Why won't my Mac Book Pro recognize my Flash Drive?

Hi all -

I cannot view my flash drive OR my office server, which I should be able to connect to via VPN. VPN was installed on my Macbook Pro at my office on Friday. It worked fine. Now I bring it home, and I connect using VPN, and it shows that I am connected, yet the server hard drive icon does not appear on my desktop (as it usually did) and I can't see how to access the server at work.

I also cannot view flash drives when I plug them in - they just don't show up.

I had Norton installed; I read online I should disable that. I did this, and no luck. I also have already done all the things suggested on this post and have all the boxes checked, and yet, still cannot use a flash drive or access my work server.

I am stuck? Do I have to bring my Macbook pro in for service? I have NOT upgraded to Mavericks.

Thanks for any help.

I am not that well versed in finding my way around a Mac - so keep any explanations simple, please.

L

I'm having the same problem. The USB worked normally for about 3 uses, but now Disk Utility and Finder won't recognise it, though System Profiler shows -

USB DISK 2.0:

Product ID: 0x4100

Vendor ID: 0x13fe (Phison Electronics Corp.)

Version: 1.00

Serial Number: 07022BDB8D9E3D24

Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec

Manufacturer:

Location ID: 0x26200000 / 2

Current Available (mA): 500

Current Required (mA): 200

Well this thread has gone on for awhile with no solution. I'll add my problem as well. I have had two separate USB 2.0 drives that recognized for awhile and now won't. It's baffleing and frustrating as it should be VERY easy and I've NEVER had this happen on a PC. So much for Apple being easier.

Strangely enough, I have found that mine can be made to work by plugging it in extremely slowly...

I know this sounds crazy but if I just plug in the USB stick, it won't work. But if I verrrrrrry slowly slide the USB stick into the USB port, it will recognize.

The same stick works as expected in several other PCs and non-apple latoptops.

Add me to the list. Updated the latest operating system fix and now no action on my USB flash drives. They don't show in finder or on the desk top. But, if I remove it it says the drive was improperly ejected. You can't properly eject what you can't see!

My OS is 10.9.4 installed July 10, 2014.

I had not had any trouble with USB drives until this morning. I renamed my flash drive. From that point on I could not access the drive from Finder. The name didn't show up in the lefthand column.

When I removed the flash drive I received the usual warning about ejecting properly. So, the Mac knew about the drive.

I did a search in "all my files" for a filename I knew existed on the flash drive. Sure enough, the search found the file. From here I was able to get to the drive.

It's a roundabout way to do it, but I can get to my drive so I'm happy for the time being.

Hope this helps.

I have the same problem, in my case is because all my USB Drives are in NTFS format, I found a solution (a pay solution) with this: http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/download.html

The have a trial version, I hope works for you

This may be overly simple, but did you try flipping the flash drive over? I just had this problem and I had the drive plugged in upside down.

Me too. And it's reasonably specific.

I have a 64 GB Kingston Data Traveler with USB 3.0 and a WD 1TB, USB 2 powered drive; both have been set up with HFS and are encrypted. They're not detected by direct insertion to an iMac USB port (or via USB 2 or 3 hub). A 2 GB flash drive set up identically mounts automatically so I guess it's something to do with the drive size or power requirements?

Finder's Preferences 'External Devices' and Disk Utility's 'Automatically open read-only images' are both checked/ticked.

I can mount the drives with Disk Utility, where I -- as expected -- get the window asking for the pass but it seems a bit daft with a nice new iMac.

If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear from you!

Thank you. This solution worked perfectly for me.

I'm not sure if you are still having problems with this issue, but I found a solution. I bought a Targus 4-Port Hub from Walmart. This is what it looks like.

Thank you,

After several hours of reading useless threads your solution worked.

Since my flash drive is fairly new I recon my MBP usb drive may need a cleanup

The problem is not Apple as some suggested, it is simply USB 2 and USB 3 compatibility.

This problem appears mostly with older computers that have USB 2 ports and users trying to connect newer USB 3 storage devices.

Try connecting your flash drive through to a good quality USB hub that might do the trick if didn't work you need to check and see if your device is USB 2/ USB 3 compatible, if it is then contact manufacturer of the flash drive and report it as a fault (if still under warrantee)

I never would have thought of this, but it worked for me with a "cheapo" hub I had sitting in a drawer from long ago.

Thanks

I'm having the same problem as well. I have never had a problem with external flash drives before until recently I plugged mine in and it said that it was unreadable or something of the like. I figured that it was the flash drive because it's kinda old and cheap. I dug out an older flash drive that I have used with the computer before and tried that. When I inserted the flash drive into the USB port, nothing happened. I have been into Disk Utilities to make sure that the "automatically open read-only images" has been checked and I checked my Finder preferences to see if external disks was checked as well. I have just upgraded to the new OS X Yosemite and my computer is an iMac (mid-2007) version 10.10.