External Hard drive wont show up in Finder

Hi,
After Mountain Update, the external hard drive icon wont show up in Finder sidebar, Desktop and in Disk Utility.
Is there anything which needs to be set in System Preference ??
I have the External Hard Disk checkbox checked in Finder Preference, inspite of this I cannot see the Hard drive icon
Please help.

You can try looking in Finder Prefereneces.
Go to the Finder Menu > Prefeences
Look at the sidebar pane. Make sure the Devices box is checked.
Go back to your finder window and make sure that Devices are not hidden. To the right of the Devices work there is a dimly visible show/hide command that is visible only when you have your cursor next to the Devices word.
You can also try unpluggin the drive and unplugging its USB cord then plugging it all back in to try again.
Jay

Similar Messages

My external hard drive wont show up in the "Save to:" menu when I try to import videos

My old external broke so I found my old one and plugged it in and went to import some videos on imove from an sd card but my external hard drive wont show up on the "save to:" drop down menu. I've been on utility disk to try and repair disk permission but I can't because the button isn't lit up. I can only click on verify disk or repair disk. I tried both of these but it still wont come on the drop down menu. It is showing up on the left in the event library but it has a little yellow triangle with a black exclamation mark in it.
Hope that all makes sense!
Any help would be very much appreciated!

Ok in disk utility it says Format : MS-DOS (FAT32)
Sorry Im not sure what you mean by can it connect via firewire? Sorry I'm a bit useless with technology haha

External hard drive not showing up in finder

Hi,
I have a LaCie Rikiki USB 3.0 1TB external hard drive for more than a year or so (probably longer than that). The hard drive has 2 partitions with one formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) <named MAC> and the other MS-DOS (FAT) for windows <named as FOR WIN>.
The MAC volume has been working fine yesterday then suddenly it just started to transfer files very slowly and had problems unmounting when I am done transferring files saying it is in used by an application when it is not. So I had to force eject the the MAC volume while the FOR WIN volume ejected fine. However, here comes the problem.
Once I reconnected the external hard drive, it does show up in disk utility but not in finder. Also, the FOR WIN volume showed up as disk1s2 in disk utility. I tried using disk utility's verify and repair disk and couldn't fix the FOR WIN volume so I gave up on that since I don't have any important files in that volume. On the other hand, I could run verify and repair to get the MAC volume mounted. Through that I could get some files copied but soon finder hangs on me and wouldn't open even after relaunch which led me to disconnect the drive by just unplugging the USB. Now when I connect the drive, it again shows up in disk utility but not mounted and when I try to use the verify and repair all I get is:
Verifying Volume "MAC"
checking file system
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
Verify and Repair volume "MAC"
Checking file system
Volume repair complete
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required
and it's stuck at "updating boot support........" I've let it ran for like 6 hours and it's still at that stage. Had enough, closed disk utility and reconnected the harddrive and it's still the same showing up in disk utility but not mounting.
Could anyone please help? Thank you!

tonydenson wrote:
That's great thanks. cmd-shift-c brings it back.
then it should also show up on the desktop. go to finder preferences->general and check the boxes to show external and CD drives.
Incidentally, I now have the opposite problem, I can't eject it. I get the message that the disk is in use, try quitting applications. I quite often get this with mounted drives or flash drives. Is there any way of finding out which particular application has a given device open ?
sometimes spotlight keeps drives busy.
you can see what's doing it by running the following terminal command
sudo lsof /volumes/lacie

My External Hard drive wont show up when plugged in

I have an external 500GB LaCie hard drive connected to my 13inch mac book 09. It is used to house all of my itunes library (11,000 songs+), a bunch of pictures and a few movies and random other things. It was working fine until I came home from work one day and an error message was on my computer saying that I had ejected a disk without properly disconnecting it (meaning my hard drive). My HD was still plugged into my computer and I never touched it. I tried everything from unplugging, rebooting, etc, and it still wont show up when I connect it to my computer. A day earlier I had my itunes playing for 8 hours while I was at work and I had been noticing over the past few days that my power supply was unusually loud but didn't think anything of it until this all happened! I would appreciate any advice as I would like to keep listening to all my music. Please help!

Ok in disk utility it says Format : MS-DOS (FAT32)
Sorry Im not sure what you mean by can it connect via firewire? Sorry I'm a bit useless with technology haha

How do i get my external hard drive to show up in finder sidebar?

I recently had to restore my computer and my hard drive won't show up in the sidebar anymore. I've been through the finder preferences and have the option checked for it to show up but still no luck. Any suggestions?

Interesting. Comes with? you didn't have either before? Paragon is commercial and is now v. 10.0, they were the only one keeping updated and was supporting 10.7.4. I would not enable more than one.
For writing to HFS Paragon has theirs but probably give the nod to MacDrive there.
I never do an upgrade to a new OS over the old system, I backup (clone) and format the drive with the new OS and do the install so whatever is there I know is clean and also to keep from carrying around leftovers from years and systems past.
I would assme Paragon is limited. Try their site and knowledge base?
MacDrive
http://www.mediafour.com/updates/macdrive
Paragon HFS
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/
Paragon NTFS
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/26288/ntfs-for-mac-os-x
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

I have an external hard drive that shows up in disk utility but Verify and Restore are greyed out.

