It is possible that your flash drive is not showing on your Mac because of insufficient power. Power shortages or fluctuations occur if you are using a hub to connect your flash to the computer. A perfect solution to this is to connect the flash drive directly to the computer instead. If you have an older USB flash drive that's been beaten around, it may not work even if you reformat it. While most flash drives are made to withstand years of use, take the age and previous use of the drive into consideration if you have a flash drive that can't be read anymore.
These errors when you connect the USB drive are really scary!! These errors generally appear when an external device is connected to the computer and the operating system is unable to recognize it or read it. It doesn’t mean that the drive is corrupt. It’s just one of the common issues associated with connecting an external device to your computer. It’s time we dig deep and fix ‘flash drive not recognized’ problem.
However, such issues can arise in both Windows and Mac systems. It may be an initial indication of your flash drive corruption and losing access to data in it. Hence, try to fix the issue as soon as possible. Here, you will find few methods to fix such not recognizing USB error.
But, before going ahead with the troubleshooting process, you need to secure your data. Yes, in the process of fixing the USB error there are chances of losing or corrupting your data. Hence, before proceeding with this process, recover your data and save on a secure drive.
In order to recover data from an unrecognized USB drive download Remo Recover software. This tool will scan your USB drive & extracts all files from USB drive. The software works on both Windows and Mac computers of all latest versions & helps in recovering files from corrupt flash drives securely. You can also use this software to recover deleted photos from the CF card on Mac. The entire recovery process takes few minutes:
Follow the below steps to Restore files from USB flash drive that is not recognized:
Once, your data from flash drive is securely stored, you can now proceed with the troubleshooting methods. As said earlier, both Windows and Mac will have different methods. Read through the below procedure:
Method 1: Scan the Flash Drive for Issues
Every computer has an inbuilt mode of scanning any USB drive attached to it. You can use this method to find out any error in the connection or the device.
1 – Plug the USB drive on the computer
2 – Go to This PC (My computer for earlier versions) and right click on the flash drive and go to Properties
3 – Open Tool tab and click Check Now
This will scan and show you the results for any issues with your USB device. You can further troubleshoot the issues or use any third party element to fix them.
Method 2: Flash Drive Reformatting
In order to do this, follow the instructions;
1 – Right click on the flash drive icon and click Format; this opens the format window.
2 – Go to the File system.
3 – Toggle between NTFS and FAT32 and click Start
This will reformat your flash drive and it will fix the flash drive not recognized issue. In case this method fails to fix the error, then follow the next method.
Method 3: Update Driver
To update the driver, you have to go to the device manager window. Do keep in mind you have the administrator rights to use and change the system settings.
1 – Open the Run command and Type devmgmt.msc and click OK to open the Device Manager tab.
2 – Go to the Universal Serial Bus Controller drop-down
3 – Select Generic USB Hub from the dropdown and right click on it
4 – Select the Update Driver Software option
This step will update your driver software and fix the Flash Drive not recognized problem in the computer.
If you are a Mac user and facing the same issue with your system, here are some methods to eliminate it. I will take you through 3 methods to troubleshoot and fix the Flash Drive Not Recognized problem. If your are looking to recover data from USB flsh drve click here.
Method 1: Connect the USB Flash Drive Manually
In order to perform this first select a port to connect the USB flash drive.
1 – Go to Applications and click on Utilities
2 – Select “Ask me What to do” from the Devices pop-up box
3 – Go to Devices and click External Devices.
Many a times, connecting USB flash drive manually will fix the issue. If this doesn’t help you, then try the next method.
Method 2: PRAM Fix
Keno live online. To perform this troubleshooting you have to return the PRAM.
1 – Shut down the Mac
2 – Press the Power button and hold Command + Option along with P+R while the system starts.
3 – As the system starts boot release the buttons.
Method 3: Format Drive
This method solves the issue after the drive is formatted and reconnected to the system. In order to do that, here are the steps;
1 – Press Command + Spacebar and connect the flash drive.
2 – Open Application and click on Disk Utility Option
3 – Select the Flash Drive on the left pane.
4 – Click on Erase button to complete the process
This will resolve your issue and now you can reconnect the flash drive to your computer and start using it. If you have accidentally quick formatted your USB drive you can recover data from it.
Now, your flash drive will be free from errors and use the drive. As said earlier, fixing these issues or formatting the flash drive will result in deletion of all the files in that drive. So make sure to recover all the important documents, photos, videos etc. from the drive before performing any troubleshooting.
Summary: Is your USB drive not showing up on Mac? Mac not recognizing USB device? USB flash drive not working on Mac? In this article, we will help fix flash drive not showing up on Mac and Mac not recognizing USB drive.
