FIX: MacBook not connecting to external hard drive

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Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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External hard drivesare great if you needextra space or a reliable backup solution, but many users reported that theirMacBookis not connecting to anexternal hard drive. This can be a big problem for some, so today we’re going to show you how to fix this issue.

What to do if the MacBook isn’t connecting to an external hard drive

1. Try using a USB hub or a power adapter

If your MacBook can’t connect to anexternal hard drive, it might not have sufficient power. To fix this, try connecting your hard drives to a powered USB orThunderbolt 3 (USB-C) hub. Alternatively, try connecting your external device to its power adapter.

2. Check the cables and the connection

Sometimes these types of problems can occur if you have issues with your cables. To fix this, be sure to inspect both power and data cables and ensure that they aren’t damaged. If this is the case, you may need tobuy a new one.

In addition, you can try connecting yourexternal hard drivedirectly to your Mac instead of a hub.

3. Make sure your device is formatted properly

If you’re using yourexternal hard drivewith both Windows and Mac, it’s rather likely that it’s not formatted properly. Mac doesn’t work with the NTFS file system, so be sure to check your external drive on another system.

If it’s formatted using an NTFS file system, you’ll have to format it again, but this time use exFAT, FAT orMac OSExtended file system. For the best compatibility with Windows, using exFAT is recommended.

4. Make sure that the external hard drive is mounted

If yourexternal hard driveisn’t recognized, try mounting it manually. To do that, follow these steps:

Your drive should now become available in Finder.

5. Reset NVRAM and SMC

One method that can help you is resetting NVRAM and SMC. To reset NVRAM do the following:

To reset SMC do on models with the T2 chip, do the following:

If you don’t have T2 chip do the following:

There you go, several quick and easy solutions that should help you if your MacBook won’t connect to anexternal hard drive.

FIX: MacBook not connecting to external hard drive#

What to do if the MacBook isn’t connecting to an external hard drive#

1. Try using a USB hub or a power adapter#

2. Check the cables and the connection#

3. Make sure your device is formatted properly#

4. Make sure that the external hard drive is mounted#

5. Reset NVRAM and SMC#