Recover Data from Unmountable Hard Drive on Mac

You can use the Data Recovery Wizard tool for Mac to recover files from an unmountable volume on Mac OS X. To access all your data, follow these steps: Launch the Mac data recovery tool. Select the hard drive volume where you experienced data loss...

Part 1: Recover Data from Unmountable Drive on macOS/Mac OS X

Sometimes your Mac hard drive won't mount, preventing the system from booting. Here's a real-life case from the Apple Community.

"I have a hard drive that won't mount on my Mac. However, when I try to recover data, third-party software can read my files. Why can't I access and back up my information without using additional software?"

When you encounter an unmounted hard drive on your Mac, the first thing that might come to your mind is how to recover data from the unmounted drive. Fortunately, while you can't directly access the files on the problematic disk, you can still use professional Mac data recovery software to retrieve files from an unmounted hard drive on your Mac. For instance, you can employ tools like Data Recovery Wizard to recover over 200 types of files from Mac hard drives or compatible external storage devices in various tricky situations.

• Recover deleted files after emptying the Trash
• Restore lost data from a formatted USB flash drive
• Retrieve data from an unbootable Mac
• Get back lost photos, documents, videos, audios, emails, etc.
• Import or export file scan results

After installing this tool on your Mac, you can safely recover data from an unmounted hard drive.

Best Mac Data Recovery Software – Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Tool

Steps to Recover Data from Unmountable Hard Drive on Mac

Mac Data Recovery Wizard enables you to perform data recovery from unmountable Mac hard drive with simple steps. It also helps you solve tricky data loss issues like how to recover data from Mac hard drive. 100% clean and safe, it provides all-round solution for Mac hard drive recovery and helps you fix all Mac data problems. Why not give it a try?

Step 1: Look for the Lost File

On macOS Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, and the latest Ventura, select the disk location where you want to search for the lost file (it can be either your built-in HDD/SSD or an external storage device). Then, click on the “Search Lost Files” button.

Step 2: Browse the scan results

The “Data Recovery Wizard for Mac” utility immediately scans the disk volume you select and displays the scan results.

Step 3: Select the files and recover them

Select the files(s) from the scan results that you wish to preview and click on the “Recover” button to get them back.

Section 2: How to Unmount a Hard Drive on Mac

Now that you've recovered data from an unmountable hard drive on your Mac, you can proceed to fix it without worrying about losing any data. To fix an unmountable Mac hard drive, you can use the "First Aid" feature in Disk Utility, or format the drive directly.

Method 1: Repair the Unmountable Hard Drive with Disk Utility

Disk Utility can fix some disk problems, and it's worth a try if your Mac's hard drive won't mount.

Step 1: Click the Apple menu and choose “Restart.” As soon as you see the Apple logo, press and hold “Command + R.”

Step 2: Click on "Disk Utility" and then "Continue."

Step 3: Choose View > Show All Devices, and then select the drive you want to repair in the sidebar.

You should see your Mac's hard drive, labeled "Untitled" (on a Mac, "Untitled" means that the drive isn't mounted).

Step 4. Select the Untitled disk, and then click the Mount button in the Disk Utility toolbar.

Click the “First Aid” button. If Disk Utility tells you that your hard drive is failing, back up your data and replace the hard drive.

If Disk Utility tells you the disk has been repaired, you can use your hard drive as normal again. If not, you'll need to format the unmountable drive to fix it.

Method 2: Repairing an Unmountable Hard Drive on a Mac with Disk Utility

If you're still unable to access an unmounted drive, you may need to format it to resolve the issue.

How to Format a Mac Hard Drive

Step 1: Open “Finder” > “Applications” > “Utilities” > “Disk Utility.”

Step 2: Select the disk on the left sidebar, then click “Erase.”

Step 3: If necessary, set the format and new name for the disk, then click "Erase" to confirm.

After that, you can restart your Mac. Then, you should be able to access and save new data on the drive again.

