External Hard Drive Issues.

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Level 1

8 points

External Hard Drive Issues.

I've had some issues with my computer recognizing an external ssd over the past few months. I've reformatted, swapped out cables, and tried them on my macbook pro. They all mount/are seen in disk utility on my macbook pro but just won't on my desktop. Thinking I need to reformat to factory defaults.

I've tried a few online tutorials, the most comprehensive being: https://appletoolbox.com/mac-macbook-doesnt-recognize-external-drives-troubleshooting-tips/

Should I reformat? Thank you!

~jw

Posted on Oct 27, 2020 7:40 AM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

90,898 points

Oct 27, 2020 7:51 AM in response to jasonewillis

Click on your desktop to show Finder on the menu bar.

Click on Finder > Preferences > select General and check the Boxes.

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Answer 2

babowa

Level 9

78,562 points

Oct 27, 2020 7:53 AM in response to jasonewillis

Difficult to help without any relevant information:

Does your device have a T2 chip?

What OS version?

What format on your external?

Time Machine backups must be Mac OS Extended (HFS) formatted.

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Answer 3

jasonewillis Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 27, 2020 8:08 AM in response to den.thed

den.thed

This was already checked. Thank you for the reply. ;)

Babowa

OS:

System Version: macOS 10.15.7 (19H2)

Kernel Version: Darwin 19.6.0

Formats: Currently APFS, also tried Mac OS Extended

Not interested in Time Machine for these external drives.

When plugged in, System Info USB recognizes drives but when I try to find Disk Utility, it does not show.

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Answer 4

babowa

Level 9

78,562 points

Oct 27, 2020 9:51 AM in response to jasonewillis

Are you saying that disk utility does not show on the external? Do you have a clone on it? That would be the only time it would show there. You need to boot into recovery to get that Disk Utility.

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Answer 5

jasonewillis Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 27, 2020 10:30 AM in response to babowa

I don't have a clone of it. One drive has data, two do not. I just wanted to use as a backup...they just are not visible. Yet, I can see them on a system report under usb. It's weird.

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External Hard Drive Issues.

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