Full Guide: How to Fix Corrupted USB Drive on Mac

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A thumb drive, also known as thumb drive or memory stick, is a portable storage device that allows you to transfer data between computers and other devices. It’s usually small and easy to carry, making it a convenient way to store and transfer files, documents, photos, and other types of data.

However, like any other device, a USB drive can get corrupted and stop working properly. If your USB drive is corrupted, there are several ways you can try to fix the issue on your Mac. Let’s get to learning how to fix corrupt usb drive on mac.

Why is the USB flash drive corrupted?

A USB device can get corrupted for a number of reasons. Several typical causes include:

1. Improper removal: If a USB flash drive is removed from a device without being properly ejected, it may become corrupted.
2. Virus or malware infection: A USB flash drive can be infected with a virus or malware if it is connected to an already infected device. This can lead to corruption of the drive and prevent it from working properly.
3. Physical damage: A USB flash drive can become corrupted if it is physically damaged, such as if it is dropped or subjected to extreme temperatures. This can cause disk components to malfunction or make disk data inaccessible.
4. Hardware failure: A USB drive can fail due to a hardware problem, such as a faulty controller or bad sectors on the drive.
5. Power issues: If a USB flash drive is plugged into a device and the device suddenly loses power, it can lead to drive corruption. This is because the device can still write data to the drive when the power is off.

How to know if a USB drive is corrupted on a Mac?

When you insert a healthy USB drive into a Mac, you should see a new icon appear on the desktop. This icon represents the USB drive, and you can click it to access files and folders stored on the drive. But if you find any of the following signs, know that your USB drive may be corrupted.

1. The USB flash drive is not recognized by the Mac computer.
2. USB drive appears in Finder but cannot be accessed: If the USB drive appears in Finder, but you are unable to access it or view its contents, it may be corrupted.
3. Error messages (such as “The disk you inserted is not readable by this computer” or “SMART status failed”) appear when you try to access the USB drive.
4. The USB drive is slow to respond or it takes a long time to access files stored on the drive.
5. The USB flash drive is not working as expected or is behaving abnormally.
6. The USB flash drive appears grayed out in Disk Utility.

Is your USB flash drive corrupted? Here’s how to fix it on Mac

If your USB drive is physically damaged, the only option you have is to take it to a nearby repair shop where experts can help. However, if some logical drive problem has caused your USB drive to become corrupt, you can try to fix it yourself.

Solution 1 Run First Aid in Disk Utility to Fix Your Corrupted USB Drive

Disk Utility is a utility on macOS that lets you manage and configure your Mac’s storage devices, including your hard drives, SSDs, and external hard drives. With Disk Utility, you can view properties of your storage devices, create and format partitions, repair disk errors, and more.

First Aid is a Disk Utility feature that allows you to check the consistency and integrity of your storage devices and repair any issues that may be detected. When you run First Aid, it checks the disk for problems such as bad sectors, damaged file system, and other issues. If any problems are found, First Aid will attempt to fix them. It is a useful tool for troubleshooting and solving problems with your storage devices. So, you can run First Aid in Disk Utility to help you fix corrupted USB drive issue.

Step 1 Connect the corrupted USB drive to your Mac.

Step 2 Open Disk Utility, which you can find by navigating to Launchpad > Other > Disk Utility.

Step 3 From the left sidebar, select the USB drive you want to repair.

Step 4 Click the First aid in the toolbar, then click the course button to start the repair process.

If First Aid is able to repair the USB drive, you will see a message that the repair was successful. Otherwise, an error message will be displayed and more information about the problem will be provided.

Solution 2 Recover lost data from corrupted USB drive and then reformat the USB drive

If you continue to have problems with the USB drive after running First Aid, you may need to try more advanced repair techniques, such as reformatting the drive. Before proceeding with this method, you must realize that reformatting the USB drive will erase all data on the drive and create a new clean file system, resulting in data loss.

Therefore, make sure that you have backed up your drive first. If, unfortunately, you never develop the habit of backing up important data or just forget to do so before the USB drive gets corrupted, you’d better try iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover lost data from the USB drive. corrupted drive, then perform Erase USB drive.

Step 1 Run iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover lost data from corrupted USB flash drive

iBoysoft Data Recovery pour Mac is a data recovery tool that allows you to recover lost or deleted files from various storage devices including hard drives, SSDs, USB drives, memory cards, etc. It is designed to help users recover missing data caused by accidental deletion, wrong formatting, virus attacks, system crashes and other issues. If you have a corrupt USB drive and want to try iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover lost data, you can follow these steps:

1. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on your Mac.

2. Connect the corrupted USB drive to your Mac and launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.

3. Click Storage device from the software interface to locate and select the USB flash drive as the target location to scan, then click the Search for lost data button to start the scanning process.

4. After the scan is completed, you can preview the recoverable files and select the ones you want to recover, then click the Retrieve button to start the recovery process.

Step 2 Start the reformatting process using Disk Utility

After recovering the lost data from your USB flash drive, it is time for you to repair the drive via erasing the USB drive.

1. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility to open the Disk Utility application on your Mac.

2. Select your USB drive inserted in the Mac from the list on the left and click on the to erase .

3. Rename the drive, select a file system for the drive (such as exFAT) and a scheme, then click to erase.

4. Wait for the erasing process to complete and click OK.

Bonus Tips: How to Prevent USB Drives from Getting Corrupted

USB drives are vulnerable to corruption due to physical damage, malware attack, improper ejection, etc. While it’s always a good idea to back up data on your USB drive regularly to prevent loss of important files, there are still tips to prevent USB data loss by protecting your USB drive from corruption.

1. Be sure to eject the drive safely before unplugging it from your computer. This ensures that all data has been properly saved and written to the drive rather than being left in a temporary cache.
2. Avoid disconnecting the drive while it is in use, as this can lead to corruption.
3. Keep the USB key and its connections clean. Dust and dirt can accumulate and cause problems with drive connections.
4. Avoid using the player in harsh environments, such as extreme temperatures or high humidity. These conditions can damage the drive and lead to corruption.
5. Use a drive with a good reputation for reliability. Some drives are more prone to corruption than others, so it’s worth investing in a high-quality drive known for its reliability.
6. Run regular disk checks and maintenance on the drive. This can help identify and resolve issues before they cause corruption.

Conclusion

This article discusses the different signs and causes of USB flash drive corruption along with practical solutions to repair corrupted USB flash drives on Mac. To avoid data loss caused by USB drive corruption, it is highly recommended to back up important data regularly. Alternatively, you can also run iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to scan for lost data and recover it from your corrupted USB drive.