Accessing a USB drive on a Mac is normally fairly simple, however if you happen to’re new to macOS, or there’s an issue together with your USB drive, you may battle to seek out it. We’ll present you precisely tips on how to discover and open your USB drive on a Mac under, together with what to do if it is not working.
Discover Your USB Drive on the Desktop
By default, it’s best to be capable of discover your USB flash drive or exterior onerous drive on the Desktop of your Mac. So join your USB drive, then click on the yellow reduce button within the top-left nook of all of your open home windows to reveal the macOS Desktop.
Should you can see an icon representing your USB drive, simply double-click to open it. If not, comply with the following part to entry your USB drive utilizing Finder as an alternative.
Discover Your USB Drive Utilizing Finder
Finder is Apple’s equal to File Explorer in Home windows. To open it, click on the blue smiley face on the left aspect of the Dock. If you cannot see the Dock in your Mac, simply transfer your mouse to the very backside of the display to make it seem.
After opening a Finder window, have a look within the left sidebar to your USB drive. It’s best to be capable of see it below the Places heading. Should you nonetheless cannot discover your USB drive, go to Finder > Settings from the menu bar on the high of the display. Then click on the Sidebar tab and ensure Exterior disks below the Places heading is enabled.
If the Mac is ready to communicate to your USB drive, this could make it seem within the Finder sidebar.
Why Cannot I Entry My USB Drive on a Mac?
If you cannot discover your USB drive in Finder, it means there’s both an issue with the drive or it is set to a format that does not work with macOS.
Examine Your USB Drive Format
To examine the USB drive’s format, press Cmd + Area to open Highlight, then kind “Disk Utility” and hit Enter to launch the Disk Utility. From this software, choose your USB drive from the sidebar to disclose the drive format beneath its title.
Macs cannot learn NTFS drives. So you may must reformat your drive if it makes use of NTFS format.
In case your USB drive is in ExFAT, FAT32, APFS, or Mac OS Prolonged format then it ought to work in your Mac. Click on the First Help button in Disk Utility to repair any points with the drive, then attempt to entry it in Finder once more.
Examine for Bodily Drive Issues
In case your USB flash drive or exterior onerous drive would not present up in Disk Utility, then there’s in all probability a bodily downside with the drive or the USB port in your Mac. Strive utilizing a unique drive or a unique port as an alternative.
Alternatively, strive utilizing your USB drive with a unique pc to see if it really works with that. If it would not work wherever, then you definitely might be sure there’s an issue with the drive.
Make Positive the Contents of the Drive Work With macOS
In case your drive exhibits up on a Mac, nevertheless it seems to be empty, it may very well be an issue with the varieties of recordsdata you are making an attempt to switch. Not all file sorts work with macOS. Have a look on-line to verify the recordsdata you are making an attempt to switch to the Mac are appropriate with macOS.
Cloud Storage Is a Helpful Various
Typically, it doesn’t matter what you strive, nothing appears to allow you to entry your USB drive on a Mac. When that is the case, it is usually simpler to resort to a unique storage kind to switch your information, like cloud storage.
Join your USB drive to a different pc—one which works with it—and add your recordsdata to a cloud storage service as an alternative, then entry them out of your Mac that manner.