Category: Mac

Summary:

Are you unable to access your USB data because your Mac does not recognize the USB Flash drive? Don’t worry, read this article to know easy methods to fix USB not recognized in Mac issue.

Table of contents:

Why is the flash drive not showing up on the Mac?

How to fix the USB drive not showing up on Mac?

Basic Checks to Fix USB is Not Showing Up on Mac

Fix USB not recognized on Mac- 4 Ways

How to access data from unrecognized USB on Mac?

FAQs

Mac won’t show up or not recognize the USB drive is the most common problem that USB users experience.  Here are a few symptoms and reasons that help you understand the cause behind the problem.

Why is my flash drive not showing up on Mac?

There are several reasons behind USB flash drive not recognized by Mac, a few common of them are listed below:

Problem with USB port: A loose or broken port connection may cause Mac to not recognize the USB. In such situations, all you can do is verify the connection of USB with Mac. Therefore, you will be able to find the problem with the port or cable.

Problem with USB formatting: It is important to format the flash drive before its first use. If the USB is not formatted, this could lead to the problem of the USB drive not showing up on the Mac.

USB Driver Issue: If the USB driver is outdated or corrupted the problem USB drive not showing up on Mac could be encountered.

Compatibility issue:  If the operating system is not regularly updated on your Mac OS, it may affect your system’s ability to recognize Flash drives.

Symptoms of USB not showing up on Mac

Here are a few signs that indicate your USB not showing up on Mac:

1. 1.   When you insert your flash drive on Mac, a notification pops up on the window about the connection on your system. If your Mac doesn’t show any notification, it is a possible sign of Mac not recognizing your USB device.

1. 2.   All Macintosh operating systems are integrated with Finder. Finder acts as a file manager by default and a GUI for Mac. When you connect a USB Flash drive to your Mac PC, a message pops on the Finder. If you didn’t see a message, it means that Mac is unable to read the USB.

When you encounter the above scenarios of external drive not recognized on Mac, all you must do is fix the issue immediately. Before fixing the problem, here are basic checks that you would prefer to perform.  

Quick Fixes for USB Not Showing Up on Mac

1. 1.   Check all your USB plug-in ports. Change the USB port and use the USB on other ports (ports from another MacBook as well). make sure you try all the accessible USB ports on your Mac.
   2.  At times, your Mac might recognize the USB but not shown in the notification. In such situations, just follow the simple procedure to make it visible on your Mac.

Go to Finder >> Preferences >> General, make sure to check the “External disks” box. Now, you’ll see the USB flash drive showing up on Mac.

1. 3. When you are not able to find the USB of your Mac or Finder, try to verify once in the System Information section. You can also check the USB flash drive information.

Go to Applications >> Utilities >> System Information Check if the system recognizes the USB drive. If you see USB in the system information, it is likely that your Mac recognizes the USB.

1. 4.   A problem could be with outdated firmware or software. Check whether your Mac is up-to-date. Also, keep check with firmware updates, various hardware issues and the scalability of the USB ports.  

If you tried all the above basic fixes and are still unable to find USB in your Mac, try the methods explained in the next section.

 4 Ways to Fix USB Is Not Showing Up on Mac

Follow the steps carefully for fixing the problem of Mac not recognizing the USB flash drive:

Method 1: Detect a USB drive by Resetting the USB ports on Mac

1. 1. 1.   Restart Mac computer >> press the Command +Option+P+R keys for the Apple logo appears.
      2.   Press Command+Option+Esc keys together to close all applications.
      3.   Now, plug the USB which is not showing up to your Mac computer. If the USB flash drive is not recognized by Mac, click on the Apple icon and select Sleep.
      4. Later, wake up the computer, by pressing any key. Now shut down the Mac, unplug the power cord and reattach the USB flash drive after a few seconds.

      If this method doesn’t help you detect the USB on Mac, follow the next methods explained below.

If this method doesn’t work for you to detect the US on Mac, follow the next methods to explained in the section.

Method 2: Repair USB flash drive with First Aid

If USB flash drive is not showing up on Mac due to corruption, this method might just help you fix it. Every Mac computer comes with an in-built troubleshooting tool called First Aid in Disk Utility. The function of this utility is to detect the disk issues related to file systems and fix it.

