While USB Drives are usually made to be supported by the newer Windows and Mac operating systems, error messages can still spring up on occasion. If you’ve had the “USB Flash Drive Not Recognized” error message pop up, there are a few things you can try to get it up and running.
First, as any IT guy will tell you, try turning your computer off and on. But wait – it’s a little more complicated than that.
- Plug in your flash drive to the computer.
- Click on Start Menu and go to “My Computer.”
- Click “Manage.”
- Click on “Device Manager,” and expand the USB list. Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive.
- Right click and select “Uninstall.”
- Now turn your external USB hard drive and turn it back on again, letting it find and install the driver.
If that doesn’t work…
Try assigning a drive letter to the drive:
- Go to the Start menu, click “Control Panel, then click “Performance and Maintenance.” If you don’t see any “Performance and Maintenance,” then find “Administrative Tools” and double-click “Computer Management.”
- In the left pane, click “Disk Management.”
- Right-click the drive to which you want to assign a drive letter, then click “Change Drive Letter and Paths.” Click “Add.”
- Click “Assign” – now accept the default drive letter or click the drive letter you want to use, and hit “OK.”
If that doesn’t work – and you have vital information saved on the drive, try one of the many free data recovery services online.