Fix an Unrecognized USB Disk

There are a variety of factors that could be causing your USB drive to not be recognized by your computer. It could be a problem with the hardware or a corrupt partition. Luckily, you still may be able to extract the files from it, and can likely format the drive so that it's usable again.

Steps

Performing Basis Troubleshooting

  1. Plug the USB drive into another USB port. There could be a hardware problem with that particular USB port, so try plugging it into another USB port on your computer. Avoid using a USB hub to connect the drive; connect it directly to your computer.
  2. Connect the drive to another computer. If the USB drive works on another computer but doesn't work in any of your USB ports, then there is something wrong with your computer's hardware or USB drivers.

Checking the Disk's Health

  1. Open the Disk Management tool. You can access this from the Control Panel, but the easiest way to open it is by pressing ⊞ Win+R and typing diskmgmt.msc.
  2. Locate your USB drive. The easiest way to tell which drive is your USB drive is to look at the size. Your USB drive will typically be much smaller than your hard drives.
    • If your USB drive isn't listed in Disk Management, then there is likely a hardware problem with either the USB drive or your USB port. Repair-a-USB-Flash-Drive.
  3. Check the partition on your USB drive. In the lower frame of the Disk Management window, you will see all of your connected drives listed with their partitions to the right of each drive. Your USB drive's partition should say Healthy.[1]
    • If the partition is Healthy but it is not recognized, Fix-an-Unrecognized-USB-Disk.
    • If the partition is Unallocated, Fix-an-Unrecognized-USB-Disk.

Assigning a Drive Letter to the USB Drive

  1. Right-click on the USB drive's partition in Disk Management. If your drive is healthy but is not being recognized in Windows, it may not have a drive letter assigned to it. All connected drives need drive letters so that the system can read and write on the drive.
  2. Select "Change Drive Letter and Paths" and click .Add....
  3. Select "Assign the following drive letter" and select a letter from the drop-down menu. You won't be able to select letters that already have drives assigned. Avoid choosing drive "A" or "B".
    • If you still can't access the drive after assigning a drive letter, Fix-an-Unrecognized-USB-Disk.

Formatting the Drive

  1. Right-click on the USB drive's partition in Disk Management. If your drive's partition is unallocated or still can't be seen even after assigning a letter, formatting the drive may be your only option to get it working.
    • Formatting the drive will erase all information on it, so you may want to Recover-Overwritten-Files.
  2. Select "Format" from the right-click menu.
  3. Select "FAT32" as the file system. While FAT32 is a little older, it provides the most compatibility with virtually any device that supports USB drives.
    • If you're only planning on using the drive with Windows computer, select "NTFS" as the file system.
  4. Uncheck the "Perform a quick format" box. This will make the format process take longer, but can help repair errors in the drive.
  5. Click .OK and wait for the format to complete. You should be able to access the drive on any computer if the format is successful.
    • If the format process fails then the USB drive is likely broken.

Opening a Mac-Formatted USB in Windows

  1. Download HFSExplorer. This is a free utility that allows you to browse through the USB's HFS+ file system (Mac OS Extended file system). This is a Mac-specific file system that can only be accessed normally by a Mac. HFSExplorer allows you to browse the files on the drive with a Windows computer.
  2. Run the setup file and follow the prompts. Start the program after it finishes installing.
  3. Click the File menu and select "Load file system from device".
  4. Select the USB drive from the list of connected drive. You will only be able to load the USB drive if it is formatted with HFS or HFS+.
  5. Select the files you want to copy. After the USB drive is loaded, you should be able to see all of the directories and files on it. Select the files that you want to copy to your computer.
  6. Click the "Extract" button. You will be prompted to choose a location on your computer to save the files to. Once you've chosen a location, extract the files.
  7. Wait for the extraction to complete. This may take a while depending on the size of the files. Once the extraction is complete, you'll be able to access the files from the location you specified.
    • Many Mac files require Mac programs to open them.

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Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/storage/3513573/how-fix-unrecognized-usb-drive/

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