Can T See External Drive On Mac

  1. Mac External Drive Not Showing
  2. Macbook Not Seeing External Hard Drive
  3. Windows 10 Won T Recognize External Hard Drive
  4. Can't See External Drive On Mac
  5. Mac Won't Recognize External Drive

Change the USB-to-Mac connection way. Have you tried to restart your Mac once or twice? Make sure your Mac is connected to the external storage device (for example, using a USB cable or over a network). Click the Finder icon in the Dock to open a Finder window, then do one of the following to move your files.

Summary: Tutorial to make Mac recognize Seagate Backup Plus drive when it's not showing up on Mac. You'll know how to fix when Mac doesn't detect Seagate Backup Plus drive. If necessary, you can also recover data from the unrecognized Seagate Backup Plus drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.

Seagate Backup Plus drives are great external hard drives for Mac and PC. And there are many options like Ultra Touch, Slim, and Portable. However, many users report that the Seagate Backup Plus for Mac is not recognized, not working, or the external hard drive is not showing up on Mac at all.

Here is an example:

I use a Seagate 2TB Backup Plus Portable HD as my Time Machine backups drive and it had been working fine. Since I upgrade to Yosemite (maybe coincidental?) the HD is no longer recognized by my MacBook Pro. I can see the light on HD so I am sure it is getting power. I searched for all day but no Seagate firmware update available (attempt to update shows it to be current) and no other help available from Seagate 'support.' Can anybody help me cuz I'm really in need of the files on this drive？

In this case, you can't see files on the external hard drive or access them at all. So, it's important to know why and how to fix when Seagate Backup Plus drive is not showing up on Mac.

Why Seagate Backup Plus drive not showing up on Mac?

Actually, it's a common issue that the Seagate Backup Plus drive is not recognized or detected. And sometimes the external hard drive even greyed out in Disk Utility. The reason for this issue is various. And here are some possible causes for this problem.

The causes for Seagate Backup Plus drive not detected issue could be:

  1. A recent macOS update or software update, which could cause many types of incompatibility.
  2. The hard drive is encrypted or password-protected, especially for Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touch hard drive.
  3. Faulty connections such as the wobbly USB port and broken USB cable.
  4. Power supply failure, especially when MacBook is in low power mode and external hard drives requires extra power resource.
  5. The outdated disk driver that appears if you haven’t updated your software and hardware for a long time.
  6. Virus infection that comes from recently downloaded files, applications, patch, etc.
  7. External drive hardware errors like bad sectors.
  8. Other unknown reasons.

Then how can you fix the problem that Seagate Backup Plus Drive is not recognized/showing up on Mac?

First of all: Have some basic checks

Once your Seagate Backup Plus drive is not showing up on your Mac computer, you can try some routine checks first.

  • 1. Re-plug the Seagate Backup Plus drive and verify if the drive light is on. Desktop Drives typically require a power adapter.
  • 2. Try a different USB port or cable to see whether the USB port or cable is bad.
  • 3. Connect Seagate Backup Plus drive to another Mac or PC and see if it is compatible with it.

All checks seem to be OK? Then you can fix this issue with the following solutions one by one.

Show Seagate Backup Plus drive in Finder and on Mac desktop

For many Mac users, when they say Seagate Backup Plus drive is not showing up, they mean they can't find it recognized in Finder or on Mac desktop. In this case, try to show the Seagate Backup Plus drive through resetting Finder Preferences.

  • 1. Go to Finder >Preferences > Sidebar.
  • 2. Tick 'External disks' in Sidebar tab to show Seagate Backup Plus external hard drives in Finder.
  • 3. Shift to the General tab.
  • 4. Check 'External disks' under 'Show these items on the desktop' and you're your connected Seagate Backup Plus drive will appear on Mac desktop.

Check if Seagate Backup Plus drive is showing up in Disk Utility

After setting 'External disk' to show up in the Finder or on desktop, your Seagate Backup Plus drive is still not showing up on Mac? You need to check if the Seagate Backup Plus drive is detected in Disk Utility.

