- How To Find External Drive On Macbook Air Screen
- How To Find External Drive On Macbook Air Pro
- How To Find External Drive On Macbook Air Hard Drive
- How To Find External Drive On Macbook Air 2
Jul 25, 2019 If you wondered whether storage space on MacBook Air/Pro is running out of or dangerously close, here's what you can try to check the available hard drive space on a Mac. Part 1:How to Check Storage on MacBook Air/Pro. Step 1: Firstly go to the 'Apple logo' on the top of the screen, then you tap on the option 'About The Mac'. How to Use your Seagate External Hard Drive on MacBook Pro, Air or iMac. Power up, log into your Mac. Plug in your Seagate’s USB cable. Your Seagate external hard drive connects to your Mac by its USB cable. The Seagate portable drives receive their power from your Mac by the USB cable.
About this article
This article includes instructions and suggestions for storing, organizing, and backing up files on your MacBook hard drive. It is intended for any student or employee with a MacBook.
Fig 2. Select hard drive icon and Users to access Home folder
Where are your files?
You have full administrative rights to your laptop. That means you have the ability to save your files just about anywhere on your laptop's hard drive. You may have saved things, intentionally or unintentionally, to locations other than the ones we configured as described below. It's up to you to find and manage those folders and files. Every WSU MacBook hard drive is set up the same way:
- On a MacBook, all of the space on the single hard drive is assigned to one partition called MacBook Pro/Air # where the number represents the year it was distributed (e.g., MacBook Pro 13). Open your hard drive by double-clicking the MacBook Pro/Air # drive icon on your desktop (Figure 1).
- You will see several folders on what is called the root of the hard drive. Do not delete or rename any of these folders.
- Inside the Users folder, you will find your Home folder (Figure 2).
About the Home folder
Your Home folder is a special folder on your hard drive set up just for you. This is where you should save any personal or school-related files on your laptop. To help you keep your files organized, WSU created some sub-folders in your Home folder (e.g., Documents, Music, Pictures). You can use these folders if you wish or you can create your own. You can also create sub-folders within these folders (e.g., a Courses folder inside your Documents folder). Build a folder structure that works for you.
What's a default save location?
Some applications have default save locations for files you create using that application. For example, Microsoft Word opens a specific folder in your Home directory the first time you Save a document and every time you select Save As. WSU has already set the default save location of many of the applications that came installed on your MacBook. For example, the default save location for Word is your Documents folder in your Home directory. When you install applications, a default save location is selected automatically or you are asked to select one during the installation process. You want the default save location to be a folder in your Home directory. For example, when you install Apple iTunes, it will use your Music folder in your Home directory. Sometimes, an application will pick a very strange and out of the way default save location. Keep your eyes on this as you install applications and change the default save location if needed. Also, be careful about deleting or renaming existing folders in your Home directory if they are default save locations for an application.
How do I access the Home folder?
From the hard drive icon
- Double-click the MacBook Pro/Air # drive icon on your desktop
- Open the Users folder
- Open the Home folder. It's the one with the icon that looks like a house and that is named with your username (Figure 2).
From the Go menu
How To Find External Drive On Macbook Air Screen
- Select the Go menu
- Select Home. This opens up the home folder and displays its contents.
About the sub-folders in your Home folder
Documents, Music, Pictures, and Movies
These are folders that we created for you thinking that this might be a nice way for you to organize your files. If this works for you, great. If you want to create new folders with new names, that's fine too. However, keep in mind that these folders are default save locations for various applications. Even if you don't want to use them, please don't delete them for awhile until you are sure you have your own folder structure and default save locations worked out.
Applications
You may or may not have such a folder depending on what applications are installed on you MacBook. Don't confuse this Applications folder in your Home directory with the one that contains all of your installed applications. They are two different folders. This one simply stores personal data and files associated with certain applications. For example, the default storage location for the screen shots you capture using TechSmith SnagIt, a screen capture program, is a sub-folder in your Applications folder in your Home directory. The actual SnagIt application itself is stored in another location. For most applications, you can change their default save locations if you wish, but always check this Applications folder to see if there is anything in there you want to back up and retain.
