220-1102 Question 226
Single answerFinderA user with a macOS laptop says an external USB drive is connected and appears in Disk Utility, but they cannot find it on the desktop or in Finder's sidebar. The drive mounts successfully and shows no file system errors. You want to make the drive easier for the user to access in Finder without changing the drive itself. Which action should you take first?
- A
Open Finder Settings and enable external disks to appear on the desktop and in the sidebar
- B
Use Disk Utility to erase the drive and reformat it as APFS
- C
Open Terminal and run First Aid from the command line to remount the drive
- D
Reset NVRAM so Finder can rediscover mounted USB volumes
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Because the drive is already mounted and visible in Disk Utility, the problem is not detection, partitioning, or file system corruption. In macOS, Finder can be configured to show or hide external disks on the desktop and in the sidebar. The best first step is to check Finder Settings (called Finder Preferences in some macOS versions) and enable External disks in the General and Sidebar sections as needed. This is consistent with Apple's documented Finder customization behavior and follows best practice: verify application settings before performing destructive actions or advanced system troubleshooting.
- A. Correct.
Correct. In macOS, Finder controls whether mounted items such as external disks appear on the desktop and in the Finder sidebar. If the drive is already mounted and visible in Disk Utility, the most appropriate first step is to check Finder settings and enable external disks under the relevant General and Sidebar preferences/settings. This addresses the visibility issue without modifying the disk.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Reformatting the drive is unnecessary and potentially destructive. The scenario states that the drive mounts successfully and has no file system errors, so erasing it would not be an appropriate first troubleshooting step. This distractor reflects the misconception that all storage visibility issues are caused by formatting problems.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. First Aid is primarily used to check and repair disk and file system issues. The drive is already mounted and reported as healthy, so running repair tools does not directly address why it is not shown in Finder. This option confuses a Finder display preference issue with a disk integrity problem.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Resetting NVRAM is not a standard first response for a mounted external drive that is simply hidden from Finder views. NVRAM affects certain hardware-related settings, but it is not the normal fix for Finder display preferences. This distractor reflects overly aggressive troubleshooting before verifying basic user interface settings.