- Need Help With Xld And An External Drive For Mac Computer
- Need Help With Xld And An External Drive For Mac Air
Summary: This post introduces 5 solutions you can try when you are unable to mount an external hard drive on your Mac. Also, to avoid further data loss, you can use iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover lost data from this unmountable external drive first.
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After you connect an external hard drive to your Mac, if everything is working fine, the operating system will automatically recognize, read, and mount your external drive, as well as show it in the Finder and on the desktop.
However, if your disk gives up the ghost just like the users below, the external disk will not be showing up as normal. And if you check it in the Disk Utility, you will find your drive unmounted there.
'I was able to use my 3 TB external hard disk drive to backup my data last week. But now it doesn't mount after I migrate from Mojave to macOS Catalina. I dug around and tried a lot of stuff but still can't mount this external hard drive on my Mac. Can someone explain how to get this drive mounted so I don't lose the data?'
Why an external drive is not mounting on Mac?
There are numerous reasons for the external hard drive not mounting issue. The following are a few of the most common ones:
Hardware and connectivity issue
Most of the time, you can't mount your external drive on a Mac just because the connectivity is not in proper condition. This issue may be affected by a loose fitting, a broken USB cable, the wear on USB ports, etc.
Sometimes, such connectivity issues could make your external drives keep disconnecting, or much worse, it would make your external hard drive unmountable eventually. After all, it is essential to have a firm and tight connection.
Corrupted disk
Another possible reason for an unmounted disk may come from the problematic hard drive itself. Wonder how could it be? Well, it is possible that you're unable to mount a drive just because it is corrupted and unrecognizable by macOS.
You can recall if your external drive has experienced one of these things: an unsafe removal when you are transferring files, an improper ejection, a sudden power outage, or even a virus infection. If so, your disk might be corrupted and it should be the culprit that you are unable to mount your external drive probably.
Incorrect formatting of the disk
![External External](/uploads/1/1/8/7/118765513/106962702.jpg)
In some cases, an unsupported file system will make your external drive unmountable. It is reasonable because if your Mac can't even read your disk's file system, how can you mount and access this hard drive on your Mac? This factor may not be as possible as the other causes, but it does happen.
Unable to mount external hard drives on Mac, how to fix?
Even though the reasons for a not mounting disk are different from case to case, certainly there are some things you can do to fix this issue. The following are five effective solutions to the 'external hard drives won't mount on Mac' issue, and some of them are just basic checks.
Solution 1: Check and fix connectivity issues
The first thing you can do is to make sure that your disk is connected to your Mac properly.
If you are not sure if there is a problem with the USB port/hub, you can plug a working external drive in to a port/on a hub, unmount and eject it. Then plug the unmountable external hard drive into that port/hub.
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Also, here are some things you can try.
- 1. Reconnect your external hard drive to your Mac and ensure that it fits the USB port snugly.
- 2. Connect the external hard drive to a different USB port or a different Mac.
- 3. Replace the USB cable or adapter in case that it was damaged or broken.
- 4. Connect it to a Windows PC and see if the storage device is powered on and working.
Solution 2: Check the file system of the external hard drive
Well, if you don't know exactly what file system your disk is formatted with while your external hard drive can't be mounted now, you can go to Disk Utility to have a check if it is formatted with an unsupported file system.
Remember that macOS is friendly with APFS and HFS+ and is in a neutral attitude with FAT, FAT32, and exFAT. However, it is a different story if you need to access and write to NTFS file system on Mac. By default, macOS only enables NTFS drive read support but disables write support. In this case, you can download a free NTFS driver for macOS to mount this external hard drive in read and write mode.
Still unable to mount the external hard drive on Mac? Then it should be some problems with the drive itself. Then you can go with the following solutions to troubleshoot this problem.
Wait! Have you recovered your important data from this unmountable drive?
Before you go any further to fix this unmountable hard drive, you'd better make sure you have backed up your data on this drive to avoid data loss. The reason is that when your external drive won't mount, you lose the only access to all your files on this drive.
In this situation, if you have important files on the external hard drive, any operations on the drive could overwrite the original data and cause irreparable data loss.
Forget to back up before? You can also use Mac data recovery software like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover lost data from the unmountable external hard drives.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is a free external hard drive data recovery tool that enables you to recover lost data from external drives, especially when a hard drive is unmounted, formatted, inaccessible, unreadable, or corrupted.
