MacOS X External Drive Troubleshooter

Troubleshooting an external drive in MacOS X will begin in different places depending on

• whether you are having trouble with a completely new installation, or
• whether the drive worked fine for a while (even just one time) but now no longer works.

For troubleshooting a non-detection problem at time of first installation of a new drive.

For troubleshooting after the drive has worked successfully for at least a short time but is no longer detected.

*Note: This is NOT a software troubleshooter. The procedure on this page is for correcting detection issues of the hardware. To troubleshoot external drive software, please consult the Seagate Knowledge Base.

To troubleshoot error messages seen with your hard drive, please see the I Am Receiving An Error page.

*Note: Maxtor OneTouch III mini models R14E060 and R14E100 are not supported in MacOS at all, though the 80, 120, and 160 GB versions are supported.

For more information on this topic, please see our list of Knowledge Base links.