Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!

A fix for pen drives not appearing on the desktop System
I had a USB pen drive that stopped mounting on the desktop, but I could access it via Go to Folder: /Volumes/DriveName. Then I was talking to someone else and they said they had the same problem. Looking into it, I discovered that somehow a hidden file was created in /Volumes with the name ._DriveName. The way I fixed the problem was to type (in the Terminal) sudo rm /Volumes/._DriveName, where DriveName is the name of your pen drive (an ls -a will let you see the exact filename if you don't remember it). This may also work for other types of media, but I have only encountered this problem with USB pen drives.
    •    
  • Currently 3.00 / 5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  (2 votes cast)
 
[11,154 views]  

A fix for pen drives not appearing on the desktop | 8 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the 'A fix for pen drives not appearing on the desktop' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
A fix for pen drives not appearing on the desktop
Authored by: mshmgi on Sep 05, '03 11:39:50AM

I have had this same problem when trying to access a PC on our Mac network.

I suppose I probably should have submitted this hint 18 months ago, huh?



[ Reply to This | # ]
A fix for pen drives not appearing on the desktop
Authored by: shogunjp on Sep 05, '03 12:48:14PM

Thank You, this problem has annoyed me for months, my temporary fix was to make a link to the Volumes folder at root, and then open disk Utility when I wanted to unmount the device.



[ Reply to This | # ]
A fix for pen drives not appearing on the desktop
Authored by: timcrawf on Sep 05, '03 04:06:03PM

I have had the same problem with network volumes, and USB drives (usually when pulling them out before ejecting them) I think my solution is quicker and easier. When you "Go To Folder..." /Volumes, delete any alias that is for a non-mounted volume.



[ Reply to This | # ]
USB memory unmounting itself
Authored by: blueaudio on Sep 05, '03 10:38:50PM

Does anyone have experience with USB memory devices unmounting from the desktop after a certain timeout? I have a SanDisk ImageMate reader and I wanted to run a cron job to backup to a memory stick every night, but the device seems to unmount after a certain idle time. The only solution is to unplug the device and plug it back in. Also, when the device unmounts, an error pops up saying:

"The device you removed was not properly put away. Data might have been lost or damaged. Before disconnecting a device, you should select its icon in the Finder and choose Eject from the File menu."

So I'm assuming that the hardware has some timeout that forced it to sleep or something, and there's probably nothing I can do about it. But if anyone has suggestions on how to keep it mounted all the time, I'd love to hear them.

-John



[ Reply to This | # ]
A fix for pen drives not appearing on the desktop
Authored by: rjstark on Sep 06, '03 02:36:13AM

I resently saw this with each a CD, Zip disk and a floppy! I think it was because of the virus scanner (Virex), I turned off virex and haven't seen the problem... yet.



[ Reply to This | # ]
typo...
Authored by: rjstark on Sep 06, '03 03:27:13AM
Stinking typos (try recently)... why can't we change our own comments? That is what I get for reading hints this late at night.

[ Reply to This | # ]
A fix for pen drives not appearing on the desktop
Authored by: margoog on Jan 22, '04 06:05:00AM

hi there ..

I have a pen-drive which suddenly stopped functioning on WinXP Prof. the drive appears but whenever i access it, Windows gives me the following message: "Please insert a disk into drive g:"

Can anyone Pleeeeeease guide me on how to recover my data. I don't want to format it !! :(

any help will be GREATLY appreciated




[ Reply to This | # ]
A fix for pen drives not appearing on the desktop
Authored by: TRERUSM on Apr 20, '04 11:24:24AM

HI..

I AM HAVING THAT SAME PROBLEM. I HAVE A LEXAR 512MB 2.0 PRO. WERE YOU ABLE TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM?



[ Reply to This | # ]