If it is visible, then click the option to Mount, which should make it visible on the desktop and in the External Drives option in the Finder menu. Disk Utility is within System Preferences, or you can find it using Spotlight.

Check Apple’s Disk Utility to see if an external drive is showing up.

Hopefully, the hard drive has shown up now.

It should look as though your Mac has started again if it has, release the keys when you hear the second startup chime. To do this, shut down or restart your Mac, switch it back on and immediately press these four keys together for at least 20 seconds: Option, Command, P, and R. You should be able to access your drive that way, and, in the Finder menu under Preferences > General, you can check External Drives to ensure that from now on it shows up on your desktop too. Even if that is the case, the drive will still appear in the left-hand column of the Finder menu under Devices. It could be that your Mac already recognizes the device, but just isn’t showing its icon on the desktop screen.

Mac not formatted to display external drives on the desktop.

For more information, go to the same menu option, then select System Report. The best way to look for an incorrectly formatted drive is to go toĪpple (in the top toolbar menu) > About This Mac > Storage. If you’ve got a PC or laptop, it’s worth connecting and seeing if you can access the files through another device. It could be that you are trying to connect something only fit to interact with Windows devices. Not every external drive is optimized for Macs. Restarting your Mac essentially clears your macOS’s memory and starts it up fresh. Or press and hold the power button and, when a dialog box appears, click the Restart or press R. Hopefully, some data damage that can be fixed by restarting. Sometimes, if a USB disk won't boot, the cause is macOS issue. If you’ve got another port, try connecting the device to that one.

It could be a hardware issue with the Mac. Try connecting the same device with a different cable. Assuming it’s plugged in correctly, not wobbly or loose, the cable could be at fault. It sounds obvious, but since this relies on a wire - either a USB cable or HDMI cable - if it’s not connected properly then it won’t appear on your desktop.

Check whether the drive is properly plugged in.

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