MacBook Pro M4 won’t link to music on external SD drive

Just bought my first MBP in 15 years after my old one finally died. Used an external SD Drive to play my music on and its been a charm. So when I tried on the new unit an MBP M4 Pro it doesnt seem to want to link to it. Any ideas? Went to Settings - Files and changed the location but nothing is there. The SD Drive works, has all my books on it and links to Calibre no prob.

TIA



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Apr 15, 2025 8:22 PM

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Posted on Apr 15, 2025 8:26 PM

If you're referring to Music, launch it with the Option key held down and choose the library on the external drive.

If you're referring to the Finder, select a track and press the space bar.

If you're referring to a non-Apple product, check its documentation.


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14 replies

Apr 15, 2025 9:32 PM in response to yvrapx

external drive to play music"

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Thank you for the screenshot.


Interesting; give it another format.


Incorrect Correct Date:

This was most certainly was not formatted on "December 31, 1969 at 4:00 PM", as it reads. This technology was not around at that time. So, make sure that the time is correct on your computer, and the format it. If you formatted this on a Windows PC, then your might have a virus on the PC (not the Mac). So, give it a good format, and see what Windows Explorer shows for "Created". Be certain your formate it to ExFAT.

Screenshot:

Apr 15, 2025 8:26 PM in response to yvrapx

"external drive to play music: Just bought my first MBP in 15 years after my old one finally died. Used an external SD Drive to play my music on and it's been a charm. So when I tried on the new unit an MBP M4 Pro it doesnt seem to want to link to it. Any ideas? Went to Settings - Files and changed the location but nothing is there. The SD Drive works, has all my books on it and links to Calibre no prob. TIA"

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Adding Drive on a New Device:

Just to clarify "SD": Are your referring a Secure Digital Card? Or a Solid State Drive?


Mount the Drive:

Probably because you have yet to mount the drive. To mount the drive, boot up in Recovery Mode [Hold Down: command + R upon boot] and then select Disk Utility. From there, mount the drive. If it is already mounted, then unmount it and then mount it. Also, click the First Aid button for each volume of the drive.


Apr 15, 2025 9:01 PM in response to yvrapx

"Secure Digital Micro and it has already been formatted. The MBP sees it but I can’t seem to get the correct path.

Thx"

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View your Drives in Terminal:

Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities), and see if it is seen. In Terminal, the internal drives are atop the list, making it easy to distinguish the drives. So, having formatted it, look for the drive, by name. Use this command:

diskutil list

Apr 15, 2025 9:05 PM in response to TheLittles

It sees it:

/dev/disk6 (internal, physical):


   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER


   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *393.9 GB   disk6


   1:               Windows_NTFS SD Drive                393.8 GB   disk6s1

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MacBook Pro M4 won’t link to music on external SD drive

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