The best external hard drives for Mac are not only useful for storing data but are an excellent way to transport files from one location to another. When you take into account price, ease of use, and portability, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim is the most reliable hard drive you can carry around with you at all times. Nov 14, 2019 Alternative ways to recover data from an external hard drive. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) if your Mac shuts down when you plug in an external hard drive. Then use a different port to connect the external hard drive. If you’ve got a battery that you can’t remove: Shut down and unplug the power adapter. Discover the world of external hard drives for Mac. Compare portable, USB and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. Jul 24, 2020 This is a great external hard drive for your Mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure. Western Digital My Passport Ultra features cloud storage and 256-AES encryption.
Most of the time, when you connect an external hard drive to your Mac’s USB port, you soon see it mount on the desktop. Apple likes to ensure these are easy to find, so they also appear in the Finder in the left-hand column under Devices, since Mac’s treat them the same way as another computer.
However, sometimes, an external hard drive doesn't show up. It’s annoying, especially when you need to transfer something right then. And besides, there can be a risk that data on the external USB pen, hard, or flash drive is corrupt, which means you can’t transfer what you need between devices at all.
Corrupt data can be one reason your Mac won't recognize an external drive, but there are other reasons too. Let’s take a look why this is happening and how you can get an external drive to appear on your Mac and get recover data to access to your documents.
Why an external disk drive is not showing up? There could be a few reasons why a USB flash drive isn’t making an appearance.
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Start with the basics:
Unfortunately, if none of those options has worked and the external drive still isn’t visible, then it could have crashed, or be well and truly broken. But there might still be a way you can recover the data on the external drive.
In the Sidebar tab you can choose which folders and devices will be shown in the left-hand column of the Finder window.
You can also mount cloud storage as local drive on your Mac. By connecting Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon to your computer, you get more space for securely accessing and sharing files. For your ease, add cloud drives to Finder with CloudMounter app, so that you keep them close at hand. You can read detailed instructions on managing cloud storage as local drives here.
If your drive is having problems, you can try to fix them yourself with First Aid and therefore get access to your files. First Aid tool will check the disk for errors and then attempt a repair as needed. It helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup HD and external drive problems. If you are able to fix the hard drive or SSD in your Mac (or an external drive) using Disk Utility you will hopefully be able to recover your files.
To run Fist Aid on an external hard drive:
If First Aid successful in fixing errors, the external drive should be available to mount. If the utility unable to repair issues, your drive truly is broken or formatted using a file system that the Mac cannot read - in this way we suggest you follow the next steps to recover data from a damaged disk drive.
Thankfully, there is an app for that. Disk Drill is the world’s premier data recovery software for Mac OS X. Powerful enough to retrieve long-lost, mistakenly deleted files from Macs, external hard drives and USB drives and camera cards.
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Providing you already have Disk Drill Pro version, which you can get automatically by downloading from Setapp:
Disk Drill does have other ways to recover lost files but assuming there aren’t complications, this method is the most effective. Disk Drill Pro recovery app is available from Setapp, along with dozens of Mac apps that will make your life easier. Never have to worry about a crashed or corrupted external drive again.
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Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) if your Mac shuts down when you plug in an external hard drive. Then use a different port to connect the external hard drive. If you’ve got a battery that you can’t remove:
For Macs with removable batteries, you need to switch them off, remove the battery, then press and hold the power button for 5 seconds. After that, put the battery back in, plug in the power adapter and switch the power on again.
Notepad text editor mac. What’s your file format? One reason your Mac isn’t recognizing the hard drive is the file format. Windows uses NTFS file formats, while Macs, up until the introduction of Sierra, have used HFS+. Now, Apple has introduced the Apple File System (APFS) for newer operating systems. It is possible to format a hard drive so it can be read on Mac and Windows computers, providing you format using exFAT. However, if you’re having problems accessing the files and the issue is due to formatting, you will need to connect it to a device it can be read on, and then format the files correctly for the computer you are going to use it on next.
The common issue is Ext2- and Ext3-formatted drives are not readable on macOS. There are two ways to access such external drives on your Mac – via Linux OS or FUSE system. The easiest would be installing Linux to a secondary drive or virtual machine.
If you go with Linux installation, dual boot your Mac with Linux on another drive and use FAT32 as a transfer intermediary. If you don’t have a drive to install Linux to, use virtual machine as an interface for it. Transferring can be done the same way – with FAT32, or via network.
Another option for reading Ext2/Ext3 disks is mounting disk with Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE). Basically, it works as an extra interface enabling file system access via specially installed modules. Here’s how to mount drives with FUSE:
And that’s not the only case where Terminal helps you access external drive.
Employ the handy all-powerful Terminal, Which mac address os my alexa. which always comes forward with solutions for difficult problems. Especially if System Information does recognize the USB or hard drive, but continues to hide it from you, disconnect the drive and try to find it using the Terminal, which you can find in Applications > Utilities.
