- How To Open A Mac External Hard Drive On Pc
- Access Hard Drive On Mac
- How To Open Mac External Hard Drive On Pc Windows 10
Ashwani Tiwari | Modified: August 3rd, 2020 | Data Recovery, Technology
Summary:
In this post, you will come to know how to open a hard drive on Windows OS. Read the post and follow the steps. To avoid data loss, keep this utility on your Windows System.
Mac OS Extended (Journaled) — Select this option if you just want to use your external hard drive with a Mac computer. ExFAT — Select this option if you want to use your external hard drive with both Windows and Mac computers. Western Digital My Passport 4TB. The overall best external hard drive for Mac or PC. Open a Finder Window. Go to 'General' in 'Preferences'. Check if the 'External disks' option is enabled. This is the first thing you need to try if there's some issue and you can't access the external drive on your Mac. 2 Mounting an external hard drive.
The Microsoft Windows OS enables users to attach an external hard drive and perform read-write operations. But before using the RAW hard disk you need to format the external hard drive. It is a very simple and easy case. You can easily format the disk because you didn't store anything in it.
Transferring Data From a Mac to PC via an External Hard Drive. Mac OS X and Windows can both read and write to disks in the FAT or ExFat format. Because Mac OS X Mountain Lion does not natively support writing to an external NTFS drive, you must erase your hard disk and format it. To use HFSExplorer, connect your Mac-formatted drive to your Windows PC and launch HFSExplorer. Click the 'File' menu and select 'Load File System From Device.' It will automatically locate the connected drive, and you can load it. You'll see the contents of the HFS+ drive in the graphical window.
But suppose if you are trying to open old hard drive. And it restricts you to open an external hard drive and asked you to format it first. It is a life-lasting situation for the user. Because the data is crucial. So, here find the solution for how to open my external hard drive without formatting.
If you are unable to open your hard drive then there is a chance of hard drive corruption. There are multiple reasons for corruption. In this post, I am not going to explain the reasons. Follow the methods listed below and easily access data on the hard drive without formatting.
Note: – If you have purchased a new hard disk. Then you have to format the disk and assign drive letter.
Methods to Open Hard Drive Without Formatting
The repair method may differ in different cases. The issue can occur due to various reasons. The solution is also different for the different causes of this error. Find all possible solutions for how to open an external hard drive without formatting it in Windows 10, 8, 7, etc.
Method 1: – Open An External Hard Drive Without Formatting Using CMD
Here you will find a set of command which you need to run on the Windows command prompt. Perform the steps carefully, because the wrong step can create a serious problem and lead to data loss.
Note: – Perform these steps, your own risk. These steps may not work for you.
1. Open Command Prompt (Admin) on your system. (Press Win + X key for Windows 10)
2. Here type chkdsk G: /f /r /x (Here G is the drive letter, replace it with your drive letter)
In this command, the different letter shows different options. Let's know
G: – it is a drive letter which you can change according to your drive letter.
/f: – It provides instruction to chkdsk for fixing encountered errors in Windows.
/r: – it provides information about bad sectors in the hard drive.
/x: – It is used to dismount the hard drive before proceeding the above steps.
Method 2: – Open An External Hard Drive After Formatting It
If hard drive corrupted and restrict you to open. Then you can fix this issue by formatting. But remember that by doing this your all stored data will be erased. So, I will not recommend you to try this solution. If you want to format then follow steps:
- Locate drive partition and Right-click on it
- Hit Format from the opened list
- Select the file system (recommended NTFS)
- Click on OK (Here a warning message will appear. Fist read the message if you agree then hit OK)
- At the last hit on the Close button.
Note: – After performing all the steps you will find a resultant partition that is empty. Now you can open the drive partition easily. If you backup of previous data then you can transfer that here. If you lost your files and don't have the backup then move to below solution.
Quick Guide to Avoid Data Loss!!
As we all know that the data is quite important. So I will not recommend you to perform any silly method. How do i convert mp3 to audio cd on mac. First, secure your data, after that do whatever you want. If you want to open your external hard drive without formatting.
Then download Hard Disk Recovery Wizard and install it on your Windows system. It will recover all corrupted files and folders. Save the recovered files on the different hard drives. And then format the infected one. You will find all features and complete guides of this tool on the dedicated link.
Download Utility:
Note: – If you are looking solution for how to open an external hard drive without formatting it in Windows 10, 8, 7. It doesn't matter either you want to access data on a hard drive without formatting on the internal or external hard disk. This solution will work in every situation. Apart from this the tool the all in one solution for hard drive lost files restoration.
Conclusion
You reached here means your query How can I open my hard drive without formatting is resolved. I listed all possible ways to tackle how to open my external hard drive without formatting in Windows 10, 8, 7, etc. But method 3 is the best for all types of hard drive issues. If you have any doubt then simply contact.
Nov 23, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions
While the external hard drive connected to the Windows computer or Mac, and the device did not show up. How to fix external hard drive not recognized? Don't worry, in this guide we will show you the best solution to fix the hard drive not recognized problem.
