Fix 2: Change Finder preferences to show up USB flash drive on Mac desktop. 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. Now that the flash drive not Recognized problem is solved on your Windows or Mac computer, make sure you had back-up all important documents in the flash drive. This is to ensure that you will be able to access the files stored in the flash drive should it happens again.

• Mac Flash Drive Format
• Flash Drives For Mac Computers
• Flash Drive Icon Does Not Appear In My Mac
• Using Flash Drive On Mac

I stored the important data in USB flash drive, one day, when attempting to access it and I get a message: 'The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer. There are three buttons: Initialize, Ignore, Eject'

Solution 1: Fix unreadable USB flash drive with Disk Utility

macOS built-in disk utility: First Aid has the ability to fix unreadable USB flash drive error.

Step 1: Open Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility.

Step 2: Select the unreadable USB flash drive.

Step 3: Run First Aid to fix the unreadable USB flash drive.

If First Aid fails to repair the unreadable USB flash drive, please go to solution 2 to recover lost data from unreadable USB flash drive.

Solution 2: Recover lost data from unreadable USB flash drive

As a professional USB drive data recovery software, M3 Data Recovery for Mac can recover lost data from unreadable hard drive, recover lost data from deleted/lost APFS partition, recover deleted files emptied from Trash, recover lost data from corrupted APFS drive,recover lost data from unmounted APFS drive, recover lost data from encrypted APFS drive, recover lost data from formatted drive, etc. on macOS 11 Big Sur/10.15 Catalina/10.14 Mojave/10.13 High Sierra/10.12 and Mac OSX 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8.

Tutorial to recover lost data from unreadable USB flash drive

Step 1: Download, install and launch M3 Data Recovery for Mac software on your Mac computer.

Step 2: Select the unreadable USB flash drive.

Step 3: M3 Data Recovery for Mac is scanning the data from unreadable USB flash drive.

Step 4: Select the found files you expect to recover and then click Recover to save them.

Solution 3: Fix the unreadable USB flash drive by reformatting

If USB flash drive doesn't important data, you can directly erase it and then it will be working again after the format completes. If there is important data, you can format the unreadable USB flash drive after data recovery is successfully done. Following is step-by-step tutorial to erase unreadable USB flash drive on Mac:

Step 1: Launch Disk Utility from Utilities.

Step 2: Click the icon for unreadable USB flash drive in the sidebar on the left.

Step 3: Click the Erase tab along the top of the window and enter the related information.

Step 4: Click the Erase button.

Step 5: Click the Erase button to reformat unreadable USB flash drive, the unreadable USB flash drive will be working again after format completes.

Detailed tutorial: How to format USB flash drive on Mac?

Mac Flash Drive Format

Solution 4: Seek help from a local data recovery service

If USB flash drive is still not readable by any Mac data recovery software, please send it to a local data recovery service for help if you have important data.

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• “One of the USB device attached to this computer has malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, click this message.'
• 'The device you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.'
• “Flash drive not recognized”
• 'Drive did not load successfully.'

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.

Recover data from not recognized USB flash drive – Remo Recover

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:

• First download and install Remo Recover software on your computer & launch the tool
• From main screen select ‘Recover Drives’ option
• Now click on ‘Formatted Recovery’ option on the consecutive screen
• Here list of available drives will be displayed and choose the one from which you need to recover files
• Software now scans the drive and displays all recovered files from the drive
• You can then preview and save files on any secure storage medium

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:

Easy Methods to Fix “Flash Drive Not Recognized” Problem in Windows

Method 1: Scan the Flash Drive for Issues

Flash Drives For Mac Computers

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.

Methods to Fix “Flash Drive Not Recognized” Problem in Mac

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

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;

Flash Drive Icon Does Not Appear In My Mac

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

Using Flash Drive On Mac

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.