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Can't see some folders on exFAT external USB Drive on Mac

I'm unable to see some folders inside a folder of 65GB of data on my exFAT external USB drive through my Mac computer. They are copied on Windows and are fully visible when plugged into a PC. I checked hidden files with the command ls -la, but it didn't list the invisible files as well. Many of those files have cyrillic names and a dot at the end of the file name. Also, the disk shows 65GB of used space on both Windows and macOS.

Best Answered by

Jenny Zeng

Answered on Monday, April 29, 2024

Try to change the names of the files that are invisible on your Mac from the Windows computer, then check whether they show up on your Mac.

Besides, it's also recommended that you unplug any unnecessary peripherals connected to your Mac to prevent device intervention.

If that doesn't do the trick, consider reformatting your USB drive on Mac. Be reminded that reformatting will erase all data on the drive. If you don't have a copy of the invisible files on another device, you can use iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover them from the USB drive.

It's capable of restoring various files that exist on the external drive but aren't visible, including videos, audio, images, documents, etc. You can click the button below to preview the invisible files for free.

If nothing works, switch to a different drive.