How to Recover a Flash Drive in a Mac

A flash drive can be recovered on a Mac using included software.

For all practical purposes, a flash drive is the same as any hard drive, but the constant insertion and removal from a USB port can cause corruptions to occur in the file structure. This causes the flash drive to behave erratically and not display files that are on it. You can recover the files on a flash drive by repairing the file structure using a program that is included with the Mac's operating system. The procedure is straightforward and does not require a lot of time or any expertise in order for the files on the flash drive to be recovered.

Instructions

1. Plug the flash drive's connector into a USB port on the Mac. Double-click the "Applications" folder inside of the Mac's hard drive to open its window. Scroll down to the "Utilities" folder. Double-click the "Utilities" folder to open its window. Scroll down to the Disk Utility program.

2. Launch the Disk Utility program by double-clicking its icon.

3. Click once on the icon of the flash drive that is in the left column of the Disk Utility program's main screen.

4. Click the "First Aid" tab at the top left of the Disk Utility program's main screen.

5. Click the "Repair Disk" button at the bottom right corner of the Disk Utility program's main screen.

6. Wait as text appears and scrolls down the center column of the Disk Utility program's main screen. Quit the Disk Utility program when the text says that the volume repair has been completed.

7. Right-click on the icon of the flash drive on the desktop. Select "Eject" from the pop-up menu. Remove the flash drive from the USB port of the Mac.

Tips & Warnings

• Inexpensive flash drives are made of inferior materials that are prone to file structure problems.

References

• kb.wisc.eud.helpdesk: Mac OS X-Using Disk Utility to Repair A Disk

Resources

• kb.iu.edu/data/aoxp: In Mac OS X, What Is Disk Utility, And How Do I Use It?