One of the most frustrating things that can happen when you’re using your Mac is not being able to search an external hard drive. Whether you’re trying to find a specific file or just want to see what’s on the drive, not being able to search can be a real pain. There are a few different reasons why this might happen, but fortunately there are also a few ways to fix it.
If you’re a Mac user, you may be wondering why you can’t search your external hard drive. The answer is simple: by default, the Mac operating system doesn’t index external drives, so they don’t show up in Spotlight searches. However, there is a way to change this behavior.
To make Spotlight search your external drive, open the Terminal application and type the following command:
defaults write com.apple.spotlight orderedItems -array \
‘{“enabled” = 1;”name” = “APPLICATIONS”;}’ \
‘{“enabled” = 1;”name” = “SYSTEM_PREFS”;}’ \
‘{“enabled” = 1;”name” = “DIRECTORIES”;}’ \
‘{“enabled” = 1;”name” = “PDF”;}’ \
‘{“enabled” = 1;”name” = “FONTS”;}’ \
Credit: www.theguardian.com
Why is My Mac Not Searching My External Hard Drive?
One of the most common questions we get asked at MacRumors is why a Mac isn’t seeing an external hard drive or storage device. In this article, we’ll offer some advice on what to do if your Mac doesn’t recognize an external hard drive or other storage device.
First, make sure that the external hard drive is properly plugged into your Mac.
If you’re using a USB cable, be sure to connect it to one of the USB ports on your computer and not the keyboard or another peripheral device. You should also try plugging the cable into a different port to see if that makes any difference.
If you’re using a Thunderbolt cable, be sure to connect it to a Thunderbolt port on your Mac.
These are usually marked with a lightning bolt symbol and are located on the back of iMacs and on the sides of MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs. If you’re using a Mini DisplayPort cable, be sure to connect it to a Mini DisplayPort port (these are also usually marked with a lightning bolt symbol).
Once you’ve verified that the external hard drive is properly connected, launch Disk Utility (you can find this in the Applications/Utilities folder).
In Disk Utility’s sidebar, select the icon for your external hard drive. If you don’t see it listed here, chances are good that your Mac simply isn’t recognizing it as being connected. Try unplugging and replugging it into different ports until you see it appear in Disk Utility’s sidebar listing.
Once you’ve selected your external hard drive in Disk Utility’s sidebar, take a look at its “Partition Map Scheme” in the center area of the window. For most users who just want to use their external hard drive for general storage purposes, “GUID Partition Map” is fine (this is what Apple uses by default when partitioning internal drives). However, some older devices may need to use “Master Boot Record.”
To change this setting, click on your external hard drive’s partition scheme in Disk Utility’s center area and then click on the “Partition” button near the top of the window.
How Do I Enable Search on My External Hard Drive Mac?
Assuming you would like to be able to search through the contents of an external hard drive on a Mac, there are a few methods that can be used. One option is to use the Spotlight feature built into macOS. To do this, open System Preferences and click on the Spotlight icon.
Then, in the Privacy tab, add your external hard drive to the list of locations that Spotlight should index. This will allow you to search for files stored on the drive using Spotlight.
Another option is to use a third-party search tool such as EasyFind or FINDerINFO.
These tools can be downloaded from the internet and will allow you to search for files stored on your external hard drive without needing to index it first with Spotlight.
Finally, if you just need to be able to quickly find a specific file or folder on your external hard drive, you can use the Finder’s “Search” function. To do this, open a new Finder window and select your external hard drive from the sidebar.
Then, click on the “Search” bar in the top-right corner of the window and type in what you’re looking for. The results will show all matching files and folders stored on your external hard drive.
Make Your External Hard Drive Searchable on MAC
Cannot Search Files on External Hard Drive
If you’re having trouble searching for files on your external hard drive, there are a few things you can try. First, make sure that the drive is properly connected to your computer. If it’s not, then the search won’t work.
Second, check to see if the drive is indexed by Windows. To do this, open Control Panel and then go to Indexing Options. Click Modify and make sure that your external hard drive is selected as one of the locations to index.
If it’s not, then add it and click OK. This should allow you to search for files on your external hard drive. Finally, if none of these solutions work, then you may need to contact your external hard drive manufacturer for further assistance.
Conclusion
If you can’t search your external hard drive on Mac, it may be due to a few different reasons. The first reason could be that the drive is not indexed by Spotlight. To check this, open System Preferences and go to Spotlight.
Make sure that the box next to “External disks” is checked. If it’s not, check it and then click on the “Index Now” button.
Another reason why you might not be able to search your external hard drive is if the file system is not supported by Spotlight.
This usually happens with drives formatted for Windows (NTFS) or Linux (ext3/4). You can check the file system of your drive by right-clicking on it in Finder and selecting “Get Info.” If the file system is not supported, you can try using a third-party search tool like EasyFind or Google Desktop Search for Mac.