Desktop
Bettertouchtool 3 02 sats. The Desktop folder in your Home directory contains all the folders, files, and shortcuts found out on your desktop. Some people like to store things, lots of things, right on their desktop. They save files, folders, and shortcuts to applications right out on the desktop. If this method works for you and you want to replicate it on another MacBook, you will need to back up the Desktop folder and then copy and paste it to your Home directory on the other machine. Note that your shortcuts will not work on the new laptop if the applications they link to are not it the same place. The fastest way to restore them is to delete them and recreate them on the new laptop.
Downloads
This folder contains any application update, printer driver, or other software or hardware-related file you ever downloaded from the web. The vast majority of these files do not need to be retained because you will probably never use them again. However, this folder may also contain manuals, journal articles, image files, and other useful, downloaded documents or media that you do want to retain. Take a look through your Downloads folder regularly. Delete anything you don't need and move anything important to another folder to better organize it. Ideally, your Downloads folder should be empty.
Public
Because Mac OS X is a multi-user operating system, the Public folder is there to allow you to store files that would be accessible to other people who log on to your MacBook. Because no one but you typically logs on to your laptop, this folder isn't very useful. Don't delete it just in case you might need it someday.
Backing up your files
There are several ways that you can back up the files in your Home direcory:
- Drag-and-drop or copy-paste your entire Home folder to network, cloud, or external storage
- Pick and choose individual folders and files within your Home directory to drag-and-drop or Copy-Paste to network, cloud, or external storage
Restoring your files
To restore your files to a new MacBook, reverse the process you used to back them up:
- Drag-and-drop or copy-paste your entire Home folder from network, cloud, or external storage to the same locations on your new MacBook
- Drag-and-drop or copy-paste individual folders and files from network, cloud, or external storage to the same locations on your new MacBook
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Oct 26, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
'I just updated my Mac to High Sierra, but I can't now see my hard drive on my Mac desktop. I am wondering how to show the hard drive on Mac?'
There is no doubt that getting quick access to the Mac HD directory can be quite helpful in many situations. You can easily access several folders, such as System, Users, Applications, and Library. All these folders contain data that any Mac user access on a regular basis. Sadly, macOS High Sierra may not display you the Macintosh HD folder on your desktop or Finder by default. It makes access to files difficult.
The good news is that there are some ways to show the hard drive on Mac. Here, in this post, you will get to learn that, and also, you get to know how to find the external hard drive on Mac.
Part 1. Why You Can't See Hard Drive on Mac?
![Drive Drive](https://c1.neweggimages.com/ProductImage/AG3X_131739838801554650LJAD2Gn5Uq.jpg)
Well, there are a number of reasons why you can't see the hard drive on your Mac. Here, we are going to mention the most common ones:
- Preference Issue: You may have not set preferences that make the hard drive visible on your Mac Finder or desktop.
- Connector Issue: It might be the case that you fail to connect the hard drive to your Mac USB port correctly. And maybe the cable you're using for connection is damaged or non-functional.
- Corruption of File system: It might also case that the file system of the hard drive is corrupt due to bad sectors, logical errors, etc. Sometimes, your hard drive file system damage leads to non-mounting HD in Finder.
- Hard drive failure: It might be the case that your drive is physically damaged due to component failure, head crash, or etc.
Part 2. How to Show Hard Drive Icon on Mac Desktop?
It is the Finder's job for displaying the desktop and its icons, which include storage devices icon too. You can show or hide Mac's main hard drive from the desktop of your Mac with ease and all you need to do is to adjust some of the Finder options. If you want to keep your hard drives icon on the desktop so that you can access the data easily, then here's what you have to do to show HD on Mac.
To begin with, you need to first have the Finder option in the foreground. For this, check if there is the word 'Finder' in your Mac menu bar. If no, then all you have to do is to tap on the 'Finder' icon from the Dock of your Mac to appear it in the foreground.
How To Find External Drive On Macbook Air Pro
Once you are able to do it, follow the below steps to show the hard drive on a Mac desktop:
- Go to the Menu bar, and then, move to 'Finder'. Next, click on the 'Preferences' option.
- Next, select the 'General' tab when the Finder preferences window appears on your Mac screen.
- After that, check the box 'Hard disks' under 'Show these items on the desktop'.