I have an external hard drive that shows up in disk utility but Verify and Restore are greyed out. I am trying to determine what is wrong with the drive.
I need the data on the drive and it won't show up in Disk Warrior. I have tried different Mac's and different USB cords only to find the same outcome. When selected in Disk Utility the information read as such...
Disk Description : WD Elements 1023 Media                      Total Capacity : 500.11 GB (500,105,740,288 Bytes)
Connection Bus : USB                                                               Write Status : Read/Write
Connection Type : External                                                     S.M.A.R.T. Status : Not Supported
USB Serial Number : 575837314135304D36373132        Partition Map Scheme : Unformatted
As the drive shows in Disk Utility there must be some life left in it surely. There is a possibilty that the physical connection between the USB cord and the external drive is damaged but since the drive shows up I believe it's unlikely... before I give it to the pro's is there anything else I can do to diagnose the issue?

Hello,
I have just experienced the same thing!
Although my external drive shows in Disk Utility, it does not show in Finder.
And the Verify/Repair buttons are also greyed out.
Also, although the drive is 2TB. DU shows it as having Total Capacity of only 4.14GB! (Which should be the Free Space).
I was wondering if you solved your problem, & if so, would you share your solution.
I´m afraid to Erase in case I lose all my Data on the drive.
Thanks in advance for your reply!

External Hard Drives not showing

I have 2 external hard drives connected using FW 800, a Western Digital 500TB & a Seagate 500TB. The Western Digital has a habit of freezing and the last time this happened I powered down the iMac. When I re started the iMac neither external hard drive is showing on the desk top what's happening and how do I cure this?

HI MIke,
To start with if your forum profile is correct you need to update your system softare to 10.5.8. Go here and install the v10.5.8 Combo Update
Also, in the Finder from the Menu Bar click Finder/Preferences and select the General tab.
Select the 2nd button and relaunch the Finder.
Carolyn

I have iMovie 09. I just erased my external hard drive, but it is still formatted for the mac. However, iMovie will not recognize the hard drive. It shows the only hard drive available is the computers. How do I get the external hard drive to show up?

I have iMovie 09. I just erased my external hard drive, but it is still formatted for the mac. However, iMovie will not recognize the hard drive. It shows the only hard drive available is the computers. How do I get the external hard drive to show up?

In Finder's Menu, select Go menu>Go to Folder, and go to "/volumes". (no quotes)
Volumes is where an alias to your hard drive ("/" at boot) is placed at startup, and where all the "mount points" for auxiliary drives are created for you to access them. This folder is normally hidden from view.
Drives with an extra 1 on the end have a side-effect of mounting a drive with the same name as the system already think exists. Try trashing the duplicates with a 1 or 2 if there are no real files in them, and reboot.
If it does contain data...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2474

After iTunes Transfer To External Hard Drive It Shows Less In External Hard Drive

Hello,
I transffered my iTunes library to a new My Passport Portable 2 TB external hard drive. My iTunes Library is 349.94 GB and on External Hard Drive it shows 204.81 GB after transfer.
Why does it not match up, does it automatically delete duplicates. I want to make sure I have my complete library before deleting it from my computer, thanks .
Couldn't find another category for some reason, hope this will be ok.
Best regards

What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847

External Hard drives not showing up in FCPX library

Hello everyone,
I have FCPX 10.1.3 with Yosemite 10.10.
My external Hard drives mount fine on the finder, but they are not showing up in my FCP Libraries.
Also when I want to import footage from my Canon Camera to my ext HD, FCPX won't let me and only lists Macintosh HD. Weird because FCPX sees the Hard drives as media to import FROM, not TO.
I'm puzzled. Anybody knows why and possibly a fix?
Thank you!
Raphael

Hi Tom, Thanks for your prompt reply. The ext. HD that I am using already has 2 folders called "Final Cut Events" and "Final Cut Projects" because I use this drive on another Mac.
I upgraded to Yosemite and consequently my version of FCPX. I use FCPX on a daily basis and I don't understand why FCPX 10.1.3 doesn't recognize a ext HD that already has those 2 folders.
Are you recommending that Open an new Library? Or create a new one?

External Hard Drive/Not Showing Up on Desktop

I have a G4, running OS X 10.2.8 and recently my kids deleted some important data. So--we bought an external hard drive (WD MyBook 160 GB Essential Edition, which says on the box that it runs 10.2.8 and higher).
We took the external hard drive and the computer to a reputable repair place, the guy there took the hard drive out and using a G6 system, restored what he could to the external hard drive.
We bring it home, plug it in, and the computer is not reading the new external hard drive. I did check in disk utility, and it shows up as a greyed out item on the disk utility.
The external hard drive does show up when hooked up to my husband's office PC.
Any ideas as to why this is happening and how to correct it?
Thanks, Ruth

OK, I figured it out (in case anyone else needs to know) with this information from the Western Digital site:
Macintosh Operating System 10.3.x or earlier will only recognize FAT32 partitions that are smaller than 128-gigabytes. Multiple FAT32 partitions smaller than 128-gigabytes will need to be created in order for Macintosh Operating System 10.3.x or earlier to recognize the partitions. You will need to use a Windows based computer to create FAT32 partitions, as Macintosh does not have the ability to create them.
Macintosh Operating System 10.4.x or later can recognize FAT32 partitions over 128-gigabytes.

