9 fastest ways to fix Macbook not recognizing external hard drive

Do you have a lot of important data stored on an external hard drive? While using the hard drive with your Macbook, there will be times when you encounter an error where your Macbook does not recognize the external hard drive. The situation where your Macbook does not recognize the external hard drive is one of the problems that Macbook users often encounter, even though when using this hard drive for a Windows laptop, it still works normally. What is the cause and how to fix the Macbook not recognizing the hard drive when encountered, let's find the answer in the article of TipsMake below.

Reasons why Macbook does not recognize hard drive

There are many reasons why Macbook does not recognize the hard drive such as:

The hard drive is plugged into the USB port incorrectly so the connection is loose.
The cable connecting the hard drive to the computer is broken or the cable is of poor quality.
USB port is broken
You have not formatted your Macbook to display the external hard drive.
Hard drive is not powered (For large 3.5 inch hard drives with separate power supply).

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How to fix Macbook not recognizing hard drive

Based on the causes, you can find ways to fix Macbook not recognizing external hard drive below:

Reset the device or Reset the device with Safe Mode

To fix the error of Macbook not recognizing the hard drive, you can reset the device to fix it. If you have tried Reset but it does not work, use Reset with Safe Mode.

Missing NTFS Supported Drives

It's possible that your hard drive is using a file system that macOS can't write to. Many Windows external hard drives are formatted as NTFS, but macOS doesn't have a driver for NTFS. To write to an NTFS hard drive on a Macbook, you'll need a driver that supports NTFS.

To fix this error, you can use open source solutions on the internet, or use some paid software such as Paragon NTFS or TuxeraNTFS.

Check /Volumes/

The data of the connected and activated (mounted) partitions will be displayed in the /Volumes/ folder. Open Finder, on the menu bar select Go -> Go to Folder, then type /Volumes/ and press Enter. You will enter the folder containing all the hard drives that are connected and mounted to the computer.

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The drive will appear on the screen, double-click to try to access it. In addition, when you want the connected drive to appear on the desktop, in Finder, press Command + comma to activate Preferences -> General, then select the items you want to appear on the desktop.

Check in Disk Utility

You go to Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility. This is a tool that helps you manage and display all connected partitions with activated (mounted) or inactive (unmounted) status.

If the hard drive appears but is not mounted, right-click on the drive name (in the left column) and select Mount.

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Restart Launch Services Database

Macbook not recognizing hard drive can still be fixed by rebuilding the launch service database, also known as Launch Services Database. To rebuild, you install OnyX software for Macbook. Then, enter the password of the Admin account to proceed with the change. If you receive a request for authentication about the structure, just select Continue.

After authentication is complete, select the Maintenance tab, then select Rebuilding. Uncheck the LaunchServices box, the other boxes do not need to be selected. The final step is to select Run Tasks.

Check USB cable and port

The USB port may be damaged after being used for a while. At this time, you can try to check to see if the MacBook error not recognizing the external hard drive is due to this cause.

After you plug in the drive and the computer does not respond, then plug it into another USB port. At this point, if the computer recognizes it, the USB port has a problem. In case, try another port and the computer still does not recognize it, switch to a different cable.

Try plugging it into another computer.

You can plug it into another computer if you want to know if the error is coming from a damaged hard drive. If it is used for a normal Windows computer, it may be because the drive is not compatible with the MacBook. To fix the error that the MacBook does not recognize the hard drive, you can find the driver for the brand and model of the hard drive. Then you download the driver and install it.

Upgrade macOS

You should check the App Store and make sure all apps are up to date, especially firmware related to peripherals connected via USB.

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Reset SMC and PRAM

If the cause of the Macbook not recognizing the hard drive is due to your computer resetting the system management controller (SMC) and random access memory (PRAM) parameters. If the error is due to the USB, resetting the SMC will be effective.

Conclude

Above is useful information about the cause and how to fix the MacBook not recognizing the external hard drive for current MacBook users. Hopefully you can apply and fix this error yourself, so that using the MacBook for work and entertainment purposes is not interrupted. In addition, if following the above instructions you still cannot connect the hard drive to the MacBook, you can contact TipsMake with hotline 19001903 for the best advice and support.

Samuel Daniel

Update 16 January 2025

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