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Nov 12, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
I recently saw the MacBook Pro folder with a question mark on my screen when I turned it on. Is there a way to fix a folder with a flashing question mark on Macbook at startup? Thank you!
Hello, I have a macbook pro and all of my desktop files have disappeared. I can not see them in the finder either. The HD space is still the same as before so I believe the files are on the HD, but I read more. My macbook was just returned to me with a clean slate (my hard drive died and I had to have a new one put in). I am trying to get set up again and using Camino as my browser and nothing that I download is showing up on the desktop! If I then search for the new file and 'open enclosing folder' sure enough it is there.
Unfortunately, this flashing question can lead to inaccessible data or even data loss because of data corruption. This article will discuss some of the data recovery solutions you can use to fix the folder with a flashing question mark.
Part 1: Why folder with a question mark appears at Mac startup
Most people are guilty of thinking that your Mac computer will work perfectly forever. However, when you need it to work as expected, things can quickly go wrong, leaving you with lots of questions. However, this shouldn’t be the case because things can always go wrong and be fixed at some point without much trauma.
![Macbook Macbook](/uploads/1/0/8/0/108079503/951737754.jpg)
What does a folder with a question mark mean on a MacBook?
A flashing question mark Mac appearing on your screen on startup is one of the most dreaded things that can ever happen to you. This question mark is an indication that your Mac is failing to identify its startup disk, leading to failure to boot. This can arise because you might have started up your computer from an external disk and later unplugged it, or it means your hard drive has failed.
What causes flashing question mark while booting Mac
As explained above, a Macbook pro flashing folder means your Mac cannot discover its boot directory. This is as a result of either the Mac is corrupt or simply a failure to detect the startup disk. Here are some reasons why you might see this question :
- Damaged hard drive. If your computer can’t identify your hard drive, it might not startup. This is due to a bad cable or a mechanically failed hard drive.
- A corrupt software system. There are various causes of this problem, such as intermittent failure of your hard drive leading to unsuccessful installation or an update issue.
Part 2: 5 solutions to Mac flashing folder with a question mark
If you are experiencing problems with a flashing folder with question mark Macbook when starting up your computer, perhaps the system fails to find the start-up disk. The good news is that there are various solutions you can use to get rid of this Macbook air folder with a question mark.
Solution 1. Reselect startup in System Preferences
When you see a flashing question mark Macbook pro for a few seconds and start, it’s most likely that the system failed to find the startup disc. For this problem, take the following easy and quick steps:
Step 1: Select System Preferences from the menu, and click the startup disk.
Step 2: Then click the disk you usually use to start your Mac computer. It’s commonly known as Macintosh HD.
Step 3: Finally, you should close your System preferences window.
After this process, the Macbook pro flashing folder question mark shouldn’t be flashing anymore when you start up your Mac.
Solution 2. Boot Mac from macOS Recovery Mode
If you view the Macbook flashing question mark, it means your startup disk doesn’t have a working Mac operating system, or it’s no longer available. Therefore, do the following to fix this problem:
Step 1: If you’re attempting to boot from your computer’s internal drive, you should shut down your Mac and start it up while pressing Command (⌘) +R buttons until you see the Apple logo.
Step 2: Once your computer starts in Recovery Mode, go to Disk Utility to restore your startup disk. Recovery Mode is ideal when your computer fails to boot, usually due to the damaged or corrupt startup disk.
Step 3: If the Disk Utility repairs the errors or found no errors, you can either reinstall macOS or restore it using a Time Machine backup.
Solution 3: Repair startup disk with Disk Utility
The flashing folder with question mark Macbook can be distressing to many people. This is a good sign that your Mac computer can’t find its system folder. In most cases, it can be tricky to locate a startup disk in the System Preference. As a result, you should repair your startup disk by taking the steps listed below:
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Step 1: In the macOS utility window, select Disk Utility.
Step 2: Then choose the startup disk, which is also called the Macintosh HD. While here, you should locate it on the left side of the window and find and click on the First Aid button.
Step 3: Click on the Repair Disk icon to begin repairing any problems with the system.
Step 4: Once the repair is complete, you can click Disk Utility to stop the process because your startup disk is repaired.
Step 5: Go to the menu and choose Startup Disk. Now, you can restart the system, and the flashing question mark should no longer be there.
Solution 4: Access and recover lost files (recommended)
There is no doubt that Mac is popular across the globe because of its functionalities. However, some users face this Macbook pro question mark error, indicating that your data files are damaged or corrupted.