Why is my External Hard Drive not showing in Aperture 3.6 Import?

Why is my External Hard Drive not showing in Aperture 3.6 Import?
Only my computer hard drive is and I want to import from an external drive. I have always been able to until I updated to Aperture 3.6 and Yosemite.

Only my computer hard drive is and I want to import from an external drive. I have always been able to until I updated to Aperture 3.6 and Yosemite.
I had the same problem. On the folders on the drive with the Aperture library did show in the Import panel. After I clicked the computer icon in the upper left corner of the Import panel, suddenly all drives appeared.
You can also try to drag the folder you want to import into the Import panel, to point the file chooser to the drive.

All my external Hard Drives stopped showing up in both Finder and Disk Utility

Hello there.
i have this strange issue that occured just out of nowhere without me (knowingly) having contributed anything to it.
yesterday i launched my iMac and my external firewire drive wasn't showing up in neither the finder nor on the desktop. i instantly thought about a hard drive crash, but soon tried other things to evaluate (or not) my guess.
for instance, i unplugged the drive waited a few minutes before i plugged it in again. since this iomega drive is also equipped with a regular usb port i also switched cables and tried connecting it via the iMac usb sockets as well as via an usb hub without any luck. the drive still won't show up. so i launched the Disk Utility, to see if the drive needs some checking/repairing, but to my surprise it wasn't showing in Disk Utility either.
thus far i only considered this to be an issue with only this particular external drive, but when i eventually switched on a 2nd external drive (this time an usb drive i use for Time Machine) that drive also refused to show up in either the Finder or the Disk Utility app.
curious as i was, i then fired up a 3rd and 4th external drive and now had all 4 drives running at the same time. none of which were showing up, just as if they weren't even connected with the iMac.
this strikes me as more than odd. i've heard about hard drive failures and crashes. they just occur over time. maybe and under some very strange coincidences it is possible that two external hard drives quit their jobs at the very same time, but seriously .... 4 of them?? i hardly think so.
well, maybe it's the iMac's usb/firewire controller that's causing the trouble, i thought. but then again, my other connected devices (iPhone, iPad, Printer, Scanner, eyeTV) are functioning and get detected just fine as far as i can tell.
i have no idea what's going on. i dismiss the idea of 4 external drives having crashed all at the same time just as much as i don't think that the iMac's usb/firewire controller has got any issues. re-formatting any of the 4 drives is out of the question and even if i'd consider such desperate measures, the Disk Utility wouldn't let me re-format anything anyhow, because the drives aren't listed there. i wish i could just use my Time Machine to resolve the issue but, as i mentioned earlier, i can't access the Time Machine because it also won't show up.
please, i need an expert's help here. please, somebody bring back my 4 external drives so i can access them in finder again.
any help will be much appreciated.
thank you in advance..
..Otis

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
diskutil list
Post any lines of output that appear below what you entered — the text, please, not a screenshot.
If any personal information appears in the output, edit before posting, but don’t remove the context.

External Hard drive not showing on finder or desktop

My hard drive is only a week old and was working fine until i plugged it in today. The hard drive light still lights up when plugged in and it works when i plug it into a tv and my roommates pc.
However on my macbook the hard drive won't show up in finder or the desktop... it shows in disk utility but options to verify disk etc are 'greyed out' so i can't click on them. THere isn't anything wrong with the hard drive because as stated above it worked on other devices.
Other usb and external hard drives are being recognosed fine and show up in finder.
Can anyone please help?

Same problem here. Sometimes drives disappear completely from the Finder sidebar. Sometimes they just gray out. Quick 'n' easy fix: In Terminal, type:
chflags nohidden /Volumes/MY_PARTITION
(where MY_PARTITION is the name of the drive you can't find).
For the UNIX impaired, if there's a space in your drive name, you can use "\ " to represent the space (no quotes, just the backslash and the space). So for example, Macintosh HD would be typed:
Macintosh\ HD

External hard drive not showing in finder or disk utility

1TB WD external hard drive is not showing in finder sidebar, destop, or disk utility. I have checked and all the preferences are ticked. The disk itself is showing a light and making a whirring sound during start up after being plugged into the power.

Three different external drives, on 2 different MacBook Pros (different ages). One drive with internal power, 2 through USB. Also have a new Solid State External Drive and it does work. The were all working before upgrade to Yosemite.
Have tried multiple USB Cords

External Hard drive wont show up in Finder

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for