Check the USB port you have been connecting your drive to. If the port is damaged the drive won't show on your Mac computer. If you are not so sure of the functionality of the port, do a further evaluation to.
The USB Flash Drive Recovery for Mac features a friendly, spontaneous interface, making it the best USB drive repair software for Mac Operating Systems. There is a free version, but you can also upgrade the. Firstly, check that you have inserted the USB drive correctly to your Mac and that there is no physical damage. Subsequently, launch Finder and from its sidebar, click on the eject symbol adjacent to the USB drive (if it is detected). If the drive is not detected, then simply remove it from Mac. Can you repair usb drive on mac without formatting Yes, you may try to repair damaged flash drive by disk utility with its first aid function to get damaged flash drive repaired without formatting. Check the USB port you have been connecting your drive to. If the port is damaged the drive won't show on your Mac computer. If you are not so sure of the functionality of the port, do a further evaluation to be sure. One way to evaluate further is to try the drive on another port.
Although Macs are reliable machines, they are not exempt from hiccups. All you need to do is carry around a single USB flash drive to be ready for situations the require you to diagnose, repair, or experiment with Mac OS X.
One of the maintenance tools every Mac user should have available in case of emergency is a bootable copy of Mac OS X on a removable device. A clean installation of the operating system can help pinpoint problems and will come to the rescue in a bind. And since most Mac owners use a MacBook of some kind nowadays, portability is a valuable thing. That means carrying around a bulky external hard drive with cables is not always ideal. It turns out a tiny USB flash drive serves as a great alternative.
Free piano keyboard app for mac. Not sure when having OS X loaded on a flash drive would come in handy? How to run exe games on mac. Here are just a few examples:
- Your Mac isn't starting correctly and you're not sure if the internal hard drive is failing or if another piece of hardware is to blame.
- The file system on your startup disk has become corrupt and needs to be repaired.
- A software problem is plaguing your Mac and you'd like to see if you can replicate it in an isolated environment.
- Your Mac's hard drive is completely dead and you'd like to use your computer for basic tasks like email and web browsing while you wait for your new drive to arrive.
Now that you're convinced, let's figure out how to do this. First you'll need an Intel-based Mac from the past few years. Second, at least a 16GB USB flash drive, such as this SanDisk Cruzer Micro for about $30 at Amazon. Keep in mind 10.6 Snow Leopard was used to demonstrate this tutorial, so I'm not sure how much space 10.5, 10.4, and earlier require. While they should be fine, squeeze those versions of Mac OS X on a 16GB drive at your own risk. And the third thing you'll need to get the job done is your OS X installation DVD.
- To start things off, connect the USB flash drive to your Mac. Make sure there's no valuable data on there because it will be permanently wiped out in a couple minutes.
- Open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities) and click on your flash drive in the list on the left.
- Go to the Partition tab and select '1 Partition' from the Volume Scheme menu. Enter a name for the volume (I called mine 'OS X USB'), select 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' as the Format, and make sure the size is somewhere around 15-16GB.
- Click on the Options button towards the bottom and choose 'GUID Partition Table' from the popup window. Click OK.
- Now that all of the settings have been chosen, click the Apply button and then Partition. Disk Utility will take a minute or two to complete the task.
- I don't believe this step is required, but it makes me feel better and doesn't hurt. Click on the volume name you entered in Step 3 (in the list under the flash drive's name). Go to the Erase tab, make sure the Format is 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled),' and click the Erase button.
- Insert your Mac OS X installation disc if you haven't already. A window should pop up with the contents of the disc. Double-click the 'Install Mac OS X' icon and progress through the installer until you get to the screen that says 'Mac OS X will be install on…'
- Click the Show All Disks button and select your USB flash drive.
- Click on the Customize button and a new window will appear. Un-check all of the items except 'Essential System Software.' You may choose to check 'Rosetta' and 'QuickTime 7' since they are so small and might come in handy. Click OK and then Install. The rest of the process should be automated and might take between 30-60 minutes since USB flash drives are slower than internal hard drives. When all is said and done, you should find about 9GB of your 16GB drive has been filled.
- Eventually, the installation will finish and it should reboot directly to the USB drive. If it doesn't, restart the Mac manually and hold down the Option key to choose the drive yourself. This is how you will access it in the future, too.
- Set up the fresh installation just like you would a new computer. Once you're in, run Software Update a few times to get the latest patches and install any third party diagnostic utilities you may have. For example, Alsoft's DiskWarrior is an invaluable tool that goes above and beyond what OS X's own Disk Utility has to offer. This way both tools are available in one convenient place whenever you need them.
All done! That wasn't too painful, was it? Yes, booting to the flash drive will be a tad sluggish, but it's not meant to be used on a regular basis. This is mainly for diagnosing issues and trying potentially risky things in a virtual sandbox that won't ruin any of your data. While you'll hopefully never need to use it, having a bootable copy of OS X on a USB flash drive is a cost-effective, portable emergency tool for your Mac.
