Seagate is one of the most famous brands for the external hard drive. Its big storage is used for users to save multiple important documents, videos, photos, and other types of files. However, it still happens that all data just have gone or you deleted files accidentally and want to do Seagate file recovery on Mac. Actually, you can. Let me explain recover Seagate external hard drive on Mac in details.
Best seagate external hard drives for mac What makes these the best picks? Customers said these are the best for mac. Top Three Picks Seagate Portable 1TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC Laptop and Mac (STGX1000400). Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 (Black) STDR1000100. How to set up seagate external hard drive on Macbook pro, Mac mini, Mac laptop, apple computer This process will work with all: Seagate backup plus, Slim, C. Jul 30, 2014 The perfect compliment to personal aesthetic, this USB drive features a minimalist metal enclosure Simply plug this external hard drive for Mac and Windows into a computer via the included USB 3.0 cable to back up files with a single click or schedule automatic daily, weekly, or monthly backups.
Seagate External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
Seagate Portable 2TB External Hard Drive Portable HDD – USB 3.0 for PC Laptop and Mac; WD 2TB My Passport for Mac Portable External Hard Drive, USB-C/USB-A - WDBLPG0.; Western Digital 8TB Elements Desktop Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBWLG0080HBK-NESN; LaCie Porsche Design 4TB USB-C Mobile Hard Drive, Silver + 2mo Adobe CC Photography. If you are connecting your external hard drive with Mac using USB Hub, check the USB hub first. Solution 4:-Open Disk Utility. If your external USB drive drive faded/greyed out and unmountable? Connect another external drive or Pen drive to computer. This drive also not recognized drive? Do the proper eject from the Finder window list. Seagate 4TB Backup Plus Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0 STHP4000404 Gold + 1Yr Mylio Create + 2MO Adobe CC Photography. Dimensions: 0.82' x 3.15' x 4.54' Weight: 0.58 lb. Package Contents: Seagate Backup Plus portable drive 18-inch (46cm) USB 3.0 cable Quick start guide Downloadable Toolkit Backup Software 1-year Mylio Create plan 2-month membership Adobe Creative Cloud.
First and for the most, you need to know that all data saved on the Seagate external hard drive is still there. If you delete some files from it, these files are still there as well, but invisible. The theory is: the storage is fixed, and if you delete some files, they’re still there and invisible, waiting to be replaced by new data. In this case, if new data is not created after you losing files from the Seagate external hard drive, then there is a chance for you to recover them. In summary, before you learn how do you recover files from Seagate external hard drive on Mac, stop using the external hard drive right away.
As I have mentioned all the lost or deleted files in Seagate external hard drive are invisible. To Seagate file recovery on Mac, you need the help of iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac, a professional data recovery software tool specially designed to recover files from external hard drive, Mac laptop/desktop, USB flash drive, SD card and more. Here are some of its main features:
Your Safe & Effective Seagate File Recovery Mac Software
- Restore more than 1000 file types, including videos, photos, images, documents and more from Seagate external hard drive on Mac.
- Quick Scan mode scans for files quickly and Deep Scan mode is sector-by-sector analyzed to ensure a higher Seagate file recovery Mac rate.
- Supports Recover Seagate external hard drive on Mac, including file lost due to deleted, Seagate external hard drive formatted, not accessible, etc.
- Fully compatible with macOS to recover deleted/lost files from Mac, Seagate external hard drives, etc.
Actually, no matter for what reason you want to recover data from Seagate external hard drive on Mac, like virus attack, Seagate external hard drive damaged, purposely deletion or unintentional deletion, inaccessible, formatted, diskpart, and more, if you can connect the Seagate external hard drive with your Mac and your Mac can detect it as an external hard drive, you can follow the guide below to learn the details for how to recover deleted files from Seagate external hard drive on Mac or how to Seagate external hard drive data recovery on Mac.
Steps to Seagate External Hard Drive File Recovery on Mac
Click the download button to get the Mac version of Seagate data recovery software. It’s fully compatible with all the macOS, including the latest Mojave. Since this kind of tool is not allowed to publish on the App Store, so you can’t download it from the App Store. It’s a safe tool, feel free to download it and perform lost file recovery on Mac.
Step 1. Choose File Types to Scan
Connect your Seagate external hard drive with your Mac, making sure it appears like an external hard drive on your Mac. Next, launch the Seagate file recovery Mac software and select the file types you’re going to recover from the Seagate device. After then, click 'Start'.
