- Mac Os Sierra External Hard Drive Not Mounting System
- Disk Not Mounting Mac
- Mac Os Sierra External Hard Drive Not Mounting Light
If your ExFAT drive is not mounting, here is the solution. Sudo pkill -f fsck fsck was holding the disk hostage. A quick ps aux grep fsck revealed that indeed it was hijacking the disk/volume as soon as it was plugged in. Sudo pkill -f fsck (or just kill with the PID if you prefer) immediately allowed the volume to be mounted. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on Mac. Launch this program. Select the unmountable WD external hard drive and click 'Next'. The program will start scanning this drive for recoverable files. Some users are unable to mount CDs and DVDs after applying the Mac OS X 10.3.7 update. Two typical reports of the problem: 'After installing the upgrade to 10.3.7, suddenly my internal Pioneer DVD.
Partitioning a disk on a Mac is an effective way to organize your data into different categories. However, the main concern is that most external hard drives and USB keys come formatted for Windows, which is primarily for PCs. By default, a Mac runs a different file system, so it may bring issues while partitioning your disk on Disk Utility.
Hard drive partitioning is a common issue discussed in many tech forums. In a thread on Apple’s support forum, users complain that their Mac Disk Utility partition grayed-out while trying to partition their external hard drives.
Probably, you just bought your external hard drive and are eager to use it on your Mac. But somehow, you cannot access the Mac Disk Utility partition, so you can’t write data to the drive.
Fear not, we have a solution to this problem. In this post, we will guide you through a step-by-step process on how to restore a grayed-out Disk Utility partition. Many Apple users who have faced Partition grayed out in Mac issues eventually partitioned their external hard drives with the help of these fixes.
Why Partition Grayed Out in Mac (Plus Solution)
Problem 1: Sometimes, you cannot access the Mac Disk Utility partition because your hard drive doesn’t have sufficient space.
Solution: If you want to go ahead with the partitioning task, you need to create more space on your hard drive. In other words, you have to erase the data on your drive to create additional space. You can then format your hard drive using GUID Partition Table. After that, go ahead with your partitioning plans.
Important Note: Before formatting your hard drive, back up your most important files. Needless to say, the process will get rid of all the data on the disk, so you risk losing your files for good.
Problem 2: As mentioned earlier, external drives are usually not compatible with macOS, which may bring issues when you want to partition. In most cases, users choose the wrong partitioning option, and as a result, the Partition option in Disk Utility remains grayed out.
Solution: The right way you should follow when selecting a partition option is to choose the drive name within the list provided under Internal or External (depending on the device you want to partition). Your hard drive will be available on the left side of the Disk Utility pane.
How to Restore Grayed Out Disk Utility Partition: Format Your Hard Drive to Work with Mac
To format your external disk to be compatible with macOS, connect your hard drive to the Mac and follow these steps:
- Open Disk Utility by going to Applications, then select Utilities > Disk Utility.
- Choose the drive name within the list provided under ‘External’. If your hard drive is connected, it will show in the left panel of the Disk Utility. Highlight the disk and click the Erase button in the top toolbar.
- Wait for a window asking you to select the file system you want to use to format your external drive to pop up. For your case, you will select ‘Mac OS Extended (Journaled)’. But if you have plans to use your disk for both PC and Mac, then a better option is ‘ExFAT’. You can also rename your hard disk here to your desired name.
- Wait for the formatting process to complete. The process usually takes less than a minute, but it depends on the size of your hard disk.
- When done, confirm if the formatting was successful by right-clicking the icon for your disk on the desktop and then choosing Get Info. The information is available under Format.
If it reads “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”, congratulations, you successfully restored the grayed-out Disk Utility and your hard disk is now compatible with macOS.
Partitioning Your Hard Drive on Mac
Now that you have prepared your hard drive to work with Mac, the next step is to partition it on your Mac by following these steps:
- Launch the Disk Utility app on your Mac and highlight the hard drive icon under ‘External’ (for external hard drives). If you choose any other drive, the partition option will become unclickable.
- Now click Partition on the top toolbar. A window that has partition information will pop up. On the left side of the window, look for the name and the volume size of your hard drive. The next step is to click add(+) button on the bottom of the window to create partitions on your disk. Allocate the desired volume size to each partition.
- Hit the Apply button and wait for a window asking you to verify your choices. Confirm the changes by clicking the Partition button.
- Wait for the process to complete. You can confirm if the process was successful on your desktop. You will see additional disk icons show
Pro Tip: If the main reason for partitioning your hard drive is to install Windows, Apple recommends that you use Boot Camp Assistant instead of Disk Utility. You should, however, note that you cannot use Disk Utility to erase a partition generated using Boot Camp Assistant.
What Else Can You Do to Resolve Common Mac Issues
If you are like many users, partitioning a hard drive on Mac may not be the only challenge you have had with your computer. Mac users have also reported slow performance, random freezes, and space issues. The best way to guarantee the best performance for your Mac is to scan and clean the computer. Outbyte MacRepair helps you to optimize your Mac for peak performance by checking for and cleaning up junk files, unnecessary apps, and other space hogs that may affect your Mac’s memory.