It’s worth mentioning that you need to backup your data before you proceed with the recovery process of your data. This is because if you fail to back it up while reinstalling the macOS, it might lead to data loss due to overwriting.
The recommended way to do this is by using Recoverit Mac Data Recovery software. This tool is popular among users as it can recover lost or deleted files due to startup disk problems.
Think about it. If you intend to reinstall macOS without backing up your precious data, such as photos, documents, system files, and many more, you can lose everything because of overwriting. Besides, this tool has an easy-to-use interface, and you can recover lost or deleted files pretty quickly.
Put, if you’re seeing a Macbook pro blinking folder, there can likely be data loss due to corruption. Hence, you need reliable data recovery software to recover it.
This is where the Recoverit Mac Data Recovery tool comes in handy. When you use this software, it can search and restore all lost or damaged files within a couple of minutes. To use it, take the following steps:
Step 1: Select a question mark location.
Download and install the Recoverit Mac Data Recovery software on your Mac or Windows computer. When you install it, choose where the question mark is coming from and the data you want to recover.
Then launch the scanning process to recover corrupted or damaged files by clicking the Start button.
Step 2: Scan for lost files
Recoverit Mac Data Recovery tool will scan the disk.
But you should note that with a deep scan, it might take a while as the tool scans and recovers the files.
Step 3: Preview and restore corrupted or damaged files.
With the Recoverit Mac Data Recovery software, you can preview recovered data files and save them to any location on your Mac.
![Not Not](/uploads/1/0/8/0/108079503/923968476.jpg)
All you need to do is to Recover to restore your files.
Solution 5. Reformat Mac Startup Disk
This is another important solution to fixing the Macbook profile with a question mark. Here is the deal, before you can install and use your new solid-state drive (SSD) on your Mac computer, you have to reformat your Mac Startup disk. Here is what you need to do to make sure that you don’t have a Macbook pro blinking folder with a question mark during startup:
Step 1: You should always connect your SSD through a USB adapter or even any external connection option and enter Disk Utility. Alternatively, install the SSD into your Mac system internally and enter Disk Utility through the macOS Recovery tool. If your Mac computer detects the SSD, you will see a message letting you know that the drive fails to read your computer. At this point, you should click the initialize icon.
Step 2: The critical SSD will be displayed in Disk Utility. Therefore, go on to highlight it and click the Erase icon.
Step 3: You should type in the new partition name and prove that it has the GUID Partition Table.
Step 4: Make sure that the selected format has gone to MacOS Extended.
Step 5: Here, you should choose Erase to ensure that the drive is partitioned and formatted. Lastly, close it once the Disk Utility is done. After completing this process, you should see a new SSD on our desktop.
Solution 6. Reinstall macOS
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to fix the Macbook pro showing the folder with a question mark. There is always a time when startup issues have to do with the Disk Utility problems, which could be frustrating for Mac users.
Therefore, when the repair process is not successful, your best option is to reformat your Mac computer. However, you should perform a full data backup so that you don’t lose important data.
You might be aware that once you erase your startup disk, it’s likely that all stored data can be erased. These include documents, photos, videos, and many more data files. For this reason, you will be in safe hands if you backup your data.
If you can’t find any recent backup option, your best bet is to use an external drive. Therefore, take the following steps to make sure that you have a perfect backup:
Step 1: You should connect the external drive to your Mac computer. But ensure that this external drive you are connecting can erase the data on your Mac.
Step 2: Determine that the external drive has the same size as the startup disk. If not, then the process is destined for failure.
Step 3: Now, you should click on the macOS Recovery option. In this way, you can erase the external drive connected to your Mac computer. Aside from this, it makes it easier to install the macOS once more.
Step 4: It’s important to bear in mind that you should erase the Startup Disk at no point. This is because this feature is inbuilt and is designed to perform various activities.
Step 5: When you see that the installation process is done, then restart your Mac computer. You are bound to see a setup assistant where you can choose and go to all your data. But you should make sure to choose the startup built-in drive as your option to transfer all your data.
Step 6: Lastly, open your Mac Recovery and begin reinstalling your data. If you observe that the installation is done, you can restart your computer. Here, you can use the setup assistant to transfer the data back to your computer startup drive.
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Part 3: Important tips for Mac computer startup
Despite the popularity of Mac, you can’t ignore that the blinking question mark Macbook pro can take a big toll on you. Thus, many people seek quick solutions to make their Mac computers perform as well as before.
