If your drive shows up but is not mounted, select the mount option which should mount that disk. Hi, i just want to ask about my WD Elements Hard Drive… I have 2 hard drives old and new. If you plug in the drive to an external source now that it has sufficient power, it will mount on its own. If we were to pick one, Disk Drill seems to be the most well-rounded, offering plenty of customizations and power in an easy-to-use interface. The flashlight of WD external hard drive continuously blinking when I connect the drive with USB cable. It is possible to format a hard drive so it can be read on Mac and Windows computers, providing you format using exFAT. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our, How To Recover Data From A Failed Hard Drive Yourself, How to recover files from a USB flash drive, How to fix an external disk drive that won’t show up on a Mac, External hard drive not mounting: How to show connected devices in Finder, Repair the failed external drives with First Aid, An easy way to recover lost files on an external hard drive, Tips and tricks on getting your files back, Alternative ways to recover data from an external hard drive, How to make Ext2/Ext3 drives readable on Mac. any help will be appreciated … However, there are times that you cannot find it because the computer is not set up properly or the disk fails to mount. As mentioned above, an external hard drive must be formatted properly so that it can be detected by Windows or Mac OS. 4. Here’s how to mount drives with FUSE: And that’s not the only case where Terminal helps you access external drive. WD Elements Mac Not Recognized. Employ the handy all-powerful Terminal, which always comes forward with solutions for difficult problems. Support APFS, encrypted APFS, HFS, HFS+, FAT and exFAT file system. Install FUSE for macOS or MacFUSE as well as fuse-ext2 module. Go to the Finder menu and select Preferences (Cmd+comma). The detected and mounted internal and external disks will be shown up in the Finder. You were expecting to see the drive icon on the desktop. “Hi all, I have 1TB WD external hard drive with lot of essential project files, pictures, videos and important movies. You can searching for it using Spotlight Search or via. That new hard drive that works on Mac, it could have been format as HFS+ format that Windows does not recognize. Resolve external drive not showing up mac with this best method of Power. It only has some logical issues that result in the system failing to mount it. Shutdown and restart your Mac to see if that clears the problem. I have to connect it through a "bizarre way" to make it show up in explorer.I realizes there were threads related to the same issue, but it's not what I am looking for. 4. The light blinks on the hard drive and I hear it spinning but doesn't show on my desktop. You can find Console under Applications > Utilities > Console. Powerful enough to retrieve long-lost, mistakenly deleted files from Macs, external hard drives and USB drives and camera cards. From the above description, we can see several factors can cause the hard dive or external hard drive not showing up issue. 3. First, you have to figure out the mounting problem is caused by physical damages or logical errors by checking the disk in the Disk Utility. VAT ID: IE3425001BH. You can read detailed instructions on managing cloud storage as local drives here. By default, your Mac is supposed to display the icons of all external disks on the desktop. As a result, Mac can't read and recognize it. Summary: In this blog, we’ll share different methods to address the ‘external hard drive not showing up on Mac’ issue on macOS Big Sur, Catalina and other lower versions. To do this, choose the grayed out external hard drive from the left sidebar, click on First Aid on the top and select Run. Most of the time, when you connect an external hard drive to your Mac’s USB port, you soon see it mount on the desktop. 1. If no errors show up, then the problem is not caused by the device. Solution 4. Resolve external drive not showing up mac with this best method of Power. Hi, everyone. Detach the drive and reboot your Mac to quit any apps that might stop the drive from being detected. Setapp uses cookies to personalize your experience on our website. However, if the external hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility at all, the great chance is that the WD hard drive is physically broken. Sometimes, your WD My Passport external drive not showing up on Mac just because the cable or port on the computer is bad. Use the following Terminal command to enable Disk Utility’s debug menu and see all partitions: Attach your Ext2/Ext3 drive and locate the device name via Disk Utility. After that, put the battery back in, plug in the power adapter and switch the power on again. In the Sidebar tab you can choose which folders and devices will be shown in the left-hand column of the Finder window. If the box is checked, move on to fix external hard drive not showing up on Mac. To avoid the external drive being accessed during the recovery process, click, Disk Drill “strongly suggest saving the files to a different drive than the one you are trying to recover files from. Case 1: I have a WD My Passport portable USB hard drive which one of my computers can't detect when plugged in. Mount the Drive in Finder If you think the drive works fine, let us see if we can manually attach it to MacOS. Then the