Apple Intelligence now features Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools enhancements, seamless support for ChatGPT, and visual intelligence.

Apple Intelligence has also begun language expansion with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Learn more >

You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

cjjj Author

Level 1

5 points

Can't access files on my external hard drive

All my files are on an external hard drive. It shows up in Disk Utility and on the desktop, but when I go into an application it doesn't show the hard drive, so in order to open anything I have to more it to desktop...royal pain.

Using MacBook Air 2020 iOS 12.2.1 500 GB storage

Hard drive is Seagate Backup Plus 4 TB, formatted APFS and is encrypted. I do not want unencrypted hard drives lying around. I do no want my files on the Mac itself.

How do I get my files on the hard drive to show up? it shouldn't be this hard!

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.2

Posted on Feb 20, 2022 4:22 PM

Top-ranking reply

Encryptor5000

Level 5

7,574 points

Posted on Feb 20, 2022 7:00 PM

Hi cjjj,

If the app(s) you use doesn't use a standard "open file" prompt, you might need to grant that app permission to see your external drive:

Open System Preferences.
In System Preferences, select Security and Privacy -> Privacy, then select "Files and Folders".
If the app appears in the list, and if the checkbox appears, make sure that the box is checked for Removable Volumes.
If step 3 isn't possible, select the Full Disk Access category, and add the app to that list.

View in context

Can't access files on my external hard drive

Similar questions