File System Program: If your drive was used on a Windows PC, consider using a program like Paragon NTFS for Mac to ensure compatibility.

If after all this your drive still isn’t mounting, the drive itself might be failing. Backup any data if you’re able to for safety.

Hope this helps!