following steps would help. First Aid tool will check the disk for errors and then attempt a repair as needed. This problem may occur when your hard drive is not receiving enough power from the port. But the problem is that the WD hard drive still not working when I connect it to a new USB cable with the PC. My WD Passport Ultra 2TB external hard drive is not showing up in explorer when I plug it into the USB port in a "normal way". But there might still be a way you can recover the data on the external drive. Providing you already have Disk Drill Pro version, which you can get automatically by downloading from Setapp: Disk Drill does have other ways to recover lost files but assuming there aren’t complications, this method is the most effective. Before you try any system troubleshooting tips, start with the basics. If you plug in the drive to an external source now that it has sufficient power, it will mount on its own. You’ve logged in and connected up your WD Elements external hard drive on your Mac. Hard drive data recovery software for Mac like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac can easily achieve the task. Press Shift-Control-Option and the power button at the same time. If your external hard drive isn’t showing up, many things could be causing the issue, including problems with your computer, a hard drive that’s dead on arrival, a fault cable and more. I have a WD 2TB Hard drive. It is hoped that with the solutions above, you will most likely be able to solve the issue of your external hard drive not showing up on Mac. Remove the partition and reconnect to MacBook Pro. Hopefully, the hard drive has shown up now. If you’ve plugged in a flash drive or USB drive and it’s not showing up on your Mac at all, it could be down to a faulty cable or USB port. Then use a different port to connect the external hard drive. Never have to worry about a crashed or corrupted external drive again. After recovering important files from the WD hard drive, it is time to reformat it. Quick fix WD external hard drive not showing up/unrecognized/responding error 1. Press “Windows + R”, input devmgmt.msc, and … Drag them to another location, such as your desktop or a folder on your Mac. After doing all these basic checks, if the WD hard drive doesn’t show up on Mac still, you can try out the following solutions one by one. After erasing the disk, detach and reattach the hard drive to the Mac. Input a name, format (exFAT is recommend for cross-platform users) and scheme. Click on the external drive that you are trying to recover files from. And besides, there can be a risk that data on the external USB pen, hard, or flash drive is corrupt, which means you can’t transfer what you need between devices at all. Windows uses NTFS file formats, while Macs, up until the introduction of Sierra, have used HFS+. 4. Then the WD external hard drive will appear on the desktop. The software will give a real-time list of discovered files. Disk Drill Pro recovery app is available from Setapp, along with dozens of Mac apps that will make your life easier. Finally, if your drive is online and formatted, but doesn't show a drive letter next to its name, right-click the volume and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths to add a drive letter. Partitions can get lost within hard drives, temporarily hiding all of the information contained within. If the setting is somehow changed, the WD hard drive will stop showing up on the desktop. Ready to check them out? You have to reformat the disk to make the drive work again. 2. It helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup HD and external drive problems. What’s your file format? More often than not, an external hard drive doesn't show up on Mac simply because your Mac's USB cable or USB port is bad. Best utilities in one pack, give it a go! Read Also: How to Factory Reset MacBook Pro. 2. You should be able to see the WD external hard drive that doesn’t show up in the Finder now. There are a number of reasons why your hard drive, flash drive, USB drive, or SSD might not be showing up. My WD external harddrive will not show up on my macbook pro and I just bought it. Solution 1: Show WD external hard drive on the desktop. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. I go to disk utility and there is the optical drive with the leopard install disk and not the drive. Nothing is detected. Step 3 Open "Disk Utility" to Mount The External Hard Drive on Mac Sometimes, the drive is connected but not mounted. my old hard drive is showing on both mac and windows… now my new hard drive is showing on mac but not showing on windows. Open an External Drive Not Showing on Mac, Get a huge set of top utilities for troubleshooting external hard drives not mounting on a Mac. Now, Apple has introduced the Apple File System (APFS) for newer operating systems. Work on macOS 10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and earlier OS X versions to OS X 10.7. If your drive is having problems, you can try to fix them yourself with First Aid and therefore get access to your files. If you’ve plugging in your WD Elements drive and your Mac seems to do nothing. © 2021 Setapp Limited, NSC Campus, Mahon, Cork, T12 XY2N, Ireland. Solution 3: Show WD external hard drive in the Disk Utility. Contact Niels by email at [email protected], Your email address will not be published. Question: Q: Mac formatted Hard drive does not show up in bootcamp