I have an external Macally USB Floppy Disk Drive for Mac that connects via USB. When I connect the device to the USB port, it does not show up as an icon on the desktop in Mac OS Catalina. Where can I find the desktop icon or what could be the issue of it not being recognized?
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Macally USB Floppy Disk Drive for Mac Not Recognized
- Thread starter Matte2
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I think you need to insert a disk for it to show up.
Without a disk, look in Disk Utility to see if it shows.
Without a disk, look in Disk Utility to see if it shows.
First, does macOS recognise the device? Apple menu (at left of menu bar) > Option-click on System Information. In System Information sidebar, click on Hardware - USB. Does the floppy drive appear there?
Secondly (assuming the first question answers yes), open Disk Utility and look for the floppy drive. What is the format of the floppy disk? macOS will only mount formats it recognises.
Ask Different has a Q&A on this.
The floppy disk will only appear on the Desktop if it can be mounted.
Secondly (assuming the first question answers yes), open Disk Utility and look for the floppy drive. What is the format of the floppy disk? macOS will only mount formats it recognises.
Ask Different has a Q&A on this.
The floppy disk will only appear on the Desktop if it can be mounted.
Is that a really old USB Macally one? If so, it may not actually have drivers beyond OS9 / PPC. I've had similar problems with old Macally stuff.
I used Disk Utility and it recognized the the USB External Drive, however everything is greyed out. It states "not mounted", available Zero KB, Capacity 1.5MB and gives an option of first aid, restore and mount.
Most likely macOS does not recognise the format.
Does Disk Utility see any partitions?
It would clarify things if you showed the output of the Terminal command:
diskutil list (just the section referring to the FDD).
How to mount HFS Classic drives on MacOS Catalina and later
Opening old HFS Classic volumes on recent versions of MacOS is easier than you think.
www.matthewhughes.co.uk
Put a "known blank" disc into the drive.
(or one that is formatted for a PC)
Open disk utility.
Can you now see the disk?
If so, can you format it?
Something else I remember from long, long ago:
The earliest Mac floppy drives (and discs) weren't quite compatible with drives that came later.
Something to do with "encoding" on the drive ("GFR" v "MFM", or something like that).
How old are the floppies you're using?
Did they come from an old Mac with an 800k floppy drive?
(or one that is formatted for a PC)
Open disk utility.
Can you now see the disk?
If so, can you format it?
Something else I remember from long, long ago:
The earliest Mac floppy drives (and discs) weren't quite compatible with drives that came later.
Something to do with "encoding" on the drive ("GFR" v "MFM", or something like that).
How old are the floppies you're using?
Did they come from an old Mac with an 800k floppy drive?
Some USB drives even have trouble with Double Density (720 KB) disks. I have a USB drive that can read and write 1.44 MB HD floppies without issue, even on my M1 Mac in Ventura, so the system itself shouldn't cause much of a problem if the hardware supports the disk.
Mine doesn't have any branding on it other than a generic USB logo. But it shows up in the system as a Mitsumi USB FDD drive.
Slightly off topic, but I like the fact that macOS Sonoma still has a floppy icon (in high resolution!) for inserted disks.