Toshiba external hard drive files cannot be accessed

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Toshiba external hard drive files cannot be accessed

I have recently updated my MacOS to Catalina and then I cannot access to the files in my Toshiba Canvio Connect II external hard disk. The hard disk can be detected and the basic files (installation, setup etc) can be accessed, but the personal documents folder is missing. I can still see it when I connect the hard disk to a Windows laptop. I Googled and I think the main issue is that Tuxera, the software that supports the hard disk to be accessed on Macbook, is out of date, and I cannot update the software because the one used for Toshiba is slightly different.

However, the strange thing is that when I connect to another Toshiba hard disk (Toshiba Canvio Connect) to my Macbook, I can access my personal documents folder. Right now I have no idea what I can do, so I'm just writing to Support forums to get help.

MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Oct 10, 2020 11:20 PM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

117,406 points

Oct 11, 2020 2:20 PM in response to therhapsodist

The software (Tuxera) that allows you to write to a Windows-formatted disk (NTFS) will often block the mounting of the drive if it doesn't work.

Uninstall the Tuxera software, mount the drive and you should be able to read the drive, then copy the files to another location so you can format the drive to work with a Mac.

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Answer 2

Oct 12, 2020 5:32 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hi, I have uninstalled the software, cleared every trace of Tuxera in my laptop, emptied the recycle bin, restarted my laptop after that, but I still cannot see my personal documents folder. And I'm still able to see the personal documents folder in my older Toshiba external hard disk. :(

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Answer 3

Oct 12, 2020 6:29 AM in response to Barney-15E

No I didn't use their uninstaller app because I didn't successfully install the app to start with (the product key is invalid, and when I plugged in my hard disk to the laptop yesterday the system told me that the product key is invalid).

I tried booting into safe mode earlier on and it can't detect both hard disks.

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

61,682 points

Oct 12, 2020 4:50 PM in response to therhapsodist

Run EtreCheck which will show you any third party drivers & files still installed on your system for Tuxera and NTFS or possibly even Paragon (another more common NTFS driver). Feel free to post the complete report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.

At this point it would be best if you would temporarily transfer all the files from this external drive using your other computer which can still read all the files on the external drive. Then use Disk Utility to erase the drive as GUID partition and exFAT. If you have multiple Macs, then it may be best to use the Mac with the oldest version of macOS to erase the drive so it is compatible with your other Macs running newer versions of macOS and even your Windows installation.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

117,406 points

Oct 12, 2020 5:54 AM in response to therhapsodist

Did you use their uninstaller app?

The kernel extension may not be named for Tuxera. It might be Toshiba-branded, or something else.

If you boot into Safe Mode, can you see the content of the drive?

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Answer 6

HWTech

Level 9

61,682 points

Oct 11, 2020 5:04 PM in response to therhapsodist

To add to @Barney-15E's reply you can use Disk Utility to erase the drive as GUID partition and exFAT so the drive can be used with both macOS and Windows.

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Toshiba external hard drive files cannot be accessed

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