Mac’s inbuilt hard drive can’t cater all the data storage requirements, and hence an external hard disk drive is required to store the files and lessen the burden on the internal Mac hard drive. Moving the data from the Mac hard drive to an external media assures the OS X gains plenty of free spaces for smoother operations.
My WD external hard drive will not mount and does not show up anywhere. I also can't go back to an older OS because my backup is on my external HD. All my files are on external HD so iTunes is useless and everything else. I hope they fix this soon. With it, you not only enable Mac writing to NTFS but do so at blazing speeds. The speed is faster than the write speed natively supported by macOS Mojave on NTFS drives. Volume management is one of the important features of the Paragon NTFS. This app checks the drives in the Mac and repairs any issues it may pick up during this checkup.
Plug -n- Play
All it requires is to unbox the new external hard drive and connect it to Mac's USB port for instant usage. Most of the times, accessing the external hard disk on Mac will be as easy as eating a pie. However, at few occasions, you might not feel such luck. The external hard drive fails to mount or get visible on the Finder, Disk Utility and elsewhere!!
Let us discuss some checkpoints to locate a missing external hard drive on OS X.
Mac External Drive Not Showing
Drive Connections
Check with your hard disk power light
Make sure both end cables are attached properly if the external hard drive isn't powered up or fails to show in Finder.
Finder
Click Finder and go to Files
Under Files click New Finder Window and check your external hard drive under the Device section. [Device appears on the left side of the Finder window]
Cables
USB power cables play a significant role in getting an external hard drive visible on Mac OS X. An invisible external hard drive might require more power for its visibility in Finder. Get the cables corrected and the external hard drive should show up on Mac.
Sound
You must also notice that the external hard drive isn't producing strange noise while it gets powered with the Mac's hardware. A clicking, ticking or buzzing sound from the external storage media will confirm its component failure and the reasons for not showing up on the Mac's desktop or Finder.
Failing to Mount
How are you able to access the external hard drive on Mac OS X? Simple, the connected external drive shows up on the Mac, and since it is mounted, you can read and writes the data from it. However, the reverse of the above case will halt easy access to your external hard disk drive.
Disk Utility
Launch Disk Utility
Check external hard drive from the left pane of the hard disk. You will notice that the external media is greyed out, which confirms that the drive is unmounted on OS X.
Mount External Hard Drive Mac
3. Select the media and click Mount from the Disk Utility tool bar. Once done, the media will be back to normal and ready for access.
In the case of external hard drive file system corruption, the Disk Utility << Mount procedure will not function and as a result, you will require performing data recovery on unmounted Mac volumes. You will salvage the files with the help of data recovery application and then proceed to erase or format the external hard disk drive using Mac OS Extended Journaled file format. The formatting of the external hard drive will replace the damaged file system with a new HFS system and hence it will get mounted on the Mac for files transfer.
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.
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. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy Policy.