how to repair a external hard drive on mac

• Go to Apple Menu > Restart. Restart Mac and hold "Command + R" keys.
• Click "Disk Utility" > "Continue" > "View" > "Show All Devices".
• Select the external hard drive you want to repair in the sidebar.
• Click "First Aid" > "Run" if you get "overlapped extent allocation."
• Disk Utility will repair your external hard drive on Mac usually.

Full Answer

How do you repair a hard drive on a Mac?

In that case, follow these steps:

• Shut down your Mac, then unplug all nonessential devices from your Mac.
• If you're repairing an external drive, make sure that it's connected directly to your Mac using a cable that you know is good. ...
• If your disk still doesn't appear in Disk Utility, your Mac might need service. If you need help, please contact Apple Support.

How do I repair an external hard drive?

You can enable the command by following the guide below:

• Open Command Prompt from the Start menu by entering "cmd" and running it as an administrator.
• Type the display window's knowledge with the damaged hard drive's assigned letter: chkdsk I: /f /r /x ("I" is the assigned letter of the scanned drive).
• The command will take some time to scan the disk and fix the detected issue immediately.

What is the best backup drive for Mac?

Top 5 Best External Hard Drives for Mac

• 1 Seagate Backup Plus. Seagate backup plus is an ideal mac external hard drive that is highly recommended by most websites.
• 2 Western Digital My Passport Ultra external hard drive for mac. ...
• 3 Toshiba Canvio Slim II. ...
• 4 G-Technology G-Drive Slim. ...
• 5 Transcend StoreJet. ...
• Top 5 Best Free Hard Drive Data Recovery Software. ...

How to repair a damaged hard drive?

Top 4 Hard Drive Repair Solutions to Fix Hard Drive Windows 10 [Partition Magic]

• Solution 1. Reinstall Your Hard Drive’s Driver. If your computer cannot read your external hard drive, you can connect it to another PC to see if the drive can be ...
• Solution 2. Check and Fix Hard Drive Errors with Disk Repair Tool. ...
• Solution 3. Repair Hard Disk Errors with CHKDSK Utility. ...
• Solution 4. Format the Hard Drive. ...

How do I fix an unreadable external hard drive Mac?

Here's how to format an unreadable drive:In the error message, click Initialize.Once Disk Utility opens, choose the drive in the left pane.Click Erase, choose the right file system, and confirm you want to format the drive.Reconnect the drive — it should be readable now.

How do I fix a corrupted external hard drive?

How to fix a corrupted external hard drive WITHOUT formattingOn the desktop, open This PC (My Computer) and select the desired external hard drive. Right-click it and select Properties -> Tools -> Click on Check. ... Use chkdsk.Use Disk Management. ... Use diskpart.

How do I restore an external hard drive on a Mac?

How do I restore my Mac from an external hard drive?Hold down Command + R while your Mac is restarting to bring up the startup options screen.Click on Disk Utility and then click Continue.Select Restore from the top options and select your external hard drive as a source.Click Restore.

How do I know if my external hard drive is damaged?

Common symptoms of external hard drive failure include:Failure to Mount or Recognize.Excessively Loud Operation.Clicking, Whirring or Grinding Sounds.Disappearing Files or Folders.File Corruption Error Messages.Extremely Slow Drive Access Times.

Can you recover data from a damaged external hard drive?

Yes, it is possible to recover data from a dead external hard drive. There are options for both physical and logical types of disk damage. The key factor for logical damage is to get your computer to recognize the broken device so you can use recovery software to recover files from the dead external hard drive.

How do I recover files from a corrupted external hard drive Mac?

To recover lost files from an external hard drive on Mac:Download, install and launch Disk Drill Data Recovery Software for Mac.Connect the external drive to your computer.Select the external drive from the disk list.Click the Recover button to look for files.More items...•

Why is my Mac not reading my external hard drive?

Your external hard drive is not readable on Mac because it is formatted in NTFS, HFS+, or another format not supported by macOS. A loosely connected or frayed USB cable is another possible reason the external drive is not recognized by your Mac. Change the cable to fix the issue.

Why is my external hard drive not showing up?

