I have just tried to connect a brand new Seagate external HDD. It doesn't appear on the desktop. It appears in Disk Utility but won't either mount, initialise, allow itself to be erased / reformatted or be repaired with first aid. It's working and operating but it just won't connect. Any advice would be gratefully received - thank you.
MacBook Pro Apple Silicon
Connect the drive directly to the Mac.
Disconnect all other external devices in case one of them is causing a problem.
Boot into Safe Mode to see whether you can erase the drive for use with macOS. If this works, then most likely you have some third party software that is interfering with the normal operation of macOS.
To properly prepare/erase the drive for use with macOS you need to erase the whole physical drive. Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the physical drives appear on the left pane of Disk Utility. You will want to erase the physical drive as GUID partition and one of the following file systems depending on how you will use the drive:
What is the exact model of the Mac? You can get this information by clicking the Apple menu and selecting "About This Mac". Some older drives may not be compatible with M1/M2 Apple Silicon Macs. Just because you just purchased this drive does not mean it isn't an older model.
Did you install the Seagate proprietary software? If so, then maybe some setting with this software has locked the drive. The Seagate software does have an option to encrypt the drive and lock it. If this is activated, then the drive must first be unlocked before any data can be accessed.
Connect the drive directly to the Mac.
Disconnect all other external devices in case one of them is causing a problem.
Boot into Safe Mode to see whether you can erase the drive for use with macOS. If this works, then most likely you have some third party software that is interfering with the normal operation of macOS.
To properly prepare/erase the drive for use with macOS you need to erase the whole physical drive. Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the physical drives appear on the left pane of Disk Utility. You will want to erase the physical drive as GUID partition and one of the following file systems depending on how you will use the drive:
What is the exact model of the Mac? You can get this information by clicking the Apple menu and selecting "About This Mac". Some older drives may not be compatible with M1/M2 Apple Silicon Macs. Just because you just purchased this drive does not mean it isn't an older model.
Did you install the Seagate proprietary software? If so, then maybe some setting with this software has locked the drive. The Seagate software does have an option to encrypt the drive and lock it. If this is activated, then the drive must first be unlocked before any data can be accessed.
Greetings Jonathan Stephens1,
If the external hard drive is not working with your Mac, begin by contacting the manufacturer directly to make sure the drive is compatible with your Mac.
Take care.
External Seagate Drive Won't Mount, Initialise, Erase/Re-format or Be Repaired With First Aid
