External hard drive in disk utility but not on desktop

When you plug in an external hard drive, your Mac should automatically mount it, making it visible on your Desktop and accessible through Finder. However, there are instances when this doesn’t happen. The drive may show up in Disk Utility but remain absent from the Desktop or Finder. This could be caused by a variety of factors, including issues with the drive’s format, system settings, or macOS bugs.

1. Why is the Drive Not Appearing on Desktop?

Before diving into solutions, it’s important to understand the difference between the two primary components involved: Disk Utility and the Desktop.

Disk Utility is a built-in macOS application that provides detailed information about all storage devices connected to your Mac. Here, you can manage, partition, and format drives.

The Desktop is where mounted drives appear by default for easy access.

If your external hard drive appears in Disk Utility but not on the Desktop, it means macOS is detecting the drive but something is preventing it from being mounted properly. The issue can stem from a wide range of causes, such as formatting problems, incorrect settings, or software conflicts.

2. Checking System Preferences

The first place to look is your System Preferences to ensure the right settings are in place for external devices to show up on the Desktop.

Step-by-Step:

Open System Preferences from the Apple menu.

Click on General.

Ensure the option “External disks” is checked under the Show these items on the Desktop section. If this box is unchecked, your external drive won’t show on the Desktop, even if it’s mounted.

After adjusting the setting, check your Desktop again. If the issue persists, continue with the next steps.

3. Using Finder to Locate the Drive

If the external hard drive is not showing up on the Desktop but is recognized in Disk Utility, it might still appear in Finder. macOS often hides external drives from the Desktop but still displays them in Finder.

Step-by-Step:

Open Finder.

In the sidebar, look under Locations or Devices for the external hard drive.

If it appears here, click to open and access the files.

If the drive is still not visible, move on to the next troubleshooting steps.

4. Ensuring the Drive Is Mounted

In Disk Utility, even though the drive may be listed, it may not be mounted. A drive must be mounted for macOS to allow access to it.

Step-by-Step:

Open Disk Utility from Applications > Utilities.

Look for your external hard drive in the list on the left-hand side.

If the drive is listed but not mounted, there should be a button labeled Mount at the top of the Disk Utility window.

Click Mount to mount the drive manually.

Once mounted, check your Desktop and Finder to see if the drive appears. If it mounts successfully, the issue is resolved.

5. Examining Disk Utility

If the drive is not mounting, it’s important to look more closely at the drive’s status in Disk Utility. Sometimes, the drive may show up but have errors preventing it from mounting.

Step-by-Step:

In Disk Utility, select your external hard drive from the list.

Check for any warnings or errors next to the drive name (e.g., “Not Mounted” or “Unformatted”).

Click on First Aid in the top menu to run a diagnostic and repair any issues with the drive.

If First Aid reports an error that it cannot fix, you may need to consider formatting the drive, but only after attempting data recovery (covered later).

6. Formatting the Drive

If the drive is unformatted or formatted with a file system incompatible with macOS (e.g., NTFS), macOS may fail to mount it. In this case, formatting the drive can resolve the issue.

Step-by-Step:

Open Disk Utility.

Select your external drive.

Click on the Erase button in the toolbar.

Choose a file system compatible with macOS (usually Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or APFS).

Confirm the action and wait for the process to complete.

Formatting the drive will erase all data on it, so be sure to recover important files first (see the Data Recovery section).

7. Troubleshooting Permissions

Sometimes, macOS may have issues with permissions that prevent external drives from mounting. You can attempt to fix this by resetting the permissions on the drive.

Step-by-Step:

Open Disk Utility and select the external hard drive.

Click on First Aid and run it again to repair permissions.

Alternatively, you can use Terminal to reset permissions by running the command:

bash

sudo diskutil resetUserPermissions / `id -u`

This command resets user permissions on your drive, which may allow it to mount properly.

8. Updating macOS

macOS updates often include bug fixes and improved hardware compatibility. If your external drive isn’t showing up, there may be an issue with your current version of macOS.

Step-by-Step:

Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner.

Select System Preferences > Software Update.

Install any available updates and restart your Mac.

After the update, check if the drive now mounts correctly.

9. Using Terminal for Advanced Solutions

For advanced users, Terminal can be a powerful tool for managing disk issues. If the drive is visible in Disk Utility but not mounting, you can use Terminal to force mount it.

Step-by-Step:

Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities.

Type the following command to list all disks:

diskutil list

Identify your external drive (e.g., /dev/disk2).

To force mount the drive, use the command:

bash

sudo diskutil mountDisk /dev/disk2

If the command is successful, the drive should appear on the Desktop and be accessible via Finder.

10. Considerations for Third-Party Software

Some external drives come with proprietary software that can interfere with macOS’s ability to mount them. If the external hard drive includes software like Seagate Toolkit or Western Digital Utilities, try disconnecting the software and using just the hardware.