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Summary: Here are the solutions to the USB flash drives not showing up/recognized on Mac issue. Most fixes are easy-to-perform and some probably need USB flash drive data recovery to prevent data loss.
Normally when you plug in a USB flash drive to your Mac's USB port, you will see it showing up on the desktop or in Finder. Sometimes however, the USB flash drive won't be mounted correctly, you have no access to the files stored on it. In this article, we will offer you 6 solutions to fix USB flash drive not showing up on macOS Catalina/Mojave/High Sierra as the table indicates, and if necessary, recover lost data from the not mounting USB flash drive.
Now, let's dive into details.
- How to make USB flash drives show up on Mac?
How to fix when the USB flash drive is not showing up on Mac?
Solution 1: Check if the USB flash drive is properly plugged in.
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 flash sticks not showing up on Mac.
Then, How can you check if the USB flash drive is recognized by Mac or not?
It's easy to confirm that your Mac has already recognized the thumb drive 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 pen drive is disconnected or not recognized by Mac due to hardware problems, you won't see it showing up 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.
- Try to re-plug the USB flash drive to Mac and see if it shows up.
- Sometimes, the Mac just is zoning out and fails to recognize the USB flash drive, or you didn't plug the thumb drive into the USB port in a right way at the first time. So, hopefully, the USB flash drive would show up after a second try.
- Try a second USB port to connect this pen drive.
- Most computers, including PC and Mac, have multiple USB ports. And some of these USB ports may be deformed, lack of power, or dusty. In this case, simply try another USB port to connect this USB flash drive to your Mac.
- Try to connect the USB flash drive directly to your computer, not via USB-C adapter or USB hub.
- Some models of MacBook Pro and MacBook Air has only one USB 3.0 port, which causes the requirement of an additional USB adapter for more hubs. Inevitably, such transition could be unstable for power supply and data transferring, especially when you bought some cheap and low-quality adapter. Thus, try to connect the pen drive directly to the USB port on your Mac this time.
- Try another USB cable or a newer card reader.
- Occasionally, you have used the same USB cable or SD card reader for years, which means the cable might broken or the card reader is out of date and some new features are not supported by the old card reader. As a result, the USB flash drive or the SD card is not showing up on Mac. Under this circumstance, simply get a new one and replace it.
- Check the type of your USB flash drive by color.
- Usually, the USB 1.0 features a white plastic color, while USB 2.0 is black, and the USB 3.0 is blue.USB 3.0 is usually a blue USB inserts. But all USB ports on Mac computers that support USB 3 don't have blue inserts. In this case, if you connect a USB 2.0 flash device to USB 3.0 slot on Mac, the speed will only reach that of the USB 2.0. As a result, the data transfer rate of the thumb drive would be lowered and the thumb drive won't work optimally.
Solution 2: Make sure your Mac is set to show up USB flash drive 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.
Solution 3: Make sure your Mac is set to show up USB flash drive in the Finder.
Go to Finder > Preferences, select Sidebar, and under Locations make sure 'External disks' option is selected again.
Solution 4: Verify if it is the USB flash drive's issue.
If the USB flash drive shows up in the Finder, click on it. Can you see the contents of the USB flash drive shown up? If it merely shows the device but you can't access the files, probably the USB flash drive is the issue.
To further confirm, go to Applications > Disk Utility. If the USB flash drive isn't showing up there, you can be sure the drive is corrupted or damaged.
Solution 5: Reformat the not showing up USB flash drive and without data loss
If external drives not showing up on Mac is caused by disk corruption, then the only solution under this circumstance is to reformat the drive. However, reformatting the USB flash drive will erase all the files stored on it before assigning a new file system to your drive. In order to avoid unwanted data loss, it's necessary to recover lost data from the not showing up USB flash drive in advance.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is trustworthy and professional USB data recovery software that can recover lost data from unrecognized USB flash drives, unreadable USB flash drives, and unmountable USB flash drives. Besides data recovery from USB flash drives. It also can recover files from external hard drives, SD cards, Pen drives, CF cards, memory cards, etc. This all-in-one data recovery software works with macOS 10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7.
Tips: If you have mistakenly erased the USB flash drive before you read this post, don't worry, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac can also help you recover lost data from formatted drives with ease.
Before you fix USB flash drive not showing up on Mac problem by reformatting, you need 4 steps to recover lost data from the corrupted 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 our files and get them off the drive. So simply download and launch this software on your Mac.
Step 2: Setup the data recovery software for your USB flash drive.
After making sure the USB stick 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 on 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 searching 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.
Tips: If you are using a USB flash drive for iPhone that is compatible with both iOS and macOS, and now the USB side for Mac is not working, you can get files off the thumb drive by copying files to your iPhone and then send them to your Mac online.
After you successfully recover lost data from the unrecognized USB flash drive, you can follow these steps to reformat the USB drive without data loss.
Step 1: Go to Utilities and open Disk Utility.
Step 2: Select the not showing up USB flash drive in 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.
After the process finished, the USB flash drive will show up on Mac correctly.
Solution 6: Ask for help from data recovery service
If the USB flash drive is not even showing up in Disk Utility, it might be damaged physically. 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 stop using it and take it to specialists or send it to a local data recovery service for help.
Bonus tips for using USB flash drives
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:
- Don't put USB flash drives in the pockets of your pants of T-shirt, especially, when it's naked. This could keep your drive away from moisture from your body and dust on your clothes. More importantly, it can avoid accident break off when you sit down or bump into something.
- Don't unsafely eject the USB flash drive. Even though it's inevitable for portable drives to be plugged and unplugged frequently, you can make sure you eject it safely and properly every single time.
- Create a backup of your data. Although you have been taking good care of your USB flash drive, you should know that it has a limited life span. Therefore, to avoid unexpected data loss, you'd better do a regular backup of your files.
Summary
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.
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.
Later, you can check if the drive is detected and show up in this software.Step 2: Select the unrecognized external hard drive to scan for lost data.If you can find the unrecognized external hard drive in the list, click on it. And then choose Scan to search for data on this hard drive.Step 3: Preview the searching results and recover the target ones.As we mentioned before, you can't access and view your important data on the unrecognized external hard drive. Usb drive not recognized mac os x.
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
Macbook Not Recognizing Flash 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.
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.
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- 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.
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. 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.
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.
Flash Drive Not Recognized Mac Os X Windows 10
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.
Format Flash Drive Mac Os
Step 1. 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.
Mac Not Reading Flash Drive
Step 2. After quick scan and deep scan, all files will be presented in the left pane in the scan results.
Step 3. Select files you want to recover and click Recover Now button. Don't save the recoverable files to the USB drive itself in case of data overwriting.