To see your unmounted external storage drive in Disk Utility, do the following:Ī) Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility to launch the application.ī) From the top-left corner, click the View menu and choose Show All Devices.Ĭ) Check the sidebar of Disk Utility to find your unmounted external hard drive. To fix the visibility preferences for Finder, do the following:Ī) From the Finder preferences window, click the Sidebar tab.ī) Under Locations, select the “ External disks” checkbox.Ĭ) Check the Finder sidebar to find your external storage drive. From the Menu bar, navigate to Finder > Preferences.ī) In the preferences window, click the General tab.Ĭ) In “ Show these items on the Desktop,” click the “ External disks” checkbox.ĭ) Check your Desktop to find the icon for the external storage drive. To fix the visibility preferences for Desktop, do the following:Ī) Open Finder from Dock. Fix External Drive’s Visibility PreferencesĮnsure your external hard drive’s visibility preferences for the Desktop, Finder, and Disk Utility are set correctly. To resolve the connectivity problem of your external storage drive, perform the following:Ī) Check the LED indicator present on the external storage drive as a visual cue.ī) Unplug the external storage drive and plug it snugly into its correct USB port on your Mac.Ĭ) Connect the drive to a different but compatible USB port on your Mac or use another Mac.ĭ) Try changing the USB cable or hub to ensure there is no issue with the wiring. The next sections describe various ways to fix the drive not mounting issue on macOS Big Sur.

Driver software of the storage drive is outdated.

Storage drive’s files system is damaged.

Storage drive’s file system isn’t compatible with macOS Big Sur.

Reasons for external drive not mounting on macOS Big Sur

Recover Files that Are Lost Due to Non-Mounting of External Drive.

Repair the External Storage Drive Using Disk Utility.

Update the Driver of the External Storage Device.

Check Compatibility of External Drive’s File System on macOS Big Sur.

Fix External Drive’s Visibility Preferences.

Fix External Drive’s Connectivity Issue.

Reasons for external drive not mounting on macOS Big Sur.

Install macos big sur on external drive