Mac thinks my USB flash thumb drive is a blank CD

I just got a new flash drive (Sandisk Cruizer 1gig). When it's inserted, Finder launches an error message saying "You inserted a blank CD. Choose and action for the pop-up menu or click ignore".
I've used a dozen different flash drives on this machine, never had this message.
I reformatted the drive using disk utility as both OS and MS-DOS, and the message continues.
I get the same message on my iBook.
Any suggestions to get rid of this?

Hi
From what you have said, I would be suspecting the flash drive to be defective. See if you can exchange it at the shop.

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In my Apple Macbook Air, most of the USB Flash/Thumb Drives are not shown in the Finder Window. Only a few Brands of USB /Flash Thumb Drives are shown or compatible or shown in the Finder. How do I use any Flash/Thumb Drive with my Apple MacAir?

In my Apple Macbook Air, most of the USB Flash/Thumb Drives are not shown in the Finder Window. Only a few Brands of USB /Flash Thumb Drives are shown or compatible or shown in the Finder. How do I use any Flash/Thumb Drive with my Apple MacAir?

Yes, junker thumb drives pour like rain in the market.
Which makes are working on your Air, and which arent?
Stick to Sandisk and a couple of other reliable mfg. of memory sticks

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If it is in the Purchases tab of the App Store, you should be able to download it.

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Thanks answer,
But not problem.
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Hi there,
The hardrive on my X60 died. Died so badly that even Resue and Recovery wouldn't start yet alone Windows (even in safe mode).
I have a new hard drive and installation media en route from Lenovo (laptop was under warranty)
The problem is that the installation media is on CD/DVD and my laptop does not have an optical drive.
So my questions are:
1. Can the installation media be installed from a USB Pen/Flash drive? (the BIOS does support USB booting)
2. Does anyone have experience of this or instructions?
On a side note I find it slightly irritating that even under warranty Lenovo won't supply me software/hardware that will return my laptop to its original state without the user, me, potentially having to buy an external optical drive. The warranty support chap said "you'll just need to buy an external USB optical drive" - *sighs*
Cheers
Lawrence

Tnx 4 ur reply RX-8.
I bought the lappie used. It had BIOS ver. 103 when I bought it, so I upgraded to ver. 111 and it kept on booting from pen drives just fine.
A few days after I bought it, the internal HDD failed with S.M.A.R.T. ID 5, something about reallocated sectors count. I got an exact replacement for the dead HDD. When I installed it, I unplugged the lappie's battery, then plugged the battery back in before I buttoned it all up. I think THAT was the start of my USB flash pen drive boot problem.
The new HDD is fine. It passes the HGST Drive Fitness Test with long SMART test, which takes between 2 and 3 hours.
I tried the EC update. Inside the zip file was a TXT file with a link to an MSI page that has a PDF file on how to do the EC update. I had that PDF open on another machine when I did the EC update so I could follow the instructions exactly.
After an F9 on the UEFI screen to restore defaults and an F10 to save the UEFI config, I rebooted and everything seemed OK. I then used a pin to force a reset. For the second time, I unplugged the lappie and waited a few minutes for the EC memory to clear.
I still have the same problem. I can't boot from a USB flash pen drive.
I'm enclosing shots of my USB config with XHCI enabled and disabled. I tried to boot from a pen drive with both XHCI settings. No joy. Will I ever be able to boot from a USB flash pen drive again?
I should also mention that I have a portable HDD with a USB 3 interface that boots just fine on other machines but won't boot on the GS60 Ghost. The LED on the portable HDD comes on and the lappie screen just sits there with a blinking underscore cursor.

How to transfer photos from a MAC to a USB external storage drive?

How to transfer photos from a MAC to a USB external storage drive?

