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Seagate Expansion SSDs, desktop drives and external hard drives for Mac have shown to be trustworthy friends in the ever-changing world of digital storage. When a Seagate Expansion drive causes problems with your Mac, it can be very annoying and cause you to worry about your ability to access your data. From this article, you'll better understand what's going on with your Seagate Expansion external hard drive and how to get it back up and running.

In this guide, we'll review some of the most common issues and how to fix them quickly, making your Seagate Expansion external hard drive a solid asset again in your Mac-centric digital world.

Fix Seagate Expansion drive not working on Mac

Why Is Seagate Drive Not Working on Mac?

Many reasons including file system corruption, improper Finder settings, incompatible file system would render a Seagate Expansion drive on Mac useless. Here are some of the reasons:

  • The file system on Seagate Expansion drive gets corrupted or shows not initialized.
  • The Seagate Expansion drive has been formatted with NTFS file system and it is read-only on Mac.
  • The Seagate Expansion drive is not mounting on Mac.
  • Improper settings: Un-select external disks in Finder settings, read-only settings in Disk Information.
  • Faulty connection, bad USB port.
  • macOS issue.

The next section will discuss solutions to the potential causes of the non-working Seagate external hard disk in the Macs. You can rest assured that these techniques will work with any version of macOS, including the most recent macOS Sequoia.

Methods to Fix Seagate Expansion Drive Not Working on Mac

Method 1. Try a Different USB Port/Hub/Computer

If the Seagate Expansion drive is blinking but is not being recognized by your computer, you can disconnect it from the USB port and reconnect it to a different USB port. Furthermore, you can reconnect your Seagate external hard disk to the computer after restarting the system.

Connect it to a new computer or with a different USB cable if the device has been detached. If this easy fix works, then your issue will be solved. If not, then read on for some alternative approaches.

Method 2. Change Finder Settings

You may need to adjust your Finder settings if your Seagate Expansion drive is not showing up in the Mac Finder/desktop. Here's how to tweak your settings to your liking:

Step 1. Open a Finder, click Finder on Apple menu and choose Settings.

Fix Seagate Expansion drive not working on Mac

Step 2. Then you will see Finder Settings, to make the Seagate Expansion drive be showing up on Mac desktop, click General, under “Show these items on the desktop:”, select External disks.

Fix Seagate Expansion drive not working on Mac

To make the Seagate Expansion drive be showing up on Finder, click Sidebar and also select External disks.

Fix Seagate Expansion drive not working on Mac

After you tick External disks, just close the Finder Settings window and check if you see the Seagate Expansion drive on desktop and sidebar.

Method 3. Fix Seagate Expansion drive using Disk Utility

Disk Utility is a built-in application in macOS which is able to manage disks on Mac. If your Seagate Expansion drive is not working on your Mac, you can use this tool to help you reformat the Seagate Expansion drive or repair it.

If the Seagate Expansion drive drive is not mounting on your Mac, just click on Mount button.

Fix Seagate Expansion drive not working on Mac

Erase tab can help you reformat the Seagate Expansion drive to fix corruption issue or format the NTFS Seagate Expansion drive to Mac-compatible file system (APFS, ExFAT or Mac OS Extended).

Fix Seagate Expansion drive not working on Mac

When Erase is greyed out, you can click First Aid button to fix the damaged Seagate Expansion drive.

Fix Seagate Expansion drive not working on Mac

If you lose important data due to erasing the Seagate Expansion drive or repairing the Seagate Expansion drive, you can use Mac data recovery application to help you get lost data back.

Seagate Expansion drive data recovery on Mac

Seagate Expansion drive data recovery on Mac

Recover deleted, formatted or lost data from Seagate Expansion drive on Mac with Do Your Data Recovery for Mac.

Method 4. Fix Seagate Expansion drive not working on Mac issue with NTFS for Mac

If the Seagate Expansion drive is a NTFS drive and you will use it on both Windows and Mac, you should not format it. NTFS for Mac tool - DoYourData NTFS for Mac can help you quickly grant full read-write access to Seagate Expansion drive on Mac.

If the Seagate Expansion drive is not working on Mac, the file system is NTFS, you can click Enable Writable to solve the read-only issue.

enable NTFS support for Seagate Expansion drive on Mac

If the Seagate Expansion drive is not mounting on your Mac, just click on Mount button.

enable NTFS support for Seagate Expansion drive on Mac

You also can format, repair the Seagate Expansion drive with DoYourData NTFS for Mac.

Method 5. Reset NVRAM

Your Mac's NVRAM is a tiny bit of memory that stores configuration information for the computer's hardware. Sometimes, it's necessary to free up some RAM.

  • That is accomplished by powering down an Intel-based Mac.
  • The Seagate external hard disk needs to be ejected. Shut down your Mac machine.
  • Then, before turning the machine on, You need to hold down the ALT key while pressing COMMAND, P, and R.
  • In unison and simultaneously. Just give it twenty seconds.
  • Your Mac will automatically restart.
  • Release keys once you hear the second chime. You might even see the Apple logo.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, tackling the difficulty of a Seagate Expansion External Hard Drive not working on your Mac involves a systematic approach, from analyzing physical connections to finding software-related remedies. These easy-to-implement procedures will help you identify the source of the problem and fix it.

If the issue persists, contacting Seagate's support staff is a smart next step toward a complete fix. Before performing any troubleshooting measures that could result in data loss, such as reformatting or repairing the disk, be sure to create a backup. Follow these instructions to get your Seagate Expansion drive back up and running so you can get your data back.

DoYourData Author

Written & Updated by Justin Kenny

Justin Kenny is a writer & editor of DoYourData. He joined DoYourData in 2016 and focuses on writing articles about Windows data recovery, Mac data recovery, external device data recovery, hard drive clone, data erasure, Mac cleanup, computer issue fixes, etc. He is a super fan of Apple devices and is big on testing new digital device and system utility software.

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