If the drive still isn't working, unplug it and try a different USB port. It's possible the port in question is failing, or just being finicky with your specific drive. If it's plugged into a USB 3.0 port, try a USB 2.0 port. If it's plugged into a USB hub, try plugging it directly into the PC instead.

How do I scan and repair an external hard drive?

The below steps will guide you through how to scan and fix external hard drive.Open File Explorer. Right-click your removable drive and click Properties.Click the Tools tab, then click Check.Click Scan and repair drive. ... When finished, a window will appear stating what was performed.

How do I reset my external hard drive?

Plug in the drive and open Windows Explorer. Right-click the drive and choose Format from the drop-down menu. Select the file system you want, give your drive a name under “Volume label,” and make sure the Quick Format box is checked. Click Start, and the computer will reformat your drive.

How to fix corrupted Mac hard drive?

Use the fsck command in the single-user mode to repair the file system corruption issue on your Mac external hard drive.

What is an external hard drive for Mac?

Your Mac external hard drive contains reserved space for GUID Partition Table, EFI System Partition, and APFS Container. The APFS container comprises Container superblock, Checkpoint area, Space manager area, and storage for objects and file data. The container can have multiple volumes with their file systems. The Mac’s file system allows storage and retrieval of data to and from the storage drive.

Why Mac External Hard Drive Turns Inaccessible?

At times, an unexpected event corrupts the partition table, EFI partition, or APFS/HFS file system of the Mac external storage drive. This logical damage of the external hard drive makes the drive and its stored data inaccessible on Mac.

What is disk utility?

Disk Utility is a useful storage drive management software that allows you to perform the external hard drive repair task with ease by using First Aid. But sometimes, Disk Utility’s First Aid fails to repair your external hard drive and the drive’s data remains inaccessible. Don’t worry, you can use alternative methods to repair your Mac external hard drive in case Disk Utility doesn’t work. Also, you can recover data from a corrupt external drive on Mac.

How to find the file system identifier of an external hard drive?

In the Terminal window, type df –h and hit Return. Note down the file system identifier of the external hard drive, say /dev/disk4s1.

Why does my external drive not unmount?

If the external storage drive does not un-mount due to running programs that are accessing the drive, forced ejection can corrupt its file system.

What to do if you receive the message "File system was modified"?

If you receive the message “File system was modified”, re-run the above fsck command.

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

Sometimes the problem may be only due to a faulty USB connection or a damaged port etc. In any such case, your external hard drive will not show on your mac which can give an impression of a corrupted hard drive.

What is the best recovery tool for Mac?

4DDiG Data Recovery Mac is one of the best and most powerful tools to recover data on mac. With its powerful system, it can recover any type of data including pictures, videos, songs, etc.

How Do I Recover Files from an External Hard Drive on a Mac?

I accidentally erased my 1-TB WD My Passport external hard drive. I connected it to my Mac OS X computer and attempted to get the lost data back, but I can't find my files on it. I am eager to recover files from the external hard drive on Mac. Any advice?

What is external hard drive?

In today’s world, external hard drives have been widely used as supplementary mass storage devices for Mac . It is always an excellent way to keep your valuable photos, videos, and other files in an external storage device so that you can bring them anywhere. Then the problem might come: What if you accidentally delete files in your external hard drive? What if files are lost from your formatted external hard drive? Or what if files become corrupted in your external hard drive?

What is the recovery mode on a Mac?

Recoverit will start an all-around scan. The "All-Around Recovery" mode will deep dig into your Mac external hard drive and piece the bits of your files together on it. It might take a little long time.

What to do if playback doesn't begin?

If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device.

What happens if my Mac is not repaired?

If you continue to have problems with your disk or it can’t be repaired, it may be physically damaged and need to be replaced. For information about servicing your Mac, see Find out how to service or repair your Mac.

What to do if Disk Utility can't repair your disk?

If Disk Utility can’t repair your disk, or you receive a report that the First Aid process failed, try to repair the disk or partition again. If that doesn’t work, back up as much of your data as possible, reformat the disk, reinstall macOS, then restore your backed-up data.

How to check if a disk is failing?

