# flash drive won't work on mac



## nickto21

Hello All,
I bought a flash drive for college. I have a pc at home, and the flash drive works perfectly on my pc. It also works on the pcs at college. But, it doesn't work on the Macs at school.
I would just use the pc's, but the flash drive is for English class, and the writing lab is all Macs.

When I insert the drive into the port on the Mac, a desktop icon pops up that says "U3 System files", or something like that. It contains an .exe file, a zip file, and some other file. None of them do squat. It doesn't ask me to enter my password. The mac doesn't even get to the point of recognizing that the flash drive is there, except for the system file desktop icon, that doesn't do anything.

When I use the drive on a pc, the flash drive program engages, it asks for my password, and then it opens my flash drive directory.

It's a 1gb Memorex travel flash drive.

I called Memorex tech support. I was told they don't know anything about Macs, and to call Apple. I don't know why they don't know anything about Macs. Their drive is supposed to support Macs. Anyway.

So I called Apple. The tech guy said that if I reformatted the drive in FAT 32, it should work for both pc/mac. Funny thing is, it was already FAT 32 formatted. I reformatted it anyway, and it still didn't work.

Anyone know how to fix my problem?

BTW, other people at school can use their flash drives on both pc and Macs, so it's definately the drive, not the computers.

Thanks for any help.
Steve.


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## Headrush

You said you can see the files, so can you copy a new file onto it?

You said your friends work on Macs, does that mean the same media type with the auto protection scheme?

The stuff there is probably just an autorun setup for windows to protect the files. It won't work on Macs and probably can be safely ignored.


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## Pensacola Tiger

Try reformatting it to FAT32 using OS X rather than Windows.


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## nickto21

If I do that, will it work on pc's too?
Steve


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## Headrush

nickto21 said:


> If I do that, will it work on pc's too?
> Steve


Yes.

I'm still curious if it is already formatted properly. (You didn't answer.)


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## nickto21

I can't see the contents of my drive on the Mac. The files that I see are some type of system files that don't do anything.

I don't know about the auto protection scheme thing. The guy who was helping me plugged his flash drive into the mac, and it worked fine,though.

I formatted my drive to FAT 32, but it was formatted on a pc, so I guess that's why it didn't work still on the Mac.

That's pretty much what I know.

*You said that if I format my drive to Fat 32 on the Mac, it'll work on both systems. How do I do that?*



Headrush said:


> You said you can see the files, so can you copy a new file onto it?
> 
> You said your friends work on Macs, does that mean the same media type with the auto protection scheme?
> 
> The stuff there is probably just an autorun setup for windows to protect the files. It won't work on Macs and probably can be safely ignored.


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## Headrush

nickto21 said:


> I can't see the contents of my drive on the Mac. The files that I see are some type of system files that don't do anything.


If you can see any files, the drive is formatted already.
They don't work because they are Windows executables.



nickto21 said:


> I don't know about the auto protection scheme thing. The guy who was helping me plugged his flash drive into the mac, and it worked fine,though.


Can you clarify what you means by works? You said you can see the system files, so it seems it is OK.



nickto21 said:


> I formatted my drive to FAT 32, but it was formatted on a pc, so I guess that's why it didn't work still on the Mac.


That shouldn't matter. You can try re-formatting it using Disk Utility.
(Its in the Utilities folder of Applications.)


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## nickto21

Headrush,
Thank you for your help and patience. 
The way that I see my documents, movies, etc. on my flash drive using a pc is this:
1.I insert the drive.
2.A Memorex screen comes up, and then a password screen.
3. I input my password, and then a U3 icon shows up next to the clock . When I want to access the files on my drive, I click on the U3 icon, a U3 area opens. Some of the choices I have are help/support, add programs, settings, manage U3 programs, and "explore U3 drive".

4. When I click "Explore U3 drive", a file tree of everything on my computer, including the flash drive, pops up. Then I can access the documents, pics,etc that I've put on the disk.

When I insert the drive on a Mac, a folder appears on the desktop with 3 files. I'm assuming that these files are used by a pc to access my U3 software, which makes it possible to see the contents of the drive. But I guess the Mac has no idea what to do with these files.


When I said that the guy who was helping me inserted his drive on a Mac and it worked, what I mean is that upon insertion, a desktop icon popped up, and when he opened this icon, he could access his flash drive, meaning he could access whatever documents,pics etc. that he's placed on the drive.

The only way that I can access my files(pics, documents,etc) on my flash drive is through the U3 software(Memorex's GUI,if you will), but it won't load on a Mac. 

About the formatting. I inserted the drive into a pc, went to "my computer", right clicked on the flash drive (drive f) , picked "format", made sure it was FAT 32(it was already set to FAT 32) and pressed start, and it formatted the disk.

Do you suspect that this is an inability of the Mac to access the contents of the flash drive because the Memeorex U3 software is only opened by an .exe file, and Macs don't open those?

Should I just buy a different brand of flash drive?

Thank you for your time and expertise,
Steve


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## Headrush

Although I have not used that particular Memorex setup, my guess is that on the PC the autorun system and included program probably just add the files through it's interface to some type of encrypted archive.

I would further think that your friend can see his files as he is not using the included software.

I think you should be able to still use this media. Go to *Applications -> Utilities Folder -> Disk Utility.*
Pick the media on the left and then go to the Erase tab on the right side of dialog.
Pick MSDOS format and the drive should work on both PCs and Macs now.
(Depending on the size of media you probably want FAT16)


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