- Finally, the Mac hard drive icon should now appear on your desktop as shown in the below figure.
How To Find External Drive On Macbook Air Hard Drive
As you can see how much it is easy to show and hide Mac hard disks or drives on your desktop. Whenever you want quick access to the data on your Mac, all you have to do is double-click on your Mac HD drive from the desktop and you'll be navigated to the place where all of your Mac data is stored.
Part 3. How to Find External Hard Drive on Mac?
Is your Mac not detecting the external hard drive? In many cases, an external hard drive doesn't show up on your Mac. There is no doubt that it is quite frustrating, especially when you want to transfer something very important right then. Besides this, there can be a change that data present on an external hard drive is corrupt, which is one of the reasons why your Mac can't detect an external drive.
![How To Find External Drive On Macbook Air How To Find External Drive On Macbook Air](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41RVM%2BPij3L._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg)
The good news is that there are some solutions that can help you to come out of this problem with ease. Let's look at them:
1. Mount the External Hard Drive on Mac
It could be the case that your Mac already detects an external hard drive, but it just not showing its icon on your desktop screen. If it is the case, then you can easily mount and access your drive again and all you have to do is to follow the below steps:
- To start with, move to the Finder menu and here, choose Preferences.
- In the Finder preferences window, choose the General tab.
- Here, you need to make sure that the 'External disks' option under 'Show these items on the desktop' is ticked.
Also, you can set your Mac to display an external hard drive in Finder. For this, go to 'Finder'>' Preferences'>' Sidebar'. Here, you need to tick the option 'External disks' under the 'Locations' menu.
This method will probably help you to show the connected external hard drive on your Mac. If it doesn't, then you can go for the next solution. And if you need to make a USB flash drive detected, the solutions might be more feasible: Fix USB not showing up on Mac.
2. Launch Disk Utility to Run First Aid
There might be a case that your external hard drive is going through some problems you are unaware of it. In this case, you can try to resolve them yourself using Disk Utility to run the First Aid tool. Afterward, you can even access your files. The tool will inspect the disk for issues and errors and then, try to repair it as required. It is quite helpful when it comes to verifying and repairing a wide range of problems related to external and HD drive.
Here is the step-by-step guide on how you can run First Aid on your external hard drive:
- To start with, launch Disk Utility. You can search for it using Spotlight Search or go to 'Finder'>' Application'>' Utility'
- After that, you need to check on an external hard drive. Next, click on the 'First Aid' tab and choose 'Run' to begin running diagnostics.
If First Aid tools become successful in fixing problems, then your external hard drive should now be available for you to mount. What if the tool fails to repair issues? Then, your drive is badly broken or maybe formatted through a file system that your Mac can't read. In this way, we recommended that you should recover data from the damaged hard drive. Check out the next section to learn how to get back and how hard disk data on Mac.
Part 4. How to Recover and Show Hard Drive Data on Mac?
Have you ever wondered what if you found that you can't access the data stored on your Mac hard drive due to sudden power failure, or virus attack? Or if the above methods fail to fix 'external hard drive not mounting Mac'. In such cases, data recovery software can help you to easily get back hard drive data on your Mac.
1. Recoverit - The Best Software to Recover Mac Files:
Whenever you experience a data loss situation, Recoverit Data Recovery Mac will help you to retrieve it. This data recovery software will come in handy even when you've never made a backup of your device. You now know how to partition Mac hard drive and un-partition it. But knowing how you can recover the lost or deleted files from the drive is also necessary.
2. How to Recover Lost Word Files on Mac:
Step 1: Select a Location
Launch the software and select the drive from where the data files are lost. If you don't know which drive to search, tap on the 'I can't find my partition' option, and hit the Start button.
Step 2: Scan the Location
Typically, the software will run an All-Around Recovery scan and search for the lost and deleted files on the entire drive.
Step 3: Preview and Recover
When the scan completes, the files will be listed on the screen. The software will sort out the files according to format to make the search easier. You can select multiple files at a time and have a preview of them.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that creating and removing a Mac drive partition is not that tough. You just have to careful during the process. And in case of a mishap, Recoverit is always here for your help so that you don't have to suffer from data loss situation.
How To Find External Drive On Macbook Air 2
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