Can't access external SATA HDD via enclosure

Question

Just bought EW7055 enclosure.

When trying to connect to MacOS, I'm getting "not readable by this computer" error.

Tried with MacBook Air+Catalina and MacBook Pro+BigSur.
Same result.

Here is what I see in disk utility: And this is if I right click and "Get Info" on it:

Here is the output of diskutil list:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk1         250.8 GB   disk0s2
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +250.8 GB   disk1
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD — data     192.2 GB   disk1s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 25.3 MB    disk1s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                525.8 MB   disk1s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      3.2 GB     disk1s4
   5:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD            11.4 GB    disk1s5
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk2
   1:                      Linux                         535.8 MB   disk2s1
   2:                      Linux                         336.1 GB   disk2s5
   3:                      Linux                         655.0 GB   disk2s6
   4:                 Linux_Swap                         8.6 GB     disk2s7

Seems like OS can see partitions, but for some reason can not give me an access to them.

I've tried to boot with this enclosure, but MacBooks don't list the disk in StartUp disks.
Neither in System Preferences nor when booting with Option pressed.
In Recovery Mode I've allowed to boot from any device and to any unsigned OS as well.

I've found somewhat similar question, but I don't really understand what's the solution for that.

UPDATE (GUESS):
Is it just because MacOS can't read Linux file system format?
But then why can't I boot into it?

SUB-UPDATE:
Ok, seems like Linux is not easily bootable on Mac hardware...
Is that the answer? I just need to boot into OS which will be able to read Linux FS?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 21 '21 at 14:06

Your "Update (GUESS):" is exactly correct macOS has no (native) ability to read/write filesystems common to Linux.

Heck it can only READ NTFS file systems without 3rd party software.

Also you cant just plug a bootable Linux installation (Or Windows, for that matter) into a Mac and expect it to just boot.

It is possible to work with and install both Windows and Linux on Apple hardware. Apple offers Boot Camp software that enables Windows 10 to be installed and run. But with Linux you will have to seek out how to install Linux on your Mac.

People here on AD may be able to help you with that. There are also lots of places online (mostly Linux-centric) that can help you install Linux on your Mac. But you cant just plug a Linux disk into your Mac and expect it to be bootable. Heck you need additional software just to read and write to the disk itself.

David Anderson · Answer 2 · 2021-05-21T18:34:24.433

Starting in 2015, Apple began eliminating from Intel Macs the firmware capable of BIOS booting operating systems. Since diskutil list shows a FDisk_partition_scheme, most likely you can only BIOS boot from the external drive.

If you objective is to access the Linux volumes, then this question has already been asked. See: How can I mount an ext4 file system on OS X?. I can add, that booting from an Ubuntu Live flash drive will probably allow you to mount and access Linux volumes on your external drive. Instructions for creating a Ubuntu live flash drive can be found at this Canonical website.

Can't access external SATA HDD via enclosure

2 Answers2