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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.

It's a dime a dozen that Seagate external hard drive is not showing up or recognized 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.

Hopefully, in this article, you can find out how to fix if you can't find Seagate external hard drive on Mac and how to recover lost data from unrecognizable hard drives easily.

Seagate Backup Plus Portable hard drive offers 4TB The perfect complimentary Mac hard drive featuring a minimalist metal enclosure Simply plug this external hard drive for Mac and Windows into a computer via the included USB 3.0 cable to back up files with a single click or schedule automatic daily, weekly, or monthly backups; Reformatting may.

1. Among several external hard drives, Seagate external hard drive is mostly used by a large number of people all across the world, because of its good performance. However, sometimes when you plug Seagate external hard drive into the USB port of PC or Mac then the hard drive is not detected by the system. If your Seagate external hard drive is.
2. Using the drive with Mac: For Mac you will need to reformat the drive prior to using it. Once complete, the drive should be detected allowing you to manually move files to the drive or set it up with Time Machine automatic backup. Formatting Instructions: Formatting for macOS 10.11 and above Formatting for Mac.

Part I: Why does Seagate external hard drive not recognized/showing up on Mac?

Seagate external hard drives are likely to be damaged or corrupted when backing up or transferring data among computers. So, you could plug the external hard drive into your Mac, only to find that the Seagate external hard drive is not recognized by your Mac all of a sudden like this user:

'I have a MacBook Pro with macOS El Capitan. My WD hard drives are recognized, but my new Seagate 1T drive is not showing up. 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?'

You may be wondering 'Why my external hard drive is not recognized/showing up on Mac?' Well, the reasons behind hard drive problems could be varied and there are some common ones.

1. Bad USB port
2. macOS update issue
3. System failure
4. File system corruption
5. Motherboard issue
6. Virus infection
7. 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.

1. Click on the Launchpad on the Dock and find Other.
2. Locate Disk Utility and open it.
3. Select the unmountable external hard drive in the left sidebar and choose First Aid at the top.
4. Click Run to repair this Seagate hard drive.

Solution 3: Fix the unmountable Seagate external hard drive by reformatting.

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.

How to recover data from Seagate external hard drive on Mac?

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.

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.

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.

• How to reformat Seagate external hard drive on Mac?

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.If you encontered the the problems on a Windows computer, then this article: Why and how to fix the Seagate external hard drive not showing up would be of great hlep to you.

See also: How to fix external hard dirve for PS4 not recognized when you use Seagate Game Drive for PS4.

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

Hard Drive Seagate For Mac 2tb

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?

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.

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.

Seagate External Hard Drive 500gb For 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.

Hard Drive Seagate For Mac Seagate

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.

Seagate Hard Drive For Mac

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.

Conclusion

Format Seagate Hard Drive For Mac And Pc

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.