Normally when you plug a USB flash drive into your Mac, you can find the connected USB device on Mac desktop or in Finder. However, sometimes, the USB flash drive won't be mounted correctly. And then the hard drive won't be showing up on Mac desktop or in Finder. How to fix it?
Now, let's dive into the solution.
There are seven solutions to fix USB flash drive not showing up on Mac or Mac not recognizing USB device:
Jump drives are directly plugged into USB ports on Mac while SD cards and NM cards need card readers before you access them through USB ports. That in-between connections, actually, could be the first cause for USB drive not showing up on Mac. Office for mac sign in.
Then, how to check if the USB flash drive is recognized by Mac?
It's easy to confirm that your Mac has already recognized the USB device when it is not showing up in the Finder or the desktop. Simply click the Apple logo at the upper left of your Mac > About this Mac > System report > USB, and then all your connected USB devices will show up with detailed information as the picture below.
If the USB flash drive not detected by Mac due to hardware problems, you won't see the connected USB device under the USB Device Tree.
In case it's the USB port, cable, or card reader that stops your USB drives working on the Mac, you'd better try these things before you proceed with other solutions.
Occasionally, your Mac has already detected the USB flash drive but you cannot find the connected USB device on Mac desktop. Thus, you should go to Finder > Preferences > General and make sure the 'External disks' option is checked. Then you'll see the connected USB flash drive showing up on Mac desktop.
Go to Finder > Preferences, switch to Sidebar tab, and check 'External disks' option under Locations.
You will see the connected USB flash drive in Finder's sidebar.
When your USB device is not detected by Mac, you should check if any USB driver updates are available, please do the following steps:
Step 1: Click on the Apple in the upper left corner of the screen.
Harrahs or flamingo. Step 2: Select 'Software Update.'
Step 3: Any updates available will be listed and able to be downloaded or you will be told your software is up to date.
If you can see USB flash drive but it is not mounting in Mac Disk Utility, in this case, you can try macOS built-in First Aid to repair the errors on USB flash drive.
Step 1: Launch Disk Utility from Utilities in Applications folder.
Step 2: Select the corrupted USB drive from the sidebar.
Step 3: Click First Aid at the top of the window, and then click Run, wait until the reparation process finishes.
If USB flash drive not mounting on Mac is caused by disk corruption, the only solution under this circumstance is to reformat the USB drive. However, reformatting USB flash drive will erase all the files stored on it.
In order to avoid unwanted data loss, it's necessary to recover data from the unrecognized USB flash drive in advance.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is trustworthy and professional USB data recovery software that can recover data from unrecognized USB flash drives, unreadable USB flash drives, and unmountable USB flash drives.
4 steps to recover data from unrecognized USB flash drive:
Step 1: Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
You can't access your data when the USB flash drive is not showing up on Mac due to disk corruption. But with the assistance of iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac, you can easily access your files and get them off the drive. So simply download and launch this USB drive data recovery software on your Mac.
Step 2: Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac. Windows 7 operating system for mac.
After making sure the USB drive is properly connected to your Mac, hopefully, the USB drive will show up when you launch this software. You can click on the gears icon at the upper left for preference setup, and then check all 'Scan by' options. This will make it easier to find your lost photos, documents, Word files, videos, etc. on the USB drive.
Step 3: Scan for lost data from the unrecognized USB flash drive.
After setting how the software scans for lost files, you can go ahead to put it into practice by selecting the not showing up USB flash drive and clicking on the 'Scan' button.
Step 4: Check files' condition before you recover them from the unrecognized USB flash drive.
Once the scan process is finished, you can filter the scanning results and find files you want to get back. To ensure those files are in good condition in the corrupted USB stick, you can click to preview them before you finally click the 'Recover' button.
After you successfully recover data from the unrecognized USB flash drive, it is time to reformat USB drive.
4 steps to reformat the USB flash drive:
Step 1: Go to Utilities and open Disk Utility.
Step 2: Select the unrecognized USB flash drive from Disk Utility sidebar.
Step 3: Click Erase at the top toolbar.
Step 4: Finish the necessary information (name, format, and scheme) to format the USB flash drive.
After the process finished, the USB flash drive will show up on Mac correctly.
If the USB flash drive is not showing up in Mac Disk Utility and System Information, it might be physically failed. If you don' have any important data, you can simply replace the damaged USB drive with a new one. But if you have anything important, you'd better send it to a local specialist for data recovery help.
The USB flash drive, pen drive, jump drive, or whatever you call it, is convenient but also fragile to store data based on its special memory units and shape. Then, how can we protect it from corruption and not showing up on Mac?
You may need these tips: