Accessing a USB drive on a Mac is often fairly straightforward, however for those who’re new to macOS or there’s an issue along with your USB drive you may wrestle. We’ll present you precisely how you can entry your USB drive beneath, together with exhibiting you what to do if it isn’t working.
Discover Your USB Drive on the Desktop
By default, you must be capable of discover your USB 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 disclose the Desktop.
In the event you can see an icon representing your USB drive, simply double-click to entry it. If not, observe 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. In the event you can’t see the Dock in your Mac, simply transfer your mouse to the very backside of the display screen to make it seem.
After opening a Finder window, have a look within the left sidebar in your USB drive. It’s best to be capable of see it underneath the Areas heading.
In the event you nonetheless can’t discover your USB drive, go to Finder > Preferences from the menu bar on the prime of the display screen. Then click on the Sidebar tab and ensure Exterior disks underneath the Areas heading is enabled.
If the Mac is ready to converse to your USB drive, this could make it seem within the Finder sidebar.
Why Can’t I Entry My USB Drive on a Mac?
In case your USB drive isn’t exhibiting up in Finder it means there’s both an issue with the drive or it’s set to a format that doesn’t work with macOS.
The way to Verify Your USB Drive Format
To verify the USB drive format, press Cmd + House to open Highlight, then sort “Disk Utility” and hit Enter to launch the Disk Utility. From this utility, choose your USB drive from the sidebar to disclose the drive format beneath its identify.
Macs can’t learn NTFS drives. So that you’ll 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 Support button in Disk Utility to repair any points with the drive, then attempt to entry it in Finder once more.
The way to Verify for Bodily Drive Issues
In case your USB drive doesn’t present up in Disk Utility, then there may be in all probability a bodily drawback with the drive or the USB port in your Mac. Strive utilizing a special drive or a special port as an alternative.
Alternatively, attempt utilizing your USB drive with a special laptop to see if it really works with that. If it doesn’t work anyplace, then you definately might be sure there’s an issue with the drive.
Verify the Contents of the Drive Work With macOS
In case your drive reveals up on a Mac, nevertheless it seems to be empty, it might be an issue with the kinds of recordsdata you’re making an attempt to switch. Not all file sorts work with macOS. Have a look on-line to verify the recordsdata you’re making an attempt to switch to the Mac are appropriate with macOS.
Cloud Storage Is a Helpful Various
Generally, it doesn’t matter what you attempt, nothing appears to allow you to entry your USB drive on a Mac. When that is the case, it’s usually simpler to resort to a special storage sort to switch your information, like cloud storage.
Join your USB drive to a different laptop—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.
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