- Wd External Hard Drive Not Mounting Mac Computer
- Wd External Hard Drive Drivers
- Why Is My External Hard Drive Not Mounting On Mac
I have a 1TB Seagate (FAT32) and 4TB Seagate (Mac OS Extended), and the 1TB works perfectly fine under USB while my 4TB just shows up in disk utility. I have 2 external drives that do not mount. And my apple usb wired keyboard doesnt work either. My WD external hard drive will not mount and does not show up anywhere. Resolved: External Hard Drive Not Mounting on macOS Catalina 10.15 “Hi, after upgrading my Mac to Apple’s latest macOS Catalina 10.15, I’m facing a problem. When I connect my external hard drive to the Mac, the drive is not mounting. I’ve stored my treasured family photos and videos on the drive, which I don’t want to lose. To format a WD My Passport NTFS drive on a Mac computer, the Apple native Disk Utility is a good format tool same as Disk Management on Windows. How to Format WD NTFS drive in Mac Computer: Step 1. Connect the Western Digital My Drive to a Mac. Then a computer will detect the drive and you can see WD My Passport on the Desktop. Go to Applications Utilities Disk Utility. Select the unmountable WD external hard drive and click 'Erase' on the top. Provide a name and a format to erase the drive. When finished, you can mount your WD external hard drive on Mac and use it again. Also read: Other ways to erase external hard drive on Mac.
Have you ever met the above-described scenario before? While your Seagate, Western Digital, PS4, or Buffalo external hard drive connected to the Windows or Mac computer, the device did not show up. The situation will erode your calmness especially when you have extremely important files in the unrecognized external hard drive. How to fix external hard drive not recognized? Don't worry, this article will provide you step-by-step instructions on how to get the problem settled.
Why Does Your PC Not Recognize External Hard Drive?
You might wonders why your Windows or Mac computer does not recognize the external hard drive. And this problem can be caused by some partition issues:
- The external hard drive partition gets damaged.
- The file system is crashed.
- the drive errors occur in Windows or Mac computers.
- The USB port is dead.
You can try to connect the hard drive to another computer or connect it with other USB ports. If all the methods do not work, you can follow the article tutorial to fix the external hard drive not recognized on Windows or Mac computer, and you can recover lost data from an external hard drive with Recoverit Data Recovery.
How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Recognized on Windows?
If you want to solve your external hard drive not recognized on Windows 7, Windows 10 efficiently, it is advised that you conduct a problem diagnosis. Only when you know the specific reason why your external hard drive not showing up, can you settle it case by case. If you are not sure of the cause, just follow the guide to eliminate the causes one by one and get the issue done.
Step 1 Make Sure Your USB Port Is Dead or Not
You might be plugging in the USB cable in a dead USB port. Unplug your external hard drive and plugin it into another USB port. Now, see if it is present there in the My Computer window. If not, follow step 2.
Step 2 Find Your External Hard Drive Partition in Disk Management Windows
Now, look for the external drive in the Disk Management window. To begin with, press Windows+R to arouse the Run interface. Type diskmgmt. msc to open the Disk Management window, where you can find your drive even if it is not recognized because of no partition. If you cannot find the drive in the Disk Management window then you can go for step 3.
Step 3 Check It Is Computer or Hard Drive Default
By plugging in another USB port or finding the hard drive in the Disk Management interface, still, you cannot get the issue settled. Then there might be any problem with your Windows computer. Connect it to another computer, and follow step 1 to step 3 to check the external drive is recognized or not. If the drive still not shows up on another Windows computer, there must be something wrong with the drive, otherwise follow step 4.
Step 4 Find out The Problematic Hard Drive
To further diagnose a driver problem, press Windows+R and type 'devmgmt.msc' to expand Disk Drives. Look for a device having a yellow exclamation mark, which indicates a problematic hard driver. Now, right-click on the problematic device and read the error message after selecting properties. This issue can resolve in the following two ways:
- Click on the update driver button for installing updated drivers.
