Summary:If the external hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility, you can try 10 solutions to make Mac recognize it again. Worry about data loss? Simply free downloadiBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover videos, music, documents, images and much more from the external hard drive. Then you can fix 'external hard drive not showing up in Disk Utility' without data loss on Mac.
When an external hard drive is connected to Mac, it usually would be detected and recognized by Disk Utility. However, sometimes you check the connected external hard drive in Disk Utility, it doesn't show up as you thought. Hard drives not working or showing up issues could happen to some best external hard drives like WD, Toshiba, Seagate, etc. It also happens after you share the same drive between Windows and macOS.
I have a 1TB LaCie external and I want to backup my MacBook Pro, but it isn't being recognized. I plug it into an iMac, and it is recognized and I can view everything on it, but it doesn't even show up on my Pro. It was showing up the other day, but now I can't even see it under Disk Utility. A: Ignore this message since the drive remounts on the desktop despite the pop-up. LaCie drives conserve power by spinning down when you set your computer to sleep mode. When the computer awakes from sleep mode, the drive may not have enough time to spin up, causing the pop-up to appear. How to fix an external hard drive Lacie. Curious if you can repair your Lacie external hard drive? SATA to USB-Adapter Link https://amzn.to/2Lrt9. My 500 gb Lacie external is connected via USB, switched on and running (with a stable blue light visible underneath), but it doesn't show in Disk Utility and isn't accessible via Time Machine. I have unplugged, replugged and heard the tell tale clicking noise when it came on, but there's no sign of the thing where it matters most. So backing up important data to external hard drive becomes a wise choice. During the process of using external hard drives, you will inevitably encounter some difficulties, 'external hard drive doesn't appear in My Computer' and 'files not shown in external hard drive'. I have laid my emphasis on the second issue in this post.
Then, how can you make this external hard drive work again? This article will help you to find an external hard drive that is not showing up in Mac Disk Utility easily.
Why is an external hard drive not showing up in Disk Utility?
External hard drive not showing up in Disk Utility will cause panic, because Disk Utility is a built-in disk management program for Mac computers. All connected drives should be listed in Disk Utility. Then users can verify, check, repair, erase, partition, rename, encrypt, and unmount volumes and drives there.
Then why this time your external hard drive is not showing up there? If you have known how Mac recognizes an external hard drive, it would be easier to understand. Open dmg windows 7.
But to make it more simple for you, we list some common reasons for this issue.
Malfunctioned USB port
External hard drives won't show up in Disk Utility when the USB port is loose or dusty. Also, you need to know that not all the USB ports are the same. For example, The Canon Micro USB port looks like the standard ones. But some standard external hard drives can only be plugged in without work ability.
Mac operating system is busy
You may have improperly ejected a storage device last time. Consequently, another external hard drive connected to the same USB port can't be recognized. It's because your Mac is busy in dealing with the former device.
Faulty USB cable or external hard disk enclosure
Some external hard drives are wrapped in hard drive case. Similarly, some SD cards, CF cards and other memory cards are accessed by card readers. So you can open those removable drives on Mac via USB cables. However, once these hardware devices are broken, the external hard drive will not show up in Disk Utility due to the lack of power and data supply.
Microsoft excel price. USB-C adapter problems
It matters if your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air only has USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) ports. You need to use a USB-C to USB adapter to connect iOS devices, external hard drives, and many of your standard USB accessories to your Mac. But a wrong USB-C cable or adapter would be unstable and affect data transfer. That might be the reason why your external hard drive unmount, grayed out, or even disappear in Disk Utility. Sometimes, the external hard drive would also keep disconnecting and reconnecting on your Mac.
Some other causes for external hard drive not showing up in Disk Utility
- Incompatible Thunderbolt port
- The external hard drive partition or file system got corrupted due to bad sectors.
- Virus infection.
- Malfunction of your Mac computer.
- Any of the program associated with the external hard drive doesn't work properly.
- Circuit failure.
- Physical breakdown in any part of the external hard drive.
Many problems appear so randomly that you cannot point out the specific reason. Fortunately, there are ways of getting the external hard drive showing up again. Let's go into some of them right now.
Notice: If your external hard drive contains massive important data, you had better recover all needed data before taking any solution. It's because any mistaken operation will result in data loss permanently. How to recover lost data from external hard drive on Mac is recommended here.
