Maxtor External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on Mac [With 5 Tested Fixes]

Maxtor is a brand under the well-known storage company Seagate, which includes a series of commonly used storage devices, such as the Maxtor OneTouch 4 and the Maxtor M3 portable external hard drive.

If you plan to store a large amount of data, Maxtor external hard drive could be a good choice. But some people reported that their Maxtor external hard drive not showing up on Mac. If you are bothered by the same issue, don't worry; this post will introduce 5 effective solutions for you.

Please refer to the solutions below to fix the issue of Maxtor External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on Mac:

• Solution 1: Enable External Disks Option in Finder Preferences
• Solution 2: Restart Your Mac
• Solution 3: Run First Aid to Fix Maxtor External Hard Drive
• Solution 4: Format the Maxtor External Hard Drive
• Solution 5: Reset the NVRAM on Your Mac

Why doesn't my Maxtor external hard drive show up on my Mac?

There can be several reasons why an external hard drive is not showing up on Mac Ventura or any other macOS version. Here are some common causes:

• ❌ Physical damage to the Maxtor external hard drive.
• ⚠️ Connection issues between the Maxtor external hard drive and the Mac.
• ⛔ Incompatibility of the Maxtor external hard drive with macOS.

Why Can't I See Files on External Hard Drive on Mac? If the file system of your Maxtor external hard drive is NTFS, this could also result in the issue that the external hard drive is readable but not writable on Mac.

Thus, before troubleshooting this issue, you need to make sure that the Mac not recognizing the external drive is not due to improper connection, cable failure, or physical damage to the Maxtor external hard drive.

Recovering Data Before Repairing Maxtor External Hard Drive

A Maxtor external hard drive not reading on Mac implies that you're denied access to the data stored on it. Losing crucial data can be frustrating. Before troubleshooting the issue of the Maxtor hard drive not showing, it's recommended to recover important data stored on it first, as the fixing process might lead to data loss.

Use a professional data recovery software like the Mac Data Recovery Wizard to retrieve files from an external hard drive that isn't recognized by your Mac. This is a great option for retrieving data from an unreadable external hard drive.

With this powerful external hard drive data recovery software, you can:

• Recover permanently deleted files from an external hard drive on Mac.
• Retrieve data from an unbootable external hard drive on Mac.
• Restore data from an unmounted external hard drive on Mac.

To make the data recovery process clearer, we provide detailed steps: recover your data in just 3 steps! Let's take a look:

Step 1: Search for the Lost File

Connect the external hard drive to your Mac correctly. Launch Disk Drill for Mac (Data Recovery Wizard), and select the external drive. Then, click “Search for lost files” to look for lost or deleted files on the external device.

Note: Before you recover data, it is recommended that you click “Disk Backup” from the left sidebar and create a backup of the external hard drive to prevent further data loss. After backing up the external hard drive, the software can recover data from the backup of the external hard drive, and then you can remove the external hard drive and use it again.

Select your external hard drive and click "Search for Lost Files"

Step 2: Search and Find the Lost File

After the scan, all file types will be displayed in the left pane. Select the file type to find the desired files from the external device.

Step 3: Preview and recover

Preview the file and select the ones you want to restore, then hit the “Recover” button. You can save the data to your local drive or cloud storage.

After getting your crucial data recovered from the Maxtor external hard drive, you can proceed to fix the errors without the fear of losing data. Read on to know how to resolve the issue of Maxtor external hard drive not showing up on Mac.

How to Fix the Issue of Maxtor External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on Mac

When your Maxtor external hard drive isn't showing up on Mac as expected, you should first rule out these factors:

• Check if the connection between the external hard drive and your Mac is loose.
• Inspect the Maxtor hard drive for any physical damage.
• Ensure that the file format of the Maxtor hard drive is compatible with macOS.

If none of the above issues exist, you can refer to the following 5 options to effectively solve the problem of Maxtor portable hard drive not showing up on Mac.

Solution 1: Enable the External Disks option in Finder Preferences Solution 1: Enable the External Disks option in Finder Preferences

Sometimes, the problem isn't as complicated as you think, and is simply caused by a small setting. Check this:

Step 1: Open the Finder and select “Finder Preferences.”

Step 2. Select the “External Drive” option in the list.

Solution 2: Restart your Mac

Restarting your Mac can also resolve many unusual issues. To do this, click the Apple menu and select “Restart.” Check again to see if your Maxtor external drive is showing up.

But remember to back up the files you're working on before restarting your computer to avoid data loss. Or, you can still opt for a powerful data recovery tool – Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to recover unsaved Word document.

Please share this article on social media to help others learn how to fix the issue of Maxtor external hard drive not showing up on Mac.

Solution 3: Run First Aid to Fix Maxtor External Hard Drive

If your file system is corrupted, or if you're having other issues with an external hard drive, you can use the “First Aid” feature in macOS's built-in “Disk Utility” app to fix problems with the drive. Here's how:

Step 1: On your Mac, open Disk Utility from the Applications > Utilities folder.

Step 2: In the left panel, select the Maxtor external hard drive.

Step 3. Click on the "Run急救" option to fix the disk errors on the Maxtor external hard drive.

Solution 4: Format Maxtor External Hard Drive

Formatting the hard drive is the most efficient way to get it working normally again, with the only downside being that you lose all the data on the disk. But with Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, you don't have to worry about losing your data.

Follow the steps in this article to format an external hard drive on your Mac: How to Format an External Hard Drive on a Mac.

Step 1. On your Mac, open Disk Utility from the Applications > Utilities folder.

Step 2: Select the Maxtor external hard drive from the panel on the left.

Step 3: Click “Erase” in the top menu of the Disk Utility window.

4. Choose a format, then name the formatted disk. Click “Erase” to begin formatting.

Solution 5: Reset the Mac's NVRAM

Resetting the NVRAM or PRAM on your Apple computer is a common troubleshooting step when issues arise with macOS. The steps to reset NVRAM differ depending on the chip in your Mac. Here's how to reset the NVRAM on an Intel-based Mac:

Step 1: Turn off your Mac, then press the power button to restart it.

Step 2. Hold down the “Command,” “Option,” “P,” and “R” keys all at once. Release them only when you see the Apple logo appear again.

Note: If you're using an Apple M1 Mac, you cannot reset the NVRAM manually.

Conclusions

If your Maxtor external hard drive is not showing up on Mac, here are five effective ways to fix the issue: enable the external disks option in Finder preferences, restart your Mac, run First Aid to repair the disk, format the Maxtor external hard drive, and reset the NVRAM.

But note that the process might lead to data loss, so use the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac tool to retrieve data from Maxtor external hard drive.

Frequently Asked Questions: Maxtor External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on a Mac

Below are some questions people often ask when searching for how to fix a Maxtor external hard drive not showing up on a Mac:

1. Why doesn't my Maxtor drive appear?

There can be many reasons why a Maxtor external hard drive won't show up on a Mac, and here are some common scenarios:

• ❌ Physical damage to the Maxtor external hard drive.
• ⚠️ Connection issues between the Maxtor external hard drive and the Mac.
• ⛔ Incompatibility of the Maxtor external hard drive with macOS.

2. How to recover data from an unmounted hard drive on Mac?

To recover data from an unmountable hard drive without losing any data, you can choose a professional and trustworthy hard drive recovery tool – tools Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.