Select your Current Firmware. Your firmware version can be found by going to the device's web interface and looking for the Firmware section. If the WD Elements Not Showing Up On Mac computer or if your Mac computer is unable to recognize the drive, then the section below will help you in solving this issue. In most cases, this issue occurs due to a loose connection between the communicating devices.
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Oct 26, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions
While the external hard drive connected to the Windows computer or Mac, and the device did not show up. How to fix external hard drive not recognized? Don't worry, in this guide we will show you the best solution to fix the hard drive not recognized problem.
This problem will cause by some partition issues: the external hard drive partition got damaged, the file system got crashed, the drive errors in Windows computer, or the dead USB ports. You can try the hard drive on another computer or connect it with other USB ports. If it does not get working, you can follow the next solution to fix the external hard drive not recognized on Windows computer and Mac, and you can recover lost data from external hard drive with Recoverit Data Recovery.
Part 1. How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Recognized on Windows
In windows, this problem can be because of partition issues, dead USB ports, driver windows conflicts, file systems, dead or outdated drivers. Here are the steps you can follow to fix this issue in case of USB flash or external hard drives:
Step 1You might be plugging in the USB cable in a dead USB port. Unplug your external hard drive and plugin it in some other USB ports. Now, see if it is present there in the My Computer window. If not, follow step 2.
Step 2Now, look for the external drive in the Disk Management Window. For this, click Start and then click Run or press windows key + r, press enter after typing diskmgmt.msc in the Run dialog. This will open the Disk Management Window. Now, look for the external disk in this window. In this window, you can find your drive even if it is not recognized because of no partition. If you cannot find the drive in the Disk Management window then you can go for step four.
Step 3If it is not recognized by plugging in some other port or it is not visible in the Disk Management Window, then there might be some issue with the external drive. Check it on some other computers. Now, follow step 1 to step 3 in that computer in case the external drive is not recognized. If the problem exists with another computer also then something is wrong with the drive, otherwise follow step 5:
Step 4If it is working in some other systems but not in yours, Windows is having some problem with the drivers. To diagnose a driver problem, open the run dialog by pressing Windows + r and type 'devmgmt.msc'? Now press enter. Expand Disk Drives and look for a device having a yellow exclamation mark. This yellow exclamation mark indicates a problematic driver. Now, right-click on that device and read the error message after selecting properties. This issue can resolve in the following two ways:
Wd My Passport Not Showing Up Mac
- Click on the update driver button for installing updated drivers.
- Uninstall the driver and restart your computer. After restarting, the Windows will automatically reinstall and reconfigure the driver.
Now, plug in the external drive again or follow step 6 if the drive is still not recognized.
If your external hard drive has been recognized but your files can't be found anywhere, sometimes they are lost or deleted. Is there any way to get all back? 3 methods are recommended: Recycle bin, backup, and Recoverit Data Recovery. Recoverit is able to help you recover 1000+ types and formats of files in different scenarios. Free download it right now!
Step 5Problem in partitioning and formatting can also be a cause of this issue. Partitioning and file system issues can be fixed by using Windows Disk Management tools. To create a new partition, right-click inside the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume. You can create a new partition by following onscreen instructions. Sometimes, your drive is formatted with the ext4 file system of Linux, NTFS file system, HFS Plus file system, or FAT32 file system which is not recognized by your Windows. Reformatting of the drive can resolve this issue. For this, right-click on the partition, select format, and then select the file system. Here, it is important to know that all files in the drive will be deleted. Therefore, copy your files in some other systems before proceeding.
Video Tutorial on How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up
Part 2. How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Recognized on Mac
Like Windows, Mac also detects an external drive automatically. If it doesn't, follow these steps:
Step 1 First of all, look for the external hard drive in the finder window. For this, click on File and then click New Finder Window. Now, look for the drive below the remote disk.
Step 2 If the external drive is not there, make sure that the USB cable is properly plugged in the external hard drive and the port.
Step 3 Sometimes, the drive is connected but not mounted. To mount a drive, open Disk Utility and look for the drive in the list. If it is there, check below it. Now click on the mounting button to mount it. Open a Finder window to see if the drive is mounted or not.
Step 4 If you still cannot find it in the finder, it might not be getting enough power. Single USB ports can provide only 5 V. In that case, make use of USB cable having one USB connection for the external HD and two for Mac. This will supply the power required by the external hard drive.
These steps for fixing an external hard drive not recognized on Windows and Mac are suitable for external hard drives of all capacities and manufacturers. However, if still the issue is not resolved, you can avail of professional help. Autopano giga 4 4 1 serial key {mac os x}.
Part 3. The Best External Hard Drive Data Recovery Software
While the external hard drive got damaged and did not detect on the computer, after you fix the problem, you should your data back. We will introduce the best external hard drive data recovery to help you retrieve data back. Recoverit Data Recovery Software is a powerful data recovery program, it can help you recover data from external hard drives easily and effectively.
Recoverit External Hard Drive Recovery Software
Recoverit Data Recovery is the best external hard drive recovery program, it can easily and effectively help you recover lost or accidentally deleted files from the hard disk drive, or another external storage device: USB drive, flash drive, SD card.