Part 3: Symptoms and Causes of an Unmountable Hard Drive

Usually, you'll see the "Unmountable Disk" issue when starting up your Mac. During startup, the Mac operating system mounts the local file system and reads data from the Mac hard drive. If macOS or Mac OS X can't access the drive or the file system, you'll encounter the "Unmountable Disk" problem. There are a few things you should know about this issue:

Symptom

• The hard drive appears grayed out in Disk Utility. • All data stored on an unmountable drive is inaccessible. • Read/write operations become slow, and the access speed decreases. • Though the files are visible, you cannot perform operations like moving or copying them.

Possible reasons

• Virus/malware infection
• Corrupted file system
• Operating system failure
• Disk utility failure

Part 4: Common Issues with Unmountable Mac Disks

For more help on data recovery from an unmountable drive, you can continue reading.

In computer terminology, "mounting a drive" generally refers to connecting a storage device, such as a hard disk, USB drive, CD/DVD, or network storage device, to an operating system to access its contents. In an operating system, "mounting" involves associating a file system or partition with a specific directory (mount point) so that users can browse and manipulate files on the device through that directory. For instance, in Windows, when you insert a USB drive, the system automatically assigns a drive letter (like F:). In Unix or Linux systems, you might need to manually mount the device using the "mount" command.

Mounting a hard drive means making it accessible to the computer. This is a software process that allows the operating system to read from and write to the disk. Most hard drives will be automatically mounted by the operating system when connected.

How do I force mount an external hard drive?

You can fix the unmounted external hard drive issue by following the methods below:

Check external hard drive Mount external hard drive Format external hard drive...

What happens when you mount a hard drive?

When a drive is mounted, the mount program determines the type of file system on the partition, and then makes calls into the kernel to implement the standard file-system calls, allowing operations such as reading, writing, listing, and permission checks on the files.

How can I recover data from an unmounted disk?

Steps to recover data from an unmounted disk in American English: 1. ** Safely Eject the Disk**: First, make sure the disk has been safely disconnected from the system. Don't just pull out the hard drive connection to avoid data damage. 2. **Get the Right Tool**: Look for and download a reliable data recovery software. Examples include Recuva, tools Data Recovery Wizard, or Disk Drill. These tools are specifically designed to recover lost data from various storage devices. 3. **Connect the Disk**: Attach the unmounted disk to your computer using USB, SATA cable, or any other applicable method. 4. **Run the Data Recovery Software**: Launch the downloaded data recovery software and follow the on-screen instructions. Usually, the software will automatically detect the connected disk. 5. **Scan the Disk**: Select the unmounted disk and initiate a full scan. This might take some time depending on the size of the disk and the amount of data. 6. **Preview and Recover Files**: After the scan is complete, the software will display the recoverable files. Preview these files to confirm they're the ones you need. Then, select the files to restore and hit the "Recover" button to start the process. 7. **Save the Recovered Files**: Choose a secure location to save the recovered files. Make sure it's not the unmounted disk to avoid overwriting potentially recoverable data. 8. **Verify File Integrity**: Once recovered, check if the files are intact and readable. If some files are corrupted, you may need to try alternative data recovery methods or professional services. Keep in mind that data recovery isn't always 100% successful, especially with physically damaged disks. Hence, regularly backing up your data is the best preventive measure.

Step 1. Select the disk location where your lost data and files were saved. Click on the “Scan” button.

Step 2: The software will immediately scan the selected disk volume and display the scanning results in the left pane.

Step 3: Select the files you want to recover from the scan results and then click the "Recover Now" button to get them back.

Conclusions

The above solutions should fix the unmounted Mac volume error caused due to file system corruption, disk utility failure, OS malfunction, and more. Whenever you want to recover data from an unmountable Mac drive, you can turn to the Mac Data Recovery Software. With it, you can restore data from an unmounted Mac hard drive in minutes.