MS-DOS (FAT) external hard drive won't show up in Finder

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Level 1

8 points

MS-DOS (FAT) external hard drive won't show up in Finder

After updating to macOS Sierra 10.12.2, my MS-DOS (FAT)-formatted external hard drive suddenly won't show up in Finder. The drive is visible in Disk Utility, but the partition is grayed out. What to do?

I'm running a MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012).

The drive is a 1TB rugged LaCie. In Disk Utility it's called "ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB"/"SATA external drive".

First aid in Disk Utility has ended with an error message and a recommendation to backup the content before proceeding - at which I have quitted in fear of loosing my data since I have no way of taking a backup (obviously).

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12.2)

Posted on Dec 23, 2016 11:27 AM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,948 points

Dec 24, 2016 6:29 AM in response to maskinen

If it is in MS-DOS format, do you have a Windows computer to try mounting it in?

I wouldn't trust macOS to repair or verify a Windows disk format.

If it shows up in Disk Utility, did you try to Mount the volume? If that fails, I would imagine the disk is unusable. You may be able to recover the files by trying to mount it on a Windows computer.

Is the drive Bus-powered or does it have an external power supply?

If bus-powered, try a different USB port or if on a hub, connect it directly to the Mac.

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Answer 2

maskinen Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 24, 2016 6:47 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks for the quick answer!

In Disk utility I’ve tried to mount it multiple times, but nothing happens. The drive is bus-powered and I’ve tried all possible ports with both usb3 and thunderbolt - all with the same result. On Windows the machine recognized that a hard drive was connected, and asked me if I would format it because the file system was unknown…

So I guess you’re right, I just jumped to the conclusion that this had something to do with MacOS because it happened right after updating. But the problem seems to be the hard drive itself - and I think I have to consult some expert to extract the content, hopefully!

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