This problem has probably been asked thousands of times, but every time I read solutions in forums, I cannot find a single answer. My problem is my Acer laptop (Windows 10) isn't recognising a.
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. 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. However, sometimes, an external drive doesn't show up. It’s annoying, especially when you need to transfer something right then. 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. Corrupt data can be one reason your Mac won't recognize an external drive, but there are other reasons too. Let’s take a look why this is happening and how you can get an external drive to appear on your Mac and get recover data to access to your documents.
How to fix an external disk drive that won't show up on a Mac Why an external disk drive is not showing up? There could be a few reasons why an external hard or flash drive isn’t making an appearance. Start with the basics:. Check whether the drive is properly plugged in.
It sounds obvious, but since this relies on a wire - either a USB cable or HDMI cable - if it’s not connected properly then it won’t appear on your desktop. Faulty cable. Assuming it’s plugged in correctly, not wobbly or loose, the cable could be at fault. Try connecting the same device with a different cable. Damaged USB or flash drive port. It could be a hardware issue with the Mac.
If you’ve got another port, try connecting the device to that one. Reboot your Mac.
Sometimes, if a disk won't boot, the cause is macOS issue. Hopefully, some data damage that can be fixed by restarting. Choose the Apple menu Restart.
Or press and hold the power button and, when a dialog box appears, click the Restart or press R. Restarting your Mac essentially clears your macOS’s memory and starts it up fresh. Incorrectly formatted drive. Not every drive is optimized for Macs. It could be that you are trying to connect something only fit to interact with Windows devices.
If you’ve got a PC or laptop, it’s worth connecting and seeing if you can access the files through another device. The best way to look for an incorrectly formatted drive is to go to Apple (in the top toolbar menu) About This Mac Storage.
See if the external drive shows up here. For more information, go to the same menu option, then select System Report. Mac not formatted to display external drives on the desktop. It could be that your Mac already recognizes the device, but just isn’t showing its icon on the desktop screen. Even if that is the case, the drive will still appear in the left-hand column of the Finder menu under Devices. You should be able to access your drive that way, and, in the Finder menu under Preferences General, you can check External Drives to ensure that from now on it shows up on your desktop too. Reset NVRAM.
To do this, shut down or restart your Mac, switch it back on and immediately press these four keys together for at least 20 seconds: Option, Command, P, and R. It should look as though your Mac has started again; if it has, release the keys when you hear the second startup chime. Hopefully, the hard drive has shown up now. Check Apple’s Disk Utility to see if an external drive is showing up. Disk Utility is within System Preferences, or you can find it using Spotlight. If it is visible, then click the option to Mount, which should make it visible on the desktop and in the External Drives option in the Finder menu. In the Sidebar tab you can choose which folders and devices will be shown in the left-hand column of the Finder window.
Repair the failed external drives with First Aid If your drive is having problems, you can try to fix them yourself with First Aid and therefore get access to your files. First Aid tool will check the disk for errors and then attempt a repair as needed. It helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup HD and external drive problems. If you are able to fix the hard drive or SSD in your Mac (or a external drive) using Disk Utility you will hopefully be able to recover your files. To run Fist Aid on an external hard drive:.
Open Disk Utility. You can searching for it using Spotlight Search or via Finder Application Utility. Check on your external hard drive, click the First Aid tab and select Run to start running diagnostics. If First Aid successful in fixing errors, the external drive should be available to mount.
If the utility unable to repair issues, your drive truly broken or formatted using a file system that the Mac cannot read - in this way we suggest you follow the next steps to recover data from a damaged disk drive. How to recover data from a crashed hard drive Thankfully, there is an app for that. Is the world’s premier data recovery software for Mac OS X.
Powerful enough to retrieve long-lost, mistakenly deleted files from Macs, external hard drives and USB drives and camera cards. An easy way to recover lost files on an external hard drive Providing you already have version, which you can get automatically by downloading from Setapp:. Connect your drive to the Mac. Quit all other applications on the Mac, especially those that may be trying to access the external drive (e.g. IPhoto, Words).
Launch. Click on the external drive that you are trying to recover files from.
If it has partitions, you will see all of them. 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.
To avoid the external drive being accessed during the recovery process, click Extras next to the drive or drive partition or file, then select Remount Volume As Read Only. A padlock will appear, protecting the drive during the process. Now click Rebuild (or Recover) next to the file(s) you are trying to recover. Once the scan is finished - it may take some time if the files are large - a list of files will appeal.
Next, click Mount Found Items as Disk button on the bottom-left below the scan results. Disk Drill “strongly suggest saving the files to a different drive than the one you are trying to recover files from. Saving to the same drive substantially lowers your chances of recovery.”. 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.