Does your Mac not recognize a USB drive? Is the USB flash drive not showing up on Mac after inserting it in the USB port? Find solutions here. Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac when you want to recover data from a USB drive not recognized.
Mac Won't Recognize USB, What Should You Do?
Commonly, when you insert a USB drive in the USB port on a Mac computer, the drive will soon appear on the desktop or hide in the Finder, letting you access, view, and manage data on it. Did you come across the situation that no matter how many times you try to connect the USB drive with a Mac computer, the USB drive is not showing up anywhere? Why this time Mac won't recognize a connected USB you may wonder. Though not a usual thing, the issue of an external hard drive or flash drive not showing up on Mac happens sometimes. What should you do in this circumstance? What are the effective solutions to make your USB drive show up again?
This page basically covers all the possible fixes for USB not showing up on Mac, which also applies to the similar issues of other storage devices like an external hard drive not showing up on Mac, flash drive not showing up on Mac, SD card not showing up on Mac, etc. Take a quick glance at the main content and directly jump to the part you're most interested in.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Fix 1~4. Some basic check and change settings | 1. Change the connection way 2. Change settings for desktop 3. Change settings for Finder 4. Check system information.Full steps |
Fix 5~8. Repair corrupted USB drive | 1. Reset USB ports 2. Repair in Disk Utility 3. Repair with the terminal 4. Reformat USB drive.Full steps |
Fix 9~10. macOS troubleshooting and manual repair | 1. update macOS and firmware 2. Manual repair service.Full steps |
10 Fixes for USB Not Showing Up on Mac
The reasons behind the problem of a USB device not showing up are various, including the USB port is not working, USB drive corruption, virus infection, macOS faulty, etc. So, to figure out the effective solutions for your own case, you need to take time to have some basic check, exclude the irrelevant issues, identify the potential risk, and finally solve it!
- Important
- As losing the access to data is the most direct impact of Mac not detecting a USB drive, you might need to perform USB data recovery on Mac.
Fix 1. Change the USB-to-Mac connection way
Have you tried to restart your Mac once or twice? Before taking further measures, don't forget the most efficient way to tackle commonplace hardware glitches that arises from time to time. If this operating system restarting fails to solve the current problem, move on to check the physical connectivity issue step by step.
Mac Won't Recognize USB, What Should You Do?
Commonly, when you insert a USB drive in the USB port on a Mac computer, the drive will soon appear on the desktop or hide in the Finder, letting you access, view, and manage data on it. Did you come across the situation that no matter how many times you try to connect the USB drive with a Mac computer, the USB drive is not showing up anywhere? Why this time Mac won't recognize a connected USB you may wonder. Though not a usual thing, the issue of an external hard drive or flash drive not showing up on Mac happens sometimes. What should you do in this circumstance? What are the effective solutions to make your USB drive show up again?
This page basically covers all the possible fixes for USB not showing up on Mac, which also applies to the similar issues of other storage devices like an external hard drive not showing up on Mac, flash drive not showing up on Mac, SD card not showing up on Mac, etc. Take a quick glance at the main content and directly jump to the part you're most interested in.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Fix 1~4. Some basic check and change settings | 1. Change the connection way 2. Change settings for desktop 3. Change settings for Finder 4. Check system information.Full steps |
Fix 5~8. Repair corrupted USB drive | 1. Reset USB ports 2. Repair in Disk Utility 3. Repair with the terminal 4. Reformat USB drive.Full steps |
Fix 9~10. macOS troubleshooting and manual repair | 1. update macOS and firmware 2. Manual repair service.Full steps |
10 Fixes for USB Not Showing Up on Mac
The reasons behind the problem of a USB device not showing up are various, including the USB port is not working, USB drive corruption, virus infection, macOS faulty, etc. So, to figure out the effective solutions for your own case, you need to take time to have some basic check, exclude the irrelevant issues, identify the potential risk, and finally solve it!
- Important
- As losing the access to data is the most direct impact of Mac not detecting a USB drive, you might need to perform USB data recovery on Mac.
Fix 1. Change the USB-to-Mac connection way
Have you tried to restart your Mac once or twice? Before taking further measures, don't forget the most efficient way to tackle commonplace hardware glitches that arises from time to time. If this operating system restarting fails to solve the current problem, move on to check the physical connectivity issue step by step.
Step 1. Plug the USB drive out from the not working USB port and change to the other USB port. Try all the available USB ports on your Mac.
Step 2. Did you use a USB connection cable or a USB-C adapter? If yes, take the USB drive out, and directly plug it in the USB port.
Step 3. Is there the other Mac computer available to you? If yes, try to connect the USB drive to this computer. Is it showing up normally?
Step 4. For SD card owners, the common way to connect an SD card to a Mac needs a card reader. If changing the USB ports did not work, try to change a card reader for a new round of tests.
The four steps of troubleshooting a USB drive not showing up on Mac are very basic, however, quite helpful in most cases. Each step can help us exclude the issues of a bad/loose connection, a not working USB port, a lack of power, and other superficial phenomenons.
