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need help with external drive not showing up on desktop

I just installed an older model powered USB hub on my iMac desktop. When I connected a 1TB external drive (USB3.0) I previously used directly on the computer, the drive didn't show up on the Desktop (nor on my MacBookPro where I had also previously used it.) I tried Disk Utility on both computers, but it didn't register so I was unable to Mount it. I tried a thumb drive and got the same problem on both computers. Needless to say I've trashed the hub! Suggestions on how to recover the drives??


MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jul 22, 2020 11:05 AM

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Posted on Jul 22, 2020 11:38 AM

If you plug either of the drives directly to your computer, do they appear? If not, are they optioned to appear under your Finder Preferences? If they still do not appear, I would next go down under the Apple menu icon to About This Mac and click it. Then click on the System Report button. It will bring up an extensive report. Under the Hardware section, at the bottom, click on USB to show everything that is connected via USB and hopefully, you will see your disk. There may be a lot of data, so you have to look for it. If you do see your drive, then you know that the computer recognizes it and it should be visible.

One problem with connecting certain drives and devices via USB hubs is that too much power may be drawn if the USB hub is not a powered hub. I've found that using powered hubs solves a lot of problems. My last thought is if the disk is still not showing up when directly connected to the computer, I would then try using a different USB port. It could be that one of your ports is defective. Good luck.

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Jul 22, 2020 11:38 AM in response to roj97

If you plug either of the drives directly to your computer, do they appear? If not, are they optioned to appear under your Finder Preferences? If they still do not appear, I would next go down under the Apple menu icon to About This Mac and click it. Then click on the System Report button. It will bring up an extensive report. Under the Hardware section, at the bottom, click on USB to show everything that is connected via USB and hopefully, you will see your disk. There may be a lot of data, so you have to look for it. If you do see your drive, then you know that the computer recognizes it and it should be visible.

One problem with connecting certain drives and devices via USB hubs is that too much power may be drawn if the USB hub is not a powered hub. I've found that using powered hubs solves a lot of problems. My last thought is if the disk is still not showing up when directly connected to the computer, I would then try using a different USB port. It could be that one of your ports is defective. Good luck.

Jul 22, 2020 12:27 PM in response to Ronasara

Hi, thanks but the drive no longer appears ANYWHERE. I tried using Terminal and entering “diskutil list” and it didn’t show up there either. I think the powered hub just shorted out the 1TB drive (as well as the thumb drives) b/c nothing is showing up, nor are the LED lights working on the drive(s). This is so crazy!! I’ve had this happen before with a thumb drive (years ago) where it just stopped being recognized. Lost a good chunk of data but I back 1TB up last week. So frustrating since I work with it daily—it was working before I swapped in that !$&@ hub!

need help with external drive not showing up on desktop

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