Step 4: Using either the pointer or arrow keys on the keyboard, select the USB drive you wish to boot from. Once selected, either hit the Return key or double-click your selection. The machine will start to boot from the USB drive. Way 2: Set a Mac Boot from USB Drive using Startup Disk. Restart your computer. Sometimes you get lucky, and the easiest solution ends up fixing the biggest.
- Usb Flash Drive Not Recognized Windows 7
- Usb Flash Drive Not Recognized
- Mac Flash Drive To Pc
- Usb Flash Drive Not Found
- Flash Drive Not Recognized Mac
If you still can't boot from the USB flash drive, verify that you created the Mac OS installer on the USB flash drive while working in the same (or as close to) current Mac OS as you intend to write to the USB flash drive. Some users have problems creating a successful bootable USB flash drive because they attempt to follow Apple's instructions.
Summary
There are various symptoms that indicate your USB flash drive is not working. Where to find the mac address for alexa. It could be your USB not being recognized by the computer, USB not showing up, and more. Follow to learn how to fix USB flash drive not working or the same issue on your pen drive, USB thumb drive without losing data files.
How to Fix USB flash drive not working Windows 10/7?
Unplug the USB stick from the current port and computer, and try plugging into a different computer and/or USB port. If it works on the new USB port or computer, the USB port may be damaged or dead, or the computer itself may have a problem. And you can use EaseUS Data Recovery to recover data. Check if the port is clean, dust-free, and firm.
With a portable USB memory stick and flash drive, we can transfer work documents, school papers, multimedia files easily from PC or between USB drives in order to keep them as a backup or just be able to access the files everywhere. Only when the USB flash drive is not working, we find ourselves in trouble.
Symptoms of USB Flash Drive Not Working on Windows 10/7
When a USB stick is not working, the situations vary. The commonest cases are:
- 'USB device not recognized' keeps popping up and USB flash drive is not working
- USB Pen drive is detected but not showing up in My Computer
- You receive the notification 'Please insert a disk into removable disk (your USB flash drive)'
- You receive the notification 'The disk (your USB) is write-protected'
- You receive the notification 'USB stick needs to be formatted before you can use it'
Fix USB Flash Drive Not Working on Windows 10/7 Without Losing Data
The USB not working issues mentioned above are the most frequent ones people may encounter. To fix the specific USB errors, just click the link we left where the relevant solution has been provided.
In addition, it's necessary to learn the general troubleshooting methods in the following which show you what to do if USB flash drive is not working on Windows 10 or Windows 7.
First. Recover data when a USB flash drive is not working
Always give priority to your precious data in USB flash drive that is not working anymore. As long as Windows still detects the drive, you can download EaseUS hard drive recovery software to rescue your documents & large size multimedia files. Since there is the possibility of losing data during the fixes, it's highly recommended to recover data from your problematic USB in advance.
It only takes three steps to recover data from a USB flash drive that is not working with EaseUS recovery software.
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.
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. 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.
Second. Fix a USB flash drive that is not working (in three ways)
There are three options available for you.
Method 1. Try a different USB port or PC
Inserting the USB stick into another USB port on your PC or connect it to another PC to exclude that the causes is not from the USB flash drive itself.
Method 2. Update USB driver
There's another chance that your USB flash drive has no problem, and the error is caused by an outdated driver in your PC.
Step 1. To check for a new driver, go to Computer, right click on your USB's icon and click on 'Properties'.
Step 2. Go to the Hardware tab and find 'General USB Flash Disk USB Device'. Select it and click the'Properties' button below.
Step 3. In the next pop-up, click the 'Change settings' button.
Step 4. When a new pop-up appears, go to the 'Driver' tab and click the 'Update Driver' button.
Step 5. Next, select the first option 'Search automatically for updated driver software'and follow the instructions.
Method 3. Check & repair USB drive partition error
When your USB flash drive is corrupted, damaged or there are bad sectors on it, your USB flash drive will not work properly for sure. If your USB flash drive is corrupted or damaged, you can follow the steps below to repair your disk using the free partition manager - EaseUS Partition Master. If there are bad sectors on your USB, learn how to repair bad sectors here.
Step 1. Insert your USB flash drive into your computer and launch EaseUS Partition Master. Right-click the partition on your storage device and choose 'Check File System'.
Step 2.In the new window, keep the option 'Try to fix the errors if found' selected and click 'Start'.
Step 3.Then EaseUS Partition Master will automatically check and repair the file system error on your USB. When it has done, click 'Finish' to end the whole process.
Method 4. Format the USB stick that is not working
Another effective way to fix the file system errors on your USB flash drive is to format it directly. By doing so, you assign a new file system to your storage device and it will be usable again. You can take the last measure to fix the USB flash drive that is not working problem by formatting the drive and use it as new.
Step 1. Open EaseUS Partition Master. Find your USB flash drive and right-click the partition you want to format and choose 'Format'.
Step 2.Set a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.