Drag them to another location, such as your desktop or a folder on your Mac. Open the files to ensure they have been recovered properly and safely eject the external drive. Disk Drill does have other ways to recover lost files but assuming there aren’t complications, this method is the most effective. Disk Drill Pro recovery app is, along with dozens of Mac apps that will make your life easier. Never have to worry about a crashed or corrupted external drive again.
A few more tips on getting your files back. Macs and third-party apps that look after Macs, such as and come with a S.M.A.R.T. (also known as Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) status monitor.
If a SMART check reports errors, then it could mean the hard drive is at risk of failing completely. Within Disk Utility and Disk Drill, there are several solutions for this: Repair Disk Permissions and Repair Disk. If neither work, it’s recommended that you backup all of the data from the disk, erase, then run a SMART check again.
The external hard drive should show up as Verified. Partitions can get lost within hard drives, temporarily hiding all of the information contained within.
Disk Drill can help to identify and restore this information. 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., another useful app available from Setapp, can help you identify external hard drive errors and repair them. It is an essential tool worth trying when you’re having external hard drive difficulties. Alternative ways to recover data from an external hard drive. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) if your Mac shuts down when you plug in an external hard drive.
Then use a different port to connect the external hard drive. If you’ve got a battery that you can’t remove:. Shut down and unplug the power adapter. Press Shift-Control-Option and the power button at the same time.
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Do this for 10 seconds. Release all keys. Plug the power adapter back in and switch your Mac back on For Macs with removable batteries, you need to switch them off, remove the battery, then press and hold the power button for 5 seconds. After that, put the battery back in, plug in the power adapter and switch the power on again.
What’s your file format? One reason your Mac isn’t recognizing the hard drive is the file format. Windows uses NTFS file formats, while Macs, up until the introduction of Sierra, have used HFS+. Now, Apple has introduced the Apple File System (APFS) for newer operating systems. It is possible to format a hard drive so it can be read on Mac and Windows computers, providing you format using exFAT. 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.
Employ the handy all-powerful Terminal which always comes forward with solutions for difficult problems. Especially if System Information does recognize the USB or hard drive, but continues to hide it from you, disconnect the drive and try to find it using the Terminal, which you can find in Applications Utilities.
Since upgrading to Windows 10 I have had sporadic issues viewing the files from a WD My Book Live via file explorer. It historically has fixed itself when new Windows updates have installed but not since the last month. I've been onto WD who have suggested various things for me to try which I have but the drive can't connect and they suggested getting onto Microsoft which I did, got a reference number, called up to be transferred to a number that is out of service. Any help will be appreciated. The previous shortcuts always ask for credentials when I try to open which I input, which my laptop refuses.
The WD discovery software can see the drive but no option to map it, I can't map it any other way. I can view the drive via the online dashboard. WD believed it was to do with SMB settings and gave me some command prompts to try which didn't work. I have tried to make sure all discoveries are on, checked the firewall and anti-virus etc with no luck. The drive is up to date with firmware, the laptop is up to date. I think it is something to do with network settings but I'm not savvy with computers, I have tried a few things suggested online but still no luck. The drive seems to show in explorer as a workgroup and the icon is a computer icon?
The drive does show further down as a WD storage drive and when clicked it takes me to the online dashboard. Any help would be appreciated. Hi Andy, Have you tried this method? 1.Run CMD as administrator 2.Type sc.exe config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/nsi, hit Enter 3.Type sc.exe config mrxsmb20 start= disabled, hit Enter. 4.Restart computer. If this way doesn’t work, we may consider using registry.
Please be careful while working in the registry. Make sure you create a backup of Registry before you proceed. There is a case introduces how to create a registry to make it. In addition, we can also change another user account to see the result. 1.Create a new user on My Book Live (for example: 007) 2.Create a new local account on Windows 10 (same username:007) 3.Set this account to administrator If all above methods don’t work, I suggest to contact WD for assistance, they may give some suggestions or roll out update.
Best regards, Teemo Tang Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]. Hi Teemo Yes WD emailed me with details on the CMD commands and this did not work. I'm not that confident in changing settings that I don't understand and in the links you put in your reply I can't see any step by step instructions on how to back up and amend a registry which I've never done before. Can you please point me in the right direction? Also I have set up new users on my book live but how do I create a new local account on Windows 10 and set it as administrator?
Apologies for all of the questions but WD have already told me they can't help any further as it is a Windows issue so I am stuck for further support and will appreciate any help and suggestions to try as long as they are step by step instructions as I'm not confident changing settings that I won't know how to change back or understand what they are changing. Many thanks in advance Andy. Hi Andy, Sorry for late reply. About how to create a local account and set it as admin, let’s follow these steps to achieve it.
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Right click Start menu button and select Computer Management. Move to Local Users and Groups/Users, on the right side, right click any place and select New user. Right click this new user and select Properties, move to Member Of tab, add it into Administrators.
Please have a try. Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].
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