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Mac: External hard drive is not recognized - what to do?

  • Oct 05, 2025
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In this practical tip, we will show you what you can do if your external hard drive is not recognized on Mac.

Mac: External Hard Drive Format Checker

If your hard drive is still not recognized, the reason could be the format of the hard drive:

  1. Check format of external hard drive. If it is displayed in a Windows system, you can find it directly under " Computer ". If you dont see a format here, right-click the hard drive and look for the information under " Properties ".
  2. If your hard disk is formatted according to the Windows NT file system (NTFS), it may not be recognized by the Mac. You can then format your hard drive in " FAT32 " format. In the following practical tips, we explain how to format the hard drive under Windows 8 , Windows 7 or Windows XP . Be sure to back up all your data first. These are lost during formatting.
You can also erase your hard drive and restore it in a different format and try to repair it first with the "First Aid" function. (Screenshot: Tatjana Befuss)

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