10 solutions to fix/repair an external hard drive not showing up in Disk Utility
At first, let's take a look at this example from discussions.apple.com:
Lacie Hard Drive Not Recognized
I have been using my WD Elements hard drive for about 2 years and it always worked just fine. But when I plugged it into my MacBook Pro to back up today, it won't show up. The external drive doesn't mount, nor listed in Disk Utility. But the hard drive itself is still spinning and lighting up as usual. Any one have any idea?
What should you do if you are one of them?
Here are 10 feasible solutions that you can try to fix this issue:
- 1. Manually show external hard drive in Disk Utility
- 2. Reboot your Mac computer to recognize the external drive again
- 3. Check the external hard drive in System Information
- 4. Reset USB ports of your Mac
- 5. Check for hardware and software updates
- 6. Run a virus cleaner software
- 7. Run Mac diagnostics to detect hardware issues
- 8. Reset your Mac's NVRAM or PRAM
- 9. Reset the SMC on your Mac
- 10. Ask for help from local technicians or data recovery services
Solution 1: Manually show external hard drive in Disk Utility
External hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility? You can check if you can see the 'External' option at the left sidebar. If so, you can try these steps to manually show it up.
- 1. Open Disk Utility after you connect the external hard drive to your Mac.
- 2. Move your mouse and put it on the 'External' option. You will see the 'Show' option. Then you can simply click on it.
- 3. Check if you can see the external hard drive in Disk Utility again.
Lacie External Hard Drive Driver
Solution 2: Reboot your Mac computer
Sometimes, it might be some data damage to your Mac system. Hopefully, this problem can be easily fixed by restarting. Rebooting will refresh your macOS's tasks. You can choose the Apple menu > Restart. Or you can press and hold the power button and, when a dialog box appears, click the Restart or press R.
Solution 3: Check the external hard drive in System Information
You connect an external hard drive to a Mac computer but it is not showing up in Disk Utility. And it won't appear even after a re-startup. Where else you can find this external hard drive then? Probably, you should check it in System information. System information is where you can find all information of external devices, the software, hardware, and network on your Mac.
- 1. Go to Applications > Utilities > System Information.
- 2. Click 'USB' on the left panel, and check the external hard drive information.
- If you see the external hard drive there but it is not showing up in Disk Utility, the hard drive may be under repair by macOS. Go and check it the Activity Monitor.
- 3. Click the Launchpad and find the Other folder. Then you will see Activity Monitor there.
- 4. Open this tool and check if there any process named 'fsck_hfs' or something similar. (If your external hard drive is exFAT formatted, then it should be 'fsck_exfat'.)
- 5. Select that task and click the 'Force a process to quit' button at the upper left to stop it. and Then the external hard drive should show up on the desktop of your Mac. And you can run First Aid in Disk Utility manually if you doubt any disk error.
Solution 4: Reset USB ports on Mac
If you don't see your external hard drive in Disk Utility still, you have to try a different cable and USB port. Besides, try an externally powered USB hub or power supply for the drive to see if the external hard drive can show up in Disk Utility.
Necessarily, you can refresh the USB ports and see if your external hard drive is detected by Disk Utility.
- 1. Restart Mac computer, press the Command +Option+P+R keys until the Apple logo appears.
- 2. Press Command+Option+Esc keys to close all applications that are not responding.
- 3. Plug the USB which is not showing up to your Mac computer. If it doesn't show up, click Apple icon and select 'Sleep'.
- 4. Wake up the computer after a few seconds by pressing any key.
- 5. Shut down the Mac, unplug the power cord, reattach it after 15 seconds.
Solution 5: Check for hardware and software updates
The outdated firmware and software results in various hardware issues. For instance, external hard drives won't work on Mac because of incompatible USB driver. You need to check for system updates by opening the App Store and clicking on the Update tab. If there are firmware and macOS software updates available, install them onto the Mac.
Solution 6: Run a virus cleaner software
Another major problem is virus infection, which will cause data corruption on the drive. You can try an anti-virus software to wipe out and remove any virus, malware or Trojan from your Mac computer and hard disk. Then check if the external hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility or not.
Solution 7: Run Mac diagnostics to detect hardware issues
Can't see the external hard drive in Disk Utility still? You can try Apple Service Diagnostic. It is a set of diagnostic tools used by technicians to find faults. You can use it to isolate a possible hardware issue on your Mac. It also suggests solutions and helps you contact Apple Support for assistance.
- 1. It is advised to disconnect all the external devices except keyboard, mouse and other useful devices.
- 2. Reboot your Mac or you can power on your Mac if is power off.