Mac storage manager download. Step 3.Click 'OK' on the pop-up window to continue.
Step 4.Click the 'Execute Operation' button on the toolbar, then click 'Apply' to start formatting your USB drive.
The bottom line
When a USB flash drive is not working correctly, it could be quite annoying. However, if the device can still be detected by your computer, you should feel relieved since that means the files on it can be rescued with the help of data recovery software.
With the files kept safe somewhere else, you can continue fixing the not working error without worrying about any data loss. In addition to checking whether the problem is caused by other devices, it is useful to fix a USB that is not working by repairing the file system errors or formatting. I hope the issue with your USB can be successfully solved with the solutions provided here.
FAQs About USB Flash Drive Not Working
For those who have more questions about USB flash drive, you may follow and check answers below each question.
1. How can I repair my USB flash drive?
Basically, there are three ways that you can apply to repair your USB flash drive.
- Method 1. Canning and Repairing with Windows chkdsk.
- Method 2. Run Windows disk error checking.
- Method 3. Formatting USB to FAT32
Both Method 1 and Method 2 are able to repair errors on your disk from the command line. Formatting can reset your USB flash drive file system. Afterward, with EaseUS data recovery software, you can get your data back from a failed pen drive without losing files. You may refer to USB flash drive repair tool for help.
2. Why is my USB flash drive not showing up?
Play youtube on alexa from mac mini. If a driver is missing, out of date, or corrupted, your computer won't be able to load or access to your drive. Thus, your computer may not be able to recognize it.
Usually, the reasons for USB flash drive not showing are: 1). USB driver issues; 2). Drive letter conflicts; 3). File system errors.
And you can try to update USB drivers, change USB drive letter or reset the file system to fix this issue. For more details, refer to USB Not Showing Up in Windows 10/8/7.
3. Why does my flash drive not work?
Be it similar to the USB flash drive not showing issue, when a USB flash drive contains errors, corrupted file system, outdated USB drivers, or even losing drive letter, it all may not work on a computer.
You can try any method as shown on this page in the main content to make your flash drive work again:
- 1). Check flash drive connection, change USB port or PC.
- 2). Update flash drive drivers.
- 3). Check and repair flash drive errors.
- 4). Format and reset flash drive file system.
Summary: Have you ever come across USB drive detected but not accessible problem? If ‘Yes' then do not worry about it, just like I have provided solutions on how to fix/remove 'Read Only' error of USB, SD card & hard drive – similarly, in this post, I am providing very effective solutions on how to fix USB drive detected but not accessible issue on Windows and Mac. Just go through the solutions mentioned below.
Usb Flash Drive Not Recognized Windows 7
But before you proceed further to fix not accessible USB drive, you must first use USB drive data recovery software, to recover and keep backup of files – just to avoid data loss.
With the help of USB Drive Data recovery software, you can:
- Retrieve photos, videos and audio files from inaccessible USB drive
- Also restore digital media files from inaccessible SD card, flash drive, & external hard disk
- Preview recoverable files within the software before final recovery
- 100% read-only program, safe, risk free and secure to use
* Free version of the program only scans and previews recoverable objects.
USB drive detected but not accessible is a common problem particularly with new USB drive. However, you may also encounter the same issue with external storage devices such as hard drives, memory cards, pen drives, memory stick or flash drives. Due to this problem, whenever we connect external storage device with PC, it gets detected easily, but it doesn't allow us to access files or data stored within it.
Fortunately, this problem can be solved by following the below solutions. It is suggested that you must follow the solution one by one and check if your problem is fixed or not.
Solutions To Solve USB Drive Detected But Not Accessible Issue
So, if you are encountering the same issue in which your USB drive is detected but not showing or inaccessible in 'My Computer', then you can follow below-mentioned troubleshooting to fix this issue on Windows 10/8/7.
1. General Troubleshooting – Check USB Port
Before, you try any other technical solution, you must first check the USB port on your computer. Try to plug your USB in another USB port of your PC – if it works on another port then, the first USB port might be dead. If you are using a USB hub, then connect the drive directly and see if it is working or not – it is because some of the USB hubs are not able to provide enough power supply to function external drive.
If still, the drive doesn't show up in 'My Computer', then connect it to another PC's USB port, just to check whether the drive itself has got bad or corrupt or your PC has certain problems. You must check your drive appear in the computer's Disk Management window. If it does not show up then you might be using a dead drive that needs replacement.
2. Does your USB drive appears in My Computer
When you say USB detected but not accessible, then does it means that drive not allowing to access data stored within it or the drive detected but it is not showing up in My Computer.
When you said USB detected but not accessible, do you mean the pen drive not showing data or the pen drive detected but not showing in My Computer?
(i) If USB drive detected but you are not able to access it
If this is the case that your USB is recognized by computer, but you are not able to open files and folders stored within it, then it is recommended that you must use USB Drive Data Recovery famous as photo recovery software. It is capable enough to restore inaccessible files from USB, external hard drive, memory cards that gets detected but not accessible.
