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Mac OS Sequoia not recognizing USB Flash Drives

I just updated my iMac M1 to run Sequoia and now my USB flash drives are not recognized. My external hard drives are recognized as are my external SSD's. I have seen online that I am not the only one with this issue, but nowhere have I found a fix. Is this something that can be fixed or do I have to wait for a update?

iMac 24″, macOS 15.0

Posted on Sep 19, 2024 8:32 AM

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Posted on Sep 22, 2024 3:45 AM

Same problem..... Wish I hadn't updated → really a pain.

97 replies

Oct 14, 2024 10:06 PM in response to Lilisbuddy

Same issue here.


Disk has been in regular use with no issues until updgrade. Also works fine on second older imac also running sequoia


Disk shows in disk util but is greyed out and will not allow me to mount it



I tried mounting the disk using terminal but it gives me the following error:


mount: /Volumes/drive6s1: invalid file system.


Sys info for disk...





Re-formating as suggested in other threads does not work...




Sep 25, 2024 2:31 PM in response to MJ

MJ wrote:

In my case, no the drives really aren't mounted.

I CAN manually mount them using Disk Utility, but that is a pain.

Are they encrypted? I have seen older versions macOS not automatically mount encrypted drives....not even offering to provide a prompt to unlock them. I believe I have even seen the same for un-encrypted USB drives before, but I am not 100% certain. I never had the time to look deeper the issue since were Macs in my organization & the user was not complaining about it....I only noticed it while working on the devices.

Sep 27, 2024 11:21 AM in response to Lilisbuddy

I have had this issue, in particular when I try to dump a .stl file for my Prusa Printer, which ONLY reads a Fat32 formatted USB. I will put a small, empty Fat32 USB drive in my M2 MacStudio running Sequoia 15.0 and if I try to copy anything from a 1k text file to a 50Meg .gcode file my Mac pukes and says there is no room on the drive. I have tried reformatting using Disk Utility to no avail. But..... I have succeeded and now use Path Finder from Cocoatech and that works perfectly. I have always used Path Finder off/on and I like it for some specific things. Now it is invaluable so I can work interchangeably with Fat32 USB drives. BTW, I saw this too on my old MBP which was the last Intel MB Apple made running both Ventura and Sonoma and they did not like Fat32 drive too. I don't know of an Apple solution to this issue. While one may exist, I can say that Path Finder works every time.

Sep 27, 2024 12:04 PM in response to Lilisbuddy

Same issue Late 2023 Macbook Pro 16 M3 Pro 18GB

15.0 (24A335)


Just called Apple about it, and they want to take it in for service


Weird behavior from any type of mass storage.

Initially I tried moving some files from my NAS to a known working SD Card formatted w/FAT32.

It hung, so I had to cancel it. Then I noticed I couldn't format it, stuck "Creating partition map", it wouldn't auto mount


So I tried various flash drives, some worked okay, then broke just a few minutes later.


Some USB drives wouldn't show up at all in Disk Utility, even when booting directly into recovery mode.


On the support call we ruled out faulty flash drives, and USB C adapters.

Mac OS Sequoia not recognizing USB Flash Drives

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