# Why won't my MacBook recognize my flash drive?



## DaveRB97

Hello all!

I just bought a new MacBook Pro with Retina display. It won't recognize my flash drive. When I plug it in, the laptop acts as if I hadn't plugged anything in.

The ports work with other devices, and the drive works on other computers. I thought the formatting might have something to do with it, so I just formatted the mentioned flash drive to exFAT with a Windows computer. It's still not reading.

Any suggestions? Let me know if you need more details. Thanks!


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## MartyF81

Can you open "Disk Utility" on your Mac and see if it recognizes it in the Sidebar as a drive?


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## DaveRB97

Yes, I can open Disk Utility, and no, it does not recognize it there.


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## Panther063

I would use FAT 32, it seems to be recognized in most systems.


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## MartyF81

No matter what formatting is selected, disk utility would still be able to see it. It doesn't care about format.

Have you tired the other USB port on your Mac?


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## DaveRB97

I did before the format, but not after yet. Another drive is using the port and it's formatting right now.


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## DaveRB97

Nope, it doesn't work on the other port either.

I've used this flash drive for several years. Perhaps it's old? But it still works on the Windows 8 computer.


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## MartyF81

can you tell us the model and brand of this device? Maybe it has some kind of history of not being compatible with Mac or something.


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## SCJ10075

When I plugged in a flash drive, it appeared as if nothing happened, but it was present under Devices in Finder. I could open the drive and save a document to it.


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