Right steps to boot Mac properly.
To avoid a blinking question mark Macbook, you should boot correctly. If you’re booting from CD, press down the C button on your keyboard to instantly boot to a MacOSX or any other bootable disc on your computer.
Test Utility for Apple is usually designed to boot from a disc that comes with your Mac. However, Apple introduced Intel-based Macs, which have inbuilt AHT utility. Therefore, you should press down the D button when booting while starting up your computer into the Apple Hardware Test.
How to avoid flashing question mark at Mac startup
Now that you know the causes of the Macbook pro question mark folder on startup, you must avoid this from happening on your Mac. Hence, the ideal way to avoid it is by rebooting your Mac while holding the Command R button on your keyboard.
In this way, your computer will attempt to restart your Mac through the Recovery partition. If this works, it means your drive is in good condition. Then you can use Disk Utility to repair the partition.
However, if you can’t reboot using the Command R button, another option is to use the Command Option R key. This is an internet recovery which you can use to repair the damaged partition table when the drive is okay. You can utilize the Disk Utility program to make a new partition and restore it from your backup.
How to prevent Mac data loss
Mac computers can also be affected by data loss, like Windows computers. Therefore, to prevent this painful data loss experience, you should take the following steps:
- Perform regular data backup for your computer data. For example, if you put great importance on your Word documents, you can back up your Word files to an external hard drive so that you can retrieve the data after damage to your Mac system.
- Upload your data files to the cloud. Cloud backup solutions like Google drive are the best way of preventing Mac data loss. Most of these backup services are reliable and simple to use.
- Check storage devices regularly. Don’t think that your external drive or SD card is always in perfect condition. Instead, you should physically check your memory cards and USB flash drives for any damage. This is especially true with SD cards, which are bendable, fragile, and small, making them vulnerable to physical damage.
- Be ready for the worst. Sometimes, it’s best to prepare for the worst regardless of the precautions you take. In such a case, it’s better to act before things get worse. Therefore, you should use capable, reliable data recovery software, such as Recoverit Mac Data Recovery software to restore your data.
Closing words
There are good reasons why many people love using Mac computers. This is because they are functional and simple to use. But sometimes you can experience some issues, such as a flashing question mark folder.
Thankfully, these problems can be solved quickly using various methods like a safe boot recovery and restarting your Mac. However, to prevent data loss while using these methods, it’s good to utilize the most reliable data recovery tool like the Recoverit Mac Data Recovery software.
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Disk Drill brings deleted files back from the dead.
Most of the time, when you connect an external hard drive to your Mac’s USB port, you soon see it mount on the desktop. Apple likes to ensure these are easy to find, so they also appear in the Finder in the left-hand column under Devices, since Mac’s treat them the same way as another computer.
However, sometimes, an external hard drive doesn't show up. It’s annoying, especially when you need to transfer something right then. And besides, there can be a risk that data on the external USB pen, hard, or flash drive is corrupt, which means you can’t transfer what you need between devices at all.
Corrupt data can be one reason your Mac won't recognize an external drive, but there are other reasons too. Let’s take a look why this is happening and how you can get an external drive to appear on your Mac and get recover data to access to your documents.
How to fix an external disk drive that won't show up on a Mac
Why an external disk drive is not showing up? There could be a few reasons why a USB flash drive isn’t making an appearance.
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Start with the basics:
- Check whether the drive is properly plugged in. It sounds obvious, but since this relies on a wire - either a USB cable or HDMI cable - if it’s not connected properly then it won’t appear on your desktop.
- Faulty cable. Assuming it’s plugged in correctly, not wobbly or loose, the cable could be at fault. Try connecting the same device with a different cable.
- Damaged USB or flash drive port. It could be a hardware issue with the Mac. If you’ve got another port, try connecting the device to that one.
- Reboot your Mac. Sometimes, if a USB disk won't boot, the cause is macOS issue. Hopefully, some data damage that can be fixed by restarting. Choose the Apple menu > Restart. Or press and hold the power button and, when a dialog box appears, click the Restart or press R. Restarting your Mac essentially clears your macOS’s memory and starts it up fresh.
- Incorrectly formatted drive. Not every external drive is optimized for Macs. It could be that you are trying to connect something only fit to interact with Windows devices. If you’ve got a PC or laptop, it’s worth connecting and seeing if you can access the files through another device. The best way to look for an incorrectly formatted drive is to go to
Apple (in the top toolbar menu) > About This Mac > Storage.