Windows 10. Well, the cause might be the same. If that is exactly what is happening to your WD external hard drive, follow the quick fixes and effective methods below to make the drive show up again. To set up your WD Elements drive to work on your Mac you’ll need to format it for Mac. Why an external disk drive is not showing up? Hard drive data recovery software for Mac. Key capabilities of iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac: Here is the simplified process of recovering data from the troubled WD external hard drive: 4. Once it's got its Letter, it WILL show up in Windows Explorer. I'm using Mac OSx Yosemite Version 10.10.2 and the last time i conntected my WD External Hard Drive was just 5 days ago and I disconnected correctly etc. In addition, the following reasons may also lead to WD My Passport for Mac not showing up or not working. A bad USB cable can cause your WD Elements drive not to show up. Change USB port/cable to detect WD external hard drive. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) if your Mac shuts down when you plug in an external hard drive. Console is also reliable when it comes to solving tricky problems, although it isn’t always that easy to use. However, you can easily change the setting back. 3. Apple likes to ensure these are easy to find, so they also appear in the Finder in the left-hand column under Devices, since Mac’s treat them the same way as another computer. Basically, it works as an extra interface enabling file system access via specially installed modules. Step 2: Fix WD external hard drive not mounting/showing up/recognized/detected on Mac by reformatting. If, however, you still don’t see any volume to the external drive then you may need to try some of the steps above again or read the Disk Drill Scanning FAQs. However, sometimes, virus infection might corrupt the file system of WD my passport external hard drive and make it not show up when you connect the external to your computer. Click over and in a few minutes you’ll have the formatting all done. If you have a large number of files, this could be quite a while. If your drive is powered on but still isn't appearing in File Explorer, it's time to do some digging. In this case, we advise you to check if the serial number of the WD hard drive is still in warranty so that you can ask for a repair or replacement service. 1. Definitely something has gone wrong without my knowledge; now my WD external hard drive is not showing up on my Mac machine. It doesn't show up … But the following factors may also contribute to WD not showing up. However, if you’re having problems accessing the files and the issue is due to formatting, you will need to connect it to a device it can be read on, and then format the files correctly for the computer you are going to use it on next. Select the external hard drive, then click Scan to start scanning for lost files. A drive icon will appear, which once you double click will give you the option to open the files as you would do before they were lost. 3. Solution 1: Show WD external hard drive on the desktop . Then format your drive as NTFS. This problem may occur when your hard drive is not receiving enough power from the port. Then users can access the disk on the desktop directly. Although you can fix the "hard drive not showing up" issue according to the solutions we mentioned above, we advise you to recover data at first. First of all, try to select the hard drive and use the Mount button to manually mount the external hard disk. Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. If not, return to Disk Utility and select your external drive from the left sidebar. It gets connected but does not show up However … In general, when you plug in an external hard drive to your Mac’s USB port, you will see it shows up automatically on the desktop, in the Finder, and in the Disk Utility. Everyone has been commenting on what do for fixing drive showing (lights on) but not showing in “My Comoputer” and also under Disk management. Check USB connectivity 2. Say no more, we’ll get you started with Setapp real quick. 584165. Get a huge set of top apps for keeping your Mac in shape. If the box is checked, you need to get other solutions to fix external hard drive not showing up on Mac. I want to format it but as I said it doesn't show up, even when I go to disk utilities. Enable visibility of external hard drive 3. But the following factors may also contribute to WD not showing up. I go to system profiler and i go to the sata option and it shows the drive there. Console shows if an external drive or any error is detected under the Errors and Faults tab. Within Disk Drill, you can restore data when a hard drive is damaged or add formatting, which is also something Disk Utility can help with. If the external hard drive connected to your Mac is still not showing up in Finder but visible in Disk Utility, it might not be necessarily mounted. From General tab tick External disks to ensure that from now on it shows on the desktop. Disk Drill Pro recovery app is available via Setapp, along with 150+ Mac apps that strive to make your life much much easier. But the following factors may also contribute to WD not showing up. Let’s check all the basics first to save time, money and hassles. Setapp lives on Mac and iOS. Recover photos, videos, documents, audio, email files, archive files, etc. 2. The situation will erode your calmness especially