Console is also reliable when it comes to solving tricky problems, although it isn’t always that easy to use. You can find Console under Applications > Utilities > Console. Console shows if an external drive or any error is detected under the Errors and Faults tab. If no errors show up, then the problem is not caused by the device.
To sum up, there are lots of potential solutions for a Mac not reading an external hard drive. If we were to pick one, Disk Drill seems to be the most well-rounded, offering plenty of customizations and power in an easy-to-use interface. Disk Drill Pro recovery app is available via Setapp, along with 150+ Mac apps that strive to make your life much much easier. At the very least, you’ll never have to worry about a crashed or corrupted external drive ever again.
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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The internal storage of your MacBook Pro may not be sufficient enough that is why you need an external storage. So what offers extra storage for your workings? The best device to go for is external hard drive. These devices also act as a back up of your data files. Be smart and get one for yourself, but before that I need to give you the best external hard drive for Macbook Pro. Besides, I will also tell you how to recover files from external hard drive for Macbook Pro, helping you avoiding data loss.
Despite the sleek features that these external hard drives for MacBook's Pro have, you can still lose data in them. One of the major causes that have been noted is when upgrading the system to Mavericks. In some occasion you can accidentally delete data that you have stored in it which calls for a data software recovery such Recoverit (IS) for Mac.
This program enables you restore all your file formats such as documents, videos, audios, photos emails from Apple devices including MacBook Pro. It also recovers data from digital cameras, media players, memory cards etc. You only require three steps to recover data using this software. Moreover you can preview what you want to recover.
Mac studio fix swatches. Step 1: First connect the external hard drive to your MacBook Pro. When you install and open the program you will see several file types on the main window. Please select the one you hope to recover and hit 'Next' to continue.
Step 2: On the next window click on your external drive. Click 'Scan' to let the program starts searching lost data for you.
Step 3: You will preview the files when the scanning process is complete. Then mark them and click on 'Recover'. Choose a destination and save them. But if you don't find you lost data after the scanning process, you are supposed to select the 'Deep Scan' mode and let the software to scan deep on your drive. In this way you will get more recovered data.
With Recoverit (IS) you can easily and securely recover data from any kind of your external hard drive for MacBook Pro.
In order to get the best hard drive for your MacBook pro they are a lot of factors to consider. Despite going for big brands you should also look at the affordability in relation to capacity. Also look at the reliability of the HDD, get something that is USB powered so that you don’t need to carry the charger wherever you go. Also look at the write and read speed of the hard drive. Do not compromise the warranty because you may need to replace these gadgets. With that in mind let’s choose the best portable external hard drive or Macbook Pro.
This external hard drive is one of the fastest hard drives that you can have. It boasts of a write speed of 677 MB/s and read speed of 645MB/s. Its massive storage will blow your mind. Within a single raid it has a capacity storage of 20TB. LaCie 5Big goes for about $2000. If you are that kind of person who needs a crazy storage to edit your videos then this hard drive to go for. Moreover, LaCie 5Big derives its name from the five big drives that it has.
Pros:
● It has dual thunderbolt ports.
● Has whisper quiet fan.
● It has five drives.
● Easy thunderbolt interface
Cons:
● It is expensive as compared to other external drives.
● It lacks 3.0 USB connectivity and eSATA.
● It requires external power supply.
This 3.68-ounce hard drive is taking the world of hard drives to another level with it lock buttons. It has a ten-digit keypad that enables your lock your data. This security is also applicable in its rugged drives. Its connectivity is USB 3.0. a 480GB of this Apricon Aegis Padlock goes for $799 which is relatively expensive for external drives despite its amicable speed.
Pros:
● It is fast in performance and easy to use.
● It has a security keypad.
● It has a rugged framework.
Cons:
● It only has the USB 3.0 connectivity.
● It is costly.
Seagate Backup Plus is also the best companion for your MacBook Pro. It is a portable hard drive with USB3.o connectivity that also powers this hard drive. It has a write speed of 212MB/S and 235MB/S Read speed. A 4TB of Seagate Backup Plus will only cost you $270.
Pros:
● It is speedy.
● It is cheap.
Cons:
● High risk of failure due to its RAID 0.
● It is heavier as compared to other Drives.
If you looking for a hard drive that comes with HFS + format then settle for Promise Pegasus R4. It is compatible with your MacBook hence no need of formatting. It speed rates of525MB/S read and 630MB/S write also comes in handy to its excellent performance. It has four drives each with 1TB.
Pros:
● It supports multiple RAIDS that is 50, 6, 5,1.
● It has two speedy thunderbolt.
● It has an internal power supply.
Cons:
● It lacks USB 3.0 and eSATA connectivity.
● Its capacity is limited as compare to other brands.
Although western Digital My cloud work with both Mac and windows, it is best when use it with mac such as MacBook Pro. This kind of hard drive comes with a huge capacity of 4TB at $430. Its speed rates range at about 640MB/S thus records a good performance. It has both thunderbolt and USB 3.0 connection.
Pros:
● It has a bus power supply. ● It offers a large storage. ● It is fast.
Cons:
● It is heavy and bulk. ● It has a noisy cooling.