This problem will cause by some partition issues: the external hard drive partition got damaged, the file system got crashed, the drive errors in Windows computer, or the dead USB ports. You can try the hard drive on another computer or connect it with other USB ports. If it does not get working, you can follow the next solution to fix the external hard drive not recognized on Windows computer and Mac, and you can recover lost data from external hard drive with Recoverit Data Recovery.
How To Open A Mac External Hard Drive On Pc
Part 1. How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Recognized on Windows
In windows, this problem can be because of partition issues, dead USB ports, driver windows conflicts, file systems, dead or outdated drivers. Here are the steps you can follow to fix this issue in case of USB flash or external hard drives:
Step 1You might be plugging in the USB cable in a dead USB port. Unplug your external hard drive and plugin it in some other USB ports. Now, see if it is present there in the My Computer window. If not, follow step 2.
Step 2Now, look for the external drive in the Disk Management Window. For this, click Start and then click Run or press windows key + r, press enter after typing diskmgmt.msc in the Run dialog. This will open the Disk Management Window. Now, look for the external disk in this window. In this window, you can find your drive even if it is not recognized because of no partition. If you cannot find the drive in the Disk Management window then you can go for step four.
Step 3If it is not recognized by plugging in some other port or it is not visible in the Disk Management Window, then there might be some issue with the external drive. Check it on some other computers. Now, follow step 1 to step 3 in that computer in case the external drive is not recognized. If the problem exists with another computer also then something is wrong with the drive, otherwise follow step 5:
Access Hard Drive On Mac
Step 4If it is working in some other systems but not in yours, Windows is having some problem with the drivers. To diagnose a driver problem, open the run dialog by pressing Windows + r and type 'devmgmt.msc'? Now press enter. Expand Disk Drives and look for a device having a yellow exclamation mark. This yellow exclamation mark indicates a problematic driver. Now, right-click on that device and read the error message after selecting properties. This issue can resolve in the following two ways:
- Click on the update driver button for installing updated drivers.
- Uninstall the driver and restart your computer. After restarting, the Windows will automatically reinstall and reconfigure the driver.
Now, plug in the external drive again or follow step 6 if the drive is still not recognized.
Step 5Problem in partitioning and formatting can also be a cause of this issue. Partitioning and file system issues can be fixed by using Windows Disk Management tools. To create a new partition, right-click inside the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume. You can create a new partition by following onscreen instructions. Sometimes, your drive is formatted with the ext4 file system of Linux, NTFS file system, HFS Plus file system, or FAT32 file system which is not recognized by your Windows. Reformatting of the drive can resolve this issue. For this, right-click on the partition, select format, and then select the file system. Here, it is important to know that all files in the drive will be deleted. Therefore, copy your files in some other systems before proceeding.
Video Tutorial on How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing Up
Part 2. How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Recognized on Mac
Like Windows, Mac also detects an external drive automatically. If it doesn't, follow these steps:
Step 1 First of all, look for the external hard drive in the finder window. For this, click on File and then click New Finder Window. Now, look for the drive below the remote disk.
Step 2 If the external drive is not there, make sure that the USB cable is properly plugged in the external hard drive and the port.
Step 3 Sometimes, the drive is connected but not mounted. To mount a drive, open Disk Utility and look for the drive in the list. If it is there, check below it. Now click on the mounting button to mount it. Open a Finder window to see if the drive is mounted or not.
Step 4 If you still cannot find it in the finder, it might not be getting enough power. Single USB ports can provide only 5 V. In that case, make use of USB cable having one USB connection for the external HD and two for Mac. This will supply the power required by the external hard drive.
These steps for fixing an external hard drive not recognized on Windows and Mac are suitable for external hard drives of all capacities and manufacturers. However, if still the issue is not resolved, you can avail of professional help.
Part 3. The Best External Hard Drive Data Recovery Software
While the external hard drive got damaged and did not detect on the computer, after you fix the problem, you should your data back. We will introduce the best external hard drive data recovery to help you retrieve data back. Recoverit Data Recovery Software is a powerful data recovery program, it can help you recover data from external hard drives easily and effectively.
Recoverit External Hard Drive Recovery Software
Recoverit Data Recovery is the best external hard drive recovery program, it can easily and effectively help you recover lost or accidentally deleted files from the hard disk drive, or another external storage device: USB drive, flash drive, SD card.
Steps on How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive
Download and install Recoverit Data Recovery on your computer. Launch Recoverit Data Recovery and follow the next steps to perform external hard drive data recovery on a Windows computer, if you are a Mac user, you can download Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac to go on.
Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to the computer, select it while the disk detected on the program.
Step 2. The external hard drive recovery software will start scanning the device to searching the lost files.
Step 3. In minutes� all recovered files will display on the result. You can preview photos, videos, music, Word, Excel, PPT, and PDF. Select your files and click the 'Recover' button to restore.
When the external hard drive got damaged, you can try to fix it with the solution mentioned above. Also, get your data back with Recoverit Data Recovery in simple steps. Download and try it for now.
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How To Open Mac External Hard Drive On Pc Windows 10
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