Flash drives are convenient devices that can be used to store data and the stored data can also be easily retrieved at any time. Unfortunately, situations may arise when you are in urgent need of your saved data, important document files, or even pictures but can't seem to access them from your drive because your Mac computer can't find it. Either way, you can find your drive in the list of locations—remember that flash drives are often called Untitled or have funky names. Copying Files to and from Your Drive The Files app works a bit like the Mac's Finder in that it lets you copy files by dragging or by using Copy and Paste.
Here is the answer to how do i get my computer to recognize a USB device. Try the offered troubleshooting steps if your USB drive is not detected, recognized or showing up while plugging in.
'I have an 8 GB Transcend flash drive. When I plug it in my laptop for data transfer, it is not even detected and I can not see it in My Computer. Why did this happen and is there any fix that I can try to get the USB device recognized?'
Five Steps to Get USB Recognized
Have you ever run into a similar USB device not recognized issue? The symptoms of the problem vary in different situations. You may
- Receive a USB device malfunctioned error in the lower right corner with 'The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.' error message.
- See unknown USB device (device descriptor request failed) error in device manager.
- Get no error message but just find the USB drive not showing up in my Computer.
1 - Check If the USB Device is Recognized on Another Laptop.
If it is still not detected, it suggests that the USB device might be corrupted. Then you will need to check and repair disk errors.
If it is detected, move to the next step to check and fix the problem.
2 - Run Device Troubleshooter.
1) Go to Start > Control Panel > search 'troubleshooter' and then click 'Troubleshooting' > Hardware and Sound > Configure a Device.
2) Follow on-screen instruction, and click on Apply this fix if any problem is found.
This helps if USB device not recognized happens because of Windows miss other important updates hardware or due to software issues. If it doesn't work, move to step 3.
3 - Uninstall and re-install USB controllers
1) Open Device Manager.
2) Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers. Right-click a device and select Uninstall. Repeat for each device.
3) Restart your PC and your USB controllers will automatically re-installed.
Your computer will then recognize the USB device if the issue occurred because the currently loaded USB driver has become unstable or corrupted. And if the problem still exists, proceed to step 4.
4 - Disable USB selective suspend setting.
1) Click Start button, type power plan in the Search box, and then select Choose a power plan.
2) Next to your currently selected plan, select Change Plan Settings.
3) Select Change advanced power settings.
4) Select the box to expand USB Settings > USB selective suspend settings.
5) Select Plugged in, select the drop-down menu, and then select disabled.
6) If you're using a laptop, select Battery, select the drop-down menu, and then select disabled.
7) Select Apply > OK.
Sqlpro studio 2020 18 may. This method can help your computer recognize a USB device by preventing your USB external drive from powering down. Mac os x snow leopard 10 7 update download.
5 - Recover data and reformat the USB drive to make it recognized
These are all the troubleshooting steps that you can try to make your computer recognize a USB device. Jumi remote for mac. If none of them resolve your issue, our advice is to try EaseUS data recovery software to recover your data and then format the USB drive for repair.
Step 1. Run USB data recovery software.
Connect the USB flash drive to your computer and launch EaseUS USB data recovery software on your PC. Select your USB drive which marks as a removable disk, and click 'Scan' to start finding your lost files.
Halo 2 0 4. Step 2. Scan all lost files from USB.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard will thoroughly scan your USB flash drive and find all your lost data on it. After the scanning process, use the Filter feature to filter a specific file type. Fox float 2018 manual. You can check and preview found USB files in this program.
Step 3. Restore all lost files from USB.
A double-click will allow you to preview the file results. Choose the target files and click 'Recover' to save them to a secure location on your PC or other external storage devices.
When it comes to problems with USB devices and their ports, the causes can be great in number and difficult to identify. Thumb drive issues are no different. Generally speaking, if your pen drive is not working, it's a hardware issue that can only be solved by replacing the malfunctioning component. That being said, this page contains steps users can run through to detect, if not solve, issues with their memory stick. Autotune online, free mac.
TipMany software issues can be fixed by keeping Microsoft Windows up-to-date. See: How to update a Microsoft Windows computer.
USB port issues
A good initial step is to try the thumb drive on a different computer. If it works, you know that the thumb drive is functional, and that the issue is related to a bad hardware or outdated drivers. If one computer can read the USB thumb drive, but another cannot, try the suggestions below.
- Try your thumb drive in multiple USB ports on the original computer. If any of them work, you have a bad USB port.
- If you are using a USB hub, try removing the hub and connecting the thumb drive directly to the computer instead of the hub.
- Front USB ports are often passive, which causes compatibility issues with some devices. If you are connecting to a port on the front of the computer, try using one on the back instead.
Older computer
Computers that are using USB 1.0 may not be compatible with some thumb drives meant for USB 2.0 and beyond. You can identify the generation of USB your computer uses through the following link.
PC vs. Mac thumb drive
There can be compatibility issues when attempting to read a PC formatted thumb drive on a Mac, or vice versa. If the thumb drive is working with one operating system, but not the other, it may have been formatted using either NTFS or HFS, causing compatibility issues. To get both systems to read the drive, we suggest formatting as FAT32 or MS-DOS using the steps mentioned below.
Notice
Formatting a drive erases any of its contents. We suggest saving any important drive data elsewhere before proceeding.
Windows users - format drive
- Press the Windows key + E or open Windows Explorer.
- In the window that appears, locate your thumb drive and right-click it.
- In the drop-down menu that appears, select Format.
- In the Format window, select the format of either FAT or FAT32 and click start.
Mac users - format drive
- In the Disk Utility section for your drive, format the drive as MS-DOS.
Find Flash Drive On Mac
Accessibility restrictions
Some companies or home users restrict access to a computer via removable media. This action is taken to keep unauthorized users from installing unwanted software or removing information from the machine. Best bluetooth keyboard for mac and windows. If USB permissions are disabled, you cannot use your thumb drive.
Can't Find Thumb Drive On Mac
Bad USB thumb drive
If the thumb drive cannot be read by a different computer and the latest drivers are installed, then it isn't functional.
Additional information
- See the flash drive and USB definitions for further information related links.
