Jan 04, 2012 Yes, connecting an external hard drive or USB flash key to a Mac will generally read and work fine as is because the Mac can easily read other filesystem formats, including Windows MSDOS, FAT, FAT32, ExFat, and NTFS formats, but unless you intend on using the drive between a Windows and Mac machine, formatting it to be entirely Mac compatible. May 14, 2020 How to Resolve Mac External Hard Drive Read-Only Error? Erase the Drive. Warning: Back up the files on the Mac external hard drive before erasing it. This is critical to avoid data loss. If the external hard drive is in NTFS format, erasing it to a macOS compatible file system format should fix the read-only. Jan 09, 2020 If that doesn’t work then read these other options. 1 Physical Connectivity Issues. The first thing to check if your thumb drive is not showing up on a Mac is if the problem is with the particular USB port that you are using. At the risk of stating the obvious, your first move should be to try the device in an alternate USB port available on. Jul 05, 2013 Use Computer Management - Type Computer Management in the Start menu search box then right-click on the shortcut & select Run as admin. Select Storage, Disk management then select the device in the list it is likely that it has no label next to it unlike, say, 'OS (C:)' that you might see against the entry for your main drive - then look at all the others ten times to make sure you have.
Summary: This blog post shares methods to resolve the external hard drive ‘read-only’ error on Mac. These methods involve erasing the drive, ignoring ownership, and repairing the drive.
It further guides you on Mac external hard drive recovery solution, in case the data is deleted or erased while troubleshooting the external hard drive ‘read-only’ error.
Chances of data loss are thin, but it’s better to be prepared.
So free download Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac and rest assured.
Imagine, after connecting an external hard drive to your Mac, you find that you can’t save any files or folders on the drive or delete data from it. Though you’re able to copy the stored data from the Mac external drive. You are baffled with this situation and need an immediate fix for the external hard drive read-only error on Mac.
Verify the Read-Only Status of an External Hard Drive on macOS
To know the status of your external hard drive, do the following:
- Connect your external hard drive to your Mac
- Right-click the drive either from the Desktop or Finder
- From the context menu, select ‘GetInfo’
- Check the file system format of the drive
- From the bottom of the window, check whether it shows “You can only read” or “You can read and write”
If the drive is in read-only state, then you can only read data from the drive, but cannot write data on to it. So, what might be the reasons behind this read-only state? The following section describes in detail.
Reasons for an External Hard Drive ‘Read Only’ State
- MismatchedFileSystem: If your external hard drive is in the NT File System (NTFS) format, then macOS treats the drive as read-only. NTFS is the proprietary file system of Windows and is not compatible with macOS.
- PermissionSettingsIssue: If your macOS could not recognize the access permission settings for your external hard drive, then the system will either prevent access or provide read-only permission to the external hard drive.
- FormattingError: If the external hard drive is not erased correctly and has formatting errors, then macOS may mount the drive but may not allow writing data on to it.
How to Resolve Mac External Hard Drive Read-Only Error?
1. Erase the Drive
Warning: Back up the files on the Mac external hard drive before erasing it. This is critical to avoid data loss.
If the external hard drive is in NTFS format, erasing it to a macOS compatible file system format should fix the read-only issue.
Erase the external storage drive, as follows:
- Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
- Select the external drive from the sidebar and click the Erase tab
- On the pop-up dialog box, type the name of the formatting drive
- Select APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) alongside the format option
- Click Format to initiate the formatting process
Once you have erased the external storage drive, you can connect the drive as usual to your Mac to read and write content on the drive. In case you wish to use the drive on both Windows and macOS system, then you must erase the drive in either exFAT or MS-DOS (FAT).
Also Read: How to Erase start-up drive on macOS Mojave 10.14
2. Ignore Ownership
When the read-only erroris due to unrecognized access permission settings,then do the following:
- Right-click the storage drive, and from the context menu, opt ‘Get Info’
- Expand ‘Sharing & Permissions’ and click on the lock icon
- Provide the admin password
- Select ‘Ignore ownership on this volume’ checkbox
Ignoring the ownership may solve the read-only problem with the drive.
3. Repair the Drive
In case the Mac external drive has formatting errors, then do the following:
- Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
- Select the external drive from the sidebar and then click the First Aid tab
- Click Run. When the report is OK, click Show Details to know more about the repair. In case the report is ‘The underlying task reported failure’, try to repair the external drive again
Disk Utility will verify and repair hard drive errors and plausibly fix the read-only issue.
Also Read: Repair your macOS Mojave 10.14 Start-up Drive
While troubleshooting the Read-Onlyerror, there’s a possibility that you forgot to back up the data stored on the harddrive before erasing it or the backup doesn’t contain all the data.
In this situation, a Mac external hard drive data recovery software will help you retrieve the lost data from the erased hard drive. The following section outlines a data recovery software which helps in this particular situation.
Perform Mac External Hard Drive Recovery by Yourself
To recover erased or deleted data from the Mac external storage drive, go through the following steps:
When the softwarecompletes the recovery task, go to the specified save destination to verify therecovered data. Copy the data back to theexternal storage drive with macOS compatible formatting.
Video: Mac External Hard Drive Recovery Tutorial with Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac
Conclusion
The blog highlighted the case of Mac external hard drive read-only error, how to verify the error state, its causes, and how to fix the ‘read-only’ error.