Scenario 1: Seagate Backup Plus drive shows up in Disk Utility

If Seagate Backup Plus drive is listed in Disk Utility, then you can have a relief because it means your drive has no serious hardware problem. And you can follow the below solutions to fix the unrecognizable Seagate Backup Plus drive.

a. Force Mount Seagate Backup Plus drive

Sometimes, external hard drives cannot be automatically mounted on Mac. But you still have a way to mount Seagate Backup Plus drive manually in Disk Utility:

  • 1. Open Disk Utility.
  • 2. Right-click the Seagate Backup Plus drive from the left sidebar and then click the Mount button.

b. Repair Seagate Backup Plus drive via First Aid

If the above method doesn't work, it might refer to some file system errors on the Seagate Backup Plus drive. You should check and verify Seagate Backup Plus drive by First Aid.

• How to repair external hard drive on Mac with First Aid?

Tips: You can also download Seagate's software like Seagate Dashboard to diagnose, manage, and repair disk drive errors.

c. Recover data and reformat the Seagate Backup Plus drive

If First Aid fails to correct errors on Seagate Backup Plus drive, the last choice is to reformat Seagate Backup Plus drive.

But reformatting will erase all data stored on Seagate Backup Plus drive. If data stored on the external hard drive are important for you and you don't have any backup, you'd better recover lost data from the unrecognized Seagate Backup Plus drive at first with Mac data recovery software, like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.

Step 1: Recover lost data from Seagate Backup Plus drive

iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is a free Mac data recovery software that can recover data from Seagate Backup Plus drive efficiently. If the Seagate external hard drive is unrecognized, formatted, inaccessible, corrupted, unmountable, or unreadable, it helps retrieve data from the drive.

This data recovery tool works with macOS Big Sur 11/10.15/10.14 /10.13/10.12 and Mac OS X 10.11/10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7.

Tutorial to recover lost data from Seagate Backup Plus drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac

  • 1. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on Mac, and restart your Mac.
  • 2. Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
  • 3. Check if your Seagate hard drive is showing up or not. If so, select the drive you want to recover lost data from and click 'Scan' button to scan for all lost data. If not, the hard drive might have some hardware problems.
  • 4. Preview the searching results, choose files you need, and click 'Recover' to get them back.

Step 2: Reformat Seagate Backup Plus drive.

Now you've got all your files in a safe place, so that you can go ahead t format the Seagate Backup Plus hard drive to make it work on Mac again.

• How to reformat external hard drive on Mac?

Scenario 2: Seagate Backup Plus drive not showing up in Disk Utility

If Seagate Backup Plus drive is not showing up in Disk Utility, unfortunately, your Seagate Backup Plus drive may have some physical problems. In this case, you'd better send the drive to a local data recovery service and see if they could help. What's more, you can contact Seagate Backup Plus support team for disk repair and replacement service.

Bonus part: ways to use Seagate Backup Plus drives on Mac

Seagate Backup Plus drives are available in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB. And usually, the Seagate Backup Plus drive is formatted with either exFAT, FAT32 or NTFS. That's to say, you can use Seagate Backup Plus drive for different aims. For example, you can use Seagate Backup Plus drive for Time Machine Backup, or you can simply use it to free up space for Mac internal hard drive.

How to use Seagate Backup Plus drive to back up files on Mac?

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Different from Windows computer, you can download Seagate software like Toolkit to back up and sync files directly. On Mac computer, you can follow these steps to back up files like photos, documents, and videos on Mac.

  • 1. Plug in your Seagate Backup Plus (It could be Ultra Touch, Slim, and Portable) to your system.
  • 2. Choose Yes when Mac asks you 'Do you want to use your Backup Plus as a destination for Time Machine'.

Or you can manually open Time Machine from your Menu Bar (or from System Preferences), choose Select Backup Disk, and then select Seagate Backup Plus Drive for Backup.

Tips: If you newly bought a Seagate Backup Plus drive for your Mac which is NTFS (Read-only on Mac) formatted, you need to reformat it as HFS+ or exFAT before you use it on Mac. Or you can download an NTFS for Mac software, then you can use the NTFS external hard drive both on a Mac and PC.

Mac External Drive Not Showing

by Jenefey AaronUpdated on 2020-09-29 / Update for Mac OS

So you plugged in your Seagate hard drive into your Mac and it ain't showing up, right? Well, perhaps, the files and folders or the disk itself is unapproachable and therefore, your Mac was unable to detect the Seagate external hard drive. Consequently, the Seagate external hard drive not showing up on Mac Sierra! But worry no more, we've got your back! We are going to uncover some proven ways to fix Seagate hard drive not showing up Mac. Stay glued!