Fix 2. Change settings for Mac detecting an external hard disk on the desktop
Occasionally, your Mac has already recognized the USB flash drive but not shown it on the desktop. Thus, you should go to Finder > Preferences > General and make sure the 'External disks' option is ticked. Then you'll see the USB flash drive showing up on Mac desktop.
Fix 3. Change settings for Mac recognize an external hard disk in the Finder
Finder is the other access for us to check a connected external drive on Mac. If your flash drive or external hard drive is not showing up there, go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar, and under Locations, you need to tick the option 'External disks'. By selecting this option, we can make sure that the connected external USB hard drive or flash drive will normally show up in the Finder.
Fix 4. Check the USB drive in System Information
When you cannot find the USB drive on the desktop or in the Finder, try to look for it in the System Information section, which is usually a hidden place for average Mac users.
Step 1. Go to Applications > Utilities > System Information.
Step 2. Check if the system detects the USB drive. Click 'USB' on the left panel, and you can also check the USB flash drive information.
Fix 5. Reset USB ports on Mac to detect a USB drive
Step 1. Restart Mac computer, press the Command +Option+P+R keys until the Apple logo appears.
Step 2. Press Command+Option+Esc keys to close all applications that are not responding.
Step 3. Plug the USB which is not showing up to your Mac computer. If it doesn't show up, click Apple icon and select 'Sleep'.
Step 4. Wake up the computer after a few seconds by pressing any key.
Step 5. Shut down the Mac, unplug the power cord, reattach it after 15 seconds.
Game uk animal crossing. If this doesn't work, we should suspect the corruption issue at this moment. Don't give up and try to do some repair by yourself.
Fix 6. Repair USB flash drive with First Aid if it doesn't show up
Step 1. Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
- Step 2. Select USB flash drive on the left panel of Disk Utility, and click 'First Aid' at the top toolbar and click 'Run'. Disk Utility will repair any errors on the drive automatically.
Step 3. Select the USB drive and click 'Unmount' at the top toolbar, unplug the USB and plug it back in 10-15 seconds.
Fix 7. Check and fix errors in a not recognized USB with Terminal
Step 1. Open Terminal in Utilities, type:diskutil list and press Return.
Roblox how to sign in. Step 2. Find the disk number of your USB flash drive, type: diskutil info disk2 and press Return. (Replace 2 with the disk number of your USB flash drive.)
Step 3. Type: diskutil eject disk 2 and press Return.
Step 4. Type: diskutil list and press Return.When the USB disappear from the Terminal list, close the window.
Step 5. Adobe premiere pro 2018 mac. Close Terminal and open Console to inspect your drive errors.
Step 6. Click 'Errors and Faults' to check if there are any errors.
Step 7. Reconnect your USB flash drive back to Mac, if no error shows up, your USB flash drive is safe.
Fix 8. Save data and reformat the not showing USB drive
Disk reformatting basically solves many hard drive issues, including the not showing up USB, particularly the time when you are able to see the USB icon but files are not showing. USB drive showing empty makes no sense, so you have to reformat the disk and make it usable again.
Note that reformatting will erase data. As long as the data matters, you need to follow the standard procedure to ensure zero data loss. [1] Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, the professional Mac data recovery software, to perform a full USB drive data recovery. [2] Reformat the USB drive in Disk Utility.
To format the USB drive in Disk Utility:
Step 1. Go to Utilities and open Disk Utility.
How To Repair Usb Plug
Step 2. Select the not showing up USB flash drive in the Disk Utility sidebar.
Step 3. Click Erase on the top.
Step 4. Finish the necessary information (name, format, and scheme) to format the USB flash drive.
Fix 9. Update your macOS and firmware
Did your Mac's OS keep updating all the time? Chances are that your Mac won't recognize a USB drive, especially after a macOS update. This time, take a close look at the settings whether your Mac is up-to-date. Equally, firmware updates address a variety of hardware issues and the functionality of the USB ports could well be one of them. So, keep your software and firmware up to date will likely make the USB drive show up as normal again.
Fix 10. Send the USB drive to a repair center
Nowadays even the branded USB flash drives are not expensive. If you've tried all the suggested troubleshooting methods, the USB drive is still not showing up on Mac, you have to accept the truth that it's severely damaged and beyond your ability to repair it.
Mac won't recognize a badly damaged flash drive or external hard drive since there is no way to show it up, even temporarily, which makes the data recovery difficult. The last chance for you to rescue data is to send the broken USB drive to a specialized data recovery service center nearby, and let the professionals try their best. You need to prepare for the manual data recovery cost, which is noticeably higher than the software data recovery. Hence, always try the cost-effective plan of using EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to scan the USB drive for the first attempt.
Step 1. How to open microsoft office on mac after install. Correctly connect your USB flash drive to your Mac. Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. Start selecting the flash drive and click 'Scan' to let the software search lost files on it.
Step 2. After a quick scan and deep scan, all files will be presented in the left panel in the scan results.
Format Usb Drive Mac
Step 3. Select files you want to recover and click the 'Recover Now' button. Don't save the recoverable files to the USB drive itself in case of data overwriting.