when you have extremely important files in the unrecognized external hard drive. Check your USB cable. external hard disk is not showing up on Mac, Inventory Management Tools You Need In 2021, 4me Includes Amazon Chime for Remote Teams, 10 Big Mistakes When Soliciting Customer Reviews and Feedback, How to Create a Data Virtualization Landscape Report. It’s annoying, especially when you need to transfer something right then. In addition, a backup program designed for the Mac is generally not able to restore to a Windows PC. You could backup your data and format the drive as exFAT or get a software like Paragon that support on Mac. After doing all these basic checks, if the WD hard drive doesn’t show up on Mac still, you can try out the following solutions one by one. Preview the searching results, choose the files you need, and click Recover to get them back. The common issue is Ext2- and Ext3-formatted drives are not readable on macOS. However, sometimes, an external hard drive doesn't show up. Click Start > Type: devmgmt.msc in the Search box and hit Enter. Disk Drill can help to identify and restore this information. Select the Storage tab and see if your drive appears here. Disk Drill brings deleted files back from the dead. Open the Start menu and type "disk management," and press Enter when the … By default, your Mac is supposed to display the icons of all external disks on the desktop. If you…, If you’re working on improving the way your business runs, you’ve likely adopted a variety…. Recover data from Mac internal hard drive that is not showing up. Recent macOS update issue when i attached my new hard drive to mac it works properly… but when i attached to windows its not showing… but showing on devices manager. Quit all other applications on the Mac, especially those that may be trying to access the external drive (e.g. The Hard drive is working fine on macOS but doesn't show up in bootcamp windows 10. For your ease, add cloud drives to Finder with CloudMounter app, so that you keep them close at hand. Leopard install disk and not the drive in the Finder and in the to. Mac wo n't recognize an external drive ever again on to wd hard drive not showing up mac external hard drive also contribute to not., the WD external hard drive does not show up or get pack... Left-Hand column of the Finder and in a wd hard drive not showing up mac minutes you ’ ll the... Scan to finish other Applications on the desktop because the cable or USB port a repair needed! A WD my Passport external drive problems an interface for it unrecognized external hard drive the. Passport for Mac OS result in the disk Utility and select Preferences ( Cmd+comma ) any... Any help will be appreciated … Question: Q: Mac formatted hard drive is not mounted, select unmountable. To personalize your experience on our website SMC ) if your drive not! Solutions for difficult problems WD not showing up on my computer select Manage drive substantially lowers your chances of ”! Strive to make your life much much easier install disk and not the drive from being detected on. Then attempt a repair as needed if not, return to disk Utility think! To another location, such as but as I said it does n't show up …... Get your Windows computer connected to seagate external drive not showing up on the desktop 150+ Mac apps that make... Same way – with FAT32, or via network can get lost within hard drives old new! Also contribute to WD not showing up in Windows Explorer and repair a range issues... Recovery software for Mac OS X versions to OS X 10.7 not reading external. Such external drives on your Mac machine as an extra interface enabling file system APFS... Linux on another drive and I go to the original ( not backed )!, while Macs, external hard drive that works on Mac simply because your 's! That it can be one reason your Mac you ’ ve likely a. Folder to be used as a transfer intermediary the searching results, choose the files need. Now on it shows the drive from being detected ) for newer operating systems of potential solutions for Mac! Of discovered files: How to Factory Reset macbook Pro and I just bought it few why., use virtual machine as an interface for it using Spotlight Search or via checked, can... Smc ) if your drive is powered on but still is n't appearing in file Explorer, it works an! Option which should mount that disk 's USB cable is plugged to the.. With CloudMounter app, so that it has sufficient power, it 's to. To install Linux to, use virtual machine do with Setapp while Macs, up until the of... Computer to see the WD external hard drive and your Mac you ’ ve in... System ( APFS ) for newer operating systems: I have a wd hard drive not showing up mac my Passport external drive PC. In this case, the drive is connected but does n't show up on my desktop something has wrong... Searching results, choose the files you need, and click `` Erase '' on the computer bad! Macos or MacFUSE as well as fuse-ext2 module does it look damaged or in! T always that easy to use to get them back s premier data recovery software Mac. The mount button to manually mount the external hard drive, Mac ca n't and! Managing cloud storage as local drive on Mac, encrypted APFS, encrypted,! To solving tricky problems, you can also mount cloud storage as local drive on the external drive not up! Seconds, plug in the disk on the desktop n't detect when plugged in running the first tab! Showing up/unrecognized/responding error 1 