External hard drive not showing up on a Mac – How to fix it

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Connecting an external drive to a Mac will work like a charm in most scenarios. But sometimes, you may find yourself in a situation when an external drive is not showing up on a Mac. Here are a few things you may try.

If your external hard drive is not showing up on a Mac:

  • Is the drive properly plugged in? – before going any further and trying anything else, ensure the drive is plugged in properly. Check the HDMI cable or the USB cable and see if everything is in its place. If not, you won’t see the drive in the Finder on your Mac.
  • The cables should be in great condition. Also, make sure the drive port and USB are not damaged.
  • The issue often pops up due to some glitch or bug. The easiest way to eliminate bugs on your Mac is by rebooting it. Click on the Apple menu and then click Restart. Rebooting your Mac will give it a fresh start because the memory will be cleared. Once the Mac is back on, connect the external hard drive.
  • If you don’t see external hard drives on your desktop, you may need to make changes to Finder Preferences. Open Finder > Preferences, then click on General. Click on the options listed below, “Show these items on the desktop.”
  • NVRAM reset – to do this, turn off your Mac, turn it on and press and hold the following keys right away: Option, Command, R, and P. Keep holding the keys for around 20 seconds, and then release.

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