USB drive cannot format

So I just bought an 8gb usb drive, and after bootcamp assistant failed to copy my windows iso to it, I was forced to eject it. Now all format and erase options in disk utility are greyed out. I've tried formatting it in windows and no luck. Windows tells me it's write only. I've tried every fix I can find (boot from safe mode w/ command prompt, regedit, diskutil in terminal) and NONE have worked. Right now terminal is telling me that the usb is read only, has no file system, and no mount point. PLEASE HELP!

In Disk Utility (/Applictions/Utilities/Disk Utility.app), can you partition the USB drive?
Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.
Select your USB drive from the list on the right. It should not have any indentation (which is for the volumes on the drive).
Select "Partition" from the tabs.
Change "Partition Layout" to "1 Partition".
Give the partition a name and format.
Click "Apply".
Important note: Be careful to select the correct disk as partitioning a disk will erase any data stored on the disk. I advise that you disconnect all other external drives from your computer (except the one you want to reformat) so you do not accidently erase the wrong drive.

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Can a USB drive be formatted using a Mac book pro

Can a USB drive be formatted using a Mac book pro

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Try the actions here for that driver.
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I would first do this:
Removing and reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows Vista or Windows 7

USB drive: what format for Linux and Mac?

I'm wondering what's the best format for an external USB harddrive to be used both on Macs (Tiger and Leopard) and Linux . I'm familiar with Linux, but not much with Mac.
I'd like to avoid vfat (the MS-DOS format) because symbolic links aren't allowed there.
Regards,
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Following up my own question, I've formatted the USB drive in hfsplus and it works both on Macs and on my Linux box (Debian testing).
One issue is that I had to turn off the journaling of the hfsplus filesystem, because (it seems) the Linux hfsplus driver doesn't support writing to the journaled hfsplus filesystem. The earliest discussion I found was from 2005 or 2006, and it's strange that the journaling support has still not been incorporated into the mainstream Linux kernels.
Without journaling, I have to be extra careful when I remove the drive. This minor annoyance aside, it works.
But, I'm still open to suggestions. For example, what's the situation of Mac OS X in supporting ext3 or reiserfs?
Cheers,
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Plz help!!! USB driver cannot be detected in XP

i followed the step to install XP and setup with the Mac driver disc in xp, all the hardware was successfully be detected (blue tooth, display, wireless) but one of the USB driver are not, i don't what is this,plz help!

cx2ching,
I'm assuming you are trying Bootcamp. You might want to ask your question in the BootCamp forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=213
One common problem with driver installations occurs if you aren't using Windows XP SP2, I read several threads where this was a problem with the USB drivers, for one.

USB Drives (Fat formatted) mounting and size issues

Hello all,
Not really a major pain in the rear but rather a question as to whether anyone else has encountered this problem.
I have a kingston Data Traveler usb drive 256mb. When connected to my Intel mac mini dual core, and then disconnect it to copy drivers to an XP laptop. Upon reconnecting the drive to the mini, i find that it would not remount until i log out and then back in again. This does not happen all of the time however.
And the other issue...
When deleting anything from the drive the info states that the amount of space available is still the same as before the deletion. When you check the size of the .trashes icon it is around the same size as the files/folders deleted. This is the same even when dismounted and then remounted if it does.
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Can't beleive how stoopid i was for posting this problem. Just remove the trash when the stick is in. Duh

"This USB drive cannot be used. Please format the USB drive as single FAT partition."

I only have one external drive..can I use it both for time machine AND saving windows support for bootcamp?
I partitioned my external drive into two: one for Time Machine backup, and the other as MS-DOS FAT.
But this won't work when I use the BootCamp Assistant. What should I do? I don't want to reformat my external drive and not have a backup of my Mac, and I need to install PC-only software for class.

Find/borrow a 8gb or larger USB flash drive

HFS+ x FAT32 USB drive cannot be recognized.

Hello, I wanted to make 2 partitions on my USB thumb drive, one in HFS+ and the other in FAT32. So, I did it in the disk utility thingy. The problem is the 2 partitions do show up on my Mac, but only the first partition can be seen in Windows Vista, i.e. if I chose HFS+ before FAT32, only the HFS+ partition is shown, vice versa.
What should I do?

