My external hard drive won't show up in the disk utility

Question

Level 1

8 points

My external hard drive won't show up in the disk utility

Hello! I have a problem with my external hard drive (WD Elements), it doesn't even show up in the disk utility menu, or other times it shows up and then disappears, the hard drive works with my windows laptop normally, i have it in the exFAT format so idk what to do. The same thing happens with one of my USB drivers, other works just fine. The usbc to usb reduction works fine with other devices (tablet or scanner) so there's no problem with that. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

MacBook Air (2020 or later)

Posted on Aug 23, 2021 4:12 AM

Reply

Answer 1

zuzana245 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 23, 2021 6:22 AM in response to zuzana245

I tried to turn the reduction over now (i guess thats what you suggested?) and the hard drive shown for a couple of seconds, i even managed to do the repair thing in disk utility, but then it disappeared again.

Reply

Answer 2

ku4hx

Level 7

23,586 points

Aug 23, 2021 7:48 AM in response to zuzana245

Try a different port. At this point I'd suspect a bad adapter. How does the drive function on a different computer? If it works on a different computer that's a clue your problem may not be the drive at all.

Reply

Answer 3

zuzana245 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 23, 2021 7:59 AM in response to ku4hx

no, the adapter works with different devices (tablet or scanner) and the driver also works well with my other laptop (which has windows on it). Also the mac sends me a notification to "unmount the hard drive" when it isnt physically connected at all which is also weird

Reply