# Can't Get External HD to Show Up? -- PLEASE HELP **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [August 17, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/cant-get-external-hd-to-show-up-please-help/304888 "2025-08-17T22:43:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/letter_avatar/dr_david_jones/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Dr_David_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/cant-get-external-hd-to-show-up-please-help/304888/1 "2025-08-17T22:43:38Z")
Hello Team Roon! I recently moved from SC to Minnesota. I set up my Roon Nucleus+ the same as it was , but it will not load up. Shows as “unrecognized” folder. All my playlists work except any songs that are on my HD. Songs on playlists show as “unavailable.” My system is mostly Meridian Audio, but the only part of this is my Meridian 218 end point. So, it’s my Roon Nucleus+ / External HD / Meridian 218 end point. I have 2 screenshots that show my issue: ![image](https://roon-community-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/original/4X/7/f/6/7f6dd2d435723154f9a67ed8655946d5b979660b.png) ![image](https://roon-community-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/original/4X/0/c/2/0c2b93af381c16f0d869c76d3f001ca36e31f61b.png) ---
**Author:** ![BlackJack](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/blackjack/32/39743_2.png) [@BlackJack](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/BlackJack)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 10:51pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/cant-get-external-hd-to-show-up-please-help/304888/2 "2025-08-17T22:51:52Z")
The WD MyBook is likely NTFS formatted. Roon OS doesn’t like to read NTFS storage that is flagged as “unsafely removed”. You may have to fix that on a Windows PC. See also: > [@USB-HDDs not detected by Nucleus (ref#CFWURC)](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/usb-hdds-not-detected-by-nucleus-ref-cfwurc/300000/2): > > Hello @Matz. Thank you for reaching Roon support. Based on the diagnostic data enabled on your account, it seems that the NTFS system on your drive is corrupted. The log entries indicate that the system attempted to mount a USB drive (/dev/sdb1), but the operation failed due to file system issues. Here’s a breakdown: mount: ... failed: Invalid argument The mount command failed. This is usually due to an unrecognized or corrupt file system. ntfs3: sdb1: volume is dirty and "force" flag is … ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/letter_avatar/dr_david_jones/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Dr_David_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 10:58pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/cant-get-external-hd-to-show-up-please-help/304888/3 "2025-08-17T22:58:19Z")
Roon OS has been reading this HD for over 3 years? So I disconnect it for about a week and then set back up and it will not work? I do have a back up for this 20 Terabyte external – about 28k CDs on it! ---
**Author:** ![BlackJack](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/blackjack/32/39743_2.png) [@BlackJack](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/BlackJack)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/cant-get-external-hd-to-show-up-please-help/304888/4 "2025-08-17T23:01:26Z")
Did you first shutdown your Nucleus+ or did you just unplug (unsafely remove) the external drive? Anyway, from your screenshot it is clear that the drive gets recognized but can’t be accessed. The usual reason for that I already told you as well as the fix for it. If that doesn’t work for you and you need more help please create a support ticket: > [@How to get help with Roon](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/how-to-get-help-with-roon/264133): > > Do you need help with one of our products? Well, you’re in the right place! Just click on the “Get Help” button at the top of the #Support category, or click the image below… [[IMG\_9100]](https://community.roonlabs.com/c/support/6) From there you simply need to answer a few questions and will then be able to enter a description of your issue. If required, a community post will be created on your behalf and a member of our team will be with you shortly in order to provide assistance. In the mean time a member of our user community may be… PS: If my guess about the cause of your issue is true, you might want to think about if you want to reformat the drive to exFAT that does not suffer from “unsafe removal”. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/letter_avatar/dr_david_jones/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Dr_David_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/cant-get-external-hd-to-show-up-please-help/304888/5 "2025-08-17T23:16:17Z")
Yes – I did just unplug it. I was not clear on the “fix.” I do not have any Windows access? Could I try just adding my back up HD? I can see that your are supposed to shut down the Nucleus+ before disconnecting the HD, but what’s done is done? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/letter_avatar/dr_david_jones/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Dr_David_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/cant-get-external-hd-to-show-up-please-help/304888/6 "2025-08-17T23:21:16Z")
Guess I should automatically know how to reformat the drive to exFat, but I do not. I’ll try using Perplexity App – which BTW, is the best AI App out there – Apple may buy it for $30b+ ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/letter_avatar/dr_david_jones/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Dr_David_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/cant-get-external-hd-to-show-up-please-help/304888/7 "2025-08-17T23:25:11Z")
BTW - Everything I read and know from the past is that reformatting a HD erases all the data (30k CDs)? How does this fix my problem? ---
**Author:** ![BlackJack](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/blackjack/32/39743_2.png) [@BlackJack](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/BlackJack)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/cant-get-external-hd-to-show-up-please-help/304888/8 "2025-08-17T23:42:00Z")
> [@Dr\_David\_Jones](#): > > I do not have any Windows access? Is that question meant as a statement perhaps? If you do not have access to a Windows PC then I don’t not know of a way to fix the issue. You may have to reformat and start over. As you don’t have a Windows PC, question: Is the drive NTFS formatted at all? > [@Dr\_David\_Jones](#): > > Could I try just adding my back up HD? Try does no harm, I guess. You then just happen to lose your backup - so you might still have to deal with the issue and make the other drive usable/working again (as then new backup drive). Question is, what format is the other drive. I don’t think that you should use NTFS formatted drives if you don’t have access to a Windows PC with maintenance software for NTFS. > [@Dr\_David\_Jones](#): > > Guess I should automatically know how to reformat the drive to exFat, but I do not. Google search points me at: > **[Format a disk for Windows computers in Disk Utility on Mac](https://support.apple.com/en-gw/guide/disk-utility/dskutl1010/mac)** > > In Disk Utility on your Mac, format a disk that can be used with both Windows computers and Mac computers. Google may buy Apple for $100b+ so we’re done with it, sigh. > [@Dr\_David\_Jones](#): > > Everything I read and know from the past is that reformatting a HD erases all the data (30k CDs)? This is true. You would have to copy the data onto the disc again (from your backup). > [@Dr\_David\_Jones](#): > > How does this fix my problem? It doesn’t and I didn’t claim that it would. To fix the issue I think might be the cause, you need a Windows computer to run the `chkdsk` program to fix it (remove the flag). Reformatting with another file format may prevent you from suffering from another NTFS “dirty” flag for unsafe removal in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/letter_avatar/dr_david_jones/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@Dr\_David\_Jones](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Dr_David_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 1:03am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/cant-get-external-hd-to-show-up-please-help/304888/9 "2025-08-18T01:03:15Z")
Thanks for the follow up. I disconnected my HD (the right way) and connected one of my back ups. Roon recognized it and scanned all the files. I do have a HD folder added again and I disabled the original one. Only issue is that about 20% of the songs on my 100+ playlists still show as “unavailable.” I can do a search and reload this song, delete the unavailable one, but this is time consuming. Nothing is ever simple, but I must say this is way better then managing a huge CD collection!