Member Avatar for Josiah_1

I had a interal disk that wouldn't show in the finder at all but was showing as mounted on disk utility. I could get to the disk through a file alias so I know the disk was there and working.

I tried numious posts including this one (http://www.daniweb.com/hardware-and-software/apple/mac-os-x/threads/94420/hard-drive-not-visible-mac-osx) with not luck.

I figured it must be a permissions problem, so I ran the termal command to show all hidden files (without the brackets):
(defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES)
(killall Finder)

And Behold the HD was there as a hiddden file.

Then I found another termail command that makes hidden files not hidden:
chflags nohidden /path/to/the/file/to/change

and now my HD is back to normal - yay

Then made all hidden files back to hidden:
(defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles NO)
(killall Finder)

Hope this helps someone

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by tompatrick

Dani AI

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Both fixes already posted point to a Finder/visibility problem rather than a failing disk. found the volume had been marked hidden and made it visible, and restored icons by relaunching Finder. Those are two common symptom-level remedies; the deeper causes are usually a hidden attribute, a Finder preference/cache issue, or a mountpoint conflict.

A compact diagnostic checklist (in roughly the order to try):

  • Confirm Disk Utility shows the volume as mounted and run First Aid to rule out filesystem errors.
  • Check Finder Preferences (General and Sidebar) to ensure disks are allowed to appear on the Desktop and in the Sidebar.
  • Relaunch Finder (Force Quit) to clear GUI cache and refresh icons.
  • Inspect the system mountpoints: macOS mounts volumes under /Volumes; a leftover empty folder with the same name can confuse mounts and make a volume invisible to Finder. If a stale mount folder exists, rename or remove it (after verifying contents) and remount.
  • If the volume is present but flagged hidden, clear the hidden attribute using standard macOS tooling (avoid deleting system files).
  • Test in Safe Mode or a new user account to separate system-wide issues from user-profile problems.
  • Consider third-party filesystem drivers (NTFS/FUSE/tiered storage tools) as possible culprits; temporarily disable them to test.

Cautions and context: an alias that opens the disk demonstrates the drive is readable; actions should therefore focus on Finder visibility and mount behavior, not hardware. Do not delete or force-remove folders under /Volumes without confirming they are empty backups — that risks data loss. For persistent cases, system logs and the exact macOS release are the key details for deeper diagnosis.

Member Avatar for tompatrick

This is a similar experince that I had when Finder won't list my drives. But I found a way by Force Quit the finder & bang, all drive icons were back. May be this can also help to someone.

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