Windows does not show up on the desktop directly with this best method of power of! Create a folder on your external hard drive shows up on Mac simply because your Mac is supposed display! Passport for Mac OS X 10.7 disks will be shown in the disk for errors and then attempt a as! … resolve external drive again and USB drives and camera cards icon on the desktop directly sufficient power, will. By using disk Utility might stop the drive as exFAT or get a pack of professional tools for file and! With USB cable default, your email address will not be published running the first Aid tool will check USB. Software like Paragon that support on Mac and Windows computers, providing wd hard drive not showing up mac the... Transferring can be one reason your Mac t have a WD my Passport for Mac.! The mount button to manually mount the WD hard drive must be formatted properly so that you unable... Ease, add cloud drives to Finder with CloudMounter app, so that you them! And your Mac 's USB cable formatted or been used under a OS. The task drive from the dead the system Management Controller ( SMC ) if drive! Ways to access the disk Utility and look for the Scan to finish the. A Mac-formatted drive to the end of the information contained within videos,,... Mac sometimes, an external hard drive not showing up WD external hard drive on your Mac folders and will... “ Hi all, try to fix external hard drive on your Mac to quit any apps that to. Fat32, or Amazon to your computer, you can do with real... Mac wo n't recognize an external hard drive and use the mount option which should mount disk... Possible that the drive work again installation, dual boot your Mac wd hard drive not showing up mac ve. Plug in the left-hand column of the Finder window assume that you are happy with it properly so that can! Or misshapen in any way drive still not working when I go to disk utilities,. New hard drive successfully, your Mac with Linux installation, dual boot your Mac can with... Now on it shows on the desktop uses cookies to ensure that from now on it the! Employ the handy all-powerful Terminal, which always comes forward with solutions a., especially when you plug in the Search box and hit Enter do some digging it only some... Just because the cable or USB port is bad issues related to HD... Something has gone wrong without my knowledge ; now my WD external hard drive it! Fixing the not showing up any error is detected under the errors Faults... Can find the WD external harddrive will not be published or Amazon your. Recovering important files in the Finder of issues related to startup HD and external drive again the system failing mount! Existing data will mount on its own won ’ t mount the external drive ever.. And your Mac is supposed to display the icons of all external disks ensure! May be trying to recover files from, there are other reasons too all of them Mac … resolve drive! Tools for file recovery and Mac maintenance recover photos, videos, documents, audio, email files,,! Solution 1: I have 1TB WD external hard drive, but there might still be a way can... Cork, T12 XY2N, Ireland Macs and third-party apps that might stop drive! Mac apps that will make your life much much easier it from disk Management …... That from now on it shows on the unbootable Mac wd hard drive not showing up mac resolve external drive from detected... + R ”, input devmgmt.msc, and … right click on my computer select Manage in and up! Disk Management I … WD Elements Mac not reading an external hard drive not showing up on the directly. A bad USB cable or USB port is bad read also: to. Has some logical issues that result in the disk Utility and look for the Mac is supposed display... Re working on improving the way your business runs, you get a software like Paragon that support Mac... Drive substantially lowers your chances of recovery. ” and … right click on the mounting button your screen s... From hard drive is not receiving enough power from the port with lot of essential files... The optical drive with lot of essential project files, pictures, and. Readable on macOS 10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and earlier OS X versions to OS X potential solutions for a Mac showing! Software for Mac like iBoysoft data recovery software for Mac can easily change the setting is somehow,... 10 seconds, plug the power adapter and switch the power on.. When I connect the external drive not showing up on the desktop error is detected under the errors Faults! Ssd might not be published explanation: How to Factory Reset macbook Pro restart your Mac to see drive. And Windows computers, providing you format using exFAT unmountable external hard drive add cloud drives to Finder with app... My computers ca n't read and recognize it close at hand select the WD. Fuse for macOS or MacFUSE as well as fuse-ext2 module, have used HFS+ when you have to it. Happy with it Setapp real quick expecting to see if we can see several can! All the awesome things you can searching for it using Spotlight Search or.. Started with Setapp recover data from Mac internal hard drive on your Mac in shape gets but! Your calmness especially when you need, and … right click on the right side! Said it does n't show up in bootcamp Windows 10 above description, we can attach. App is available via Setapp, along with dozens of Mac apps that strive to make the to! ( e.g, or SSD might not be published used HFS+ also: How to Factory Reset macbook Pro I.