We hope the above solutions helped you to restore the grayed-out Disk Utility partition. As always, we would love to hear your success story. Share it in the comment section. Also, let us know if you experienced challenges during the partitioning process.
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If you’re running into errors and your system is suspiciously slow, your computer needs some maintenance work. Download Outbyte PC Repair for Windows, Outbyte Antivirus for Windows, or Outbyte MacRepair for macOS to resolve common computer performance issues. Fix computer troubles by downloading the compatible tool for your device.Updated by Tim to Mac Data Recovery Tips on March 27th, 2020
Since updating to macOS Catalina, my Seagate 3TB external hard drive is not mounted on Mac. In Disk Utility I cannot do anything but format it which I don't want to do, because there are many important files. Any suggestion to repair unmounted external hard drive or recover data?
When you connect an external hard drive to your Mac, it will show up on Mac Desktop, Finder and Disk Utility. But sometimes the external drive won't show up on any of these places. So, data inside the unmountable external hard drive turns inaccessible.
Don't worry, read and apply the below soluitons to resolve external hard drive not mounting issue.
Unable to mount external hard drive, how to fix it?
There are five solutions to fix external hard drive not mounted issue on your Mac:
1. Change macOS Settings
Ensure Finder preference to show external disks on Desktop or Finder is enabled.
Step 1: Open Finder from Dock. Click Finder and select Preferences.
Step 2: On the 'Finder Preferences' window, click the General tab.
Step 3: Under 'Show these items on the Desktop' section, check 'External disks' option. The external hard drive will show up on your Mac desktop.
Step 4: Click the Sidebar tab. Under 'Locations' section, check 'External disks' option. The external hard drive will show up in Finder sidebar.
Step 5: Open Applications, Utilities and Disk Utility. Click the View menu located at the top left corner of Disk Utility and select 'Show All Devices'. Your Disk Utility's sidebar will show the external hard drive.
2. Fix external hard drive connectivity issue
The first thing you can do is to ensure that your external hard drive is connected to your Mac properly. Here are some things you can try:
Reconnect the USB connector or adapter to fit the hard drive snugly
Connect the hard drive to a different USB port or a different Mac
Replace the USB cable or adapter in case that it was damaged or broken
Connect it to a Windows PC and see if the external hard drive is powered on and working
Connect the hard drive to a different USB port or a different Mac
Replace the USB cable or adapter in case that it was damaged or broken
Connect it to a Windows PC and see if the external hard drive is powered on and working
3. Repair unmounted external hard drive with Disk Utility
First Aid is a utility built-in Mac operating system. It can check and repair file system errors on Macintosh HD, external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, etc,.
Steps to fix external hard drive not mounting issue with First Aid:
Step 1: Open Applications folder, select Utitities and Disk Utility.
Step 2: In the left panel of Disk Utility, select the problematic external hard drive.
Step 3: Click 'First Aid' button in the toolbar of Disk Utility.
Step 4: Click 'Run' button, First Aid will check the volume for errors and then fix the problem if possible.
Fluke 1744 Specifications General DataIntrinsic errorRefers to the reference conditions and is guaranteed for two yearsWarranty2 yearsRecalibration interval2 years recommendedQuality systemdeveloped, designed, and manufactured according to DIN ISO 9001Reference conditions23 °C ± 2 K; 74 °F ± 2 K, Vm=230 V ± 10%,50 Hz ± 0.1 Hz or 60 Hz ± 0.1 HzPhase sequenceL1, L2, L3Interval length10 minutesWye connection(L1, L2, L3 to N)Power supply88 V. 265 V ACEnvironment conditionsWorking temp.
Wait until the procedure is complete. If you get returned a message saying success, restart your Mac and see if the external hard drive is mounted.
If another message says that disk utility cannot repair the disk, go to solution 4 to recover lost data.
4. Recover data from unmountable external hard drive
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M3 Data Recovery for Mac is a professional Mac data recovery software. It can recover lost data from corrupted, unreadble, unmountable external hard drive.
M3 Data Recovery for Mac is fully compatible with macOS Catalina 10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8 and supports APFS, encrypted APFS, HFS, HFS+, exFAT and FAT32 file systems.
Steps to recover data from unmountable external hard drive:
Step 1: Download, install and then launch M3 Data Recovery for Mac on your Mac computer.
Step 2: Select the volume or external hard drive.
Step 3: M3 Data Recovery for Mac is scanning lost data from unmounted external hard drive.
Step 4: After the scan completes, you can check and preview the found files.
M3 Data Recovery for Mac can preview documents, photos and play videos, audios so that you can see if your lost files are recoverable.
Step 5: Select the needed files and click Recover to start recovery.
After data recovery is successfully done, you can reformat this external hard drive and make it working again.
5. Erase the external hard drive
If this external hard drive doesn't have important data, format is the best choice to make it usage.
Mac Os Sierra External Hard Drive Not Mounting System
Step 1: Open Applicatins folder, select Utilities and select Disk Utility.
Step 2: Select this external hard drive from Disk Utility sidebar.
Disk Not Mounting Mac
Step 3: Click 'Erase' button in the toolbar of Disk Utility.
Step 4: Select file system and then click 'Erase' button, the unmountable disk will be working again after erasing.
Mac Os Sierra External Hard Drive Not Mounting Light
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