1. 1.   Go to Applications >> Utilities >> Disk Utility.
   2.   Select USB flash drive on the left panel of Disk Utility
   3.   Click First Aid at the top toolbar >> click Run.
   4.   Select the USB drive >> click Unmount at the top toolbar,

   Unplug the USB and plug it back in after sometime. Surely, Disk Utility will repair any errors on the drive automatically and fix the problem of Mac not recognizing the USB flash drive.

   Method 3: Check and fix errors with Terminal to fix undetected USB on Mac

   1.   Open Terminal in Utilities and type: diskutil list >> press Return
   2.   Now, find the disk number of your USB flash drive and type: diskutil info disk2 and press Return. (Make sure you replace number 2 with the disk number of your USB flash drive.)
   3.   Type: diskutil eject disk 2 >> press Return
   4.   Type: diskutil list >> press Return. USB drives will not be appearing on the list now. close the window.
   5.   Now, close Terminal and open Console to check for any drive errors. Click on Errors and Faults to check if there are any errors.

   At last, reconnect your USB flash drive back to Mac, if no error shows up, your USB flash drive is safe and should be recognized by Mac

Method 4: Reformat the drive that is not showing up on Mac

As reformatting the drive will erase all the data from the USB, make sure you have the back up of the data. If you do not have any backup and still your USB is not detected by Mac, you can recover data from the Mac systems before you reformat the USB drive.

Steps to recover data before reformatting USB flash drive on Mac

Download and install the SFWare USB data recovery software for Mac on your computer. Connect your USB that was not recognized by Mac and launch the application. Follow the steps to recover data from the USB on Mac.

1. 1.   Select Recover Drive/Partitions from the main screen. Choose Drive/Partition Recovery from the next window.
   2.   Select the unrecognized USB drive from the listed list of available drives to recover data. And click on Next
   3.   Select the file types that you would want to recover from the USB drive on Mac and click on Next. This initiates the scan for the formatted data from the USB.
      
      
   4.   Recoverable data from the USB drive is listed on the screen. Select the data you want to save on your computer and click on Save. You can also save the recovery session and resume incase if you have to stop the recovery process in between.

As mentioned above method, reformatting will surely fix the problem of USB being unable to be detected by Mac. However, the same will cost your important data saved on the USB. In such a situation, all you need is the safe and secure data recovery software to recover formatted data from the Mac.

Steps To format the USB drive in Disk Utility:

Disk reformatting basically helps you fix several USB issues, including the not showing up USB on both windows and Mac.

1. 1. 1.   Go to Utilities >> open Disk Utility.
      2.   Select the not showing up USB flash drive in the Disk Utility sidebar.
      3.   Click Erase on the top.

Conclusion:

USB not showing up or not recognized on Mac is a common problem that users face. This can be solved with the help of the methods mentioned above in the article. If you ever come across data loss scenarios, you can always rely on the SFWate USB data recovery software to recover data from any sort of USBs.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How to recognize the USB on Mac?

To recognize the USB on Mac, you can make use of the basic checks with the USB ports or connection with Mac. If this is due to corrupt USB, you might have to try repairing USB with Disk Utility or with Terminal. The best method could be to reformat it. Also, you can update the software and firmware to fix unrecognized or undetected USB on Mac.

How to find the USB on Mac?

When you connect the USB Flash drive on the system, Mac OS will automatically read the Flash drive. A window will pop-up showing the content of the drive. If you are not able to see it, you can access it through Finder.

Summary:

If you APFS, HFS+ or HFS Partitions cannot be accessed on Mac, that could be a possibility of corrupt or damaged partition. This article helps you to understand the problem and better chance of accessing your data before it gets too late. Repair the Mac HFS+, APFS Partitions and recover the lost data from the drive efficiently.

APFS is the latest format used by the macOS. Your macOS Big Sur, Catalina, or Mojave are partitioned in APFS format in the internal storage drive. macOS Sierra or OS X Lion or any later versions internal drive is either partitioned with HFS+ or HFS format. Irrespective of the macOS version you are using, you can repair your Mac partition using the method described in the article.