- 3. Press and hold D button on your keyboard. Hold the button until you would be asked to choose language.
- 4. After selecting your language, it will display a progress bar stating 'checking your mac'.
- 5. After completing the diagnostics, it will suggest you the solutions for the errors diagnosed.
Solution 8: Reset your Mac's NVRAM or PRAM
NVRAM is a small amount of memory on your Mac. It saves specific data regardless if the Mac is powered on or off. If you experience issues related to hardware, resetting NVRAM might help. PRAM stores similar information and the steps for resetting NVRAM and PRAM are the same.
- 1. Shut down or Reboot your Mac.
- 2. Immediately press these four keys in a sequence i.e. command, option, P and R.
- 3. Hold the keys for at least 20 seconds and after you hear the second chime, release the buttons.
- 4. After releasing the keys, your Mac will restart and hopefully your drive will show up.
Solution 9: Reset the SMC on your Mac
If you have reset the NVRAM or PRAM, you've done it all. But what if your external hard drive is still behaving strangely? In certain circumstances, resetting SMC can be a solution. SMC, short for System Management Controller, is responsible for lower-level functions on Intel-based Mac computers. Resetting it can solve particular power and hardware related troubles.
Reset SMC on modern Mac laptops with an internal non-removable battery:
This is how to reset SMC of a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro Retina, or MacBook Pro's with an internal non-removable battery:
- 1. Shutdown your MacBook Air/MacBook Pro.
- 2. Connect the power adapter to the Mac.
- 3. After your Mac shuts down, press Shift + Control + Option key combinations, then press the power button at the same time. Hold these keys and the power button for 10 seconds.
- 4. Release all keys and the power button at the same time.
- 5. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.
The boot time after resetting a machines SMC can be a bit longer than usual, that is normal.
Solution 10: Ask for help from local technicians
If unfortunately, your external hard drive has some serious hardware problems, no software can help you fix external hard drive not showing up in Disk Utility. The only solution is to send it to a local data recovery service or replace it with a new one.
This is a comprehensive guide to fix external hard drive not showing up/recognized/detected on Mac issue. Troubleshoot this drive problem and now read more >>
How to recover lost data from corrupted external hard drives on Mac?
Hopefully, the external hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility after you try the solutions above. But sometimes, you still can't access the external hard drive if it is corrupted or unmounted in Disk Utility. The external hard drive might be corrupted due to file system corruption or partition table lost.
In this situation, all data on the external hard drive is so dangerous. It's high time to try lost data from the corrupted external hard drive.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is a free and professional data recovery software that recovers data from broken/corrupted external hard drives, hard disks, USB flash drives, SD cards, memory cards, etc. Even when your external hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility or detected by Mac computers, this software may be possible to recognize the drive and get lost data back.
It is compatible with macOS Big Sur 11/10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7.
Besides, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac also recovers data from formatted external hard drives, recovers data from Mac that external hard drive is not mounting, recovers data from inaccessible external hard drives,recovers data from corrupted external hard drives, and recovers files deleted or lost from external hard drives, recover lost data when Mac computer won't boot/turn on, etc.
Simple steps to recover lost data from a corrupted external hard drive:
- 1. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on your Mac computer.
- 2. Correctly connect your external hard drive to your Mac and launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac. Check if the external hard drive is showing up in the software. If you can see the corrupted external hard drive here, click the 'Scan' button to let the software search for lost data on the selected drive.
- 3. After a quick scan, all files will be presented in the left panel in the scanning results. You can preview the searching results to check if your files are in good condition. If so, you can choose files you need, and click 'Recover' to get them back.
- 4. Have a check to ensure you have got all lost data back.
Disk Utility is a program that users can directly manage internal and external hard drives on Mac. That's to say, all connected drives should be listed and showing up here.
Note: If a hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility, it means macOS fails to recognize the external hard drive, nor read and access files on it. Technically, Mac can't build a visible hard drive for users.
Conclusion
When an external hard drive is not detected/showing up in Disk Utility on Mac, most people would think this drive is dying. Free sonic boom game. But indeed, you can find this hard drive some elsewhere of your Mac, and then verify and repair this external hard drive.
If your external hard drive is corrupted and won't show up on Mac normally, it might be corrupted or even dead. The most important thing is your important data on the drive. You can send it to a local data recovery service and get your files back.
Hope you have solved the external hard drive not showing up in Mac Disk Utility issue successfully.