* Free version of the program only scans and previews recoverable objects.
This Digital Media Recovery tool, will help you to restore almost all files format of photos, videos and audio. This also restore files from write protected USB, locked memory cards, virus infected and corrupted USB flash drive. So, download this USB drive recovery software and get back inaccessible data.
(ii) If USB drive detected but not showing up in My Computer
This is what you should do, if your drive is detected but not showing in My Computer. Check if it appears in Disk Management.
Does not have any idea how to do it? Check below steps:
- To open Disk Management, click Start and type diskmgmt.msc in the search bar and hit ENTER.
- Now, Disk Management will get open, here you can check whether your USB is showing up or not.
Usb Flash Drive Not Recognized
3. Does your USB drive show up in Disk Management?
(i) If USB drive show up in Disk Management
If your USB appear in Disk Management but it is not accessible, then it means that drive got corrupted or there is error in the disk.
In this case, follow the below steps to fix this problem:
- Click Start> type msc in search bar and hit ENTER.
- This will open Computer Management.
- Now click on 'Disk Management' located on the left hand menu.
- In the Disk Management option, you can see the list of hard drive, this will also display your USB drive. Now right click on your USB drive and select 'Change Drive letter and paths'.
- A small window will pop-up. Click on 'change' and assign a new drive letter name to your USB. Always remember that you must assign the name which is not being used by any other drive.
That's All!
Once drive letter name changed, your USB drive will show up in My Computer and you will able to access data from it. If not then reboot your system and then check.
In major cases, this solution have seems to work great. However, if your USB does not appear even after following the above steps then it is suggested that you must use USB drive file recovery software as mentioned above to recover files from USB drive and after recovery you can proceed further to format or repair the drive.
(ii) If USB drive doesn't show up in Disk Management
If your USB drive is detected but it doesn't appear in Disk Management, then you can need to update the driver software. Below follow the steps to do this.
- Go to 'My Computer' and click on 'System Properties' and then on Device Manager located on left pane.
- Device Manager window will get open. Now, next to 'USB controller' click on the Plus (+)
- You will see a yellow exclamation mark. Right click and select 'update driver software' and choose 'automatically search for driver software online'.
Simply wait and let driver to get installed on your PC. Once the driver get installed, reboot your computer and then reconnect your USB and see whether you are able to access files stored within it.
Now let's know the solutions on how to fix USB drive detected but not accessible on Mac.
Solution To Fix USB Drive Detected But Not Accessible on Mac
Mac Flash Drive To Pc
You can make use of Disk utility feature to fix USB drive detected but not accessible on Mac.
Here follow the steps:
- Open Disk Utility by opening Spotlight (cmd+space-bar) and type Disk Utility and hit ENTER. Search in the list on the left and see if the USB drive appears there.
- If there is USB drive in Disk utility, then check underneath for a Volume. If it is available there, then click on it and select Mount. If your Mac has already mounted it then you will see unmount option instead.
- If Volume is not listed there, then it means that your Mac is not able to access drive. You will see that Mount option is greyed out.
- Here you will have three options – First Aid, Erase and Restore. Click on 'First Aid' option to check for errors and then repair the drive if required. If first aid detects any errors, then you can easily fix it by yourself by clicking on 'Repair Disk' option.
- If your Mac not able to repair the drive then it is likely that your USB drive is completely damaged or broken or drive is formatted using a file system that Mac cannot read.
- If you want to restore data from USB drive such as pictures, videos or audio files, then you can use Photo Recovery software which is a suitable USB drive data Recovery for Mac. But, if you do not want to restore data then you can simply click on Erase option to erase all data and your Mac will reformat your USB drive.
Usb Flash Drive Not Found
Some people also ask – how to fix flash drive not showing up on Mac?
Below find out the solution!
How To Fix Flash Drive Not Showing Up on Mac?
Well, in such a situation where your USB flash drive does not show up on your Mac computer, then you must consider to follow below solutions:
Check your Mac is set to show mounted flash drive on the desktop. Open Finder > Preferences > General and see that there is a tick beside external drive. If it is not ticked mark then tick mark it.
Make sure the flash drive is connected properly on your Mac. Also make sure that USB port is working and not damaged. Try plugging the drive to another USB port. If you have only one port, then plug another device and see if it works fine. Try to connect your drive to another Mac and see if you are able to access the drive on that Mac.
Conclusion
After going through the above solutions mentioned to fix USB drive detected but not accessible error, you will be easily able to fix this issue if you apply so. However, apart from this, if you ever find that the data from USB drive has been lost then you can try USB Drive Data Recovery Tool. This is the best option you can try to recover deleted data from USB flash drive.
Flash Drive Not Recognized Mac
Alex is an expert technical writer with 7+ years of experience. His in-depth knowledge about data recovery and fascination to explore new DIY tools & technologies have helped many. Alex has a great interest in photography and loves to share photography tips and tricks with others.
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