✅ Marking this thread as Solved.
For anyone else landing here because your external hard drive is not showing up on your Mac, we’ve got some helpful, in-depth guides that walk you through this issue from every angle:
🔗 Methods to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on Mac
🔗 How to Check a Mac’s Hard Drive Health (we cover different tools that work for internal / external drives)
🔍 Here’s a quick recap of why your external drive might not be showing up (and what you can do about it):
Improper connection. Could be a bad cable, damaged port, or loose connection. Try switching cables, ports, or even testing the drive on another Mac.
Corrupted file system. This can happen if you’ve unplugged the drive without ejecting or had a power failure. Recovery tools like Disk Drill or TestDisk are your best bet here.
Physical damage. If the drive doesn’t spin up or makes clicking sounds, it could be a hardware issue. In that case, skip the DIY fixes and talk to a professional recovery service.
Finder settings. Sometimes the drive is working but just not set to appear. Go to Finder > Settings > Sidebar and make sure external drives are checked.
System issues. Glitches in macOS can interfere with how drives mount. Try restarting your Mac, or if that doesn’t help, reset your NVRAM/PRAM or SMC.
Low system resources. In rare cases, your Mac might not mount a drive if it’s under heavy load or short on resources. A simple reboot can help clear things up.
