Why Won T My Hard Drive Show Up Mac

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Occasionally, when you plug in any Seagate external hard drive to PC, it may not show up or be detected by your PC. Consequently, the disk itself and the folders and files saved on it become unapproachable and unluckily this is a common problem with Seagate drives. If you don't have any important data on the hard drive, you can just format it easily. However, if it contains lots of important data, how can you recover data from it? In this article, we'll tell you why is your Seagate external hard drive not showing up or detected. Then, we'll cover the methods to fix it as well. And what's important, we'll tell you how to recover data from the hard drive after making it work again.

  1. Why Won T My Hard Drive Show Up Mac
  2. Why Won't My Seagate Hard Drive Show Up Mac
  3. Why Won't My External Hard Drive Show On Mac
  4. Why Won't My Hard Drive Show Up Mac
  5. Why Won't My Hard Drive Show On Mac
  6. Why Won't My Hard Drive Show Up Mac

You have to 'partition the hard drive.' Click 'GO' in the menu bar, then 'Utilities', then double click on 'Disk Utility', select the 'Seagate' icon at the left (it doesn't matter which one), select 'erase' top right, and under 'Volume Format', select 'Mac OS Extended.' 2) When the preferences window for Finder opens up, open the General tab. 3) Put a check mark in the Hard Disks checkbox under the Show these items on the desktop header: 4) Your Mac’s storage disk(s) should now instantly appear on your Desktop: We say disk(s) because it’s entirely possible you will have more than one.

1Why Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Up or Detected?

In most cases, you can access the Seagate External Hard Drive through Windows File Explorer. However, there is a great possibility that the hard drive doesn't show up in the devices and drives list. Apart from that, the Seagate external hard drive might also not show up in Disk Management. The problem can be caused by one of the following reasons:

  • Broken USB port or broken USB cable

  • Unsupported File System

  • Partition issues on the hard drive

  • The hard drive driver is corrupted or outdated.

In the following part, we'll talk about how to fix the Seagate external hard drive not showing up in the computers based on the above possibilities.

2Fix Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Up or Detected in Windows 10/8/7

Seagate external hard drive is always used to back up important data or transfer data between computers. So, it's essential to make it works fine all the time. The following are some solutions to solve 'Seagate external hard drive not showing up or detected'.

  • Method 1: Try a Different USB Port or USB Cable

  • Method 2: Initializing the External Hard Drive

  • Method 3: Create a New Partition

  • Method 4: Change or Assign Drive Letter

  • Method 5: Reformat Hard Drive

  • Method 6: Update or Reinstall the Device Driver

Method 1: Try a Different USB Port or USB Cable

If your Seagate external hard drive is blinking but is not detected by your PC, then you can try to unplug it from the USB port and should plug it into a different USB port. Besides, you can reboot your PC and try to connect your Seagate external hard drive to the computer again. You can also connect it to a different computer or use a different USB cable. If this simple solution works then your problem is resolved. If not then move on to the other solutions offered here.

Method 2: Initializing the External Hard Drive

When you find the Seagate external hard drive is not showing up in your computer, the first place you should check is Disk Management. You can right click on the Windows button and choose 'Disk Management' from the list. Or press Windows button + R to bring out the dialog. Enter diskmgmt.msc to proceed. This will also open Disk Management.

You'll see the available hard drives which are connected and recognized by the computer. If you are attaching a brand new external hard drive to the computer for the first time, you'll see it here but it's not initialized. Follow the simple steps below to initialize the disk.

Step 1: Right click on the disk and select 'Initialize Disk'.

Step 2: Choose a proper partition style and click 'OK' to confirm it.

Method 3: Create a New Partition

If you see that your disk is simply unallocated, you only need to create a new partition for it. Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Right click on the unallocated disk and choose 'New Simple Volume' from the options.

Step 2: A 'New Simple Volume Wizard' will show up. Follow the wizard to specify the volume size and assign drive letter or path.

Once done, remove the Seagate external hard drive and connect it to the computer again. Then, you'll find that the disk is detected and showing up in the Windows File Explorer.

Method 4: Change or Assign Drive Letter

If the Seagate external hard drive does not have a drive letter or the drive letter conflicts with other disks, the hard drive won't show up in your computer. Under this circumstance, you need to assign or change the drive letter.

Step 1: Right click on your hard drive and select 'Change Drive Letter and Paths'.

Step 2: Select 'Add' option if your hard drive doesn't have a drive letter, and select 'Change' option if it already has one and you want to change it.

Step 3: Choose a letter for the drive and that's all.

