How to Fix and Recover Data from an Uninitialized Disk on Mac [macOS 13/12/11]

Any user with an external hard drive can come across a “ uninitialized disk” issue on their Mac. If you connect a previously used hard drive and find it showing up as “uninitialized,” you might encounter system errors and find all the data stored on the drive inaccessible. Thus, this article aims to help you understand how to recover data from an < strong> uninitialized disk on Mac.

Why Does "Uninitialized Disk" Issue Occur on Mac?

The reasons for a disk showing as uninitialized on a Mac can vary depending on the usage scenario. When you first connect it, macOS needs to initialize it, assigning a variable to it in its unique language. After that, the disk should function as expected. This error prevents the system from accessing or reading the drive and any data on it.

A Mac disk might become uninitialized due to several reasons. Here are some of them.

• Malware or virus infection: A virus attack can damage the drive and make it uninitialized.
• Damaged partition or disk: The external hard drive partition is lost, and the disk shows as Unknown, Uninitialized.
• System errors: The Finder on Mac fails to recognize the connected USB flash drive, or you get an error message saying The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.
• Corrupted or bad sectors: If there are some bad sectors, unexpected issues may occur.
• Physical damage: Improper connection, sudden power outage, or hard drive cracks can all be classified as physical issues.

If the hard drive has physical damage, contact the manufacturer to have it replaced or repaired. You can also find appropriate methods to fix an uninitialized hard drive on a Mac for a variety of other reasons.

How to Recover Data from an Uninitialized Disk on Mac

As mentioned earlier, a Mac cannot access files on an uninitialized disk. The good news is that the files still remain on the device and can be easily retrieved with professional data recovery software, such as Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. If the disk's data hasn't been overwritten, you can use this tool to initialize your Mac's internal disk. Additionally, it offers a preview feature that allows you to select only the needed data, thus speeding up the recovery process.

Technically, data recovery software increases the likelihood of retrieving all your lost data even if disk utilities show your drive's partition as gray.

To recover data from an uninitialized external hard drive, follow these steps:

Step 1: Search for the Lost File

Connect the external hard drive to your Mac correctly. Launch the Disk Drill for Mac tool, select the external hard drive, and then click “Search for lost files” to look for missing or deleted files on the external device.

Note: Before you proceed with data recovery, it's recommended that you click “Disk Backup” from the left sidebar and create a backup of your external hard drive to prevent further data loss. After backing up the external hard drive, the software can recover data from the backup. You can then safely remove the external drive and use it again.

Select the external hard drive and click "Find Lost Files".

Step 2: Filter and locate missing files

When the scan is over, all file types will be listed on the left. Choose a file type and look for the files you need on your external device.

Step 3: Preview and recover

Click on a file to preview it, then select the files you want to restore and click the “Restore” button. You can save your data to both local and cloud storage drives.

You can also watch this video tutorial:

How to Solve the Uninitialized Disk Issue on Mac

If your external hard drive is uninitialized, you can try the following methods to resolve the issue and restore disk functionality. Performing data recovery before fixing the disk is a safe approach to prevent file loss and shield your files from potential damage.

• Method 1. Reconnect the Disk and Check It Again
• Method 2. Restart Your Mac
• Method 3. Run First Aid in Disk Utility
• Method 4. Reinstall or Upgrade macOS
• Method 5. Initialize or Format the Uninitialized Disk
• Method 6. Scan and Remove Virus

Method 1: Reconnect the disk to check it again

It's always a good idea to check the external hard drive connection before attempting more complicated fixes. To properly initialize the disk, try unplugging the device and plugging it back into your Mac. You could also try using a different USB cable or another USB port.

Method 2: Restart Your Mac

Restarting your Mac is an effective way to get things back to normal. First, unplug all external devices from your Mac, then restart it by:

• Choose Apple menu > Restart.
• Or press Command-Control-Power.
• If it's stuck, try restarting in macOS Recovery or Safe Mode.

Method 3: Use Disk Utility's First Aid feature

Disk Utility is the standard diagnostic tool on a Mac for dealing with various disk issues. If you're having problems like a corrupt file system on your Mac, you can start your Mac into Disk Utility to use it to initialize the drive.

1. Open "Go" and select "Utilities." 2. Your uninitialized external hard drive should appear. 3. Select the drive, then click the "First Aid" button at the top of the Disk Utility window. 4. Alternatively, right-click the drive and select "First Aid." 5. It will automatically begin repairing issues.

Method 4: Reinstall or Update macOS

If your hard drive became uninitialzed after a system update, you can reinstall macOS to fix the error. Afterward, you can install your preferred operating system and restore any important files to the disk.

To reinstall macOS:

1. **Shut down your Mac.** 2. Press and hold Command+R to boot your Mac into Recovery Mode. 3. In the macOS Utilities window, select **Reinstall macOS**. 4. Click **Install** to begin the process.

Method 5: Initialize or format an unformatted disk

If all the above solutions to fix uninitialized external hard drive on Mac don't work, you may need to format it. It's an effective way to fix an uninitialized disk. Here are the steps to format a disk on Mac:

1. Open "Utilities" > "Disk Utility" from the "Applications" folder. 2. From the sidebar on the left, select the unmounted drive. 3. Click "Erase" at the top. 4. Reconnect the drive and check if the issue is resolved.

Note: Formatting a disk will delete the data on the hard drive. To recover these formatted files, you might need to use a data recovery program.

Top 5 Completely Free Data Recovery Software for Mac

This article covers the top 5 completely free data recovery software for Mac, each with its own unique features and performance.

Method 6: Scan and Remove Viruses

If the disk was previously connected to another computer or device, it's more likely to be infected. In this case, you should run antivirus software on your Mac immediately to scan for and remove viruses from the disk.

In short

The hard drive might lose initialization, making the data inaccessible but not necessarily deleted. Before attempting the above methods to fix an uninitialized disk issue on your Mac, you can use tools like Data Recovery for Mac to easily retrieve data from an uninitialized disk in case of data loss.

FAQs on Recover Data from Uninitialized Disk on Mac

Here are 4 extra questions about recovering data from an uninitialized disk on Mac. Click here to view the answers.

1. How can I recover data from an uninitialized disk?

Using Mac Data Recovery software is the most effective and reliable way to perform File Recovery on Mac. A wise choice would be to use Data Recovery Wizard for Mac tool.

You can do this by following these steps:

Step 1: Search for the missing file.

Step 2: Preview the scan results.

Step 3: Select the files and recover them.

2. How can I access my unformatted hard drive?

Since macOS can't access or read an uninitialized drive, it won't open. You must initialize the disk before you can view or work with its contents. If you can't initialize it, you can use data recovery software to retrieve files from an uninitialized disk.

Will initializing the disk delete data from my Mac?

Initializing a disk will completely erase all the data on it. If you find your hard drive uninitialized, you may want to try some of the methods listed in this post before fixing it. Hopefully, one of them will make the disk usable.

How do I initialize an external hard drive on a Mac?

When you first connect a new drive, macOS tries to automatically initialize it. If it doesn't, or if you need to partition the drive, do that with Disk Utility.