Summary: Seagate external hard drive not recognized/showing up on Mac? Have no data backup? Feel very upset when finding you can't see any file on the external hard drive? Now download free external hard drive data recovery software for Mac - iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover lost data from unrecognized Seagate external hard drive.
Oct 27, 2012 I have a 2TB Seagate GoFlex Desk hard drive which I am running with the Firewire 800 dock on Mac OS X 10.7.1, but I am experiencing the following problems: It seems to spin down after about a minute of inactivity, which is fine but then after another minute or so it randomly spins back up even though it isn't being used. Jul 09, 2012 So I have a seagate goFlex external drive. I had it formatted to Mac OS Journal because I was only working on macs. I have recently began using some windows machines and need the possibility to read AND write to my external drive from both operating systems. I have done a bit of research. Mar 09, 2011 The Seagate GoFlex Desk for Mac features a desktop version of Seagate's interchangeable connector system. Works on both Mac OS X and Windows so no worrying about incompatible file systems and the. Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) today unveiled the newest addition to its GoFlex ™ family of hard drives—the GoFlex™ Home network storage system. When this easy-to-use device is connected to a wireless router, an entire household can centrally store, easily access and continuously back up files wirelessly from both Windows® and Mac OS® X operating systems on the home network¹.
Plug a Seagate external hard drive into your Mac but the drive is not recognized by Mac?
Don't worry, you are not the only one who uses famous hard drive brand like Seagate, WD, Toshiba, Samsung, etc. but encounters this problem.
Here is an example from Apple Communities.
'I have a MacBook Pro with macOS El Capitan. My WD hard drives are recognized, but my new Seagate 1T drive is invisible. The light on the drive works, which tells me that it is drawing power from the computer. But the computer does not recognize the drive. Anyone knows how to fix Seagate external hard drive not recognized, showing up, or detected on Mac or at least recover files from the drive?'
Actually, it is a dime a dozen that external hard drive is not recognized or detected by Mac computers. Some users even say that they can see the Seagate external hard drives' light blinking but the computer just won't give any response. When an external hard drive is not working, not recognized, not detected, or not showing up on your Mac, you will feel very terrible because you can't access files nor the drive at all. Fortunately, in this article, you can find out how to fix the unrecognized Seagate external hard drive and how to recover lost data from unrecognizable hard drives easily.
- Table of contents
- 1. Why does Seagate external hard drive not recognized/showing up on Mac?
- 2. Baisc check - Check if Seagate external hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility/Finder?
Part I: Why does Seagate external hard drive not recognized/showing up on Mac?
Seagate external hard drives are often used as backup media to store important files, or to transfer data among computers. However, they are prone to be damaged or corrupted as well. And it's quite common for a Seagate external hard drive to become unrecognized by your Mac all of a sudden and leave you all at sea.
You may be wondering 'Why my external hard drive is not recognized/showing up on Mac?' Well, the reasons behind this problem could be varied and there are some common ones.
- Bad USB port
- macOS update issue
- System failure
- File system corruption
- Motherboard issue
- Virus infection
- External drive damage or corruption, etc.
Baisc check - Check if Seagate external hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility/Finder?
To fix the unrecognized Seagate external hard drive on Mac, the very first thing is to check whether it's the USB port's issue. Plug in the drive to another USB port or a different computer, and check if the drive is recognized, detected or shows up on Mac. If yes, congratulations. Both the external hard drive and the data on it are secure. But to access files on this drive, you need to move forward to do some basic checks and try out the solutions according to your situations.
Important thing: Check if the Seagate external hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility/Finder?
Usually, if your external hard drive is recognized/showing up by your Mac, you will see this drive on the desktop and Finder. But for many Mac users, when they can't find their disk drives in Finder or on the desktop, they would say the drive is not recognized by the computer. But actually, most of the time, even if a Seagate external hard drive doesn't show up in Finder, it still can be found in Disk Utility. So please check whether the drive is showing up in Disk Utility/Finder.
There are three possible outcoms. Just check them one by one and go head to fix this issue.
Scenario 1: Seagate external hard drive isn't showing up in Finder/on the desktop
When a hard drive is plugged into a Mac, the first impression for most users is that the icon of this drive will show up on the desktop and in Finder. But why your Seagate external hard drive is not showing up in Finder or on the desktop? Indeed, it is because you haven't set up your Mac to do so.
1. Show Seagate external hard drive in Finder
Step 1: Go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar tab.
Step 2: Select 'External disks' under 'Locations', and then your Seagate external hard drive will show up in Finder.
2. Show Seagate external hard drive on the desktop
Step 1: Go to Finder > Preferences > General tab.
Step 2: Tick 'External disks' to show the Seagate external hard drive on the desktop.
