Manualy mount USB drive.

[i86i11]

here is my problem.

If I plug in my USB stick drive and then boot my iMac it won't recognize the Drive. If I unplug it and plug it back in it still doesn't recognize it.

Is there any way I can force OS X to rescan the USB bus and find the device?

I hope there is...

 

[Macman]

open disk utility in applications, the usb drive should be in the list on the left if it is connected, select it, and click mount.

 

[i86i11]

open disk utility in applications, the usb drive should be in the list on the left if it is connected, select it, and click mount.

nope. Just my hard drive. Even in System Profile Under USB it's not listed. But the drive is plugged in and the ready light is on.

funny thing here though, I unplugged it switched it with my USB printer, low and behold it sees it now, but now it doesn't see my printer.... ugh.

 

[Macman]

what format is it? it may not be a mac compatible format. if you can, use a pc to format as fat32, then take it to a mac and reformat as mac os extended.

 

[i86i11]

what format is it? it may not be a mac compatible format. if you can, use a pc to format as fat32, then take it to a mac and reformat as mac os extended.

I'm pretty sure it's FAT, I've been using it for a while to transport stuff between my work(PC) and home(MAC) with no problem, but I usually plug it in once my iMac is already on.

This time though I plugged it it before I turned the Mac on and it had problems recognizing it.

 

[Macman]

have you tried restarting and connecting it after its done starting up? maybe the drivers just hadnt loaded yet.

 

[Badger]

You switched the drive and the printer, now the drive mounts but the printer is missing... sounds like the USB port is dead. Do you have any other USB devices you could try in that port to confirm it?

 

[robydrew]

Manually mount usb drive

Thanks Macman,
I was having the same trouble as the original poster, and didn't fully understand your answer, as i am pretty much a beginner too. To see my plugged in USB drive, I;
1. Went into the disc utility - Applications -> Utilities -> Disc Utility
2. Saw that the drive i wanted was represented in the list on the left hand side, with the actual drive greyed out - but i couldn't find a 'mount' button anywhere.
3. I right clicked on the greyed out drive, and selected 'mount'

Now my drive is available, thanks to Macman, and a couple of adjustments to his instructions. I'd been trying for ages to manually mount drives, and the only way i knew in the past was to restart my mac.

Hopefully this is helpful to another beginner like myself who has been trying to resolve this issue.

 

[chscag]

Welcome to the Mac-Forums.

We're certainly happy to see that you were helped by a 10 year old post! Stay tuned to our forums for more "modern" answers to problems. ;D