- Uninstall the driver and restart your computer. After restarting, the Windows will automatically reinstall and reconfigure the driver.
Now, plug in the external hard drive again or follow step 5 if the drive is still not recognized.
Step 5 Does Partition or Format Cause Hard Drive not Show Up?
Partitioning and formatting can also lead to the external not recognized issue. Partitioning can be fixed through Windows Disk Management tools. To create a new partition, just click the Unallocated Space and select New Simple Volume. You can create a new partition by following onscreen instructions.
Sometimes, your hard drive is formatted by the ext4 file system of Linux, NTFS file system, HFS Plus file system, or FAT32 file system, which is not recognized by your Windows. You can reformat the external hard drive through Windows to solve the issue. For this purpose, right-click on the partition, select Format, and then select the file system. Please kindly get noted! it is important and necessary you backup all your files on other systems before proceeding with 'format instruction', otherwise all your files will be wiped.
How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Recognized on Mac
Wd External Hard Drive Not Mounting Mac Computer
Mac computer also detects an external drive automatically. If it doesn't, follow these steps:
Step 1 Look for Your External Hard Drive in 'Finder' Interface
First of all, click on File, and then press the New Finder window. Now, look for the hard drive below the Remote Disk.
Step 2 Make Sure the External Hard Drive Is Properly Connected to Mac
If the external drive is not there, make sure that the USB cable is properly plugged in. It is advised you can change another USB port to have a try.
Step 3 Open 'Disk Utility' to Mount The External Hard Drive on Mac
Sometimes, the drive is connected but not mounted. To mount a drive, open Disk Utility and look for the external hard drive in the list. If it is there, click on the Mounting button. Then open a Finder window to see if the drive is mounted or not.
Step 4 Ensure Enough Power for The Drive
If you still cannot find it in the Finder, it is supposed that the drive does not enough power. A single USB port can only provide 5V. In that case, use a USB cable with two USB connections. One is for the external hard drive and the other is for Mac. Therefore, It can supply the power required by the external hard drive.
These steps for fixing an external hard drive not recognized on Windows and Mac are suitable for external hard drives of all capacities and manufacturers. And for your convenience, here also attaches the Wondershare Recoverit tutorial on how to fix the external hard drive not showing up. However, if still the issue is not resolved, you can avail of professional help.
Video Tutorial on How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up
A Professional External Hard Drive Data Recovery Software
After fixing the hard drive that is not recognized on Windows and Mac, you might want to get your data back. Here We introduce a professional external hard drive data recovery software - Wondershare Recoverit to you. Also, its operation steps are clearly listed to help you recover your hard drive data effectively and efficiently.
Wondershare Recoverit
It is trusted by over 5 million global users
It can save your files, photos, videos, audios, etc
It is able to recover data from any Mac or Windows system
Steps on How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive
Download and install Recoverit Data Recovery on your computer. Launch Recoverit to your Windows or Mac computers. Then follow the next step to perform external hard drive data recovery on a Windows or Mac computer.
Step 1. Select The External Hard Drive
Connect your external hard drive to the computer, select it while the disk is detected on the program.
Step 2. Scan The Hard Drive
The external hard drive recovery software will start scanning the device to search the lost files.
Step 3. Preview And Recover The Files
In minutes, all recovered files will display. You can preview photos, videos, music, word, excel, ppt, pdf, etc. Select your files and click the Recover button to restore them.
When the external hard drive gets damaged, you can try to fix it with the solution mentioned above. Also, get your data back with Wondershare Recoverit in three simple steps. Download and try it for now.
What's Wrong with Drive
- Recover Your Drive
- Fix Your Drive
- Format/Wipe Drive
- Know Your Drive
An external hard drive is often purchased to extend the space of your Mac or Windows PC, for the first time of using a newly purchased external hard drive, like Seagate, you will be required to initialize the disk. But why there is still error about external hard drive uninitialized on mac and how to fix this?
