How to remount an ejected external SSD on MacBook Pro?

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How to remount an ejected external SSD on MacBook Pro?

how do I restart an external SSD drive after I have ejected it?

I run a MacBook Pro 2020, Apple M1 chip, MacOS Tahoe 26.2, and an external Sandisk SSD 2TB. Sometimes I eject the disk but leave it plugged in, and then later want to restart it. Are there commands I can use to do this? Instead of disconnecting and plugging it back in?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 26.2

Posted on Feb 14, 2026 10:40 AM

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Answer 1

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Tesserax

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Feb 14, 2026 3:05 PM in response to gary417

You don’t need to unplug it. On macOS (including Apple silicon like your MacBook), you can remount an ejected external SSD in several ways.

Easiest Method: Disk Utility

Open Disk Utility.
In the sidebar, find your SanDisk 2TB SSD (it may appear grayed out).
Select the volume (or the top-level disk).
Click Mount.

Via the Terminal Method

Open the Terminal.
List all disks to verify which you want to remount with this command: diskutil list
Look for your external SSD (e.g., `/dev/disk4` and its volume like `/dev/disk4s1`).
Mount the whole drive with this command: diskutil mountDisk /dev/disk4 OR mount a specific volume with this one: diskutil mount /dev/disk4s1

What if It Doesn’t Show Up in `diskutil list`?

Try this command instead: diskutil list external

If still missing, the controller may be in a low-power or suspended state. In that case, the only reliable fix is physically disconnecting and reconnecting the SSD.

If this happens often:

Make sure the cable is good quality (USB-C cables can be flaky).
Disable aggressive sleep: System Settings → Battery → Options → disable “Put hard disks to sleep when possible”.

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