When MacOS gets corrupted or damaged, the data stored in the drive cannot be accessed. Before heading to the solutions to fix the corrupt drive, let’s see some of the symptoms seen on the Mac APFS, HFS partitions.

Symptoms of corrupt or damaged Mac Partitions

• Mac Applications unexpectedly quit
• Computer stops responding to any input
• Files won’t respond to any of the actions
• Failed transfer of files and folders and Mac might refuse to start
• Sometimes Mac volumes are not recognized on the disk

Once you are aware of the indications of corruption on Mac partitions, it is important to fix the APFS, HFS+ Mac partitions.

Repair Corrupt/Damaged APFS or HFS Partition by Using Disk Utility

Disk Utility is the most used macOS Utilities to repair the Mac drives. It is an inbuilt system feature that manages all the disks/drives on Mac. The main functionality of disk utility is to verify your disk’s integrity and fix if any damage or the corruption is observed.

To repair Mac APFS, HFS+ partitions, follow the instructions given below:

Step 1: Press Command + Space Bar to launch Spotlight, a desktop search feature

Step 2: Type disk utility and press Return. The Disk Utility window will open.

Step 3: If you do not see a Disk Utility yet, navigate to Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility

Note: Finder helps the Mac users to find files and launching other applications. Sometimes, Finder won’t be responding. If the Finder on your Mac stops responding, here is 7 methods to fix Finder not responding or working when you Start your Mac

Step 4: Double-click on the Disk Utility icon to launch it. Now, from the left pane of the Disk Utility window select an APFS or HFS partition

Step 5: From the top pane, click the First Aid tab à click Run.

Now, Disk Utility scans and analyze the partition and repair if any logical errors are present on drives.

What if Disk Utility fails to repair the Mac Drive?

After the completion of process, you should be able to access the APFS, HFS, HFS+ drives without any obstacles. There might be scenarios where Disk Utility fails to repair the disk. If Disk Utility can’t repair the partition, try backing up as much data as possible.

The chances are less likely to get a backup when the drive is severely corrupted or inaccessible. in such situations, it is recommended to make use of a trusted Mac Data Recovery Software to keep your data safe and secure.

SFWare Data Recovery for Mac is the most reliable and recommended tool by the professionals for its data security and integrity.  The tool scans every sector of the drive to find the corrupt or lost data from the Mac drive.  You can easily recover data from APFS, HFS macOS partitions in a jiffy. As an added advantage, you can make use of the one software on any macOS including the latest Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, Mohave, High Sierra and more.

Recover Data from Corrupt APFS, HFS+ Partitions using SFWare

To recover lost or corrupt data from APFS, HFS partitions on Mac, all you need to do is, Download the SFWare Data Recovery Software for Mac on your computer and launch the application. Follow the next steps given below to recover data from the Mac partitions securely.

1. Select Recover Drives from the main screen. Next, Recover Drive/ Partition Recovery option
   
2. Next, the all the available drives will be displayed on the screen. Select the APFS, HFS+/HFS drives and click on Next option
   
3. Now, select the corrupt drive on Mac. The Software initializes it’s scanning process to reach the drive’s each sector.
   
4. After the completions of process, you can view recoverable files either in Data View or File Type View. Select the required files you need to recover and click on save button
   

Once the recovery process finishes, you can check each file by previewing them before saving. Later, select and save files on your computer.

Summary:

macOS not recognizing HFS partition on your Mac? What if the HFS volume is not found? If HFS volume is not found on Mac, data stored on drive cannot be accessible. With the help of this article, you will be able to gain access to lost HFS data and reasons that caused the trouble along with the troubleshooting methods to fix the same.

HFS/ HFS+ is a file system in Apple Inc for Mac computers. HFS is the file system used in the earlier versions of Mac. Though HFS has been replaced by HFS+ and APFS file system, most of the Mac systems still use HFS file system to store system data. HFS volume not found error could be the result of a severely corrupted drive. Generally, the error is evidently seen while you try to format the disk to get rid of corruption on the disk.

Quick Navigation

• Causes for the error
• Indications of HFS/HFS+ volumes  not found
• Recover inaccessible data from HFS/ HFS+ or APFS Volume
• Fix no Mac HFS volumes found problem

Reasons Behind the Error HFS Mac Volume Not Found

There are various reasons that lead to the corruption in Mac drives and the error. A few of them are listed below.

