Can't see my external hard drive in the finder app, but it shows up on the desktop

[Natya Sadella]

So my macbook air doesn't show my external hard drive in the finder app. I can copy and paste things just fine, because the hard drive is visible on the desktop. but it doesn't show up in finder. the "external hard drive" checkbox is correct in the finder settings. what to do?

 

[christiann]

So my macbook air doesn't show my external hard drive in the finder app. I can copy and paste things just fine, because the hard drive is visible on the desktop. but it doesn't show up in finder. the "external hard drive" checkbox is correct in the finder settings. what to do?

In Preferences for Finder, do you have the box ticked to show external hard discs?

 

[Natya Sadella]

Yes. I can see my second external HDD just fine in finder, but not the other one

 

[DeltaMac]

... hard drive is visible on the desktop. but it doesn't show up in finder

"visible on the desktop", and working with copy and paste IS the finder...(?) That's what the Finder does!
Are you saying that it is not showing as a device under Locations in the Sidebar of a finder window?
If the drive is visible on the desktop, have you tried dragging that drive into the sidebar, then drop it there?
The icon on the desktop will stay there, and you should also have the drive appearing in the sidebar (?)

 

[Natya Sadella]

I have tried dragging the icon from desktop to the sidebar and it works, but the entry will stay in the sidebar even when the hard drive is unplugged :/

 

[DeltaMac]

So, if you click the eject symbol on your external hard drive icon in the sidebar, the desktop icon disappears, but not the sidebar icon?
Can you post a screenshot of that?

 

[Natya Sadella]

So, if you click the eject symbol on your external hard drive icon in the sidebar, the desktop icon disappears, but not the sidebar icon?
Can you post a screenshot of that?

I think my finder is completely messed up.

I've connected the hard drive to my mac to make that screenshot. The hard drive was now visible in finder sidebar but without any kind of eject button next to it. I've clicked the eject button on the desktop (right click - eject) to try it again and now the hard drive is again not visible in finder sidebar. If I try to drag the desktop symbol in the finder sidebar, nothing happens. The paper bin symbol in the dock turns into a eject button when dragging but no entry in the sidebar.

 

[DeltaMac]

What format did you use for your external drive?

I know this should not make a difference, but did you try renaming that drive? It's still on the default "Untitled"

This could be a bug of some kind in Big Sur beta, which might be fixed when Big Sur is finally released.

 

[Natya Sadella]

I think that did the trick! It's visible now in finder sidebar