How to Fix an External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on Mac
External drives, whether they are traditional hard disk drives or more modern external solid-state drives, are a great convenience for every home user, allowing them to keep large amounts of photos and video files, as well as other large media files in a convenient location, without the need for an excessively large internal disk drive.
However, just like with any peripheral, you may run into issues with external drives as well.
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Why is my drive not showing up?
There are a large number of reasons why an external drive would not display properly inside your Mac's Finder. However, the better part of those are very mundane and pedestrian issues that are very easily solved.
The most common issues with external drives would be related to cable and port damage. The very first thing you should do is try a different connection cable. Prolonged use and frequent plugging in and out can cause significant wear and tear to cables. Thankfully, this is the most easily fixable issue you can have - simply buy a new cable.
Another mechanical issue you might be dealing with is a loose or faulty USB port on your Mac. This is a much more significant issue but you should not leap to conclusions. If a new cable does not solve the problem, try connecting the same external drive to another computer. If the new system has no issues recognizing the drive, then you may want to take your Mac to an authorized service center.
Make sure your drive is mounted
There is something more you can do when it comes to forcing your Mac system to find and recognize an external drive. The process is called "mounting" the drive and is relatively easy. Navigate to your System Preferences and select Disk Utility. Make sure your external drive shows up in the left portion of the Disk Utility window. Click the drive in question, then finally click Mount. Once you have done this and closed the Disk Utility window, the drive should be visible in your Finder.
Use First Aid as a last resort
If all else fails, you can try running the First Aid function of your Mac's Disk Utility. Open System Preferences again, select Disk Utility, then select the drive in the left portion of the window. Click First Aid and click Run in the small window that comes up. This will allow the Disk Utility to try and fix any potential errors and issues with the drive.
In some cases, this will enable your Mac to "see" the drive once again and it will become accessible through Finder.