Step 2. Choose Seagate External Hard Drive to Scan
In the next step, you can see all the partitions, external hard drives on the Mac are listed. From the list, choose Seagate external hard drive from which you want to recover data from, and click 'Scan'. It takes a while for the software to scan for the files you need from the Seagate external hard drive. Be patient. The default scan mode is Quick Scan.
Step 3. Recover Files from Seagate External Hard Drive on Mac
After the Quick Scan, you can see all the complete files the software has found for you. Filter out the needed files from the left side with file types and file extension. Preview the files and choose need to recover from Seagate external hard drive on Mac.
By default, the used scan mode is Quick Scan. If you still can’t find the deleted or lost files from Seagate external hard drive. I suggest you try the Deep Scan. The Seagate external hard drive file recovery Mac program will scan files even with incomplete file properties for you. Longer means more files found. Try your luck.
Summary: Feel very upset when finding your Seagate external hard drive not recognized/detected on Mac? Have no data backup? Now download free external hard drive data recovery software for Mac - iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery to recover data from the not recognized Seagate external hard drive.
Plug a Seagate USB hard drive into your Mac but the drive is not recognized by the computer?
Don't worry, you are not the only one who uses famous hard drive brand like Seagate, WD, Toshiba, Samsung, etc. but encounters this problem.
Here is an example from Apple Communities.
'I have a MacBook Pro with macOS El Capitan. My WD hard drives are recognized, but my new Seagate 1T drive is invisible. The light on the drive works, which tells me that it is drawing power from the computer. But the computer does not recognize the drive. Anyone knows how to fix Seagate external hard drive not recognized, showing up, or detected on Mac or at least recover files from the drive?'
Actually, it is a dime a dozen that external hard drive is not recognized or detected by Mac computers. Some users even say that they can see the Seagate external hard drives' light blinking but the computer just won't give any response. When an external hard drive is not working, not recognized, not detected, or not showing up on your Mac, you will feel very terrible because you can't access files nor the drive at all. Fortunately, in this article, you can find out how to fix the unrecognized Seagate external hard drive and how to recover data from unrecognizable hard drives easily.
- Table of contents
- 1. Why does the Seagate external hard drive not recognized on Mac?
- 2. Baisc check - Check if the Seagate external hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility/Finder?
Part I: Why does the Seagate external hard drive not recognized on Mac?
Seagate hard drives, such as portable hard drives, external hard drives, hard drives for Mac, etc. are often used as backup media to store important files, or to transfer data among computers. However, they are prone to be damaged or corrupted as well. And it's quite common for a Seagate external hard drive to become unrecognized by your Mac all of a sudden and leave you all at sea.
You may be wondering 'Why my Seagate external hard drive is not recognized by the Mac?' Well, the reasons behind this problem could be varied and there are some common ones.
- Bad USB port
- macOS update issue
- System failure
- File system corruption
- Motherboard issue
- Virus infection
- External drive damage or corruption, etc.
Baisc check - Check if the Seagate external hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility/Finder?
To fix the unrecognized Seagate external hard drive on Mac, the very first thing is to check whether it's the USB port's issue. Plug in the drive to another USB port or a different computer, and check if the drive is recognized, detected or shows up on Mac. If yes, congratulations. Both the external hard drive and the data on it are secure. But to access files on this drive, you need to move forward to do some basic checks and try out the solutions according to your situations.
Important thing: Check if the Seagate external hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility/Finder?
Usually, if your external hard drive is recognized/detected by your Mac, you will see this drive on the desktop and Finder. But for many Mac users, when they can't find their disk drives in Finder or on the desktop, they would say the drive is not recognized by the computer. But actually, most of the time, even if a Seagate external hard drive doesn't show up in Finder, it still can be found in Disk Utility. So please check whether the drive is showing up in Disk Utility/Finder.
There are three possible outcoms. Just check them one by one and go head to fix this issue.
Scenario 1: The Seagate external hard drive isn't showing up in Finder/on the desktop
When a hard drive is plugged into a Mac, the first impression for most users is that the icon of this drive will show up on the desktop and in Finder. But why your Seagate external hard drive is not showing up in Finder or on the desktop? Indeed, it is because you haven't set up your Mac to do so.
1. Show Seagate external hard drive in Finder
Step 1: Go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar tab.
Step 2: Select 'External disks' under 'Locations', and then your Seagate external hard drive will show up in Finder.