Inappropriate Read/Write Operation: if read/write operations on drive are interrupted, Mac volume gets corrupted. This leads to the error no Mac HFS volume found.

Formatting: Sometimes formatting the drive intentionally or unintentionally causes an error.

Multiple sharing of data: When data on a single volume is shared across multiple unsupported system, file system becomes inaccessible and corrupt.

Corruption in header: Headers contains the information about the file or the drive, if any interruptions are caused, data becomes inaccessible and could generates the error HFS volume not found.

Corruption in Catalog file node: It is a system generated file that keeps the record of file types and accessing type.

Boot Sector problem: If Mac system fails to load, you won’t be able to access the stored data files and might cause issues with Mac file system.

Kernel panic issues, hardware and software issues, accidental deletion of Mac HD, improper installations of program files or any modifications in BIOS setting could also lead to the issue HFS not found on Mac system.

Symptoms of the error No Mac HFs Volume Found

1. File system gets crashed and freezes frequently
2. System rums slow and sluggish
3. System often shut downs automatically after few minutes of use
4. Unable to find .dmg file error appears on screen often
5. Cannot access any data stored on your computer
6. Also, file not found or access denied errors while trying to access any data on Mac.

All the above-mentioned indications point to severe damage and Disk Utility can also not repair the disk if they are not fixed early. Also, the methods to fix the issue may involve data loss scenarios. Therefore, it is recommended to recover inaccessible data Mac HFS and then try fixing the error.

Note: Stop using your Mac immediately if you come across any data inaccessibility or data loss scenarios. Using your computer may overwrite the lost data and Mac data recovery becomes challenging.

If data itself cannot be accessed, you cannot try any manual methods. In such situations, all you need is a trusted Mac Data Recovery Software.

SFWare Mac Data Recovery software not only helps you restore inaccessible data but, also helps recover corrupted or formatted data without modifying it. The tool is compatible with all versions of mac and supports recovery for HFS, HFS+ and APFS as well. You can try the trial version of software for free.

Mac HFS Volume Not Found: How to Recover Data from Inaccessible Mac Drive?

Download and install SFWare Mac Data Recovery Software on your computer to recover data from HFS drive partitions and access data. Using SFWare, you can recover data from HFS, HFS+ and APFS volumes flawlessly.

1. First step is to, select Recover Drives from the main screen and next, select Drive/Partition recovery to retrieve a healthy data from the HFS drive that is not detected
   
2. Now, Select the Disk you need to repair. Once disk is selected, the tool displays the volume.
3. Next, select the Volume to continue the process. Scanning is initiated (scanning time depends on the volume of the drive chosen to recover)
4. Once the scanning process completes, all the recoverable files on the selected Mac drive will be displayed in Data View or File Type View.
5. You can preview the files to be recovered. If you are satisfied with the results, you can save the files in your desirable location on your PC that has enough storage to hold the data.

Once your data has been secured, try fixing the issues caused due to the corruption in the HFS file system.

Troubleshooting steps to Fix Mac HFS/HFS+ Not Found

Here are some of the manual methods that are helpful in fixing the issues like No Mac HFS is found. With the help of these repair methods, you will be able to fix any disk related issues on Mac.

Method 1: Fix HFS/HFS+ not found on Mac using First Aid option

First Aid is the first option that any Mac user should try when there appear any disk related issues. It helps fixing logically damaged or corrupted HFS partition. To fix HFS not found or recognized on macOS using Disk Utility, follow the below given steps-

1. To open Disk Utility, Start or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold Command + R Release the keys when the Apple logo appears. This will boot into Mac Recovery Mode, now you can click on macOS Utilities -> Disk Utility -> Continue to open the utility.

2. Select Macintosh HD the startup disk from the sidebar of Disk Utility, then click the First Aid tab -> Run. This initiates the repair process.

Once the process is complete, restart your computer and verify if the problem still exists on the drive.

