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Though an authentic USB Type C adapter is better, it lessens problems if you connect the Thunderbolt portable hard drive for Mac directly to your Mac.Ī defective USB cable will block the external drive from establishing a normal connection with your Mac.
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Next, make sure the USB hub and USB-C adapter are working if your Mac uses Thunderbolt 3 ports. External hard drives can't work correctly if there is not enough power being supplied to the USB ports. Make sure your Mac is not in low-power mode. If you are working on MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro models, two things to note.
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If one USB port won't work and can't supply enough power, you can try a different USB port as they can individually fail. For portable USB external hard drives, make sure the USB ports are not wobbly, dusty, loose, or deformed since dirty or loosely connected USB ports can create a short circuit and lead to external hard drives not showing up on your Mac.For desktop external hard drives like Seagate Backup plus and WD Elements Desktop, make sure the external hard drive is externally connected to a power socket with its provided power adaptor.You can do these things to check the power supply. So, if the external hard disk is lacking enough power, it won't show up on Mac. Ensure the drive cable has sufficient powerĪn external hard drive requires electricity to light up, spin, and transfer data. Then, restart your Mac and slowly replug the external drive into your Mac to check if it shows up in your Finder this time. You can unplug the external drive and wait a moment. Sometimes, the disk may be checked by the OS prior to mounting fully. A temporary bug or slow reaction of the operating system can prevent the external drive from showing up on your Mac. Maybe there are no problems with the USB cables and ports. Restart your Mac and reconnect the external drive slowly and deliberately Therefore, if you can't find the external drive on your Mac, check to see if the external hard disk is properly connected with the following steps:ġ. But if the connection fails, your external drive won't be recognized in macOS Monterey or any other OS for that matter. Fix 1: Check the connections of the external hard driveĮxternal hard drives like the Buffalo MiniStation, WD, Samsung, Seagate, and Lacie are connected to Mac using USB cables and ports. If you don't know where to start, just follow the step-by-step guide below to find and access an external hard drive on your Mac. Or, it is triggered by your hidden settings.
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As mentioned earlier, sometimes, a hard drive not showing up on Mac is caused by an unrecognized file system.
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