The purpose why doing this is:
1. There're 3 computers, one MacBook, one windows PC at home with MacDrive, and one windows PC at work.
2. I would transfer large files which are larger than 4GB back and forth my MacBook and home PC (with MacDrive), so I got the HFS+ for this.
3. I need to bring files from work PC (without MacDrive), MacBook cannot write NTFS, work PC won't install MacDrive and so FAT32 is the only choice.
4. The 16GB thumb drive got plenty of space and I don't want to buy another one for that.
I did this in the 10.5 built-in disk utility thingy, so I don't want to comment on the compatibility issue.
Both HFS+ and FAT32 partitions are perfectly okay in 10.5. Showed up on desktop and work.
Back to the disk utility, when you choose cut it in 2 partitions, you'll need to choose which format the particular partition should be in, right?
If I format partition 1 in HFS+, 2 in FAT32, only the HFS+ partition showed up in my home PC (with MacDrive).
If I format partition 1 in FAT32, 2 in HFS+, only the FAT32 partition showed up instead.
What should I do?

WRT610N USB Drive File Format

What USB file formats will the WRT610Nv2 support NTFS and or FAT/FAT32?
Is there a Drive Size Limitation for the USB, like 1.5 drive?

Router with Storage Link only supports FAT32 file system formatted USB storage while USB storage formatted with other file system will not be detected when plugged into the router.
Check this link of compatible HDD for WRT610N.

Seagate USB drives appear on desktop but can't be read or ejected.

I have two different Seagate 1TB USB drives, both formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using Disk Utilities that work fine on my early 2013 MacBook Pro running Mavericks but cause various issues on my late 2013 Mac Pro (also running Mavericks). The drives will show up when connected to the Mac Pro, but when I try to view the contents of the drives, nothing appears and I cannot eject them. Sometimes, I end up with a spinning beach ball in the Finder. I have run the hardware test on my Mac Pro and no issues were detected. I have also Verified and Repaired the disks using Disk Utilities on my Macbook Pro and no issues were detected for those operations.
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>> also Verified and Repaired the disks using Disk Utilities on MacBook Pro
... and why would they need to be repaired on the nMP:?
It sounds like there is an issue with the port you use and assume you used the same cable.
Q: Does the case have its own power brick adapter or one of those cheaper and smaller bus powered?
Seagate does have a Thunderbolt docking station which is very nice and convenient, and of course will cost more than a USB3
Generally I recommend avoiding vendor's cases.
Seems like we need more information about the drives and case and interface etc.

Cant mount the USB drive to desktop

Please help - I am trying to get the attached disk drive to display on my iMac.
I can see the drive in the Airport Utility but cannot connect to it at all.
I have rebooted, reverted to V7.4.1 etc. but still nothing!
Going crazy here

Hi,
From what I'm reading, you are connecting your HD to your AirPort Extreme and it is not showing up. Are you looking on your desktop? Did you look in finder, when I do network sharing with my Mac it shows up in finder. In the left column under the HD section or in Network section. If it is in the Network section then I have to click the connect button
Also is this a drive you have connected directly to your Mac before? If not try to connect it. If this works then the drive should work in the router. Also most new USB drives are formatted in NTFS. If your drive can't be written to connected to your Mac then it's formated in NTFS or anther format that Mac doesn't support.
Just reformat it
I hope this was helpful.
Message was edited by: bitlord
Message was edited by: bitlord

How can I use an external USB drive on my Macmini with Boot Camp and Lion/Windows 7?

I have a MacMini (Last model with a disk drive). The Mini has Lion and Windows 7 installed using Boot Camp. I want to attach a 350GB, USB, HP Personal Storage Device (Hard Drive) to the computer and be able to use it in both Lion and Windows 7 mode. The USB drive is formatted for Windows 7. I only want to use it for storage and back-up purposes for both operating systems. It would be nice if I could access the total disk from either system without having to reboot to change operating systems to view Windows 7 files and reboot again to view Lion files. Can anyone offer any guidance or any informational websites to help me? Thank you for any help!!

Yes, you’ll be able to do that.
(116841)