See if the external drive shows up here. For more information, go to the same menu option, then select System Report. - Mac not formatted to display external drives on the desktop. It could be that your Mac already recognizes the device, but just isn’t showing its icon on the desktop screen. Even if that is the case, the drive will still appear in the left-hand column of the Finder menu under Devices. You should be able to access your drive that way, and, in the Finder menu under Preferences > General, you can check External Drives to ensure that from now on it shows up on your desktop too.
- Reset NVRAM. To do this, shut down or restart your Mac, switch it back on and immediately press these four keys together for at least 20 seconds: Option, Command, P, and R. It should look as though your Mac has started again; if it has, release the keys when you hear the second startup chime. Hopefully, the hard drive has shown up now.
- Check Apple’s Disk Utility to see if an external drive is showing up. Disk Utility is within System Preferences, or you can find it using Spotlight. If it is visible, then click the option to Mount, which should make it visible on the desktop and in the External Drives option in the Finder menu.
Unfortunately, if none of those options has worked and the external drive still isn’t visible, then it could have crashed, or be well and truly broken. But there might still be a way you can recover the data on the external drive.
How to show connected devices in Finder
- Go to the Finder menu and select Preferences (Cmd+comma).
- From General tab tick External disks to ensure that from now on it shows on the desktop.
In the Sidebar tab you can choose which folders and devices will be shown in the left-hand column of the Finder window.
How to add cloud storages to Finder
You can also mount cloud storage as local drive on your Mac. By connecting Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon to your computer, you get more space for securely accessing and sharing files. For your ease, add cloud drives to Finder with CloudMounter app, so that you keep them close at hand. You can read detailed instructions on managing cloud storage as local drives here.
Repair the failed external drives with First Aid
If your drive is having problems, you can try to fix them yourself with First Aid and therefore get access to your files. First Aid tool will check the disk for errors and then attempt a repair as needed. It helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup HD and external drive problems. If you are able to fix the hard drive or SSD in your Mac (or an external drive) using Disk Utility you will hopefully be able to recover your files.
To run Fist Aid on an external hard drive:
- Open Disk Utility. You can searching for it using Spotlight Search or via Finder > Application > Utility
- Check on your external hard drive, click the First Aid tab and select Run to start running diagnostics.
If First Aid successful in fixing errors, the external drive should be available to mount. If the utility unable to repair issues, your drive truly is broken or formatted using a file system that the Mac cannot read - in this way we suggest you follow the next steps to recover data from a damaged disk drive.
How to recover data from a crashed drive
Thankfully, there is an app for that. Disk Drill is the world’s premier data recovery software for Mac OS X. Powerful enough to retrieve long-lost, mistakenly deleted files from Macs, external hard drives and USB drives and camera cards.
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An easy way to recover lost files on an external hard drive
Providing you already have Disk Drill Pro version, which you can get automatically by downloading from Setapp:
- Connect your drive to the Mac.
- Quit all other applications on the Mac, especially those that may be trying to access the external drive (e.g. iPhoto, Words)
- Launch Disk Drill.
- Click on the external drive that you are trying to recover files from. If it has partitions, you will see all of them. If, however, you still don’t see any volume to the external drive then you may need to try some of the steps above again or read the Disk Drill Scanning FAQs.
- To avoid the external drive being accessed during the recovery process, click Extras next to the drive or drive partition or file, then select Remount Volume As Read Only. A padlock will appear, protecting the drive during the process.
- Now click Rebuild (or Recover) next to the file(s) you are trying to recover. Once the scan is finished - it may take some time if the files are large - a list of files will appeal.
- Next, click Mount Found Items as Disk button on the bottom-left below the scan results.
- Disk Drill “strongly suggest saving the files to a different drive than the one you are trying to recover files from. Saving to the same drive substantially lowers your chances of recovery.”
- A drive icon will appear, which once you double click will give you the option to open the files as you would do before they were lost. Drag them to another location, such as your desktop or a folder on your Mac.
- Open the files to ensure they have been recovered properly and safely eject the external drive.
Disk Drill does have other ways to recover lost files but assuming there aren’t complications, this method is the most effective. Disk Drill Pro recovery app is available from Setapp, along with dozens of Mac apps that will make your life easier. Never have to worry about a crashed or corrupted external drive again.
