• Best External Disk Drive For Mac
• External Disk Drive For Macs

Sharing discs

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If your Mac doesn't have a built-in optical drive and you need to use a CD or DVD, you can connect an external drive like the Apple USB SuperDrive. You can also share discs from the optical drive of another Mac, or from a Windows computer that has DVD or CD Sharing Setup installed. DVD or CD sharing allows you to access documents stored on these discs, and allows you to install some software.

DVD or CD sharing isn't designed for some kinds of optical media. Connect a compatible optical drive directly to your Mac if you need to use one of these discs:

• Audio CDs
• Blu-ray or DVD movies
• Copy protected discs (such as some game discs)
• Recordable CDs or DVDs that you want to burn or erase
• Microsoft Windows installation discs

If you have a Microsoft Windows install disc that you want to use with Boot Camp, you can create a disc image of this disc and copy it to a USB flash drive for installation instead.

Setting up a Mac to share discs

To share discs from a Mac that has a built-in or external optical drive, use these steps:

1. On the Mac that has an optical drive, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
2. Click the Sharing icon in the System Preferences window.
3. Make sure you've entered a name that you can easily recognize in the Computer Name field.
4. Enable the checkbox for DVD or CD Sharing.
5. You can also restrict who has access to your optical drive by selecting 'Ask me before allowing others to use my DVD drive.'

Setting up a Windows PC to share discs

To share discs from a Windows PC that has a built-in or external optical drive, use these steps:

1. Download and install DVD or CD Sharing Update 1.0 for Windows.
2. From Control Panel, open 'Hardware and Sound'
3. Click 'DVD or CD Sharing Options.'
4. Select the checkbox for DVD or CD Sharing.
5. You can also restrict who has access to your optical drive by selecting 'Ask me before allowing others to use my DVD drive.'

If you're sharing discs from a Windows computer and your PC has firewall software enabled, be sure to allow access to the following programs from your firewall:

• ODSAgent
• RemoteInstallMacOSX

Use a shared DVD or CD

After you've enabled DVD or CD Sharing, you can use that computer's optical drive at any time. Insert a disc in the optical drive of the computer that's being shared. The disc should then be available on any Mac that's connected to the same network.

1. On the Mac that doesn't have an optical drive, open a Finder window.
2. Select Remote Disc in the Devices section of the sidebar. You should see the computer that has DVD or CD Sharing enabled.
3. Double-click the computer's icon, then click Connect to see the contents of the CD or DVD available from that computer.

If you can't use a shared disc

If your Mac already has a built-in optical drive, or an external optical drive connected, you won't see the Remote Disc feature appear in the Finder or other apps.

If you're using a compatible disc and you don't see it from Remote Disc, make sure the sharing computer is turned on, is connected to the same network as your Mac, and has a compatible CD or DVD in its optical drive. If you've enabled the option to ask for permission before using the drive, click Accept on the computer that is sharing its optical drive.

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Adding extra storage space to Mac can cost a pretty penny. Therefore, most Apple users prefer using an external hard drive as it’s easy to use and cost-effective.

Usually, when an external disk drive in inserted via a USB port, it displays on the screen under the devices’ list. In case the external drive is not recognized by Mac, chances are it has been incorrectly inserted, formatted, corrupted, or is faulty. Jd gui for mac.

Why Is My Mac Not Recognizing The External Hard Drive?

Well, there are a plethora of reasons why an external drive might not be appearing on your Mac screen when plugged in. One of the common causes of this issue is – USB cable is not connected correctly, to Mac, drive, or maybe both.

Alternatively, this can happen due to:

• Non-functional USB port.
• Faulty USB cable.
• Physical damage to the hard drive.
• Device incompatibility.
• Partition map damage.

Now that you know all the potential causes of “External Drive Not Showing Up On Mac,” scroll down to the next section, where we discuss all the troubleshooting tips to fix the issue.

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How To Fix External Hard Drive Not Recognizing On Your Mac?

Before you try advanced troubleshooting workarounds, we suggest you start with the basic methods. You never know, certain simple tweaks could help you fix the problem without putting much effort.

1. Quickly check that the hard drive is securely plugged in.
2. Replace your USB connector if it is damaged or broken.
3. Try plugging in your external hard drive into a different outlet.
4. Try inserting the external disk drive to another USB Port. (You never know if it’s a hardware issue)
5. Check your hard drive on a PC. (Chances can be it is not readable for Macs)
6. Reboot your Mac.

If none of the tips mentioned above helped you, you could try the following workarounds to make your hard drive show up, so that you can successfully gain access to it.

Best Workarounds To Fix An External Disk Drive That Refuses To Show Up On A Mac

Walk through the steps, and hopefully, you will be able to fix the problem that makes your external drive not show up on your Mac.

1. Check System Information

• It is important to check System Information & see which USB devices are connected to your Mac. Simply go to the Apple Menu.
• Click on About this Mac option.
• And select System Report.

There can be chances that you may find the USB external drives in System Information, but they aren’t showing up for multiple reasons. In such a case, disconnect then and try remounting the external disk drive using Terminal.

2. Edit Preferences

• Go to Finder.
• Navigate to the Preferences.
• Hit the General tab > Make sure the External Drive section is checked.

In case the External Drive option was already enabled & still your Mac isn’t recognizing the drive, you have to mount the external disk drive manually.

Best External Disk Drive For Mac

3. Mount External Hard Drive

• Navigate to the System Preferences and click on Disk Utility.
• You need to check whether the External drive is listed in the left section or not.
• At this point, highlight your drive storage and choose the option, the Mount.
• As soon as you do that, the external disk drive should now appear under the device in the Finder.

If you are still struggling with the “External Drive Not Showing Up On Mac” issue, then its time to run the Disk Utility to fix the problem.

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4. Run Disk Utility

• Locate Disk Utility from Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
• Alternatively, you can find the Disk Utility via Spotlight and search for Disk Utility program.
• The new window looks in the left column to see if the external hard drive shows there.
• If you can see the connected external hard disk drive, you need to check it for a volume. If it is there, you need to hit the Mount button. (With no volume, the Mount option will appear greyed out.)
• In case your Mac already mounted the hard drive, you’ll be shown the Unmount option.
• Next, you need to run the First Aid tool successfully.
• The feature is dedicated to scan for disk errors & repair them instantly thoroughly.

Once this built-in utility runs, it would potentially fix all the issues that might be hampering your overall experience and causing the issue “External Drive Not Showing Up On Mac.”

5. Reset NVRAM

For some users resetting NVRAM on Mac is a helpful solution to get rid of the “External Drive Not Being Recognized on Mac” issue. Read our dedicated guide on What, Why, When & How To Reset NVRAM?

6. Try Using Data Recovery Solutions

If no workaround helped you to resolve the ‘External drive not showing up on Mac’ problem. Maybe you need data recovering utilities that hold strong potential to retrieve data from inaccessible, corrupted, formatted, or faulty external hard drive. Here’s our complete round of Best Data Recovery Solutions For Macs.

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External Disk Drive For Macs