Abruptly unplugging an external USB hard drive without safely ejecting will easily cause serious problems, such as the external hard drive not recognized anymore or hard drive becomes inaccessible after unplugging. In this post, you can find the best solutions to solve the unreadable, unrecognized or inaccessible hard drive issues with detailed troubleshooting steps, and also the data recovery solution to export data from an external hard drive that you cannot access right now after unplugging.
Solution: Reformat the corrupted external hard drive
If Disk Management fails to fixexternal hard drivenot recognized afteraccidental unpluggingonWindows, the last choice is to reformat the corruptedexternal hard drive. But reformatting will clean all data stored on theexternal hard drive. Here recommend you the EaseUS hard drive recovery software.
This post offers help for people who unplugged an external hard drive but later find that the drive is no longer recognized or detected by Windows, or Windows can still read the hard drive but asks you to format the disk before you can use it.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Fix 1. Temporarily show up |
|
Fix 2. Recover data from hard drive | When the hard drive is showing up again on your computer, download EaseUS hard drive recovery software.Full steps |
Fix 3. Permanently fix the problem | You can make changes in the Registry to make your external hard drive appear properly.Full steps |
Nzbvortex 3 3 6 download free. No matter which case could happen to you after inappropriately pulling a frequently used external hard drive out of the computer, it's not expected by us all. Usually, abruptly unplugging an external USB hard drive without safely ejecting will easily cause serious problems, such as the external hard drive not recognized anymore or hard drive becomes inaccessible after unplugging. On this page, you can find the best solutions to solve the unreadable, unrecognized or inaccessible hard drive issues with detailed troubleshooting steps, and also the data recovery solution to export data from an external hard drive that you cannot access right now after unplugging.
Lacie Hard Drive Not Working
How to temporarily show up the external hard drive
It's because the upcoming two methods to make Windows detect your removable hard disk again is not 100% working for Windows recognizing the drive the next time you unplugged the drive and plug it again into the computer. You can take it as a temporary fix, for the purpose of extracting important data from there.
Method 1. Assign a drive letter to the drive
- 1. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on your Mac computer.
- 2. Correctly connect your external hard drive to your Mac and launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac. Check if the external hard drive is showing up in the software. If you can see the corrupted external hard drive here, click the 'Scan' button to let the software search for lost data on the selected drive.
- 3. After a quick scan, all files will be presented in the left panel in the scanning results. You can preview the searching results to check if your files are in good condition. If so, you can choose files you need, and click 'Recover' to get them back.
- 4. Have a check to ensure you have got all lost data back.
Disk Utility is a program that users can directly manage internal and external hard drives on Mac. That's to say, all connected drives should be listed and showing up here.
Note: If a hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility, it means macOS fails to recognize the external hard drive, nor read and access files on it. Technically, Mac can't build a visible hard drive for users.
Conclusion
When an external hard drive is not detected/showing up in Disk Utility on Mac, most people would think this drive is dying. Free sonic boom game. But indeed, you can find this hard drive some elsewhere of your Mac, and then verify and repair this external hard drive.
If your external hard drive is corrupted and won't show up on Mac normally, it might be corrupted or even dead. The most important thing is your important data on the drive. You can send it to a local data recovery service and get your files back.
Hope you have solved the external hard drive not showing up in Mac Disk Utility issue successfully.
Abruptly unplugging an external USB hard drive without safely ejecting will easily cause serious problems, such as the external hard drive not recognized anymore or hard drive becomes inaccessible after unplugging. In this post, you can find the best solutions to solve the unreadable, unrecognized or inaccessible hard drive issues with detailed troubleshooting steps, and also the data recovery solution to export data from an external hard drive that you cannot access right now after unplugging.
Solution: Reformat the corrupted external hard drive
If Disk Management fails to fixexternal hard drivenot recognized afteraccidental unpluggingonWindows, the last choice is to reformat the corruptedexternal hard drive. But reformatting will clean all data stored on theexternal hard drive. Here recommend you the EaseUS hard drive recovery software.
