External SSD not showing files from windows transfer

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Level 1

4 points

External SSD not showing files from windows transfer

I've recently bought a brand new 2TB SSD and decided I wanna use it for both Mac and Windows. I formatted the drive to ExFat and took my pre existing 4tb hard drive and copied the stuff over onto the new one. I did this from my Windows computer and now plugging the drive into my mac a few files show but the half of the files are not showing up. If I plug it back into the windows I can see all the files visible and using disk utility it tells me the storage is still on there. I ran a third party drive recovery software in a attempt to see the files but it didn't work. I'm very confused on what to do I am reformating the drive once again but it might have something to do with the files being ntfs.

Posted on Feb 3, 2024 6:04 AM

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Answer 1

HWTech

Level 9

55,132 points

Feb 3, 2024 8:07 PM in response to Chuck17v

What is the exact model of our Mac and exact version of macOS? You can get this information by clicking the Apple menu and selecting "About This Mac".

What is the exact make & model of this 2TB SSD?

It is usually a good idea to provide all this information when asking for assistance online.

Make sure to disconnect all other external devices in case one of them is causing a problem.

Make sure macOS is fully up to date with the latest patches.

Try booting into Safe Mode to see how the external SSD behaves

If you formatted the SSD using Windows, then you may want to try using Disk Utility on macOS to erase this SSD for exFAT since macOS may not be able to understand certain file allocations sizes that another OS may use when formatting an exFAT volume. Remember, erasing the drive will destroy all data on it, so make sure you have a good backup of the data first.

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