The best way to fix the external drive not working on MacBook Air or MacBook Pro is to restart the system. Obviously they SHOULD work, but a surprising number of Mac users are reporting problems with recent Dell displays, and it’s not entirely clear where the underlying problem is in those cases. Methods to Fix External Hard Drive Light Blinking but Not Working Issue. To connect to your MacBook, a good rule of thumb is to use the port (or ports) closest to the rear of the MacBook. Any monitor that works via a USB-C cable should work with your MacBook. Otherwise, it’s possible that the issue is that you’re working with Macs. Modern MacBooks use Thunderbolt connections, which have the USB-C connection. The Cable Matters 201025-BLK-1m supports all of those standards and is far less expensive than what you paid for your Thunderbolt 3 cable. Try a USB-C cable that is rated for supporting DisplayPort Alt Mode, either USB 3.1 Gen 1 or USB 3.1 Gen 2, and 100W USB Power Delivery. I wrote a long post about the various differentiating factors of USB-C and TB3 cables and addressed this, linked below. Active TB3 cables do not work as regular USB-C cables except for power and USB 2.0 data, which isn’t enough for running a display. If the drive isn’t visible, you need to consult a data recovery service company to retrieve data from the failed external storage mediums.Did you buy an “active” Thunderbolt 3 cable that has signal booster chips built into the cable in order to allow longer cable lengths? Based on the price you paid, you probably did.
Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac software to scan and recover your lost files, provided the drive is visible in Disk Utility. Use free data recovery software for Mac i.e. Assuming you don’t have a backup of the external drive and the stored data is crucial. We hope the article helped you fix the ‘external hard drive blinking but not working on MacBook’ issue.
Learn how to recover data from external drive using Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac by watching the following video tutorial: Sadly, New MacBook Pros Wont Work With Older MagSafe Chargers Youll need to use the newly unveiled MagSafe 3 connector for fast charging or a USB-C cable. You can compare the editions here.ĩ.Tutorial Video – External Hard Drive Recovery As they age, their capacity reduces and they won’t last as long on a full charge as they did when they were new. The batteries used in laptops like the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro have a finite number of charging cycles, after which they just won’t charge anymore. If you need to recover data > 1 Gb, we recommend upgrading the Free version to Professional, Premium, or Technician. What to do if your battery won’t hold its charge. Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac retrieves up to 1 Gb of files for free. Finally, view the recovered files from the specified location. Wait till the recovery process completes. Click Browse to specify a distinct location in the message window to save the recoverable data, then click Save. Now, preview files and select all the required ones.Select the external drive from the Select Location screen, click the Deep Scan switch located at the bottom-left corner, and click Scan.Select the type of file, then click Next.
For that, download and install Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition for Mac on your MacBook Air/Pro. status, you need to recover data from the storage medium. When the drive is about to fail, as suggested by Disk Utility’s S.M.A.R.T. Recover Data from the Non-Working External Drive Hopefully, by updating the incompatible driver, the external hard drive could get recognized on your Mac, and you could access all the stored content.
Go to the official website of the storage drive manufacturer.
So, go through the following steps to update the incompatible driver:
The driver software of your external hard drive probably does not recognize the drive, is incompatible with the drive, or the software is corrupt. If the above method doesn’t work, proceed to the following method to fix the external drive not working on Mac problem. Click the Sidebar tab, and under Devices, select External disks.