I have a 2017 macbook air and i have not upgraded the software in years. So I did. But unfortunately my WD external drive will not work. It shows up on disk utility. First aid says nothing is wrong with it. But it does not mount. A pop up says something regarding NFTS?
help please i do not want to lose all my files
MacBook, macOS 13.7
If this external drive is using the NTFS file system, then it appears you are using third party software to manage this external drive. You will need to update that third party software as well just like you need to update all other third party installed software.
FYI, it is best not to use any third party software to manage external drives....because you are now relying on that software to always work, but any minor OS update could possibly break that software leaving you unable to access the data on the drive until you resolve that software issue.
Usually it is best to use a file system that macOS natively supports. APFS and MacOS Extended (aka HFS+) are best if the drive will only be used with a Mac, but if a drive needs to be shared with Windows, then use exFAT (best to have Disk Utility format it). Unfortunately Apple rewrote the FAT & exFAT driver with Sonoma and some people have reported some issues at times, so your mileage may vary with it.
It sounds like your WD external hard drive is formatted in NTFS, a file system that macOS can read but not write to. After upgrading your MacBook Air, the drive may no longer mount due to compatibility changes. Since it appears in Disk Utility and First Aid detects no issues, your data is likely still intact. Try checking Finder preferences to ensure external disks are set to appear, manually mounting the drive through Disk Utility, or using Terminal with the diskutil mount command. Additionally, installing NTFS drivers like Paragon NTFS for Mac or Tuxera NTFS may help regain access. If the drive works on a Windows PC, consider backing up your data and reformatting it to exFAT for cross-compatibility.
If none of these steps work, data recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery or Photorec for Mac could help retrieve your files before reformatting the drive.
It sounds like your WD drive is formatted with NTFS, which macOS can't fully read or write to without extra software. You can install third-party software to get NTFS support on your Mac, or if you have access to a Windows PC, you could back up your files and reformat the drive to something like exFAT. If you're worried about losing data, try the third-party software first.
Thank you so much for that info. I didnt even realize i was using a 3rd party software. Maybe it was installed when i first used the hard drive?
i will try figure it out when i get home tonight. Thank you again!
My WD external hard drive will not mount after i upgraded my software
