USB Drive shows up on desktop but not in finder/attachments

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Level 1

8 points

USB Drive shows up on desktop but not in finder/attachments

Ever since I updated to Big Sur, my usb drive shows up on the desktop but I can't find it in finder, when I need to add attachments to emails, or any other finder-like capability which is extremely frustrating considering the frequency with which I need to perform these things. I have already gone to the Finder preferences to be sure that external disks are enabled and they are. This wasn't an issue before the update. Is there any fix to this? I can't keep moving files to the desktop to attach to emails and other platforms, and I work on two different computers in different locations (and the other is a PC) and need to be able to use my usb.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Dec 18, 2020 10:19 AM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,036 points

Dec 18, 2020 5:02 PM in response to december272

Are they enabled in the Sidebar? There are two places to enable drives, Desktop and Sidebar. From your description, I can't tell if that is what you have set.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,036 points

Dec 18, 2020 6:32 PM in response to december272

Ok, the only other thing I can think of is your Open File dialogs are in the "minimalist" mode. Look for an arrow button next to the file name field and click on it. Does that show the sidebar?

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

135,389 points

Dec 29, 2020 8:33 PM in response to december272

Do you have "Put hard drives to sleep when possible" enabled in System Preferences > Energy Saver? I just noticed the open/save windows take time to populate the Locations (drives), even in Catalina.

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Answer 4

december272 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 29, 2020 8:24 PM in response to Barney-15E

My sidebar is displayed. I see what you are talking about, but it’s not in minimalist mode. I can see all the other areas housed on my computer such as downloads, documents, iCloud Drive etc. just not my usb drive. But my usb drive shows up on the desktop, and when I click on it, I can access it. The problem comes when I want to save anything or attach or upload anything from/to it- then it does not come up in finder sadly, making it impossible to use. Thank you for all of your responses so far.

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