A few more tips on getting your files back
- Macs and third-party apps that look after Macs, such as Disk Drill and iStat Menus come with a S.M.A.R.T. (also known as Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) status monitor. If a SMART check reports errors, then it could mean the hard drive is at risk of failing completely. Within Disk Utility and Disk Drill, there are several solutions for this: Repair Disk Permissions and Repair Disk. If neither work, it’s recommended that you backup all of the data from the disk, erase, then run a SMART check again. The external hard drive should show up as Verified.
- Partitions can get lost within hard drives, temporarily hiding all of the information contained within. Disk Drill can help to identify and restore this information.
- Within Disk Drill, you can restore data when a hard drive is damaged or add formatting, which is also something Disk Utility can help with.
- CleanMyMac, another useful app available from Setapp, can help you identify external hard drive errors and repair them. It is an essential tool worth trying when you’re having external hard drive difficulties.
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Alternative ways to recover data from an external hard drive
Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) if your Mac shuts down when you plug in an external hard drive. Then use a different port to connect the external hard drive. If you’ve got a battery that you can’t remove:
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- Shut down and unplug the power adapter
- Press Shift-Control-Option and the power button at the same time. Do this for 10 seconds
- Release all keys
- Plug the power adapter back in and switch your Mac back on
For Macs with removable batteries, you need to switch them off, remove the battery, then press and hold the power button for 5 seconds. After that, put the battery back in, plug in the power adapter and switch the power on again.
What’s your file format? One reason your Mac isn’t recognizing the hard drive is the file format. Windows uses NTFS file formats, while Macs, up until the introduction of Sierra, have used HFS+. Now, Apple has introduced the Apple File System (APFS) for newer operating systems. It is possible to format a hard drive so it can be read on Mac and Windows computers, providing you format using exFAT. However, if you’re having problems accessing the files and the issue is due to formatting, you will need to connect it to a device it can be read on, and then format the files correctly for the computer you are going to use it on next.
How to make Ext2/Ext3 drives readable on Mac
The common issue is Ext2- and Ext3-formatted drives are not readable on macOS. There are two ways to access such external drives on your Mac – via Linux OS or FUSE system. The easiest would be installing Linux to a secondary drive or virtual machine.
If you go with Linux installation, dual boot your Mac with Linux on another drive and use FAT32 as a transfer intermediary. If you don’t have a drive to install Linux to, use virtual machine as an interface for it. Transferring can be done the same way – with FAT32, or via network.
Another option for reading Ext2/Ext3 disks is mounting disk with Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE). Basically, it works as an extra interface enabling file system access via specially installed modules. Here’s how to mount drives with FUSE:
- Install FUSE for macOS or MacFUSE as well as fuse-ext2 module.
- Use the following Terminal command to enable Disk Utility’s debug menu and see all partitions: defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1
- Attach your Ext2/Ext3 drive and locate the device name via Disk Utility.
- In your user account, create a folder to be used as a mount point.
- Use the following Terminal command to mount the drive as read-only: fuse-ext2 /dev/disk2s2 /Volumes/mountpoint
- For write support, use the command: fuse-ext2 -o force /dev/disk2s2 /Volumes/mountpoint
And that’s not the only case where Terminal helps you access external drive.
Employ the handy all-powerful Terminal, which always comes forward with solutions for difficult problems. Especially if System Information does recognize the USB or hard drive, but continues to hide it from you, disconnect the drive and try to find it using the Terminal, which you can find in Applications > Utilities.
- Once in the Terminal, type in the command diskutil list
- A list with information about volumes and drives should appear
- Look for a section labelled /dev/disk_ (external, physical)
- Make a note of the whole line after the word disk
- Now put the following command into the Terminal diskutil info disk followed by the number or digits assigned to that disk
- Now you should see detailed information about the drive, therefore confirming that your Mac can and does recognize it
- Eject using the Terminal by entering the command diskutil eject disk followed by the number or digits assigned to that disk
- Physically remove the disk from you Mac
- Plug it back in and your Mac should recognize it
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Console is also reliable when it comes to solving tricky problems, although it isn’t always that easy to use. You can find Console under Applications > Utilities > Console. Console shows if an external drive or any error is detected under the Errors and Faults tab. If no errors show up, then the problem is not caused by the device.
To sum up, there are lots of potential solutions for a Mac not reading an external hard drive. If we were to pick one, Disk Drill seems to be the most well-rounded, offering plenty of customizations and power in an easy-to-use interface. Disk Drill Pro recovery app is available via Setapp, along with 150+ Mac apps that strive to make your life much much easier. At the very least, you’ll never have to worry about a crashed or corrupted external drive ever again.
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