How to fix the problem where Mac does not recognize the hard drive

How to fix the problem where Mac does not recognize the hard drive

There are times when we need to connect an external hard drive or a USB drive to our Mac computer and the problem arises that the equipment does not recognize the external device that we have connected. Other times the same thing can happen with the hard disk of the computer itself.

When this type of situation arises there are several steps that must be followed to check where the fault may be.

Many times it is something simple to solve and other times it is necessary to take more drastic actions to solve the problem.

Today we are going to tell you what steps you should follow to make the different checks that can lead you to discover what is the problem that makes the Mac recognize the hard drive

We are going to mention from the most basic to the most complex, that is, if you ever experience this type of inconvenience, you should follow the steps that we are going to mention in the same order in which we describe them, to start from the simplest steps and if necessary go forward and carry out deeper actions.

So, without further ado, we are going to list the various checks you should perform to find out why your Mac doesn't recognize the hard drive.

Is the disc working properly?

If the computer does not recognize the external hard drive that you have connected, the first thing you should do is check if the disk is actually working as it should.

To find out if the problem is with your computer or with the disk, it is best to first try connecting it to another computer, so you will know if it is working correctly or not.

If you have no other equipment to test the drive on, try listening for any sound that indicates that the hard drive is properly connecting to the computer. If you do not detect any sound it is likely a connection problem, in that case you could try changing the cable to see if the problem is solved.

If you are using a USB memory stick, you should check if it has any operating indicators, such as an LED that lights up when the unit is connected to the computer.

If the problem is that the computer does not recognize the internal hard drive, you could try listening to something when it starts working.

Check drives with disk utility

Mac has an application called Disk Utility that you can use to check if the disk (s) are working correctly.

With this tool you will be able to see the information of all the disk drives or USB drives connected to your computer.

If when you check with the disk utility you see a column on the left where the name of the drive appears in light gray, this means that the disk could not be read correctly.

Another possibility is that the name of the unit appears normally but it shows you an error message. In this case the system is indicating that the unit is working correctly but there is some other problem with the file system.

Inside Disk Utility there is a tool called First Aid that is used to check the operation of the unit and often helps to solve minor problems.

Fix the problem where Mac does not recognize the hard drive

The "First Aid" function checks the volume for errors and repairs if necessary.

One more thing you can do from Disk Utility (but it doesn't guarantee that you will make it work properly) is drag the disk or USB drive icon to the dock to force a shortcut.

Format the external hard drive

Sometimes it happens that the external disk does not work properly because it is using a file system that is not compatible with the Mac. This happens when you have already formatted the same disk on a computer with Windows operating system.

To solve this problem from the disk utility you have the Delete option that will allow you to format the disk.

Before carrying out this action, it is recommended that you make a backup copy so as not to lose the information that you have saved on the disk.

Date update on 2020-11-13. Date published on 2020-11-13. Category: Computer class Author: Oscar olg Fuente: urbantecno