I have a Seagate portable 5TB drive. It shows up on my old mac running El Capitan, but when I plug it into my new imac (running Big Sur), it doesn't show anywhere. It doesn't even show in Disk Utiltity on the new imac. I even tried reformatting it on the El Capitan mac, and then plugging it into the new imac, and no luck. Any suggestions on how to get it to appear?
Thank you!
iMac 27″, macOS 11.7
What format and partition map scheme did you use on the 5T Seagate?
Using Disk Utility on the older Mac, try formatting it Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID Partition Map Scheme.
Be sure to copy any data to another drive, because reformatting will wipe all data that is currently on the Seagate.
What format and partition map scheme did you use on the 5T Seagate?
Using Disk Utility on the older Mac, try formatting it Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID Partition Map Scheme.
Be sure to copy any data to another drive, because reformatting will wipe all data that is currently on the Seagate.
I formatted it with the Journaled OS with the GUID. I just discovered that if I plug it directly into the back of the iMac it shows up, but does not show up when plugged into a usb hub. I'm not sure why, but I finally got it to appear. I appreciate everyone's help.
And yes, I do know how to change the finder to show the external HD's on the desktop as well as the finder.
That is good news.
What USB hub do you have?
A Bus powered hub can only handle a few low power devices like a keyboard, a mouse and perhaps one portable drive.
A Self-Powered USB Hub can supply power to a keyboard, a mouse, plus multiple portable drives at the same time.
for a good example of a Self-Powered Hub,
Do other external drives and/or flash drives work on the newer iMac?
Try resetting the newer iMac’s SMC and then connect the external drive to it.
If it still does not show up in the Finder that means either the cable has failed or the HD itself has failed. You can do some additional troubleshooting and see if the drive can be seen in the Disk Utility app (Applications - Utilities - Disk Utility) if it can be seen that means the cable is okay but the HD is suspect. In that case download the free version of DriveDX and test the External Hard Disk. If DriveDX finds any errors then that means the External Hard Disk has failed and must be replaced. Going forward, please buy better quality enclosures such as an OWC Mercury Elite Pro.
One final thing you can try is to restart the computer in Safe Mode and then restart normally and see if that works.
Good luck!
Yes, I googled the hub problem and discovered mine didn't have enough power. I just ordered this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BH252R3J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I tried to reset the SMC, which for a desktop imac it says to unplug for 15 seconds, reconnect for 5 seconds and then start. Didn't change my results with the drive showing up. I do have other drives that work, it's just this one that won't show up.
ahoughland wrote:
I have a Seagate portable 5TB drive. It shows up on my old mac running El Capitan, but when I plug it into my new imac (running Big Sur), it doesn't show anywhere. It doesn't even show in Disk Utiltity on the new imac.
You probably know about having to change Finder preferences to get external disk icons to show on the Desktop, and in Finder window sidebars. That's the usual cause of "external drive doesn't show up." If Disk Utility does not see the drive, there's something deeper going on than that.
The HD shows on my old imac, but does not show on the new imac. I switched the cables and it still doesn't show up on the new imac. Any other suggestions?
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External Hard drive doesn't show up
