External SSD not showing folders in finder.

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Level 1

8 points

External SSD not showing folders in finder.

Hello there,

Imac late 2015, after losing my internal HDD, opted for external usb samsung T5 ssd 500GB running catalina(10.15.7).Some days ago, failing one more time to install monterey (stuck at 18min remaining) it stoped booting.So, used a bootable usb pen drive sandisk 64GB, also in catalina (but 10.15.6).Using Carbon Copy Cloner (trial version)made a copy of the bootable 64GB pen drive to the external 500GB (120 free)ssd, hoping to restore it's bootability.BUT now it boots, however can't see my files in the finder, only the cloned files are there.

Posted on Jul 9, 2025 10:15 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

157,236 points

Jul 9, 2025 10:20 AM in response to phenrique0

From what you're describing, it sounds like your external Samsung T5 SSD had your original system and files, and then you used Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) to clone your Catalina 10.15.6 USB install drive onto it.

The issue is that CCC completely overwrites the target volume during a standard clone operation, unless you explicitly exclude files or set it to preserve data. So unfortunately, it’s very likely that CCC has replaced your previous Catalina installation — including your personal files — with a fresh copy of the USB install drive’s system.

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Answer 2

phenrique0 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 11, 2025 10:38 AM in response to Tesserax

Hi, Tesserax

Apreciated your response, sorry for the late reply.

When there is risk of erasing data, always is displayed a WARNING BEFORE(attached a picture from youtube of a backup with cccloner).Used the default settings, so it had around 120GB of free space to backup 64GB from the pen.In disk utility it still appears Samsung-data volume with 430GB used (it adds up: now has 60GB free) but finder only shows the files from the pen and not almost 400GB of original files.Thank you for your kind attention.

[Edited by Moderator]

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