Judson Frondorf

Q: flash drives will not mount

macbook os 10.10. all of a sudden flash drives will not mount when inserted. They do show up in disc utility and mount when I choose mount. but this has to be done every time.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Aug 18, 2016 8:21 AM

Close

Q: flash drives will not mount

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Lindsay_B.,

    Lindsay_B. Lindsay_B. Aug 19, 2016 12:40 PM in response to Judson Frondorf
    Community Specialists
    Aug 19, 2016 12:40 PM in response to Judson Frondorf

    Hi, Judson Frondorf!

     

    Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. After reading your post, I understand that whenever you plug in a  flash drive, you have to manually mount them using Disk Utility--they don't automatically appear on your Desktop or in Finder like they used to. I work with a variety of external drives on my own Mac, so I know how convenient the auto mounting is; I'd be happy to help!

     

    First, if you haven't already, try restarting your Mac. You can do this by clicking the Apple  menu in the upper left of your display and selecting Restart from the menu. Once the computer is on again, attempt to connect a flash drive and see if it mounts automatically.

    If it does not, the next thing I can recommend is updating your OS X software. If you're not sure how to update, you can check out instructions here: Update the software on your Mac

    If you're still not seeing those flash drives auto mount after an update, try resetting the System Management Controller (SMC). You can get some additional information on the SMC, including how to perform the reset, in this article: Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac

    After resetting the SMC, try mounting one of your flash drives. If it still won't mount on its own, I would recommend setting up a brand new user account and testing the mount function there. The following article will give you some additional information on why testing in a different user account is a good idea, and walk you through setting up a new account if you need help: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

     

    Have a great day!