To check and repair a disk, you need to run First Aid on each volume and container on the storage device in turn, then run it on the storage device itself. If Disk Utility tells you the disk is about to fail, back up your data and replace the disk—you can’t repair it.

How to show all devices on Mac?

In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, choose View > Show All Devices.

What is disk utility?

Disk Utility can check for and fix errors related to the formatting and directory structure of a Mac storage device.

How to Prevent Hard Drive Corruption on macOS?

The best way to prevent a “macOS recover files from a corrupted drive” problem is to monitor your system’s health frequently.

What to do if your hard drive is corrupted?

If you fail to fix your corrupted hard drive at home, you can always hire a hard drive recovery service and let experienced professionals with state-of-the-art equipment recover your data for you. Professional data recovery services are often more costly than products like Disk Drill, but they can help you get to the missing data when other methods don’t work.

How to recover information from a corrupted hard drive?

1. Repair the Corrupted Hard Drive Using Disk Utility. After discovering the corrupted hard drive, you can repair it through the Terminal. Once you open it, type in this command:

What is disk drill for Mac?

Software tools like Disk Drill for Mac are useful when First Aid and Time Machine won’t work or are unavailable. You can also use third-party free tools to get the results you want.

Why does my heart beat so fast on my Mac?

A corrupted hard drive on a Mac can cause your heart to start racing fast. You might wonder:

How to turn off Mac for the day?

When it is time to turn your Mac off for the day, go to the Apple menu at the top left to initiate the command. If you need the computer to sleep, you’ll find that option available in the same location.

Why does my Mac start acting strange?

Your Mac starts acting strange when you have a corrupt hard drive. The symptoms might seem random at first, but you’ll see problems continue to increase.

How to repair a Mac drive?

1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) 2. Type or paste in this command: cd /Volumes and then type ls and press Return. (You'll be shown a list of disks attached to your Mac. Target the one for verification and repair and notice its drive letter. 3.

How to check external hard drive on Mac?

Method 1: Verify and repair external hard drive from command line 1 1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) 2 2. Type or paste in this command: cd /Volumes and then type ls and press Return. (You'll be shown a list of disks attached to your Mac. Target the one for verification and repair and notice its drive letter. 3 3. Type in diskutil verifyVolume [drive identifier], then press Enter. (Please make sure to substitute the [drive identifier] portion for the actual name of the external hard drive) 4 After verifying the external hard drive, if you don't get any error message, you don't need to repair the external hard drive. But if you get error message: "The volume was found corrupt and needs to be repaired", you have to use other command lines to repair the drive. 5 4. Input diskutil repairvolume /Volumes/ [drive identifier]/ and press Return. (For example, if the name of your external hard drive is "ExternalBackups", you should type in diskutil repairvolume /Volumes/ExternalBackups/)

How to find the drive identifier of a drive?

1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app). 2. Type in diskutil list (This will produce a list of all the currently connect drives, both mounted and unmounted). 3. Locate the one you want to and find its drive identifier. 4.

How to recover files from a corrupt external hard drive?

1. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on Mac. 2. Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac. 3. Select the corrupted external hard drive and click "Next" to search for deleted files. 4. Preview the files in the searching results and choose files those we want to recover, click "Recover" to get those lost files back.

Can you repair an external hard drive with terminal?

It's said that if you successfully repair an external hard drive with Terminal, all data stored on the drive keeps intact. But the truth is when running Terminal to repair a external hard drive, it will write new data on the drive and the original data is possible to be overwritten. So if you have valuable data on the external hard drive, ...

How to fix a bad external hard drive?

Fix 1. Repair Bad sectors via Disk Utility's First Aid 1 Connect your external hard drive to Mac using the proper cable or enclosure. 2 Press and hold Command + R keys to awake the Apple logo. 3 Go to the macOS Utilities window, select Disk Utility and then Continue. 4 From the Disk Utility sidebar, choose the connected external hard drive and click First Aid. 5 Click Run to repair the drive.

How to connect external hard drive to Mac?

Connect your external hard drive to Mac using the proper cable or enclosure. Press and hold Command + R keys to awake the Apple logo. Go to the macOS Utilities window, select Disk Utility and then Continue. From the Disk Utility sidebar, choose the connected external hard drive and click First Aid.

