Noob question here ref USB drive

Could be a bit of a demeaning thing to ask, but how long do you leave the finder window open before you close it? Because sometimes it can take a little while (couple of seconds) for Finder to list the files in that directory, even on an internal drive. So USB will naturally be a bit slower, especially if you have a lot of files on it (ie. hundreds that need listing in a particular order)

And what format is the drive? I don't think there are any common disk formats that Macs can't read... but it may be worth checking.

 

I have found that my MBP see's usb drives better (if that makes sense) if i first reformat them with the mac in dos/windows format before I start using it in windows and my mac.

 

How are you viewing the files, in icon view, list view or column view?

If you are viewing in icon view sometimes the files are not seen unless you do some serious scrolling. Change to column view and let us know if they are still not visible.

 

I'm not sure why it is not reading the files. This could be an ownership or permissions issue. I could guide you thru using the Terminal Application to check and change things, but I have an easier (but more time consuming) process you can follow.

Since you have backups of the files that you copied to the disk, I would reformat the disk (on the Mac) using Disk Utility. In other words you want to change the Partition mapping structure to GUID by doing this in Disk Utility (this will also erase the disk):

1. Select the actual device (not the volume beneath it) and click the Partition tab.

2. Change "Current" to "1 Partition" (this will enable the options button).

3. Click the Options button. Change the map to GUID and click OK.

4. Click Apply (this will re-format the disk)

5. Repeat Step 2.

6. Next to the word Format in the window, change that to MS-DOS (FAT).

7. Name the disk

8. Click Apply.

The disk will now have the GUID partition map, but the volume created will be FAT32. You will have some restrictions though:

MacOS can read/write FAT32, but you are limited to 4GB max file transfers.

Now unmount and disconnect the drive from the Mac and connect it to your PC. Copy your files to the disk. Unmount the drive and reconnect it to your Mac.

Now see if the files are listed in Column view.