How To Open Flash Drive On Mac: For All Mac Models (USER GUIDE)

How To Open Flash Drive On Mac

If you have just bought or first time using your USB Flash drive (Also known as USB Drive, Pen Drive, thumb Drive, etc.) with your Mac (MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro) and wondering how to open flash drive on Mac? Don’t worry it is really easy.

Note:  Most of the new generation Macbook comes USB-C Port, So you would not be able to insert normal USB-A Flash drive. If you have MacBook which has only USB-C Port then you need to buy USB-A to USB-C Adapter or USB-C Doc. You can buy USB-C Flash Drive as well. Know More about USB-C.

Resolution of General Problems With Flash Drive

A most general problem people face that they do not see the Fash drive icon on Mac desktop, so we are going to cover all the problem including how to use a flash drive in this post. You will be able to Learn all the information related to Flash drive use as mentioned below.

Note: This post will be helpful for all kinds of external storage devices like USB Drive, Pen Drive, thumb Drive, External hard drives, thumb drives, USB drives, flash memory cards, etc.

How To Open Flash Drive On Mac: When no icon shows on the desktop

As we discussed above that many people have reported that they do not see the flash drive icon on the desktop as it should show. If that is the case then click on the “Finder” button on the Mac Dock (A row of icons along with the bottom edge of the screen. A window will open you can find your flash drive on the left side pane under locations or devices. Open your flash drive by clicking it and its content will appear on the right side of the pane.

Note: To show Flash drive on Mac desktop make sure that your Flash drive is set to show on desktop. To check it, Click on Finder (Top left corner of the screen) then click on preferences. Under Finder preferences, click on the General tab and make sure that under “Show these items on the desktop” the “external disks” option is checked.

How To Open Flash Drive On Mac: When Flash Drive Shows On The Desktop

First of all, you need to connect the USB drive with your Mac system. Put the drive on the available USB port on your Mac PC. If the USB drive is connected for the first time to the Mac then the drive will first install the necessary driver software on the system. It will not take much longer for the driver to install on the Mac. After you have installed the USB Flash Drive, an icon for Flash drive will appear on the desktop. Double click on the icon to open the Flash drive.

How To Transfer Files from Mac to USB Flash Drive And Vice Versa?

You can easily transfer files and software from your Mac to the USB Flash drive and the same way from Flash drive to your Mac.

To Transfer File From Mac to the USB Flash drive Follow the below steps

To Transfer File From Flash Drive to the Mac drive Follow the below steps

How To Delete files from the USB Flash Drive On Mac

If there are files you want to delete or complete erase or format the Flash drive then follow the steps below.

To Delete a Particular file or multiple files 

1. Double click on the Flash drive icon the desktop or access it from Finder
2. Select the file you wish to delete and drag it to the ‘Trash’ icon(bottom right of the screen)
3. To delete multiple files from the USB flash drive, select multiple files as well by click + Drag (Click and hold + Drag to make a selection) or you can hold Command key and click multiple files to select.
4. You have selected multiple files, Now drag the files to the ‘Trash’

Note: Click and hold the trash icon to empty the trash.

To complete erase or format the Flash drive

1. Go to Disk Utility by click on the Disk Utility icon on the Mac Dock, If you do no find this icon on Mac Dock then you need to search “Disk Utility” in  Spotlight search
2. Open Disk Utility
3. Under Disk Utility select your flash drive from the left pane and on the right pane Top Middle you will see Erase, Click on it
4. As you will click Erase a new window will open you need to select Name of the drive and file format before erase. If you want to use your Flash drive on both Mac and PC use ExFat Format.

Note: This process will delete all your file & folder, anything which is stored in your flash drive and it can not be undone.

 

How To Eject Flash Drive On Mac Safely

It is important to remove the USB Flash drive from the Mac in a proper way. By not doing so, it can cause harm to the files stored in the USB drive. Follow the steps below to Eject the Flash drive

Method 1

To Eject the Flash drive, Right Click on the USB Flash drive icon on the desktop and select the Eject option

Method 2

Click on the Finder, select the USB Flash drive in the ‘Finder’ window and click on the upward-pointing arrow

Method 3

Click on the USB Flash drive icon on the desktop and drag it to the Trash. It will eject the Flash drive from the Mac. Don’t worry it will not erase the data of your Flash Drive.

Note: You can follow any of the methods to eject the Flash drive from the Mac. Now unplug the Flash drive.

 

Final Word: Conclusion

Hopefully, this post helps you to understand How to open Flash drive on Mac?. We have explained all information related to your flash drive in detail. Now you can use your Flash Drive correctly. We have covered all the required & related information for Flash drive usability.

Do let us know, how helpful was this post to solve your problem?