Mac Disk Utility Doesn't Show Hard Drive
Mac Disk Utility Not Showing Hard Drive
Mac Os Disk Utility Not Showing Main Hard Drive Download

No matter how extensively we test our best external hard drives for errors, some units will have problems. It’s the nature of the beast, unfortunately, and though it can be disappointing to see nothing after unboxing your shiny, new external hard drive, the solution is likely only a few clicks away.

Dec 10, 2018 If that doesn’t work, we have a couple of simple troubleshooting tips to fix an external hard drive not showing up on Mac. First we will check the basics, and from there we make sure that MacOS is set up to display external drives, can mount the drive, and that the drive has no errors on either the disk itself or its file structure.
Jan 20, 2019 Boot to your OS X installer, then choose the Disk Utility from the menus. Click on the hardware info line for your hard drive, then click the Partition tab. Remove the existing partition by selecting '1 partition' from the Partition Layout drop-down listing.

In this guide on how to solve an external hard drive not showing up, we’re going to go over the major troubleshooting steps you should take before returning your disk. The steps are mostly the same for Windows and macOS, but we’ve covered both so you don’t get lost.

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. There, navigate to “disk drive” and expand the drop-down. Find the drive that isn’t showing up and double-click it. A separate window will pop up with multiple tabs. Dec 01, 2014 I attempted many things to try to fix this. I tried putting in the Mac OS X install disk and I tried using Disk utility but when I went there, the only things that show up are the Mac OS X disk and the DVD drive, but not the Macintosh HD. At first I thought my hard drive had crashed so I purchased a new one and installed it.

Mac Os Disk Utility Not Showing Main Hard Drive

Before getting to that, though, we want to discuss the reasons your hard drive may not be showing up.

Mac Disk Utility Doesn't Show Hard Drive

Why Your External Hard Drive Isn’t Showing Up

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. That said, there are usually reasons in your operating system that can cause a hard drive not to show.

Hard drives associate with computers using what’s known as file systems, which you can learn about in our how to format an external hard drive guide. Sometimes, those systems, or even the file structure, get out of sorts, causing the OS to not recognize the drive, which can be further complicated with drivers. Check hard drive space mac.

That said, the most likely issue is that your hard drive isn’t ready to be used with your OS. It can get messy, but in some cases, you’ll need to dig into the guts of your OS and configure your external hard drive. In fact, we needed to do that when we tested the Western Digital My Book on macOS (read our Western Digital My Book review).

How to Solve an External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on Windows

Windows includes multiple tools for diagnosing a hard drive, but it, unfortunately, makes them difficult to access. We’re going to run through the steps you should take if your hard drive isn’t showing up on Windows.

Check the Power, Cable and Port

Before getting to Windows, you should check the power, cable and port. Power on your computer and plug in the external hard drive. Most hard drives, such as the Seagate Backup Plus Portable, include an activity LED that tells you if the drive is operating (read our Seagate Backup Plus Portable review).

If your external hard drive doesn’t have an activity LED, you can feel the drive for vibrations. Though that works with a spinning disk, such as the Toshiba Canvio Basics, it won’t work with an SSD, such as the SanDisk Extreme Portable (read our Toshiba Canvio Basics review and SanDisk Extreme Portable review).

Now that you know that the drive is receiving power, you can move on to the cable and port. It’s possible the USB cable you’re using is broken, so swap in a new cable and try again. The same goes for the USB port you’re using. Move the connection to different ports or computers to troubleshoot.

Doing those things will solve most issues. If you’re still having problems, though, something has gone awry in your OS.

Run Disk Management

It’s time to move on to disk management. After confirming the port, cable and hard drive are fine, plug your external hard drive into your computer and turn on the machine. Once in Windows, there are a few ways to access disk management, but the easiest is pressing Windows Key + X and selecting “disk management” from the list.

There, you can see the hard drives plugged into your computer, their capacities, free space, file systems and health statuses. Even if your hard drive isn’t showing up in “my PC,” it should show up in “disk management.” As mentioned, many issues with hard drives not showing up come down to unallocated space, meaning the hard drive isn’t ready to be used with the OS.

If you don’t see your hard drive there, something is wrong with your cable, port or power, so you should try to take advantage of the warranty and replace your hard drive. If you see your hard drive, though, and it’s unallocated, you’ll need to create a few partitions or, in some cases, format the drive.

Create a Partition or Format the Drive

Unallocated hard drive space means the storage space on the hard drive isn’t formatted with a file system that can be read by your OS. Windows will recognize the drive is there, but it won’t show it in “my PC” or allow you to read or write data.

To fix that, you’ll need to create a partition in “disk management.” In the window on the bottom of the “disk management” panel, find your hard drive. A portion of the storage should be displayed with a black bar on top, indicating that it’s unallocated space. Right-click and select “new simple volume.”

The partition wizard will launch and, for the most part, all you need to do is follow the steps. It’s worth noting that adding a new partition will format the drive, removing all data on it. If your hard drive is showing unallocated space, though, it’s likely no data was on it to begin with.

In the unlikely event that you went to “disk management” and found that your external hard drive doesn’t have unallocated space, a format can help. It’s possible there were errors when formatting the drive at the factory, making your external hard drive inaccessible. Find your hard drive in disk management, click the portion with a blue bar on top and click “format.”

If you’re curious about the formatting process, read our guide linked above.

Update the Drivers

If you’ve gone through everything else and your hard drive still isn’t showing up, it could just be a driver issue. You can find driver information by pressing Windows Key + S and typing “device manager.” The top result should open the “device manager” window.

There, navigate to “disk drive” and expand the drop-down. Find the drive that isn’t showing up and double-click it. A separate window will pop up with multiple tabs. Navigate to the “driver” tab to view the driver information.

Your driver information will likely look out of date, but that isn’t the problem. Windows comes with the drivers necessary to detect external hard drives, which rarely need to be updated. That said, you may need to update yours. Click the “update driver” button to get started.

You’ll be presented with two options: search online for the driver or browse your computer for it. You can search if you want, but it’s unlikely you’ll find anything. It’s a better idea to find your product on the manufacturer’s website and see if new drivers have been released.

How to Get an External HD to Show Up on Windows

Check the power, cable and port
Run disk management
Format the drive or create a partition
Update the drivers

Mac Os Disk Utility Not Showing Main Hard Drive