APFS Encrypted Flash Drive Not Detecting in MacBook Air

I Formate my Flash Drive with GUID Partition (APFS Encrypted) Method, and set a password for it.

But when I try to plug it back it did not detected.


Not Showing in Disk Utility (Show All Device)

Not Showing in Terminal (diskutil list, diskutil apfs list).

Posted on Oct 4, 2023 6:53 AM

Reply
1 reply
Question marked as Helpful

Oct 6, 2023 12:13 AM in response to sachinsuthar

Maybe you ran into a drive that didn't want to let the computer rewrite the area containing the partition map.


See: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253836173


I believe that when preparing a drive for use with Mac OS X Extended (HFS+) volumes or APFS volumes, you would use a GUID Partition Map instead of a Master Boot Record. Some USB flash drives reportedly reject attempts to use the GUID Partition Map. Others may allow you to write a GUID Partition Map even though the manufacturers do not officially support reformatting the drives to use HFS+ or APFS.


14 replies

Oct 5, 2023 6:37 AM in response to ku4hx

Now I tried to open it in Windows PC, After connecting it, a pop up called "Formate this Disk" and i formate it with fat32.

And now its works inside Windows PC, That means it is not damaged.


But It still not working in Macbook and Android Device.

If your USB Works with APFS Encryption Method that means in my USB there might be some software problem or it might be disconnected while formatting.


wait...wait... I just noticed something, My USB have 128GB of Storage but in Windows PC it works like a 32GB, what is this problem

My device :

SanDisk Ultra Flair 128GB USB 3.0 Pen Drive [Model Number: SDCZ73-128G-I35]

MacBook Air M1 (2022)

Oct 5, 2023 12:37 PM in response to sachinsuthar

ExFAT allows for use on both Windows; not FAT. And even then, it may not work.


My opinion: Why are you wasting so much time and energy on a wonky bit of cheap tech? Get a new one and try again. This one is obviously (to me at least) long past worrying about.


Better yet, get a 250GB portable SSD for transfers and move on.


Good luck.

Oct 5, 2023 10:34 PM in response to ku4hx

ku4hx It's not just a matter of time and energy, it's actually a matter of why did this happen?


I respect your opinion, but since I am in IT field I would like to know why this disk got corrupted. I already have 512GB Portable SSD and it works fine, But It was my duty to tell the community what happened to me, How to avoid it, and How to Fix it.


Finding the right cause is never the waste of time and energy my friend.


Best Regards.

Oct 6, 2023 12:02 AM in response to sachinsuthar

sachinsuthar wrote:

Now I tried to open it in Windows PC, After connecting it, a pop up called "Formate this Disk" and i formate it with fat32.
And now its works inside Windows PC, That means it is not damaged.

But It still not working in Macbook and Android Device.
If your USB Works with APFS Encryption Method that means in my USB there might be some software problem or it might be disconnected while formatting.

wait...wait... I just noticed something, My USB have 128GB of Storage but in Windows PC it works like a 32GB, what is this problem
My device :
SanDisk Ultra Flair 128GB USB 3.0 Pen Drive [Model Number: SDCZ73-128G-I35]
MacBook Air M1 (2022)


I see that in your later post, you said that the drive was a 32 GB drive after all. But if it had actually been a 128 GB drive that suddenly could hold only 32 GB, you might have been a victim of FAT32.


There are a couple of things you ought to know about FAT32:

  • It does not support file sizes larger than 4 GB.
  • Some implementations of FAT32 limit volume size to 32 GB. In particular, some versions of Windows will not create FAT32 volumes larger than 32 GB. FAT32 probably is not the best choice for volumes >32 GB, even if you can find some non-Microsoft formatting tool that will create large FAT32 volumes.


https://www.easeus.com/knowledge-center/the-thinking-behind-32gb-windows-format-limit-on-fat32.html

Question marked as Helpful

Oct 6, 2023 12:13 AM in response to sachinsuthar

Maybe you ran into a drive that didn't want to let the computer rewrite the area containing the partition map.


See: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253836173


I believe that when preparing a drive for use with Mac OS X Extended (HFS+) volumes or APFS volumes, you would use a GUID Partition Map instead of a Master Boot Record. Some USB flash drives reportedly reject attempts to use the GUID Partition Map. Others may allow you to write a GUID Partition Map even though the manufacturers do not officially support reformatting the drives to use HFS+ or APFS.


Oct 6, 2023 1:02 AM in response to Servant of Cats

Thanks for your kind answer and this information.


After reading some articles on Drive Partitions and your answer, I decide to formate my USB with ExFat using GUID Method, so that i can work on both Windows and Mac.


I would remember to format the USB on Mac first so that it can work on Windows also because sometimes if you format on Windows first it doesn't support it on Mac.


Best Regards,

Sachin

Oct 6, 2023 3:04 AM in response to ku4hx

What if there are millions of dollars worth of data inside that 32 GB USB, Will you still say that it's only 5 dollars, let's get a new one?


If you just jump and go or buy a new one then what have you got to learn, not even much. But if you go to the root of the cause, You get to learn something special which will definitely help you in your future and in that learning you get everything.


And sometime in that fruitless obsessions you will find an Apple.

Oct 6, 2023 6:58 AM in response to sachinsuthar

sachinsuthar wrote:

What if there are millions of dollars worth of data inside that 32 GB USB, Will you still say that it's only 5 dollars, let's get a new one?


If there are millions of dollars worth of data inside a flash drive that isn't working, and that is the only place that you stored the data, you learn an extremely expensive lesson about the need to keep backups.


Oct 6, 2023 7:31 AM in response to Servant of Cats

All of you are advising me to forget about this problem, to buy a new one instead of fixing it, and not to waste time on this problem. But no one is looking at it from this perspective as to what is the reason for this problem and how to fix it.


It's never about how cheap it is or how valuable the data inside it is.


This is the difference between the Apple community and the Linux community. Those people in Linux community always try to find the reason behind the problem without caring how much it costs.


ku4hx Linux communities never says why waste your time just buy a new one.

APFS Encrypted Flash Drive Not Detecting in MacBook Air

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