To solve this, here are 8 fixes regarding External Hard Drive Uninitialized on mac. Also, you will learn about how to recover data from uninitialized external hard drive on mac, no matter which brand of external hard drive you are using.
Recover Uninitialized External Disk Data
- Compatible on macOS 11 Big Sur
- Recover files from uninitialized, formatted and deleted external hard drive
- Recover 200+ types of file from external and internal hard drive
- 5 recovery modes to restore data lost due to different reasons
- Preview files before recovery
- High recovery rate
What Does Uninitialized External Hard Drive Mean?
Itunes 10.11 4 download. If there appears a message indicating uninitialized external hard drive, it has 2 meanings:
For 1st time user of a brand new external hard drive, you will be required to initialize the disk for use, if your mac shows it as initialized external hard drive when connecting, it means your new external hard drive is not activated and not ready for use, your mac needs to use its own language to assign a starting value to the variable of this external hard drive.
For users who have initialized the external hard drive before, uninitialized external hard drive means your mac cannot read your disk anymore and deems this risk is not accessible, while this happens in most of the cases when talking about uninitialized external hard drive. This can be caused by different reasons, keep reading to find out how this come out.
Reasons for Uninitialized External Hard Drive
Reasons to cause uninitialized external hard drive vary but basically fall into following types:
- Connection issue
- Physical damages
- Virus Attack
- Partition Loss
- Bad sectors
- File system corruption
To fix uninitialized external hard drive caused under different situations, here we list 9 solutions as in following part, you can choose the one according to you need.
8 Fixes for Uninitialized External Hard Drive on Mac
#1 Restart Mac
When errors happen, no matter on your mac, Windows PC, iPhone or Android phone, you will be recommended to restart your device as the first aid, since restarting is the most magical method to put everything back to normal again.
You just need to unplug your external hard drive from your mac, then click the Apple icon>Restart, or press Command+Control+Power to restart your mac, then connect the hard drive to your mac again and check if this works.
#2 Reconnect External Hard Drive
Your Seagate or WD uninitialized external hard drive may be caused by connection issues, you can reconnect your external hard drive to mac by changing a USB port or use another USB cable, to make sure it is connected properly.
#3 Scan Virus
As we mentioned in the 2nd part, virus attack may lead to uninitialized disk, no matter there is virus attacking your mac or not, you can scan virus with an anti-virus program on your mac to make sure there is no harm from outside, trying to weaken your mac.
As for anti-virus program, you can try following:
- Kaspersky
- Norton
- ESET
- Bitdefender
- Avast
#4 Fix with Disk Utility
Disk Utility is the free macOS program designed to manage and repair both internal & external hard drive, also, you can utilize Disk Utility to format and combine disks. For uninitialized external hard drive on mac, you can use Disk Utility as the first aid to kill this problem.
Steps to Fix Uninitialized External Hard Drive with Disk Utility
- Go to Applications>Disk Utility, run the program;
- Choose your external hard drive name;
- Click on First Aid>Run, repair the external hard drive on your mac;
- Then check if the hard drive can be accessed to;
#5 Reinstall, Upgrade or Downgrade macOS
Wd External Hard Drive Drivers
If the uninitialized external hard drive happens just after you upgrade or downgrade macOS, that may be the problem, the working environment has changed. In this case, you may need to reinstall macOS, upgrade or downgrade to original macOS version, get back the files from your external hard drive first, then install your preferred macOS.
Fix Uninitialized External Hard Drive with OS Reinstallation
- Press Power button;
- Once you hear the sound, press and hold Command+R;
- In the macOS utilities interface, choose Reinstall macOS;
- Choose hard drive, click Install and wait for the installation to finish.
Fix Uninitialized External Hard Drive with OS Upgrade
If your external hard drive is displayed as Uninitialized after macOS downgrade, you will need to upgrade to your original macOS.
