The message Cannot access the USB device. There may be a problem with the USB device or it may not be formatted as FAT32 appears on my Mac when I try to copy files. What should I do?

  • The photo viewer can only read USB devices with a FAT format. To format your USB device in Mac OS X 10.4.x or 10.5.x, follow the steps below.

    Note: All data on the USB device will be lost when it is formatted.
    1. Connect your USB device to a USB port on your computer.
    2. Open the Macintosh hard drive and select Applications > Utilities > Disk Utilities.
    3. Select your USB device, then click Erase. A Volume Format drop-down box appears.
    4. Select MS-DOS File System (Macintosh OS X 10.4.x) or MS-DOS FAT (Macintosh OS X 10.5.x.)
    If you have Mac OS X 10.2.x or 10.3.x, you will not be able to format your USB storage device from your computer.
Published:  Jan 23, 2009 Was this helpful?​ Thank you for the feedback!
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