MacBook Pro: Flash drive unmountable error, safe to reuse?

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Level 1

4 points

MacBook Pro: Flash drive unmountable error, safe to reuse?

I am using a "late 2013" MacBook Pro (Version 10.13.6 High Sierra) and planned to copy some data from the MacBook to a flash drive. When I inserted the drive there was no notification or icon that showed that the flash drive was connected. I also could not access its files since it wasn't showing up on finder. After inserting the drive into the other usb ports and restarting the MacBook in efforts to fix the issue, the problem still persisted.

When I went to disc repair, my flash drive was there but was greyed out and was "un-mountable". I had the option to repair the flash drive which I did. This fixed my issue and made it so that I could see my drive in finder/desktop which made it possible to access files.

Now that I can use this flash drive again, does it mean I should? Like is this an issue in which I should discard the flash drive after moving data or could I continue to use it? I'm not too sure what it repaired and I don't understand the "un-mountable" state it was previously in. (I'm ruling out my MacBook as the issue since I had mistakenly plugged in another flash drive before this one and that one was accessible).

Posted on Dec 15, 2025 9:41 PM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

155,270 points

Dec 16, 2025 7:13 AM in response to Player64_

Flash drive quality tends to all over the map. They are all "cheap". Sure, you can continue to use it, but I would rely upon it as much as I would any other flash drive: not much. Use it for temporary file storage; an easy means of transferring information from one device to another... that sort of thing. Don't rely upon it for backup purposes.

There are many possible reasons Disk Utility could not mount it initially. It probably won't happen again, but that doesn't change the answer.

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