It's fully compatible with macOS Big Sur 11/Catalina 10.15/Mojave 10.14/High Sierra 10.13/10.12 and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7. In addition to external hard drive data recovery, it also can recover lost data from internal Mac hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, memory cards, pen drives, etc.
Tutorial to recover lost data from unmountable external drive on Mac with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac
- 1. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on Mac, and then restart the computer.
- To use iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac, you need to install this software on your Mac. You can just download the installation package and install it with no fuss.
- 2. Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
- After successfully downloading this program on your Mac, you can drag it to your Applications folder to install it, or you can double-click its icon to launch it.
- 3. Select the unmountable external drive and click Scan button to scan all lost data.
- When the Mac data recovery software is launched, all connected storage devices will be listed in the interface. You can see the name, file system, and space allocation of your hard drives and partitions. Locate your unmounted external hard drive, select it, and click 'Scan' to scan for lost data.
- Two scanning modes are allowed: Quick scan and Deep scan. Quick scan mode saves time for users and is applied when data is recently deleted. Deep scan mode finds more files at the cost of more time, and it's used when file system is corrupted or partition table is lost. Anyway, this software will automatically choose the most efficient way to scan for files according to the disk condition.
- 4. Preview the searching results, choose files you need, and click Recover to get them back.
- With the preview feature, you can check whether your files on this unmountable disk are in a good condition or not. It saves time and money for users. The software will show if your file is corrupted so that you would not waste energy to recover it or pay for this data recovery product.
- 5. Have a check to ensure you have got all lost data back.
Now you either have a copy of a data backup in hand, or have recovered your important files with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac. Therefore, you can go ahead to repair this unmounted external drive without worrying about data loss.
Solution 3: Repair the external hard drive with Disk Utility
When an external hard drive is not working properly, you can use the built-in disk repair tool - First Aid to check and repair disk errors.
- 1. Launch Disk Utility.
- 2. Choose the unmountable external drive on the left sidebar.
- 3. Select First Aid in the top center and click Run.
Solution 2: Repair the external hard drive with Terminal
Sometimes, Disk Utility may not function as desired. Fortunately, you can still try to repair the corrupted external hard drive with Terminal.
- 1. Go to Applications > Terminal
- 2. Enter: diskutil list (This will list out the available volumes).
- 3. Check the volume identifier from the table that appears.
- 4. Enter: diskutil repairVolume [diskvolume identifier]. For example, if the volume identifier of an external hard drive is disk2s, you should enter: diskutil repairVolume disk2s.
Solution 3: Reformat the external hard drive
If yourexternal hard drive can't be repaired with Disk Utility and Terminal, the file system of this drive might be seriously corrupted. The only way to fix this unmountable external drive is to reformat it.
Warning: Reformatting will erase all data on the external hard drive, so please make sure you have backed up important data.
- 1. Launch Disk Utility from Utilities.
- 2. Click the icon of the unmountable external drive on the left part of the window.
- 3. Click the Erase function on the top of the Disk Utility window.
- 4. Complete the related information (name, format, scheme), then click Erase button.
Conclusion
When you can't mount an external hard drive on your Mac, you can try the 5 methods introduced in this post. But no matter which solution you are going to try, to avoid data loss, you are always advised to back up your files or recover your data from this unmountable drive first with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
But if unfortunately, none of these solutions can make your hard drive work again, or your disk is not even detected or showing up in Disk Utility, then this drive might be physically damaged. Under this situation, you should send it to a local disk repair service and see if they can help.
Good luck!
While transferring data I accidentally unplugged my verbatim external HD, light comes on and I can feel it spinning but it's not being recognized. I'm not getting any error message, like it's not even plugged in, both the USB plugs on the external hard drive and computer are ok. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.
No matter what computer you use, Windows or Mac, accidentally unplugging an external hard drive without safely ejecting will easily cause serious problems, such as the external hard drive not recognized, lost data, corrupted file system, crashing programs or Windows not booting up.
This passage will offer you the best way to fix external hard drive not recognized after accidental unplugging on Windows and Mac.
- The solutions for Windows:
- 1. Fix corrupted external hard drive using cmd.
- 2. Reformat the corrupted external hard drive.
- 3. Try other ways.
- The solutions for Mac:
- 1. Mount external hard drive in Disk Utility.
- 2. Repair unmountable external hard drive via Disk Utility.
- 3. Reformat the unmountable external hard drive.
- 4. Try other ways.