What is easeus data recovery?

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a powerful system recovery software, designed to enable you to recover files you’ve deleted accidentally, potentially lost to malware or an entire hard drive partition.

How to recover deleted files on Mac?

Step 1. Select the disk location ( it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the "Scan" button. Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane. Step 3.

What is a logically damaged bad sector?

What're they? Usually a sudden power off when data is writing to the disk; virus/malware attacks.

Can hard bad sectors be repaired?

As explained, the hard bad sectors are hardly repair able but most soft bad sectors still have a chance of restoration. As a matter of fact, it's not a real "Repair" but deallocation: deallocate the storage space occupied by bad sectors so that it is not used anymore. Disk Utility can do this job. Fix 1.

Can you open an external HDD with bad sectors?

Since data on an external HDD with too many bad sectors is usually inaccessible, you cannot open it in a regular way.

How do you connect an external hard drive to a Mac?

Connect the hard drive with a clean USB port on your Mac via a suitable cable (pre ferably the one that came in a package with it). If your Mac has a different port, such as Thunderbolt or Firewire, make sure you get an adaptor for it. The drive’s icon should appear on your desktop or under the Devices heading in Finder. You can then open the disk and use it for backup or view its contents.

Why is my external hard drive not readable on Mac?

A loosely connected or frayed USB cable is another possible reason the external drive is not recognized by your Mac. Change the cable to fix the issue.

How do I revive a dead hard drive?

To check if the problem is in the device itself, try connecting it to a different port or even a different computer. Try a different cable as well.

How do I back up my hard drive?

You can back up all your valuable data on Mac by using Time Machine. It’s a handy tool that comes with each Mac device by default for data maintenance, recovery, and backup. It will be useful if you need to bring back the files you lost after emptying the Trash or to be more efficient with your storage space.

Why does my Mac shut down when I connect a hard drive?

Just as some hard drives are not recognised because they don’t get enough power , some of them drain too much from your Mac. In this case, the system management controller will automatically shut the laptop down to protect it. If you think that that’s the case, try connecting the disk to an external power source such as a USB hub and reset your SMC.

What happens if you can't see volume list on Mac?

If you can’t see a volume list, your Mac can’t access the drive at all and you won’t be able to mount it . 6. Change the format of your HD. Macs use HFS+ or APFS format, whereas Windows computers employ NTFS.

What is disk utility?

Disk Utility often becomes the ultimate fix for a lot of Mac problems, including those related to external drives. It can help to access and repair some disk issues by checking partition Macs and performing additional checks across the system.

How to repair a hard drive?

Firstly, open the disk utility and choose the hard drive from the sidebar and click the "first aid" option and hit "run", it will repair the logical issues of the hard drive. check the smart status of the external hard drive it unmounts intermittently.

How to re-plug external hard drive?

Firstly, the simplest suggestion is to re-plug your external hard drive to another port as out of multiple ports, some might become unsteady with a passage of time. Secondly, you can even try another USB cable.

Why is my external hard drive not mounting?

The first and foremost reason for your external hard drive not mounting on mac could be the dirty or loose connection between the cables, USB-C multi-adapter , thunderbolt 3, or any other connection ports. The connection is only possible when the cables are attached tightly and cleanly.

How to fix a USB cable that is not working?

Sometimes the connectivity is not proper, which certainly results in this issue. Step 1: Reconnect the USB connector or adapter to fit the hard drive properly. Step 2: You can connect the hard drive to a different port or any other Mac. Step 3: The USB cable might be damaged, try changing that.

How to make a chime sound on a Mac?

Step 1: Restart the Mac and instantly press and hole option + command + P+ R keys, until you hear the chime sound.

How many types of data can you recover from a Mac?

Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac is remarkable enough to recover more than 1000+ types and formats of data. It can recover data from almost any of the storage devices used in the market.

How to back up a failing drive?

open disk utility and check the smart status of the drive, in case it is failing, it's better to back up the drive-by cloning. Replace the failing drive with a new one, if you don't want to lose your data.