Method 2: Fix HFS not Found on Mac by Formatting in Disk Utility

Disk Utility is the system tool that performs all the disk related and volume related tasks on macOS. Formatting is Mac disk is the best suited method to fix corruption on the disk when volume is not found on the computer.

Note: This process erases all the data present of the disk, make sure you have a backup or recover data from HFS, HFS+ partitions.

1. Launch Disk Utility by Clicking on Applications → Utilities → Disk Utility or boot up the Mac and hold Command + R as it boots.
2. Make sure the Macintosh HD startup disk is highlighted in your Disk Utility window, now select Erase
3. When a pop-up widows appears, change the Format to macOS you want on your Mac machine.
4. Click on Quit Disk Utility in the Disk Utilities menu.

Now you will be prompted to reinstall macOS. Select on Install macOS. After the new macOS is installed, your computer will be successfully factory reset with program files and no traces of corruption.

Conclusion

Be it HFS or HFS+ or the new APFS, every file system is prone to corruption due to various reasons. It’s vital for any user to follow basic protocols like ejecting the drive safely, have a UPS backup to avoid any power surges etc to avoid any vulnerability to corruption or data loss. The above-mentioned methods help to fix any disk related issues occurred on Mac machines. If your data is at stake, you can always rely on SFWare, the most recommended data recover software for Mac.

If you were able to fix the error successfully using the methods mentioned in the article, do share your thoughts in the comment section below. Also, comment if you have any queries  or any other methods that helped you fix the error.

Summary:

Disk Utility is the most used macOS Utilities to repair the Mac drives. Disk Utility failing to repair the disk could be serious problem. This could be due to severe corruption on the drive. The error can be seen on both internal and external drives when the disks get corrupted. Here is a simple guide that helps you fix the error using easy troubleshooting methods. Also, it involves simple methods recovery tips to keep your data safe.

What does Mac Disk Utility do?

It is an inbuilt system feature that manages all the disk on Mac. The main functionality of disk utility is to verify your disk’s integrity and fix if any damage or the corruption is observed. Also, this is the foremost utility used to mount, unmount any disk volumes including both internal and external hard disks.

Whenever the disk isn’t working properly on Mac, the first thing we usually do is running First Aid to repair the errors on the disk. But what if Disk Utility cannot repair the disk and displays the error Disk Utility can’t repair Macintosh HD. This would clearly say Mac disk utility repair failed to fix the issue.

If you are wondering what might be the reason behind the disk utility failure, here are a few main reasons.

What Causes Disk Utility Can’t Repair This Disk Error?

Generally, Disk Utility is most efficient tool to fix corruption on the macOS. If disk utility is failed to  fix the drive, the most possible reason is severe corruption on disks.  Here are few reasons that leads disk utility to not work:

• A corruption in the firmware might be one of the reasons leading to the disk utility issues.
• Severely corrupted data on the disk or damaged drive.
• Besides all the above reasons, outdated version on macOS, bad sectors on the drive and malware could also be responsible for the problem.

If you are wondering how to repair your Disk without a Disk Utility, the best workarounds explained in the further sections of the article. Before heading to repair, please make sure you have a backup of your important data from the disk.

If your data is already backed up, you can skip the following section and dive into alternative repair methods when Disk Utility can’t repair the disk.

Most likely, any repair technique might involves data loss from the disk repaired. Hence, it is always recommended to recover your data from the disk.

To take back up of data, you could make use of any external drives or on Mac you can make use of Time  Machine.

How to Back Up Data using Time Machine on Mac?

Time Machine utility helps you to take a backup from of data from any storage devices including internal drives, network-attached disks, and most commonly used with external disk drives.

To back up your Mac data, use an external storage device with enough storage space and follow the steps given below.

1. Firstly, connect the external hard disk to your Mac computer.
2. Navigate to the Apple menu, click the Apple icon and select System Preferences.
3. Select Time Machine on System Preferences panel. Now, click on the Select Disk and choose the external disk you have, to store your data.
4. Now, click on Use Disk. From the Time Machine menu, click on Back Up now option

Wait until the process completes. Later, verify with the data backed up on storage disks.