- Go to Mac Appstore;
- Click “Update”;
- Download and install the latest macOS;
- Restart your mac and plug your external hard drive for check.
Fix Uninitialized External Hard Drive with OS Upgrade
(with TimeMachine Backup)
- Click Apple icon>Restart;
- Once you hear the startup sound, press and hold Command+R until the Apple logo appears;
- Choose Restore from a Time Machine Backup, click Continue;
- Choose your Time Machine backup disk;
- Choose the Time Machine backup to restore and follow the onscreen instructions;
#6 Format
If above listed methods all fail to fix your uninitialized external hard drive on mac, maybe it is time to format it. To format the disk means erasing the data from your disk, a data recovery program will be needed to restore these formatted files, yes, this is risky, but it is an efficient way to fix your uninitialized disk.
Also, for your information, formatting doesn’t mean deleting files permanently, it refers to no portal is provided to find and access to these files anymore, they become invisible but is available for add new data. Once there is new data added, the previously formatted files won't be recovered anymore.
Steps to Fix Uninitialized External Hard Drive with Formatting
- Go to Disk Utility, run the program;
- Choose your external hard drive;
- Click Erase, choose name and format for your disk;
- Then click Erase;
- Find a data recovery program to recover files from formatted hard drive. (You can jump to the 3rd part for steps)
#7 Contact Support
Or the issue of uninitialized external hard drive is caused by physical damages of the disk, like loose or malfunctioned small elements in the hard disk, then you can contact the support staff from the supplier of your hard drive, especially your hard drive is still within the expiry date. If you are using Seagate or Western Digital or other famous brands of hard drive, it is quite easy to get contact with their support.
Just visit their official website, grab the contact information and have a call, or find out your receipt and contact as instructed on the file.
#8 Replace
If your hard drive is still in its life circle, fix 1 to fix 7 should have worked, but if failed, you just need a new one to replace this uninitialized hard drive. Before disposal, find a professional data recovery software to save the files into your mac or other storage devices, then buy yourself a new and better external hard drive.
Recover Data from Uninitialized External Hard Drive
What if you just lost the files in an uninitialized external hard drive? Take it easy, you can get them back. A data recovery software is designed to handle this.
The list of data recovery tools is long, but Cisdem’s won't ever let you down. Cisdem Data Recovery is a mac program enabling users to recover more than 200 types of file from both external and internal storage devices on mac, it provides 5 recovery mode to deal with data loss caused by different reason, like formatting, trash removing, external hard drive file loss, etc.
Why Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac?
- Recover files from uninitialized, formatted and deleted external hard drive
- Get files back from external and internal hard drive;
- Support recovering 200+ types of files: video, audio, image, document, etc.;
- 5 recovery modes to restore data lost due to different reasons;
- Preview files before recovery;
- High recovery rate;
- Easy and fast;
Steps to Recover Data from Uninitialized External Hard Drive on Mac
- Go to Disk Utility, run the program;
- Choose your external hard drive;
- Click Erase, choose name and format for your disk;
- Then click Erase;
- Download and install Cisdem Data Recovery to your mac;
Free Download - Run the program and choose External Drive Recovery mode;
- Choose your external hard drive and click Scan to start scanning your hard drive;
- Preview and recover files from your uninitialized external hard drive on mac;
Extended: How Do I Initialize External Hard Drive on Mac
Then how to initialize an external hard drive for use? Actually, it is quite easy, because macOS can detect that if a hard drive is initialized or not, then lead you to the initialization.
1. Click on your external hard drive on mac;
Why Is My External Hard Drive Not Mounting On Mac
2. Then continue with “Initialize” as following, done;
Conclusion
It is not that difficult to fix an uninitialized external hard drive as long as you figure out what caused this, then refer to above listed 8 fixes to get the problem solved. What’s the key is, how to recover the files from your uninitialized external disk even when you are locked out of the disk for now or forever, in this case, Data Recovery Software, like Cisdem will be the life savior.