External Drive won’t show up after update

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Level 1

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External Drive won’t show up after update

I just updated my iMac to the latest and long awaited firmware. Now all my external hard drives won’t show up. I have tried everything I know. Please help.

Posted on Apr 28, 2021 1:55 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

a brody

Level 10

84,011 points

Apr 28, 2021 1:04 PM in response to topsy75

Shutdown the computer.
Disconnect all drives.
Start back up the computer and wait until the Finder shows up.
Open Disk Utility
Try connecting and mounting drives one by one.

If it it stops working after several drives, keep in mind the sequence you are connecting, and disconnect the last one.

Try connecting another one.

If you can't connect another drive after connecting several, your bus may be overloaded.

If you can connect another drive, but not the drive you tried before, you know something is wrong with that particular drive or its cables.

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Answer 2

jpaprika

Level 1

11 points

May 5, 2021 2:28 PM in response to a brody

I also can't see my G-Disc in finder. When I go to Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility I can see that it is mounted. It seems to be functioning. It just doesn't show up as a location in Finder after I updated to Big Smurf. Anyway to get it show up?

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

84,011 points

Apr 28, 2021 9:30 AM in response to topsy75

Does it show in Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility? Make sure it is mounted, and your Finder menu's Finder preferences show external drives.

Is the drive powered by the computer? Using a wall powered hub is usually more reliable.

The drive's controller may need a firmware update to be seen by newer systems. Verify with the manufacturer of the case for the drive.

If the drive is hooked up via ethernet, the SAN software may need updating.

If you are using a drive that came with its own manufacturer specific backup software, that may be preventing it from being seen by the Finder. Remove any Western Digital, Seagate, or similar software from your system.

If the drive is over 7 years old, it is possible the drive itself is failing. See if you can find another system still running the older system that can connect to it.

If not, you may need to take the drive to a data recovery specialist.

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Answer 4

topsy75 Author

Level 1

3 points

Apr 28, 2021 10:26 AM in response to a brody

The funny part is, I have had all these drives connected for 5 years. Just yesterday after update that’s when all these happened . These drives are new from Western Digital. Some are just one year old.

Drives shows up faintly in device management. You can see then, but greyed out meaning they are not fully recognised.

I have manually mounted them, but error messages pops up.

The fact that the last backup was 9am yesterday before update means it was working. It must be this latest update. iMac has not backed up since yesterday. Drives can’t be seen.

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Answer 5

topsy75 Author

Level 1

3 points

May 5, 2021 2:59 PM in response to jpaprika

I did everything I could to get it working, all to no avail. I just decided time to do the thing I dreaded most, Restore. Thank goodness I always backup my iMac. And I will advise you, if you don’t back up your system, you are opening can of worms.

Everything stopped working, simple download and updates. Time Backup stopped working too because no access to usb drive.

I have now Restored my iMac. Not that bad. Not the way you think of it. Clean Restore, asked me if I wanted to migrate from a external drive or good old Windows. That actually made me smile. Took about 6 hours for migration and everything was as it was the last backup.

So my advice to you is, Backup your system.

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External Drive won’t show up after update

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