This post offers help for people who unplugged an external hard drive but later find that the drive is no longer recognized or detected by Windows, or Windows can still read the hard drive but asks you to format the disk before you can use it.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Fix 1. Temporarily show up |
|
Fix 2. Recover data from hard drive | When the hard drive is showing up again on your computer, download EaseUS hard drive recovery software.Full steps |
Fix 3. Permanently fix the problem | You can make changes in the Registry to make your external hard drive appear properly.Full steps |
Nzbvortex 3 3 6 download free. No matter which case could happen to you after inappropriately pulling a frequently used external hard drive out of the computer, it's not expected by us all. Usually, abruptly unplugging an external USB hard drive without safely ejecting will easily cause serious problems, such as the external hard drive not recognized anymore or hard drive becomes inaccessible after unplugging. On this page, you can find the best solutions to solve the unreadable, unrecognized or inaccessible hard drive issues with detailed troubleshooting steps, and also the data recovery solution to export data from an external hard drive that you cannot access right now after unplugging.
Lacie Hard Drive Not Working
How to temporarily show up the external hard drive
It's because the upcoming two methods to make Windows detect your removable hard disk again is not 100% working for Windows recognizing the drive the next time you unplugged the drive and plug it again into the computer. You can take it as a temporary fix, for the purpose of extracting important data from there.
Method 1. Assign a drive letter to the drive
First of all, check if the drive is visible in the Disk Management or Device Manager.
To access the Disk Management: hit Start, in the run box, type diskmgmt.msc and hit Enter.
To access the Device Manager: hit Start, in the run box, type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter.
Good luck if the external hard drive is there. All you have to do to make it appear on your computer, follow the guide below.
Step 1. In the Disk Management, right-click the external hard drive (it shall be displayed as 'unallocated' state), and select 'Change Drive Letter and Paths' from the menu.
Step 2. Choose a drive letter that has been not used for the current drive, such as E, F, G. and click OK to save the change.
Method 2. Update or reinstall drivers
Step 1. Open Device Manager > Expand Universal Serial USB controllers.
Windows 8 winrar 64 bit. Step 2. Locate and right-click on the external drive and select Update Driver Software.
Step 3. Select Search automatically for updated driver software and Windows will help you update the latest drivers automatically.
How to recover data from the external hard drive
As soon as the hard drive is showing up again on your computer, go directly to download EaseUS hard drive recovery software to export data from the hard drive to another safe location. Since the hard drive may have developed bad sectors or some other hardware issues after accidentally unplugging, you're recommended to do data recovery instead of data backup at this moment.
Step 1. Choose the external hard drive
Since you're going to recover data from the external hard drive, run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and under the External Devices tab, choose the exact drive where you lost data. Click Scan.
Step 2. Scan for lost data
The software will start immediately to scan all over the selected drive for all lost data. During the scan, you could see more and more data showing up in the results.
Step 3. Preview and recover data
After the scan is over, check the scan results for the desired data. You can preview the file by double-clicking on it. Click Recover and choose another location to save the recovered data.
How to permanently fix the hard drive not recognized error after unplugging?
Welcome to the final part of troubleshooting an unrecognized external hard drive after unplugging due to improper removal from the computer. According to the feedbacks of people who were caught up in the same situation, by making changes in the Registry will help make your external hard drive appear properly on your computer and permanently solve the non-detection problem.
Step 1. Hit Start, type regedt32 and click OK.
Step 2. Backup your registry by going to file > export.
Step 3. On the left side, go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlClass{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
Step 4. If you see any upper filter or lower filters at the right side, delete them.
People Also Ask
1. How to fix external hard drive not recognized after unplugging on Mac?
Iconjar 1 10 1 download free. Chances are that frequently unplugging an external hard drive without properly ejecting will cause hard drive corruption, as a consequence, not recognized the next time you plugged it in the Mac. When a Mac drive isn't showing up as normal, try to change a connection cable or a USB port, and reboot your Mac for several times.
2. Why is my external hard drive not detected?
Most of the cases of an external hard drive being not detected by Windows, it's the fault of human errors or software/hardware corruption. When you cannot find the connected hard drive in Windows Explorer, try to verify if Disk Management can locate the hard drive and display it there. See how to fix external hard drive not detected.
3. Is it bad to unplug hard drive without ejecting?
Many people would argue that they didn't receive bad results as they always directly unplug a connected hard drive, USB flash drive or SD card from their computer. Surely, sometimes abruptly unplugging a drive without ejecting would not show some bad symptoms, but it's all about time. The more frequently you did that improper thing, the more likely your hard drive will get corrupted and damaged in the future.
4. How do I format my hard drive that doesn't show up?
To format a hard drive that is not showing up, you should try to locate the drive in Windows Disk Management.
- In Windows 10. go to This PC - Manage - Disk Management
- In Windows 7, go to My Computer - Manage - Disk Management
Right-click on the hard drive partition and choose Format., follow the format wizard to complete the formatting process.