external hard drive not showing up mac disk utility

The external drive should mount automatically if it’s repaired. Step 4: Wait for the process to complete. Step 3: Now, click on the First Aid tab from the top pane and click on Run. Step 2: If the external drive you want to connect is listed in gray, click on it. Disk Utility’s First Aid feature helps in mounting the unrecognized external drive. Disk Utility is an in-built tool provided by Apple to fix such things. Sometimes, the file system of the external drive may be damaged. Repair the External Drive Using Disk Utility Now press the Power button again to turn on your Mac, which would take a little time. After 7 seconds, press and hold the Power button. To reset SMC, press and hold Control + Option + Shift on your keyboard for about 7 seconds. In certain circumstances, resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) might also prove to be useful. The action will reset both the NVRAM and PRAM. Before you hear Mac’s startup sound, simply press and hold Option + Command + P + R on your keyboard for about 20 seconds. Resetting NVRAM might prove to be helpful to get your Mac to recognize the external drives.

This small storage saves the settings of your computer while power is turned off. Resetting NVRAM is an effective way of troubleshooting your Mac. Step 3: Your Mac should automatically check for an update. Step 1: Go to the Apple menu and click on About This Mac. Sometimes, the issue can be related to the cache of the Finder, and updating the macOS resets the cache and might fix your connectivity problem. Try updating to the latest version of macOS, and see if the issue is fixed. Step 4: Make Hard disks and External disks options are enabled under the Show these items in the sidebar setting. Step 3: Now, click on the third tab, Sidebar. Step 2: Under the Show these items on the desktop, make sure the Hard disks and External disks options are enabled.

Step 1: Go to Finder, and on the top left, click on Preferences.

You can enable the Finder to detect the external drives, by following these steps: One of the reasons your Mac might not display your external drive is the Finder’s settings. If it does, it should show up something like this. Then, in the left window pane, under the hardware sub-section, click on USB and check if it detects the external hard disk. Click the Apple icon on the top left, and select About This Mac, and then click on System Report. You can check if the USB port of your Mac is faulty by going into System Report. You may try to attach other drives or computer peripherals to check if the dongle is working or not. Newer Apple MacBooks come with USB Type-C ports, which require a dongle to connect to the traditional USB-A external hard disks. You may also try to plug your external hard drive into another USB port. If the external drive isn’t connecting and is showing a problem, try to attach it to other laptops and see if it works. Double-check if your Mac’s USB port is working properly.

External hard drive not showing up mac disk utility