Scenario 2: Seagate external hard drive is recognized but not mounted in Disk Utility
If the Seagate external hard drive shows up in Disk Utility but is just not mounted, it at least means the drive is recognized by your Mac. Mounting a hard disk makes it accessible by the computer, enabling the operating system to read and write to files on the disk. Most of the time, the operating system will automatically mount your disk when you connect your USB drive to this Mac, but you if you find the Seagate external hard drive unmounted in Disk Utility, you have two solutions.
Solution 1: Manually mount the Seagate external hard drive
You can simply right-click this external hard drive in Disk Utility, and choose Mount or click the Mount button on the top of the window. You will be able to access your files if it can be mounted successfully.
Solution 2: Repair the Seagate external hard drive with First Aid
However, if the Seagate drive is unmountable or the Mount icon is greyed out, it could be some disk errors that prevent your Mac to recognize/detect the drive correctly. Fortunately, there is a native disk repair tool called Disk Utility on your Mac and you can repair this external hard drive with the following steps.
- Click on the Launchpad on the Dock and find Other.
- Locate Disk Utility and open it.
- Select the unmountable external hard drive in the left sidebar and choose First Aid at the top.
- Click Run to repair this Seagate hard drive.
Solution 3: Fix the unmountable Seagate external hard drive by reformatting.
![Seagate Goflex Software For Mac Os Seagate Goflex Software For Mac Os](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126428048/888509991.jpeg)
If First Aid failed to repair this drive, the file system or the partition table of this external hard disk could be corrupted. In this case, reformatting is a feasible method to fix the corrupted file system or partition table. However, it will also erase all data stored on it. So, to avoid unnecessary data loss, you should firstly make sure you have a copy of data backup or recover files from this drive with reliable data recovery software.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is useful data recovery software, which can recover lost data from unrecognized Seagate Backup Plus drives and unreadable Seagate external hard drives. Moreover, this program supports file recovery from hard drives of Seagate, WD, Toshiba, Samsnug, etc. Generally, it can recover lost data from formatted, unmountable, inaccessible, unreadable or corrupted hard drives. This powerful data recovery software can also recover lost data from Macintosh HD drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, memory cards, etc. on Mac.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac now is fully compatible with macOS 10.15 (Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave), macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), macOS 10.12 (Sierra) and Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), 10.10 (Yosemite), 10.9 (Mavericks), 10.8 (Mountain Lion), 10.7 (Lion). And the macOS 10.15 (Catalina) is approaching.
Seagate For Mac Software
Step 1: Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
Step 2: Select the Seagate external hard drive and click 'Next' button to scan for all the lost data.
Step 3: Double-click to preview your images, videos, word files, etc. in the searching results.
Step 4: Choose files you need and click 'Recover' to get them back and save the recovered files to another usable disk drive.
After recovering target files from this Seagate external hard drive, you can now reformat the drive in Disk Utility without worrying about data loss.
Step 5: Click Go in the upper left of your desktop, choose Utilities in the context list.
Step 6: Open Disk Utility and select the Seagate external hard drive from the sidebar
Step 7: Click Erase on the top of Disk Utility window.
Step 8: Complete the required information for erasure, including Name, Format, and Scheme.
Step 9: Then click Erase to go and wait until the erasure process ends and click Done.
Scenario 3: Seagate external hard drive is not detected in Disk Utility
However, if the Seagate external hard drive is not even showing up on Mac or not detected in Disk Utility, it is possible that the drive has some hardware problems like bad sectors.
Usually, the symptoms would be:
- The external hard drive makes clicking/beeping noise.
- Files get missing/disappeared/invisible/inaccessible.
- Documents or Folders become empty.
- Disk information like storage capability or files system is not showing normally in Disk Utility.
- Some other abnormal symptoms.
Confronted with such kind of hard drive failure, you'd better seek help from a local disk recovery and repair service for good.
Conclusion:
Sometimes, the Seagate external hard drive not recognized/showing up on Mac problem is just that Seagate external hard drive not showing up in Finder, not showing up on Mac desktop, or not mounted in Disk Utility, which can be easily solved. However, your any attempts to fix the unrecognized Seagate external hard drive may write new data to the drive and overwrite the original one. Thus, if you're facing such kind of problems, you should firstly recover lost data from the Seagate external hard drive with a professional data recovery software like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac before you set about fixing this problem.
Occasionally, when you plug-in any Seagate external hard drive to PC, it may not be detected by your PC. Consequently, the disk itself and the folders and files saved on it become unapproachable and unluckily this is a common problem with Seagate drives. Then, how does one fix this problem when hard drive i.e. becomes undetected. There are numbers of ways that can help to solve this problem.
- Bonus: How to Recover Files from Formatted Seagate External Hard Drive?
1Fixes to Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Up in Windows 10
If you are using Window 10 and you don’t have access to Seagate external hard drive that you are not alone who is suffering from this problem there are many other users who have reported to have this problem too. You do not need to worry as there are 3 solutions for you to try.
