External Hard Drive Missing After Big Sur Download

Sorry to hear that. I don’t know more than what’s already online, and that didn’t work for me. Apple Customer Service would be what’s left.

It is disappointing and at this point infuriating. Do you have another Mac to test it on? Shame on Apple abandoning its customers in such a cavalier manner. This is a KNOWN issue.

Read this thread. Different people have found different solutions. It is a very annoying bug known issue that Apple is ignoring.

What version of macOS Big Sur have you installed to your MacBook Pro? Is it the latest version of macOS Big Sur 11.2.1?

To be clear, Locations was always set to display on my machine. After Big Sur, my external HD's DID NOT appear or show in "Locations" . This happened to many people - the thread is 15 pgs!

First, in the menubar for Finder, click Preferences.

Make sure "External disks" is checked. This is for removable disks like you mentioned. "Hard disks" is primarily for fixed drives.

If it is already checked, does the external drive display within Disk Utility? If it does display, try erasing/reformatting the drive under disk utility.

Hi DeeperDiver, thanks for your help!

Yes, I checked and do have that "External disks" checked. I just posted lengthy reply to another message, with screenshot how it the disk looks on Disk Utility, you can find the picture on that post I think. I understand that erasing/reformatting would probably fix the problem, but I would rather not do it at first option because a) currently I do not have additional external disk where to store the data and b) who's to say it would even help in the long run, as I've read some messages that the problem reoccured after a while.

Hey Paul

Many thanks for getting back to me.

Its a Lacie D2 USB3/Thunderbolt 3TB drive. I have just put the serial number in but doesn't appear to be any new firmware updates for it.

Yes I see the drive in disk utility and also when its not mounted, it also shows up on the desktop but not in finder and when I open Lightroom that refuses to see it too. I have yet to try a reformat, do you think it would be worth doing that?

I thought that might be the case. I downliaded the Paragon driver but since I had formatted as Mac extended, it didn’t affect it. On a whim, I thought I’d better update my other WD drives. Hey, when I taught computers, They dodn’t call me GG, the Geek Goddess for nothin’! lol

Same problem. My Mac Pro that was functioning fine with Catalina now will not recognize external hard drives, thumb drives or Kindle. All drives are recognized and functioning on my MacBook Pro which has not been upgraded. Tried all the fixes suggested but no change - Disc Utility does not see anything.

Hellooooo Apple, this seems to be a problem you should be addressing promptly - how can people be operating properly after this upgrade malfunction? External Drives are an everyday item used by nearly every Mac customer on a daily basis.

All My Seagate external drives are fully loaded, If I format it now, I'll lost all the data store in the drives, I had more than 30 Seagate external drives in hand, If Mac OS No longer to support NTSF format, I'll stop buying Seagate external drive and switch to WD or other ExFat format drive, But can't do any thing to my old NTSF drives!

Same issue here on my Mac Mini (2018). Updated to Big Sur 11.1 and now my 5TB external drive (connected via USB C) will not mount. First Aid has no impact, and going to Disk Utility -> Mount does nothing, I can just keep clicking it without any impact. It is formatted as APFS (Encrypted). I even tried removing the password from Keychain and manually re-entering when trying to mount (prompt came up correctly), but never mounts. Worked without issue before updating to Big Sur, and other smaller drives continue to work without issue.

iBoysoft NFTS software and NTFS for Mac from Paragon (or From Seagate) are all useless for me, iBoysoft NFTS software can't even finish the install , I believe is Big Sur stop all NTFS drives mount on desktop, wishing Apple can do something at next Big Sur version upgrade!

Same problem for me. Impossible to see my external disks anymore. I am just upset and exhausted about all the border effects i get on my new Mac Book since i upgraded to Big Sur. I purchased for more 4000 euros a few weeks ago. This upgrade is really an amateur job.

No use, Even I purchased the Newest version for OS Big Sur still can't mount NTFS external drive from Seagate, Don't waste your money! If you own a new Mac come with the SMC may have the chance to make it work!