Steps on How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive
Download and install Recoverit Data Recovery on your computer. Launch Recoverit Data Recovery and follow the next steps to perform external hard drive data recovery on a Windows computer, if you are a Mac user, you can download Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac to go on.
Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to the computer, select it while the disk detected on the program.
![External External](https://www.togethershare.com/images/data-recovery-software/index/pic_free@2x.png)
Step 2. The external hard drive recovery software will start scanning the device to searching the lost files.
Step 3. In minutesï¼ all recovered files will display on the result. You can preview photos, videos, music, Word, Excel, PPT, and PDF. Select your files and click the 'Recover' button to restore.
When the external hard drive got damaged, you can try to fix it with the solution mentioned above. Also, get your data back with Recoverit Data Recovery in simple steps. Download and try it for now.
What's Wrong with Drive
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In general, when you plug in an external hard drive to your Mac’s USB port, you will see it shows up automatically on the desktop, in the Finder, and in the Disk Utility. However, there are times that you cannot find it because the computer is not set up properly or the disk fails to mount. If that is exactly what is happening to your WD external hard drive, follow the quick fixes and effective methods below to make the drive show up again.
Let’s check all the basics first to save time, money and hassles.
1. Make sure the USB cable is plugged to the end of the USB port.
2. Change USB port/cable to detect WD external hard drive.
3. Detach the drive and reboot your Mac to quit any apps that might stop the drive from being detected.
4. Try connecting the WD external hard drive to another computer to see if it works.
After doing all these basic checks, if the WD hard drive doesn’t show up on Mac still, you can try out the following solutions one by one.
Solution 1: Show WD external hard drive on the desktop
By default, your Mac is supposed to display the icons of all external disks on the desktop. Then users can access the disk on the desktop directly. If the setting is somehow changed, the WD hard drive will stop showing up on the desktop.
To change the situation:
- Go to Finder in the top menu bar on the desktop.
- Select Preferences….
- Go to the General tab.
- Check External disks.
Then the WD external hard drive will appear on the desktop.
Your hard drive shows up on the desktop but not in the Finder? Well, the cause might be the same.
Solution 2: Show WD external hard drive in the Finder
The detected and mounted internal and external disks will be shown up in the Finder. However, if somebody chooses to hide some items, he or she can set up not to show them in the sidebar of the Finder. However, you can easily change the setting back.
- Open the Finder and go to Finder at the top menu bar.
- Select Preferences….
- Go to the Sidebar tab.
- Check External disks.
You should be able to see the WD external hard drive that doesn’t show up in the Finder now.
The WD external hard drive won’t show up even after you change all the settings? Then it is very possible that the drive is having mounting problems.
Wd My Book Not Showing Up On Mac
Solution 3: Show WD external hard drive in the Disk Utility
First, you have to figure out the mounting problem is caused by physical damages or logical errors by checking the disk in the Disk Utility. If you can find the WD external hard drive in Disk Utility, congratulations! It means the Mac can recognize and detect the WD external hard drive, and, in other words, the disk doesn’t have any hardware issue preventing you from fixing it. It only has some logical issues that result in the system failing to mount it. Then the following steps would help.
First of all, try to select the hard drive and use the Mount button to manually mount the external hard disk. If you are unable to mount the WD external hard drive, please try running the First Aid through Disk Utility. To do this, choose the grayed out external hard drive from the left sidebar, click on First Aid on the top and select Run.
The Mac still doesn’t mount the external hard drive successfully? You have to reformat the disk to make the drive work again. However, you should be aware that reformatting will delete all existing data.
Hard drive data recovery software for Mac like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac can easily achieve the task.
Key capabilities of iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac:
- Recover photos, videos, documents, audio, email files, archive files, etc.
- Support data recovery from hard drive, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc.
- Support data recovery from formatted/unredable/unmountable/corrupted disks.
- Recover data from unbootable Mac.
- Support APFS, encrypted APFS, HFS, HFS+, FAT and exFAT file system.
- Work on macOS 10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and earlier OS X versions to OS X 10.7.
Here is the simplified process of recovering data from the troubled WD external hard drive:
- Download and install iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery on Mac.
- Launch iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery.
- Select the WD unmountable external hard drive and click the Scan button to scan for all the lost data.
4. Preview the searching results, choose the files you need, and click Recover to get them back.
After recovering important files from the WD hard drive, it is time to reformat it. Stay in the Disk Utility window, follow the easy steps to finish fixing the not showing up WD external hard drive.
Wd External Drive Not Showing Up Mac
- Select the WD external hard drive.
- Click on the Erase button.
- Input a name, format (exFAT is recommend for cross-platform users) and scheme.
- Hit Erase.
After erasing the disk, detach and reattach the hard drive to the Mac. It should be mounted correctly and show up on the desktop, in the Finder and in the Disk Utility.
Set Up Wd Backup
Conclusion
External Drive Not Showing Up Windows 10
This post is not only useful when your WD external hard disk is not showing up on Mac, but applies to any external hard drive or SD card not showing up situation on Mac including but not limited to Seagate external hard drives, Samsung external hard drives, and Toshiba external hard drives.