10-05-2021

Usb Flash Drive Not Recognized Mac Os X

  1. Dec 13, 2013  Firstly, sometimes mac would have detected the drive but it might not be listed in the finder's device list. To solve that Go to Finder menu - Preferences - Sidebar - Devices and ensure to check 'External Disks' in devices section. If that doesn't help, here's the solution.
  2. Jul 31, 2018  Intel-based Mac. Bootable USB thumb drive formatted with a GUID partition type and containing an OS X installer or a usable operating system. Let’s see how to boot a Mac from a bootable USB drive and what to do if your Mac doesn’t start up from it. Way 1: Boot Mac from USB Drive using Startup Manager.
  3. Some months ago I bought a USB flash drive 16 GB, and I have used it on my Windows machine with no errors or bugs, whatsoever. Since that I need to move some files from my Mac, the flash drive does not appear to be mounting in OS X at all. When I run in diskutil list in Terminal, the flash drive does not appear, not even in Disk Utility.

Jan 09, 2020  If your Mac is having problems identifying a flash drive it may be that you did not properly eject a drive that was previously connected to your machine. Failure to eject a USB drive before pulling it out of the port can cause the OS to view the port’s status incorrectly and may impact its ability to be identified and accessed.

Jun 08, 2020 • Filed to: USB Recovery • Proven solutions

A USB drive is an electronic device that we use frequently to store data, transfer files, listen to music, watch movies, etc. The use of USB drives is unavoidable in our modern life.

We plug the flash drive into a variety of devices like music players, TV, laptops, windows OS, mac, etc. which makes it prone to lose data or malfunction at times. Hence, USB drive malfunctions of mac can be because of an error in the USB drive or the Mac itself.

Part 1: Why Is My USB Not Showing Up On Mac?

Most of the time when you plug a flash drive on the mac, it will be notified on the desktop as well as in the Finder on the left column. But sometimes when you plug in the flash drive the device may not be displayed by the mac. There are many reasons for this and the most common one is corrupt data, in which case any important data on the disk is subjected to a risk of being lost.

You can make sure if the external USB device is set to be shown on the desktop before moving onto further methods. To do so. Go to Finder and then Preferences and then General, make sure the box beside the External Drives is ticked.

Also, make sure that the USB cables are properly plugged in and there is no loose connection.

The reasons why a flash drive will not be recognized on a Mac are:

  • Port related issue
  • USB formatting issue
  • Driver issue
  • Hard drive related issue
  • Operating system related issue

Part 2: How To Fix The 'USB Not Showing Up on Mac' Error?

Some of the simplest ways to fix the problem of unrecognized USB are:

Solution 1: Examine USB Device And USB Ports

Make sure that the USB device connected is not a broken or malfunctioning one. Also, check if all the ports available on the mac are working and updated one.

Solution 2: Restart Mac Or Use Another Mac

If the flash drive is not detected by the mac the first time. Try it again after restarting the mac. If the problem exists again, try it on another mac. By doing so you can confirm if the problem is of the mac’s or of the flash drive’s

Solution 3: Examine Finder Preferences

To check Finder Preferences first, Open Menu bar and select Finder. Then click on the Preferences option and tap on the General tab. On the window, make sure that the box beside the External Drives is ticked.

Also, make sure that the External Disks under Locations in the Sidebar tab is also ticked.

Solution 4: Use First Aid To Repair USB Drives

Mac allows the user to fix external drives related problems via disk utility.

First, connect the USB drive and select Initialize… from the prompt box which will lead you to Disk Utility application. Or you can just open Disk Utility by Finder – Applications – Utility.

Select View from the Utility and tap Show all Devices. From the sidebar select the device that was unreadable on the Mac and click the First Aid option. Now select the Repair Disk tab and see if it works out.

Solution 5: Reformat The USB Drive

Flash drives by default are formatted for Windows and at times are required to be formatted by the mac before use. Let's see how that works.

Step 1: Choose Utilities

Step 2: Open the Disk Utility interface

Step 3: Select the USB drive from the list of drives shown on the window

Step 4: Select the Erase tab on the top right

Step 5: Select the format option and choose the format compatible by MAC OS

Step 6: Set a name for the USB drive and select the Erase tab at the lower right

Usb Flash Drive Not Recognized Mac Os X Download

Step 7: Confirm again and start formatting

Part 3: How To Recover Lost Data After Fixing The USB Error?

Usb flash drive not detected

Data or files may be lost from a USB flash drive due to virus, accidental deletion, file system crash, USB formatting, etc. Like on the Windows Operating System the files on the Mac can also be recovered with the help of trusted applications available in the market like the Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac.

Usb Flash Drive Not Recognized Mac Os X Windows 10

The Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac helps you to recover any data on the Mac including office files, graphics, Videos, Audio, Outlook and Archive and Document files. The app has an amazing recovery rate on macOS and is one of the best and trusted apps available.

Recoverit - Recover Replaced Files in 3 Steps

  • Advanced recovery of Videos
  • Restoration of files from an Emptied Trash bin
  • Restoration of data from External Devices
  • Repair of Corrupted videos
  • Restoration of data from a corrupted Mac

Let us have a look at how the data can be recovered using the Recoverit app on the mac.

Make sure that you have downloaded and installed the Recoverit app onto your mac. Also, connect the flash drive to one of the ports.

Step 1: Launch the Recoverit USB Data Recovery and select the USB flash drive from which the data was lost from the list. Tap start after selecting the device.

Usb Flash Drive Not Recognized

Step 2: The scanning process will be initiated on the USB flash drive by the Mac USB data recovery. This process will take some time to be completed.

Step 3: When the scanning is complete you will be able to view the recovered files on the results. You will be able to preview the files and select the ones that need to be recovered. After selecting the desired files click Recover.

Mac Not Reading Flash Drive

Make sure that you save all the files to a safe storage location in case your data may get corrupted or lost again.

Conclusion

The USB flash drives are widely used to transfer as well as store important data on them. These are prone to malfunctioning and corruption of files due to its repeated use across various devices. But one need not worry as most of the problems associated with a Flash drive can be fixed easily and the important files can be recovered with the help of applications like Recoverit Data Recovery.

USB Topic

Mac Os X Usb Flash Drive Not Recognized

Best flash drives for macs

Usb Flash Drive Not Detected

Recover USB Drive
Format USB Drive
Fix/Repair USB Drive
Know USB Drive