Just the Photos? Or the Library?
If it's the Library:
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD

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You haven't mentioned how the thumb drive was formatted to begin with; is it GUID partition map and Mac OS Extended (Journalled), or is it FAT 32 with MBR partition map?
If it's the latter, DU can't repair it, but should be able to format it. However, the forced ejection may have damaged the file system to prevent that.
If it's FAT32, re-format it on a PC and try again on the Mac.
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If that fails, it's recycling fodder.

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Hi Shadow99999
Did you ever resolve your issues with disconnection between your Mac Pro and Airport Extreme? I am having a similar issue.
I have had the extreme for about 4 months and I loose access to the internet about once a month. When I try to troubleshoot the Airport Extreme it is usually inaccessible from my Mac Pro which is my wired access point. The Airport Utility times out with a network error number that unfortunately I did not write down. The light is still green but nothing seems to be working. The first time I tried plugging and unplugging ethernet wires and accessing wirelessly through a Macbook but now I just unplug the Airport Extreme and replug (a Microsoft solution with no problem resolution.) Today I had some unusual internet traffic on my DSL modem and I wanted to look at the Airport Extreme but again I was unable to get to the Airport Extreme with the Airport Utility on my MacPro. (Everything up to the latest rev. per software update.)
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Any other thread that you found to help you resolve your problem?
Message was edited by: Karl Seibert

Best format for a USB flash memory drive?

I got this flash memory drive - one of those little stick things. It is 1GB. When I plugged it into my Mac it didn't mount, so I reformatted it at Mac Extended Journaled.
I put some photos on it and took it to one of those photo printing machines, but it couldn't mount the drive.
I reformatted it again as Mac Extended (without the journaled), but that didn't help.
What is the recommended format for these drives so they are the most widely compatible with other machines, particular Windows.
Thanks!
doug

i want my usb drive to be formatted to fat32 system, but disk utility always format it as fat16. i'm having problems copying multiple files onto it under fat16.
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help.
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rajnikant90 wrote:
Also there is one more thing, I usually have around 8.9gig left in internal memory. Whenever I try to move 6 gig Mkv files to internal drive I am keep getting error that there isn't enough memory left. Then I tried with my 16gig microsd card. It had 14.9 gig memory left and I tried to copy 6.9 gig Mkv file to microsd card. I got the same error. So can any help please?
Not a computer engineer but isn't this like using a PC with less than 10% free space, it all becomes unworkable. For internal memory doesn't it have to allocate 6GB first leaving it less than 3GB to actually carry out the task?
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USB Flash Memory Drive.

USB one end and Apple approved 30-pin dock connector the other.
Has anyone used one of the above and if so how good are they? Can you load films on the drive and watch on the New iPad (3)?

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If you use an SD card instead of the USB you do remove the issues with the drive pulling too much power, but you still have to follow the naming and importing convention.
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Hello,
Since your users do not have Admin rights to install software, you'll want to disable auto-updates on each machine. The update settings are stored in the /Library/Application Support/mms.cfg file. You'll want to make sure the AutoUpdateDisable and SilentAutoUpdateEnable settings are configured as follows:
AutoUpdateDisable=1
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quickly type the name of the new folder
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two! new folders will appear with the new name
Sometimes an adjacent folder gets renamed to the new name, yet the contents in both folders are the same (which is empty, due to the newly created folder)
if I switch views (from Icon to panes or list), both of the new folders disappear
If I switch back to icon view, both re appear
If I delete one (does not matter which) then both are deleted (sent to trash, thank goodness) including the adjacent folder which had other data in it!
IF I type the new name of the newly made folder real slow, then all seems to work well
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Chaplain Dan
US Army (AIRBORNE)
Mesopotamia, Iraq

I have only seen this reported as happening with things on a server, or on an external drive that is formatted for Windows (FAT32). How is your USB drive formatted? If it is not Mac OS Extended, see this thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4036998
It appears to be a Finder bug. You can either live with it, or else copy the files somewhere else then reformat the drive and put them back.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Mac thinks my USB flash thumb drive is a blank CD

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