How to reset Windows 7 Administrator Password with USB Drive

The first thing we often do When we *Lose Windows 7 password* is asking a computer expert for help. However, it is only a moment for you *forgetting Windows 7 password* and it may take you several days to regain access to your system. From now on, don't worry about anything when you forgot windows 7 password. The article will give you some ideas to *reset Windows 7 password* with USB Drive.
*Section One: Reset Windows 7 password with Password reset disk.*
Most people usually only know how to create a new user with a strong password or change it. But they don't develop a habit to create a password reset disk for preventing lost password. It is a great and free gift from Microsoft. Click here to learn how to create password reset disk in windows 7 If you ready have a reset disk, please follow steps below:
Step1: Start or restart your computer, insert your USB. In the welcome interface, press ctrl+alt+delete twice, get into the classic log on box. Then type the user name that you want to use and a wrong password or leave it blank, and then press ENTER or click OK.. it will show you logon failed.
Step2: Click *Reset password*...... it will show you the Password Reset Wizard. And it enables you to create a new password for your user account. In the Password Reset Wizard dialog box, click *Next*.
Step 3: Chose the disk which you insert, click *Next*. Type a new password in the Type a new password box, and then type the password again in the Type the password again to confirm box. In the Type a new password hint box, type a hint for the password or not, and then click *Next**→**Finish*, and then try to log on to Windows XP again when use the new password you just set.
This *USB Password reset disk* only use in a certain account which you have created before, or it won't help. So it's better to create a password reset disk when you add a password to account.
*Section Two: Reset Windows 7 password with Windows Password Rescuer run from USB drive*
If you haven't created a password reset disk for your account and unfortunately you lost or forgot windows password, see bellow. I will show you step-by-step guide to do this task in several minutes with USB, without reinstalling system or losing any data.
Step 1: Prepare a 2GB USB flash drive and a computer which you can access to.
Step 2: Download Windows Password Rescuer Personal and install it to a computer which you have access.
Step 3: Run the program and burn the ISO image to the USB Flash Drive.
*NOTE:* This action will make your USB drive be formatted and all your data in it will be lost. You'd better provide one with nothing in it.
Step 4: Use the USB to reset windows 7 password. Before this step, you must set your computer boot from USB. Then start your computer, and you will enjoy the process of resetting the password, it is easy and quick. Don't worry if you have difficulty to bios setting, you can see more in the Windows Password Rescuer website.

Very interest posting. Thank you for this detailed description and useful links.
If you have more interesting stuff to share with us you are welcome.

No application runs after booting from an external (USB) drive

Hi all,
my best hope is that I just embarrass myself with a blatantly obvious question instead of finding a real issue that will be resolved only in later updates. Here it is:
As I want to upgrade my hard drive in my good ol' MacBook, I wanted to backup my present boot HDD to an external USB drive (freshly formatted, HFS+ journaled, GUID partition table). I tried both SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner. In both cases, the backup/cloning process goes fine, and I can reboot into the external drive, and the OS starts (yes, with wifi working, even iStat menus, textExpander etc. initiating fine). But all applications (not those on the menu bar, though) crash and notify me of some thread having tried some invalid operation, or sometimes I even got some vague reference to kernel protection.
Do you have any ideas what this is? Something new and (supposedly) secure in 10.5.6? I tried a fairly standard procedure, I think. (Also, it is a fairly pressing issue as I would not really want to waste much more time on this drive swap. And I would rather use disk-cloning than the install disk and sucking back data from an apparently unreliable backup.)
Many thanks for any thoughts!
(Just to inform the interested, I ran a fairly extensive cleaning-maintenance-rebuild cycle by the latest Onyx before starting all this, this should clean up the state of the OS pretty much. But I could not run DiskWarrior. Convince me if you think that this would solve the problem.)

Thanks Devin, I think my issue is a bit different.
I am 'long' past the 10.5.6 update (as long as possible), it did not crash, and Software Update checked what it wanted several times since then (as it is set to do so daily).
Thanks for the safe boot tip, I have not tried it yet, though I am skeptical why would this help applications starting up without breaking some kernel protection -- but only if I booted up from an external drive.
I repaired all I could before the cloning of the drive, only the deep maintenance of DiskWarrior was skipped. With the disk or the OS itself, I basically did what you can, even the stuff that you are rarely supposed to do. (Onyx is a great tool to do all these and more, freely.)
I am not sure either that a FireWire drive would have helped, but who knows. (But really, the OS would boot, just the applications would feel that their are on an 'inferior' drive?) In any case, FireWire drives are not that easy to come by, and a risky investment -- e.g. I could not use them with the new MacBooks. Oh, and all my work was done on a firm table, but again, the behavior would be hard to explain as the HDD misbehaving, as the OS had no glitch, just I could not start applications without their crashing immediately.
Thanks again, I hope I run into something useful or if it is a bug then Apple magically pushes out some update before their winter break, or I will sadly watch my precious new drive sitting on a table idly.

Trying to copy an item to usb drive gives error item is busy

I purchased an iomega 500gb external usb drive for my powermac G4 mirror doors but it was unusably slow due to the mac only having usb 1.
Today I purchased a Belkin 5 port PCI USB 2 card and connected it up.
The Mac recognised the card immediately and the drive when connected. It will play videos that are already on the drive but when I try to copy a video on the computer to the drive it refuses to copy saying that the item is busy.
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Some (most?) USB drives come formatted to FAT32.
Reformat it (Disk Utility Partitions, and click on "Options..." also)
Or get a FireWire drive that would be bootable as well, and faster (and much much lower cpu overhead).

USB drive cannot format

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