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Problem with USB Flash Drive

I bought a 1 GB USB flash drive from Walmart. When I went to backup some pictures onto it, I got a whirling rainbow ball & nothing worked. Coincidentally, it worked fine on a PC laptop.

macbook 9/08, Mac OS X (10.5.5), neophyte

Posted on Oct 3, 2008 11:31 AM

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Posted on Oct 3, 2008 11:42 AM

In order for it to work on a pc and a Mac, it needs to be in Fat32 format. Check to see if it's in NTFS format and if it is, copy your saved files to your pc and reformat (thus erasing the drive) it in Fat32.

Hope this helps -GDF
13 replies

Oct 3, 2008 1:01 PM in response to GfulDedFan

GfulDedFan wrote:
In order for it to work on a pc and a Mac, it needs to be in Fat32 format. Check to see if it's in NTFS format and if it is, copy your saved files to your pc and reformat (thus erasing the drive) it in Fat32.

Hope this helps -GDF


Many of the drives I've tried were formatted in FAT16. Not sure about the newer ones - if they came formatted in FAT32 or NTFS.

In any case, OSX should be able to read NTFS formatted drives, even if it can't write to them.

Oct 3, 2008 2:30 PM in response to GfulDedFan

GfulDedFan wrote:
True that but I think he was trying to write to it.


He did say "whirly ball". I took it to mean that it stalled and never managed to mount at all.

Can't figure out exactly what to say unless the brand and model of the drive is given. It could be a basic incompatibility, although most USB flash drives can be accessed with generic drivers for that device type.

Oct 3, 2008 3:53 PM in response to *kaal*

Odd...

Try another USB port (obvious, but can sometimes fix things).

Then in disk utility, right click on the disk's volume (which is like Macintoch HD, rather than the disk) and choose unmount - this deals with the hardware, the pen drive's storage chip rather than attempting to use it as a hard drive (of any kind).

Attempt to restore it to an Apple format, then if successful, go again but for FAT.

Other than that, its safe to assume you may have a pen drive that is just incompatible with the way the Mac driver for USB mass storage device's is designed (which is VERY odd).

If you're as determined as I would be to prove otherwise, attempt using another Mac, or another installation of OS X. Try booting from the install DVD, plugging the device in and using disk utility.

Keep me posted: I'm captivated for a very sad reason!

Oct 3, 2008 4:16 PM in response to *kaal*

Sounds like it's one of the following. Only the last one claims any kind of Mac OS compatibility, although I'd think it would use a standard protocol that would be accessed by generic drivers that should be in the OS. It's probably something other than the drivers if you can see it in Disk Utility but can't seem to format it.

http://www.retailplus.com/productsfeature.php?productId=83
http://www.retailplus.com/productsfeature.php?productId=85
http://www.retailplus.com/productsfeature.php?productId=93

I'd suggest maybe taking it to an Apple Store, but I think the cost of the fuel and ferry ride would cost considerably more than just purchasing a different one. A SanDisk Cruzer micro works fine in any machine I've tried. I'd be surprised if you couldn't fine a 1GB version for under $20 on sale somewhere near you.

Oct 3, 2008 5:29 PM in response to Liam Erskine

To summarize 1st - I'm going to return the drive & get something else.

Here's what happened after inserting drive got dialog box:
Disk Insertion - the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.
Initialize/Ignore/Eject
Initialize - brings up Disk Utility
left pane reads
981 USB disk Media
disk1s1
info reads
Mount Point - Not Mounted
Format - MS-DOS (FAT32)

All further attempts to erase & bring to format FAT failed as before

Reformated drive in a PC to FAT

Reinserted into MacBook & Disk Utility info reads Format - MS-DOS (FAT16)

end of story!! I don't think this is worth the effort.

Problem with USB Flash Drive

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