Time Machine should help you back up your data without any hassle. But, Time Machine does have some limitations. That is, if the data is severely damaged, there might be a problem in backing up it. Also, if you are trying to backup a corrupt data, most likely the data backed up will also be corrupted.

what if your drive becomes inaccessible due to severe corruption? Or Mac Recovery Mode is itself not working. Here is safe tool that can completely recover data even from severely corrupt drives on Mac.

SFWare Mac Data Recovery Software is the most recommended and best suited tool to recover data from the severely corrupted drives on Mac. With its effective search algorithm, the tool scans each sector of the drive to recover data from any inaccessible/ corrupt drives. Therefore, you can easily retrieve data from the drive showing the error Disk Utility can’t repair the disk. Download the software and try it for free now…

How to Recover Data from the Drive displaying error “Disk utility can’t repair this disk”?

To recover data from the corrupt Mac HDD, Download and install the SFWare Mac Data Recovery Tool for Mac on your computer. Launch the tool.

(If you are trying to recover data from the external disks, connect the disk to the PC where software is located)

1. First step is to, select Recover Drives from the main screen and next, select Drive/Partition recovery to retrieve a healthy data from the drive Disk Utility failed to repair.
   
2. Now, Select the Disk you need to repair. Once disk is selected, the tool displays the volume.
   
3. Next, select the Volume to continue the process. Scanning is initiated (scanning time depends on the volume of the drive chosen to recover)
   
4. Once the scanning process completes, all the recoverable files on the selected Mac drive will be displayed in Data View or File Type View.
   
5. You can preview the file to be recovered. If you are satisfied with the results, you can save the files in your desirable location on your PC that has enough storage to hold the data.

With the help of SFWare, not only lost or deleted files, you can also recover accidentally deleted Macintosh HD from Disk Utility.

Once the data is recovered from the disk showing Disk Utility cannot repair the disk, go ahead and fix the error using simple yet easy manual methods.

How to Fix the error “Disk Utility can’t repair the disk” issue?

If Disk Utility is not working and showing an error, you can fix Disk Utility can’t repair this drive error using FSCK command or by reformatting the drive.

Fix 1: Use Single User Mode to fix the error

Single user mode fix damage or corruption on the disks using commands. Follow the steps to run the command to repair the corrupt drive.

1. First, Restart your Mac. Before the Apple logo appears, press Command + S This command helps you to boot your Mac into Single User Mode.
2. Now, Type in the command to repair the Mac drive:

/sbin/fsck -fy

(/sbin/fsck -fy : Command checks for any logical error present on the drive and repairs them and stands for force file system check.)

3. If File system was modified displays on the screen, re-type the command /sbin/fsck -fy until The volume _ appears to be OK message appears on screen.
4. Lastly, to exit the single user mode, to restart your Mac, type in: reboot

After rebooting the computer, check if the error exists or repaired.

Fix 2: Fix the error Disk Utility can’t repair the disk by reformatting the drive

Note: Reformatting the drive will erase all the data from the drive.  Make sure your important files and data is backed up. if you are is secures, follow the steps given below:

1. Navigate to Applications. Select Utilities and click on Disk Utility.
2. Select the drive (external hard drive) and click Erase displayed on top.
3. Give a name to the drive and select a format (File System) to re-format the drive to the new and clean File system without corruption.

Process may take a while to complete. Wait until the process finishes and restart your Mac.

What if your external drive is not recognized on mac? You can still fix the external drive get recognized and repair the drive.

Fix 3. Repair Startup Disk Using macOS Recovery Mode

All Macs come with a recovery mode to help users recover their Macs and get their Macs back into good condition again. You can reinstall macOS and restore data under this mode, also can repair startup disk.

Steps to Repair Disk Utility Using Recovery Mode

1. Restart your Mac and boot into Recovery mode.
2. press and hold Command+R when restarting the Mac, then enter your Mac password to enter the recovery mode. Or press and hold Power button until you see “Loading startup options”, then select Options and press Return.
3. Choose Disk Utility and run First Aid to fix your disk under the recovery mode.

Conclusion:

Corruption or damage on the drive is inevitable. Therefore, always make sure you keep a backup. with the help of above-mentioned methods, you should be able to fix the error Disk Utility cannot repair this disk easily.

If you were able to fix the error and recover data using the steps given in the article, do write to us in the comment section below.