external hard drive

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Level 1

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external hard drive

Just switched to iMac...the external HD is not recognized? Plugged it in the thunderbolt USB slot. Do I need to activate that Thunderbolt bridge?

Posted on Jul 27, 2021 10:50 AM

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Answer 1

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KiltedTim

Level 10

203,740 points

Jul 28, 2021 10:44 AM in response to tvdad

It's undoubtedly formatted as an NTFS volume. That's the default for Windows machines.

M1 based Macs can not read NTFS volumes out of the box.

Intel based Macs can read NTFS, but not write to it without 3rd party software.

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Answer 2

Jul 27, 2021 10:58 AM in response to tvdad

Should just spin up and mount within finder and if you have ticked hard disks in the finder preference pane will also show on the desktop as an orange drive icon.

Check the enclosure as they usually have LEDs that glow to confirm they are powered up.

There isn't anything you normally need to do in firmware or bios on a Mac

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Answer 3

tvdad Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 28, 2021 9:09 AM in response to tvdad

More information: It was part of my PC, Windows 10, set up. Unplugged it and replugged it into my new iMac M1. The system did not see it. I've ordered a new cable, although I don't think that's the solution. Since the OS doesn't see it I can't make any adjustments on the machine. I would assume that the USB bridges are set up plug and play??? Maybe I'm wrong. I've been a PC user for ever...this is a totally new adventure.

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