For instance, when the external hard drive has a mismatched file system, then the best fix is to copy the content of the drive to your Mac, and then erase it by using Disk Utility. Once the drive is formatted to the macOS Mojave compatible format, you can restore the copied files from the Mac to the formatted external storage drive.
Further, if you are using the external hard drive on older Mac OS X system, then the newer macOS Mojave system may not recognize the access permission settings. So, you can try to ignore ownership of the drive to fix the read-only problem. When the drive has formatting errors, you can use Disk Utility’s First Aid to fix those errors.
While implementing these procedures, in case the data stored on the hard drive is lost and there’s no back, try a data recovery software such as Stellar Data Recovery Professional.
It supports macOS Catalina, Mojave, and APFS, and recovers data from all leading storage drive brands.
- “One of the USB device attached to this computer has malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, click this message.'
- 'The device you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.'
- “Flash drive not recognized”
- 'Drive did not load successfully.'
These errors when you connect the USB drive are really scary!! These errors generally appear when an external device is connected to the computer and the operating system is unable to recognize it or read it. It doesn’t mean that the drive is corrupt. It’s just one of the common issues associated with connecting an external device to your computer. It’s time we dig deep and fix ‘flash drive not recognized’ problem.
However, such issues can arise in both Windows and Mac systems. It may be an initial indication of your flash drive corruption and losing access to data in it. Hence, try to fix the issue as soon as possible. Here, you will find few methods to fix such not recognizing USB error.
But, before going ahead with the troubleshooting process, you need to secure your data. Yes, in the process of fixing the USB error there are chances of losing or corrupting your data. Hence, before proceeding with this process, recover your data and save on a secure drive.
Recover data from not recognized USB flash drive – Remo Recover
In order to recover data from an unrecognized USB drive download Remo Recover software. This tool will scan your USB drive & extracts all files from USB drive. The software works on both Windows and Mac computers of all latest versions & helps in recovering files from corrupt flash drives securely. The entire recovery process takes few minutes:
Follow the below steps to Restore files from USB flash drive that is not recognized:
- First download and install Remo Recover software on your computer & launch the tool
- From main screen select ‘Recover Drives’ option
- Now click on ‘Formatted Recovery’ option on the consecutive screen
- Here list of available drives will be displayed and choose the one from which you need to recover files
- Software now scans the drive and displays all recovered files from the drive
- You can then preview and save files on any secure storage medium
Once, your data from flash drive is securely stored, you can now proceed with the troubleshooting methods. As said earlier, both Windows and Mac will have different methods. Read through the below procedure:
Easy Methods to Fix “Flash Drive Not Recognized” Problem in Windows
Method 1: Scan the Flash Drive for Issues
Every computer has an inbuilt mode of scanning any USB drive attached to it. You can use this method to find out any error in the connection or the device.
1 – Plug the USB drive on the computer
2 – Go to This PC (My computer for earlier versions) and right click on the flash drive and go to Properties
3 – Open Tool tab and click Check Now
This will scan and show you the results for any issues with your USB device. You can further troubleshoot the issues or use any third party element to fix them.
Method 2: Flash Drive Reformatting
In order to do this, follow the instructions;
1 – Right click on the flash drive icon and click Format; this opens the format window.
2 – Go to the File system.
3 – Toggle between NTFS and FAT32 and click Start
This will reformat your flash drive and it will fix the flash drive not recognized issue. In case this method fails to fix the error, then follow the next method.
Method 3: Update Driver
To update the driver, you have to go to the device manager window. Do keep in mind you have the administrator rights to use and change the system settings.
1 – Open the Run command and Type devmgmt.msc and click OK to open the Device Manager tab.
2 – Go to the Universal Serial Bus Controller drop-down
3 – Select Generic USB Hub from the dropdown and right click on it
4 – Select the Update Driver Software option
This step will update your driver software and fix the Flash Drive not recognized problem in the computer.
Methods to Fix “Flash Drive Not Recognized” Problem in Mac
If you are a Mac user and facing the same issue with your system, here are some methods to eliminate it. I will take you through 3 methods to troubleshoot and fix the Flash Drive Not Recognized problem. If your are looking to recover data from USB flsh drve click here.
Method 1: Connect the USB Flash Drive Manually
In order to perform this first select a port to connect the USB flash drive.
1 – Go to Applications and click on Utilities
2 – Select “Ask me What to do” from the Devices pop-up box
3 – Go to Devices and click External Devices.
Many a times, connecting USB flash drive manually will fix the issue. If this doesn’t help you, then try the next method.
Method 2: PRAM Fix
To perform this troubleshooting you have to return the PRAM.
1 – Shut down the Mac
Flash Drive Says Read Only
2 – Press the Power button and hold Command + Option along with P+R while the system starts.
3 – As the system starts boot release the buttons.
Method 3: Format Drive
This method solves the issue after the drive is formatted and reconnected to the system. In order to do that, here are the steps;
1 – Press Command + Spacebar and connect the flash drive.
2 – Open Application and click on Disk Utility Option
3 – Select the Flash Drive on the left pane.
4 – Click on Erase button to complete the process
Thumb Drive Read Only Mac
This will resolve your issue and now you can reconnect the flash drive to your computer and start using it. If you have accidentally quick formatted your USB drive you can recover data from it.
Thumb Drive Now Says Read Only Mac Os X
Now, your flash drive will be free from errors and use the drive. As said earlier, fixing these issues or formatting the flash drive will result in deletion of all the files in that drive. So make sure to recover all the important documents, photos, videos etc. from the drive before performing any troubleshooting.