• Definite Guide to hard drives not showing up/mounting issues
Fix external hard drive not recognized after accidental unplugging on Windows
First thing: check if the drive is visible in the Disk Management or Device Manager. If fortunately, the external hard drive is there, just follow the below steps.
Solution 1: Fix corrupted external hard drive using cmd
You can fix the corrupted hard drive using cmd like chkdsk command on Windows.
- 1. Go to the start menu, type in 'cmd' in a search bar, right click 'cmd. exe'.
- 2. Type in 'chkdsk /X /f drive letter:' or 'chkdsk drive letter: /f ', for example, 'chkdsk /X /f G:' or 'chkdsk G: /f'.
Solution 2: Reformat the corrupted external hard drive
If chkdsk fails to fix external hard drive not recognized after accidental unplugging on Windows, the last choice is to reformat the corrupted external hard drive. But reformatting will clean all data stored on the external hard drive. If you care about data on external hard drive, you'd better recover lost data from the corrupted external hard drive. Here recommend you a free data recovery software -iBoysoft Data Recovery for Windows.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Windows is a free data recovery tool for Windows that enables you to recover lost data from external hard drive that was accidentally unplugged on Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10 as well as in Windows Server 2019/2016/2012/2008/2003.
Besides, it can also recover deleted/lost files from formatted, RAW, corrupted, inaccessible drive, recover lost data from deleted or lost partition, etc. It supports to recover lost data from external hard drive, hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, memory card, pen drive, etc.
Step 1: Recover lost data from external hard drive that was accidentally unplugged with freeware
Here is a video guide
- 1. Download, intall and launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Windows.
- 2. Select the corrupted external hard drive and click 'Next' button to scan all lost data.
- 3. Preview the searching results, choose files you need, and click 'Recover' to get them back.
Step 2: Reformat the corrupted external hard drive
- 1. Go to My Computer (or This PC) or Disk Management, right click the corrupted external hard drive and select 'Format' from right-click menu.
- 2. Set information about format: File system, allocation unit size, volume label, format options (The default format option is Quick Format).
- 3. Click Start, the format operation will be completed in several minutes.
Fix accidentally unplugged external hard drive not recognized on Mac
First thing: check whether external hard drive can be found in Disk Utility. When your external hard drive can show up in Disk Utility, follow the below guidance.
Solution 1: Mount external hard drive in Disk Utility
- 1. Open Disk Utility.
- 2. Right click the external hard drive from the left sidebar and then click the Mount button.
Solution 2: Repair unmountable external hard drive via Disk Utility
- 1. Launch Disk Utility.
- 2. Choose the grayed out external hard drive.
- 3. Select First Aid in the top center and click Run.
Solution 3: Reformat the unmountable external hard drive
Need Help With Xld And An External Drive For Mac Computer
Reformatting will erase data on external hard drive. To avoid data loss, professional data recovery software is needed.iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is such a professional data recovery tool.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is the best free Mac data recovery software that canrecover deleted files from emptied Mac trash, recover lost data from formatted, inaccessible, corrupted, unmountable, unreadable external hard drive, hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, memory card, etc. It is compatible withmacOS High Sierra/10.12/10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7.
It can recover lost data from no matter what are documents, pictures, music, videos, emails. More importantly, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac supports file systems APFS, encrypted APFS, HFS+, HFS, FAT32 and exFAT drive.
Step 1: Recover lost data from external hard drive that was accidentally unplugged on Mac
- 1. Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
- 2. Select unmountable external hard drive and click 'Next' button to scan all lost data.
- 3. Preview the searching results, choose files you need, and click 'Recover' to get them back.
Need Help With Xld And An External Drive For Mac Air
Step 2: Reformat the unmountable external hard drive
- 1. Launch Disk Utility.
- 2. Select the unmountable external hard drive on the left part of the window.
- 3. Click the Erase on the top of the Disk Utility window.
- 4. Complete the related information (name, format, scheme), then click Erase.
If unfortunately, your external hard drive can't be found in Disk Management/Disk Utility. Try the ways listed below:
Solution 1: Try a different USB port or USB cable
You can change a USB cable, connect the drive to a different USB port or different computer.
Solution 2: Try data recovery software
If the external hard drive is not showing up on PC, you should use data recovery software to get files off as soon as possible.
Solution 3: Send it to a local technician for help
If you failed with the above two solutions, it is very possible that the external hard drive has some serious hardware problem, and you need to seek help from a local technician.
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