Method 5: Reformat Hard Drive

As we have mentioned in the Part 1, the unsupported File System will cause the 'Seagate external hard drive not showing up' issue. If you find your hard drive is partitioned but still not show up in your computer, it is possible that it's partitioned with a different file system. For example, if you have formatted the hard drive with APFS File System on Mac, this problem will certainly happen when you connect the hard drive to Windows computers. To fix it, you need to reformat your Seagate external hard drive with NTFS File System or FAT32 File System.

Step 1: To do this, right click on the hard drive and select 'Format' option.

Step 2: Choose 'NTFS' or 'FAT32' from the File Sysetem.

Note: Reformat your Seagate external hard drive with new File System with erase all the data on it. If you can, please remember to back up your data before formatting. However, if you do not have the chance to back up the data, you can use a professional tool to recover the data after formatting.

Method 6: Update or Reinstall the Device Driver

Maybe your Windows has a driver problem with your device and by using the Device Manager you can check it. You can open Device Manager by pressing Win+R together to open the 'Run' dialog then enter devmgmt.msc. Next, Expand the Disk drives category and check for any devices with a yellow exclamation point next to them, right-click on its name and select 'Update Driver'. If it works then it's ok otherwise uninstall and then reinstall the driver. To uninstall the driver, click on Uninstall that will help you completely uninstall Drivers.

3Bonus: How to Recover Files from Formatted Seagate External Hard Drive?

Due to the 'Seagate external hard drive not showing up' issue, you might not be able to back up your data before initializing or reformatting the hard drive. Luckily, there are loads of powerful data recovery programs nowadays. One such program is iMyFone AnyRecover which can help you recover data from the formatted hard drive easily and quickly. Furthermore, it is compatible with all the versions of Windows. Together with the accessible interface, the software does not require any technical knowledge. You can do it by yourself without anyone's assistance.

Why Choose iMyFone AnyRecover?

It proves helpful to support 1000+ file types including documents, musics, images, audios, emails, archives and others.

Based on the all-round scan and deep scan, it guarantees the highest recovery rate in the market.

Why Won T My Hard Drive Show Up Mac

Show

After scaning, you can preview the data freely. And you can use the free version to recover 3 files for free.

By using the program, your data security is 100% ensured.

Simple Steps to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive:

Step 1: First of all launch AnyRecover software. Then select a disk under the 'External Removable Devices' tab.

Step 2: After selecting the location, hit 'Start' button to start scanning.

Step 3: The program will start scanning, and show you all the lost files in the list. You can select to preview them and click 'Recover' to get back your data.

Overall, it is not too difficult to fix Seagate external hard drive not showing up only if you take proper action. If you tried the above-mentioned solutions and the Seagate external hard drive still not detected or recognized the cause might be the hard drive itself. If you accidentally format your Seagate external hard drive, iMyFone AnyRecover can help you recover data from it.

Dec 16, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

'I just updated my Mac to High Sierra, but I can't now see my hard drive on my Mac desktop. I am wondering how to show the hard drive on Mac?'

There is no doubt that getting quick access to the Mac HD directory can be quite helpful in many situations. You can easily access several folders, such as System, Users, Applications, and Library. All these folders contain data that any Mac user access on a regular basis. Sadly, macOS High Sierra may not display you the Macintosh HD folder on your desktop or Finder by default. It makes access to files difficult.

The good news is that there are some ways to show the hard drive on Mac. Here, in this post, you will get to learn that, and also, you get to know how to find the external hard drive on Mac.

Part 1. Why You Can't See Hard Drive on Mac?

Well, there are a number of reasons why you can't see the hard drive on your Mac. Here, we are going to mention the most common ones:

  • Preference Issue: You may have not set preferences that make the hard drive visible on your Mac Finder or desktop.
  • Connector Issue: It might be the case that you fail to connect the hard drive to your Mac USB port correctly. And maybe the cable you're using for connection is damaged or non-functional.
  • Corruption of File system: It might also case that the file system of the hard drive is corrupt due to bad sectors, logical errors, etc. Sometimes, your hard drive file system damage leads to non-mounting HD in Finder.
  • Hard drive failure: It might be the case that your drive is physically damaged due to component failure, head crash, or etc.

Part 2. How to Show Hard Drive Icon on Mac Desktop?

It is the Finder's job for displaying the desktop and its icons, which include storage devices icon too. You can show or hide Mac's main hard drive from the desktop of your Mac with ease and all you need to do is to adjust some of the Finder options. If you want to keep your hard drives icon on the desktop so that you can access the data easily, then here's what you have to do to show HD on Mac.

To begin with, you need to first have the Finder option in the foreground. For this, check if there is the word 'Finder' in your Mac menu bar. If no, then all you have to do is to tap on the 'Finder' icon from the Dock of your Mac to appear it in the foreground.

