Recover Data from Unmountable Hard Drive on Mac

You can recover files from an unmounted volume on Mac OS X by downloading and installing the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac tool. Then, to access all your data, follow these steps: Open the Mac data recovery tool. Select the hard drive volume where you experienced data loss...

Recover Data from an Unmountable Drive on macOS/Mac OS X

Sometimes, your Mac hard drive won't mount, preventing the system from booting up or opening. Consider this real-life scenario from the Apple Community.

"I have a hard drive that won't mount on my Mac. However, I can read my files and recover data using third-party software. Why do I need extra software to do this and back up my information?"

When you encounter an unmounted hard drive on your Mac, the first thing that might come to your mind is how to recover data from the unmounted hard drive on Mac. Fortunately, even though you can't directly access the files on the problematic drive, you can still use professional Mac data recovery software like tools Data Recovery Wizard to retrieve files from the unmounted hard drive on Mac. This tool enables you to recover over 200 types of files from Mac hard drives or compatible external storage devices in various tricky situations. For instance:

• Recover Permanently Deleted File from Mac Trash
• Retrieve lost data from formatted USB flash drive
• Recover data from a non-bootable Mac
• Restore lost photos, documents, videos, audios, emails, and more
• Import or export file scanning results

After installing this tool on your Mac, you can safely recover data from an unmounted hard drive.

Best Mac Data Recovery Software – Data Recovery Wizard for Mac

Steps to Recover Data from Unmountable Hard Drive

With the help of Mac Data Recovery Wizard, you can easily recover unmounted hard drive on Mac in simple steps. It also helps to resolve data loss issues like how to recover data from Mac hard drive. Absolutely safe and secure, this tool provides an all-inclusive solution for Mac hard drive recovery and aids to fix all your Mac data problems. Please feel free to give it a try!

Step 1: Search for the Lost File

Select the disk location where you want to search for lost files (it can be an internal HDD/SDD or an external hard drive). Click on the “Search for Lost Files” button.

Note: Before data recovery, it's recommended that you click “Disk Backup” from the left sidebar and create a backup of your HDD/SSD to prevent further data loss. After the backup, the software can recover data from your disk image, and you can use the HDD or SSD again.

Step 2: View the scan results

The software immediately scans the disk volume you select and displays images, files, audio, video, and email on the left.

Step 3: Select the files and recover them

Click on the data to preview them, and then hit the "Recover" button to get them back.

Many Mac users have already proved its efficiency. If you are interested in solving the Mac file recovery issue, share it on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on!

How to Fix an Unmountable Hard Drive on a Mac

With the unmounted hard drive data recovered, you can now proceed to fix it without the fear of losing any data. To repair an unmountable Mac hard drive, you can use the "First Aid" feature in Disk Utility or directly format the drive.

Method 1: Repair the Unmountable Hard Drive with Disk Utility (Mac)

Disk Utility can fix some disk problems, and it's worth a try if your Mac's hard drive won't mount.

Step 1: Click the Apple menu and choose “Restart.” As soon as the screen goes dark, press and hold “Command + R” until you see the Apple logo.

Step 2: Click “Disk Utility” > “Continue.”

Step 3: Choose View > Show All Devices, and then select the disk you want to repair from the sidebar.

You should see your Mac's hard drive, labeled “Untitled” (on a Mac, “Untitled” means that the drive isn't mounted).

Step 4: Select the Untitled Mac disk, and then click the “Mount” button in the Disk Utility pane.

Click the “First Aid” button. If Disk Utility tells you that your drive is failing, back up your data and replace the hard drive.

If Disk Utility tells you that the disk has been repaired, you should be able to use it as normal. If not, you'll need to format the unmountable drive to fix it.

Method 2: Repairing an Unmountable Hard Drive on Mac with Disk Utility

If you're still unable to access an unmounted drive, you may need to format it to resolve the issue.

How to Format a Mac Hard Drive

Step 1: Click on “Finder” > “Applications” > “Utilities” > “Disk Utility.”

Step 2: In the left sidebar, select the disk, then click “Erase.”

Step 3: Choose the format for the disk, and give it a new name if desired, then click “Erase” to confirm the formatting.

After that, you can restart your Mac, and you should be able to access the drive again and save new data to it.

Symptoms and Causes of an Unremovable Hard Drive

Usually, the "Unmountable Disk" issue on a Mac occurs when you start up your computer. During the startup process, the macOS operating system mounts the local file system and reads data from your Mac's hard drive. If your macOS or Mac OS X can't access the disk or the file system, you'll encounter the "Unmountable Disk" problem. Here are some essential details about this issue:

Symptoms

• The disk utility will show the hard drive in a grayed out state.
• All data stored on an unmountable drive becomes inaccessible.
• Data read/write functions become slow, and access is quite sluggish.
• Files become visible but you can't perform operations like moving or copying them.

Possible reasons include

• Virus/malware infection
• File system corruption
• Operating system failure
• Disk utility malfunction

Conclusions

With the solutions above, you can fix the mounted volume error on Mac caused by file system corruption, disk utility failure, OS malfunction, and more. Whenever you want to recover data from an unmounted drive on Mac, turn to the Mac data recovery software. With it, you can retrieve data from an unmounted Mac hard drive in minutes.

Fix Common Issues with Unmountable Mac Disks

There are some popular topics on data recovery from an unmountable drive. You may continue reading for more assistance.

1. What does "mount a drive" mean?

Installing a hard drive means making it accessible to your computer. This is a software process that allows the operating system to read from and write data to the disk. Most hard drives will be automatically mounted by the operating system when connected.

How do I force mount an external hard drive?

You can fix the unmounted external hard drive issue by following the methods mentioned below:

Inspect external hard drive Mount external hard drive Format external hard drive...

What happens when you mount a hard drive?

When a driver is installed, the installer determines the type of file system on the partition, and then uses kernel calls to implement the standard file-system calls that allow manipulation of the file system, including reading, writing, listing, and setting permissions.

4. How can I recover data from an unmounted disk?

Steps to recover data from an unmounted disk in American English: 1. ** Safely Eject the Disk **: First, make sure the disk is properly and safely disconnected from your computer or external device. Avoid pulling it out forcefully to prevent data damage. 2. **Get the Right Tool **: Choose a reliable data recovery software like Recuva, tools Data Recovery Wizard, or Disk Drill. These tools usually offer free trials, but you might need to purchase the full version for extensive data recovery. 3. **Install and Launch the Software **: Install the chosen data recovery software on your computer and run it. 4. **Select the Disk **: In the software interface, you'll see a list of available storage devices. Locate your unmounted disk and select it. 5. **Scan the Disk **: Click "Scan" or "Start" to initiate a thorough scan of the unmounted disk for recoverable files. 6. **Preview and Choose Files **: After scanning, the software will display the found files. You can preview some files (if supported by the software) to confirm they're the ones you need. 7. **Restore the Data **: Select the files you want to recover and click "Restore" or "Save." Make sure to save the recovered files to a different location to avoid overwriting any other important data. 8. **Check the Recovered Files **: Once the recovery is done, immediately check the integrity of the files. If some files are corrupted or unrecoverable, you may need professional data recovery services. Keep in mind that data recovery isn't always 100% successful, especially with physically damaged disks. Thus, regularly backing up your data is the best strategy to prevent loss.

Step 1. Select the disk location where you lost your data and files. Click on the "Scan" button.

Step 2: Display the scanning results Once you select the disk partition, the Universal Data Recovery Wizard will immediately scan it and display the scanning results on the left pane.

Step 3. Select the files you need from the scan results and click on the “Recover Now” button to get them back.