Mounted/unrecognized external drive

I'm trying to backup my Mac desktop using an Iomega 1T drive connected by a USB. The drive is not recognized in Time Machine. When I go to the disk utility, I can see the device, but it won't mount. Any suggestions?


Thanks, Perplexed in Pennsy.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jun 19, 2020 11:15 AM

Reply
Question marked as ⚠️ Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 19, 2020 11:36 AM

Have you formatted the drive mac OS Extended and GUID partition scheme? You can try to mount it, and/or partition and/or erase to get it to mount it. You should erase it anyway because most external drives are either formatted for Windows and/or have unnecessary software on them - an external drive does not need anything on it in order to function.



2 replies
Sort By: 
Question marked as ⚠️ Top-ranking reply

Jun 19, 2020 11:36 AM in response to owlsfan85

Have you formatted the drive mac OS Extended and GUID partition scheme? You can try to mount it, and/or partition and/or erase to get it to mount it. You should erase it anyway because most external drives are either formatted for Windows and/or have unnecessary software on them - an external drive does not need anything on it in order to function.



Reply

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Mounted/unrecognized external drive

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.