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WD HDD Disappears after Clicking A Certain Folder on It

I connect my WD HDD Ultra (1TB) that is set up for Windows PC to my MacBook (Air 2015 and Pro M2). I can open folders and access files on the HDD from Finder well until clicking on one certain folder. The Finder closes and the hard drive disappears suddenly. After that, the drive becomes inaccessible. I can't find it on my MacBook and also cannot eject it properly. The HDD shows up again after I restart the machine. Then, I can access all the folders in the HDD except for that one. The same issue happens to my two other external drives as well. Anyone can tell me what's wrong? Many thanks.

Best Answered by

Connie Yang

Answered on Tuesday, August 27, 2024

As you say that the WD HDD is set up for Windows PC, I guess that there are some file system compatibility bugs. You can connect the HDD to your Windows device to check if the same problem appears again.

Moreover, whether you have set that folder to read and write protected or not? It seems that you've set the folder to not be read, so when you click it, the drive automatically disconnects from your Mac and shows up again after a Mac restart.

My third guess is that the number of files in this problematic folder is over the limit. Finder seems to have a bug with somewhere on the order of approximately 1,000 files.

You can break the folder into smaller-sized ones, delete the Finder PLIST file, relaunch Finder, or update your Mac to get rid of this problem.

To delete the Finder PLIST file:

  1. Open Finder.
  2. Click Go on the menu bar on the top of the screen and then choose Go to Folder.
  3. Enter ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist into the search box and press Return.
  4. Move the Finder PLIST file to Trash.