2. Show Seagate external hard drive on the desktop
Step 1: Go to Finder > Preferences > General tab.
Step 2: Tick 'External disks' to show the Seagate external hard drive on the desktop.
Scenario 2: The Seagate external hard drive is recognized but not mounted in Disk Utility
If the Seagate external hard drive shows up in Disk Utility but is just not mounted, it at least means the drive is recognized by your Mac. Mounting a hard disk makes it accessible by the computer, enabling the operating system to read and write to files on the disk. Most of the time, the operating system will automatically mount your disk when you connect your USB drive to this Mac, but you if you find the Seagate external hard drive unmounted in Disk Utility, you have two solutions.
Solution 1: Manually mount the Seagate external hard drive
You can simply right-click this external hard drive in Disk Utility, and choose Mount or click the Mount button on the top of the window. You will be able to access your files if it can be mounted successfully.
Solution 2: Repair the Seagate external hard drive with First Aid
However, if the Seagate drive is unmountable or the Mount icon is greyed out, it could be some disk errors that prevent your Mac to recognize/detect the drive correctly. Fortunately, there is a native disk repair tool called Disk Utility on your Mac and you can repair this external hard drive with the following steps.
- Click on the Launchpad on the Dock and find Other.
- Locate Disk Utility and open it.
- Select the unmountable external hard drive in the left sidebar and choose First Aid at the top.
- Click Run to repair this Seagate hard drive.
Solution 3: Fix the unmountable Seagate external hard drive by reformatting.
If First Aid failed to repair this drive, the file system or the partition table of this external hard disk could be corrupted. In this case, reformatting is a feasible method to fix the corrupted file system or partition table. However, it will also erase all data stored on it. So, to avoid unnecessary data loss, you should firstly make sure you have a copy of data backup or recover files from this drive with reliable data recovery software.
iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery is useful data recovery software, which can recover data from not recognized Seagate Backup Plus drives and not readable Seagate external hard drives. Moreover, this program supports file recovery from hard drives of Seagate, WD, Toshiba, Samsnug, etc. Generally, it can recover data from formatted, unmountable, inaccessible, unreadable or corrupted hard drives. This powerful data recovery software can also recover data from Macintosh HD drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, memory cards, etc. on Mac.
Seagate External Hard Drive Setup For Mac
iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery now is fully compatible with macOS 10.15 (Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave), macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), macOS 10.12 (Sierra) and Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), 10.10 (Yosemite), 10.9 (Mavericks), 10.8 (Mountain Lion), 10.7 (Lion). And the macOS 10.15 (Catalina) is approaching.
Step 1: Launch iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery.
Step 2: Select the Seagate external hard drive and click 'Next' button to scan for all the lost data.
Step 3: Double-click to preview your images, videos, word files, etc. in the searching results.
Step 4: Choose files you need and click 'Recover' to get them back and save the recovered files to another usable disk drive.
After recovering target files from this Seagate external hard drive, you can now reformat the drive in Disk Utility without worrying about data loss.
Step 5: Click Go in the upper left of your desktop, choose Utilities in the context list.
Step 6: Open Disk Utility and select the Seagate external hard drive from the sidebar
Step 7: Click Erase on the top of Disk Utility window.
Step 8: Complete the required information for erasure, including Name, Format, and Scheme.
Step 9: Then click Erase to go and wait until the erasure process ends and click Done.
Scenario 3: The Seagate external hard drive is not detected in Disk Utility
However, if your Seagate external hard drive is not even listed in Disk Utility, it is possible that the drive has some hardware problems like bad sectors.
Usually, the symptoms would be:
- The external hard drive makes clicking/beeping noise.
- Files get missing/disappeared/invisible/inaccessible.
- Documents or Folders become empty.
- Disk information like storage capability or files system is not showing normally in Disk Utility.
- Some other abnormal symptoms.
Confronted with such kind of hard drive failure, you'd better seek help from a local disk recovery and repair service for good.
Conclusion:
Sometimes, the Seagate external hard drive not recognized on Mac problem is just that Seagate external hard drive not showing up in Finder, not showing up on the desktop, or not mounted in Disk Utility, which can be easily solved. However, your any attempts to fix the unrecognized Seagate external hard drive may write new data to the drive and overwrite the original one. Thus, if you're facing such kind of problems, you should firstly recover data from the Seagate external hard drive with hard drive data recovery software like iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery before you set about fixing this problem.