Part 1: Why Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing up Mac?

Macbook Not Seeing External Hard Drive

Usually, when an external hard drive is plugged into Mac via a USB port, it gets mounted over the desktop. You can even find it under the Devices column on the left in the Finder. Just in case, your Seagate hard drive not showing up on Mac, there can be a number of reasons behind it. Here are they.

  • 1. Chances are that your hard drive may have been corrupted.
  • 2. Perhaps, it may not have been formatted properly.
  • 3. Maybe, the drive got broken internally due to physical damage.
  • 4. Or, your Seagate hard drive is faulty.

Part 2: Quick Fix The Issue of Seagate Hard Drive Not Showing up Mac

1. Check If Connected Properly

First things first, check if the Seagate external hard drive that is not showing up Mac is properly plugged in to the USB port. It is one of the most notable reasons when Mac fails to mount the drive. If you are using an older Mac ensure that the drive is receiving enough power supply. Older Macs need a special USB power cable, which splits up into two USB connectors and both of which has to be plugged into the Mac.

2. Troubleshoot the Seagate Hard Drive

If the above mentioned solution brought you no good, then you need to troubleshoot the Seagate Hard Drive. Try reconnecting the hard drive into a different USB port and check if it shows up or not. If not, you should then plug it in a different Mac or Windows PC to check if it is the hard drive itself that is faulty.

3. Restart your Mac

Performing a restart has known to be an ideal solution to resolve various software glitches in the first place. If your Seagate external hard drive not showing up Mac Sierra, try restarting it with the help of the steps mentioned right below.

Hit on the 'Apple' icon available on the top left corner of your Mac screen and then opt for the 'Restart' option from the appearing drop down menu.

Windows 10 Won T Recognize External Hard Drive

4. Fix The Seagate Hard Drive with Disk Utility

If the above methods were not able to produce good results for you, the next method to fix Seagate external hard drive not showing up Mac is via Disk Utility. Here's what you need to do.

Step 1: Launch the 'Spotlight search' by hitting the 'cmd + spacebar' key over your keyboard and punch in 'Disk Utility'. Hit the 'Return' key afterwards to launch the program.

Can't See External Drive On Mac

Step 2: On the left panel of the Disk Utility, you'll be able to locate your Seagate hard drive. If your drive is there and not mounted, it should appear as greyed out. Select the drive and then opt for 'Mount' option. Once mounted, the drive will now turn to normal.

Step 3: If Seagate external hard drive not showing up on Mac yet, try running the First Aid and Erase options to fix or format the drive respectively.

Part 3: The Ultimate Way to Recover Files from Formatted Seagate External Hard Drive

Since, the Seagate hard drive has now been formatted and is now accessible on your Mac, the data stored over it have been wiped off completely. Now, if you wish to recover the data contained within the formatted Seagate external hard drive. We have brought you the ultimate way to serve the purpose. Tenorshare 4DDiG for Mac Data Recovery is your life saver when it comes to recovering data from various data loss scenarios. No matter if the data was stored over your Mac or over the external storage drive, Tenorshare 4DDiG for Mac Dasta Recovery can retrieve the lost data without any hassle.

Step 1: Install and launch the Tenorshare 4DDiG for Mac Data Recovery over your Mac and then opt for the desired location from where the data has been lost. Then hit the 'Scan' button to initiate scanning of lost data.

Note: If you're recovering data over the macOS High Sierra system or higher, you need to grant access to Mac files by disabling SIP first.

Step 2: Soon after the scan completes, you will be allowed to preview the data detected for recovery. You can selectively check the categories or the individual files as well that you wish to recover. Once done, hit the 'Recover' button. Lastly, set the destination location and you're done.

Mac Won't Recognize External Drive

Conclusion

Well, that was all about how to fix Seagate external hard drive not showing up on Mac Sierra. We are now positive that you've successfully got your issue resolved. And just in case, you need format your hard drive for some reason, you can always look up to the mighty tool Tenorshare 4DDiG for Mac Data Recovery to retrieve the lost data back.