Method 1: Try a Different USB Port
If your Seagate external hard drive is blinking but is not detected by your PC, then you can try to unplug it from the USB port and should plug it into a different USB port. Besides, you can reboot your PC and try to connect your Seagate external hard drive to the computer again. If this simple solution works then your problem is resolved. If not then move on to the other solutions offered here.
Method 2: Update or Reinstall the Device Driver
Maybe your Windows has a driver problem with your device and by using the Device Manager you can check it. You can open Device Manager by pressing Win+R together to open the “Run” dialog then enter devmgmt.msc. Next, Expand the Disk drives category and check for any devices with a yellow exclamation point next to them, right-click on its name and select “Update Driver Software”. If it works then it's ok otherwise uninstall and then reinstall the driver. To uninstall the driver, click on Uninstall that will help you completely uninstall Drivers.
Method 3: Disable Fast Start-up to Fix Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Up
If you are using Fast Start-up option, you would not be able to identify the Seagate external hard drive in your PC. Usually, Fast start-up option is switched on by default in Windows 10. So, switch it off by following the steps:
STEP 1Firstly, navigate to Start Menu and type Control Panel and then Select Control Panel from the displayed result.
STEP 2After that, navigate to Hardware and Sound > Power Options.
STEP 3Thereafter, hit Choose what the power button does from the left panel.
STEP 4Subsequently, choose Change Settings.
STEP 5Then scroll down to the Shutdown settings area and Uncheck Turn off fast start-up.
STEP 6Next, press the Save changes button. Eventually, restart your PC to apply the changes.
2Fixes to Seagate External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on Mac
If you are using Mac and you don’t have access to Seagate external hard drive, you can try some routine checks first. If it does not work then you can try the subsequent solutions.
1First of All: Have Some Basic Checks
Re-plug the Seagate External Hard Drive and check if it is connected properly.
Try a different USB port or cable to see whether the USB port or cable is bad.
Connect Seagate External Hard Drive to another Mac or PC and see if it is compatible with.
2Mount An External Hard Drive
All checks seem to be OK? Then drive works fine, and then you can manually attach it to Mac OS. For this you need to mount it. This should be done automatically when Mac OS identifies the drive, but it does not always work.
1. First of all, attach the drive if it is not already connected.
2. Afterward, open Utilities and Disk Utility.
3. Ensure the disk is listed in the left window. It should be labeled External Disk.
4. Thereafter, Check volume if the disk is present. If a volume is present but not mounted, it should be greyed out here.
5. Highlight the volume and select Mount. The volume should shift from gray to normal to indicate it has been mounted.
6. Open Finder and navigate to the drive in Devices.
3Run First Aid on External Hard Drive
If it does not work then you may need to use the Verify Disk utility to ensure everything is working as it should be.
Step 1: Firstly, Open Utilities and Disk Utility.
Step 2: Then, Highlight the greyed out volume.
Step 3: Afterward, Select First Aid in the top center.
Step 4: Thereafter, Select Run to perform disk diagnostics and fix any issues.
Running First Aid on an external disk is a helpful way to ensure that the format or file structure does not hold any errors or issues. If there are any, First Aid will fix them and Mac OS should then mount the disk without any further bother.
If you got any others fix to Seagate external hard drive not show up on Mac, please feel free to share with us.
3Bonus: How to Recover Files from Formatted Seagate External Hard Drive?
Nowadays, there are loads of different programs available for recovering the formatted hard drive. Let us analyze an effective recovery software called “iMyFone AnyRecover” that can help you to recover data from the formatted hard drive easily and quickly. Furthermore, it is compatible with all the versions of Windows. Together with the accessible interface, the software does not need an expert to install it. You can do it by yourself without anyone’s assistance.
Why Choose iMyFone AnyRecover?
Seagate Goflex Software For Mac Os Sierra
It proves helpful to recover all types of data, music, audio, photos from the formatted hard drive entirely and efficiently.
It can recover data from a variety of gadgets such as digital camera, memory card, hard drive and many more.
It can conduct recovery for all sort of data loss like emptying recycle bin, formatted device, virus attack, OS crash, etc.
Recovers files 100% safely without overwriting any other files.
Simple Steps to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive:
Step 1: First of all launch AnyRecover software. Then select a disk under the “Hard Disk Drives” tab.
Step 2: After selecting the location, hit “Start” button to start scanning.
Step 3: The program will start an all-round scan, and explain to you all the lost files in the list. You can select to preview them and click “Recover” to get back your data.
Seagate Goflex Software For Mac
Overall, it is not too difficult to fix Seagate external hard drive not showing up only if you take proper action. If you tried the unmentioned solutions and the Seagate external hard drive still not detected or recognized the cause might be the hard drive itself. If you accidentally format your Seagate external hard drive, iMyFone AnyRecover can help you recover data from it.