Once you are able to do it, follow the below steps to show the hard drive on a Mac desktop:

  1. Go to the Menu bar, and then, move to 'Finder'. Next, click on the 'Preferences' option.
  2. Next, select the 'General' tab when the Finder preferences window appears on your Mac screen.
  3. After that, check the box 'Hard disks' under 'Show these items on the desktop'.
  4. Finally, the Mac hard drive icon should now appear on your desktop as shown in the below figure.

As you can see how much it is easy to show and hide Mac hard disks or drives on your desktop. Whenever you want quick access to the data on your Mac, all you have to do is double-click on your Mac HD drive from the desktop and you'll be navigated to the place where all of your Mac data is stored.

Why Won't My Seagate Hard Drive Show Up Mac

Part 3. How to Find External Hard Drive on Mac?

Is your Mac not detecting the external hard drive? In many cases, an external hard drive doesn't show up on your Mac. There is no doubt that it is quite frustrating, especially when you want to transfer something very important right then. Besides this, there can be a change that data present on an external hard drive is corrupt, which is one of the reasons why your Mac can't detect an external drive.

The good news is that there are some solutions that can help you to come out of this problem with ease. Let's look at them:

1. Mount the External Hard Drive on Mac

It could be the case that your Mac already detects an external hard drive, but it just not showing its icon on your desktop screen. If it is the case, then you can easily mount and access your drive again and all you have to do is to follow the below steps:

  1. To start with, move to the Finder menu and here, choose Preferences.
  2. In the Finder preferences window, choose the General tab.
  3. Here, you need to make sure that the 'External disks' option under 'Show these items on the desktop' is ticked.

Also, you can set your Mac to display an external hard drive in Finder. For this, go to 'Finder'>' Preferences'>' Sidebar'. Here, you need to tick the option 'External disks' under the 'Locations' menu.

This method will probably help you to show the connected external hard drive on your Mac. If it doesn't, then you can go for the next solution. And if you need to make a USB flash drive detected, the solutions might be more feasible: Fix USB not showing up on Mac.

2. Launch Disk Utility to Run First Aid

Why Won't My External Hard Drive Show On Mac

There might be a case that your external hard drive is going through some problems you are unaware of it. In this case, you can try to resolve them yourself using Disk Utility to run the First Aid tool. Afterward, you can even access your files. The tool will inspect the disk for issues and errors and then, try to repair it as required. It is quite helpful when it comes to verifying and repairing a wide range of problems related to external and HD drive.

Here is the step-by-step guide on how you can run First Aid on your external hard drive:

  1. To start with, launch Disk Utility. You can search for it using Spotlight Search or go to 'Finder'>' Application'>' Utility'
  2. After that, you need to check on an external hard drive. Next, click on the 'First Aid' tab and choose 'Run' to begin running diagnostics.

If First Aid tools become successful in fixing problems, then your external hard drive should now be available for you to mount. What if the tool fails to repair issues? Then, your drive is badly broken or maybe formatted through a file system that your Mac can't read. In this way, we recommended that you should recover data from the damaged hard drive. Check out the next section to learn how to get back and how hard disk data on Mac.

Part 4. How to Recover and Show Hard Drive Data on Mac?

Have you ever wondered what if you found that you can't access the data stored on your Mac hard drive due to sudden power failure, or virus attack? Or if the above methods fail to fix 'external hard drive not mounting Mac'. In such cases, data recovery software can help you to easily get back hard drive data on your Mac.

1. Recoverit - The Best Software to Recover Mac Files:

Whenever you experience a data loss situation, Recoverit Data Recovery Mac will help you to retrieve it. This data recovery software will come in handy even when you've never made a backup of your device. You now know how to partition Mac hard drive and un-partition it. But knowing how you can recover the lost or deleted files from the drive is also necessary.

2. How to Recover Lost Word Files on Mac:

Step 1: Select a Location

Why Won't My Hard Drive Show Up Mac

Launch the software and select the drive from where the data files are lost. If you don't know which drive to search, tap on the 'I can't find my partition' option, and hit the Start button.

Step 2: Scan the Location

Typically, the software will run an All-Around Recovery scan and search for the lost and deleted files on the entire drive.

Step 3: Preview and Recover

When the scan completes, the files will be listed on the screen. The software will sort out the files according to format to make the search easier. You can select multiple files at a time and have a preview of them.

Conclusion

Why Won't My Hard Drive Show On Mac

It can be concluded that creating and removing a Mac drive partition is not that tough. You just have to careful during the process. And in case of a mishap, Recoverit is always here for your help so that you don't have to suffer from data loss situation.

Why Won't My Hard Drive Show Up Mac

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