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I bought a 32GB USB flash drive from Woolworths.

But Ubuntu doesn't "see" it.

The USB flash drive icon doesn't appear on the Launcher (as is the case with every other type of removable storage), and Nautilus doesn't show the USB flash drive when I open a window...

However, if I am not mistaken, it does show in Terminal:

xxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx-SVJ20215CGB:~$ sudo lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 8087:07da Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 054c:06eb Sony Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 054c:06c2 Sony Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 2149:2002  
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 0483:91d1 STMicroelectronics 
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 5986:02d3 Acer, Inc 
Bus 003 Device 007: ID 045e:07f8 Microsoft Corp. 
Bus 003 Device 017: ID 0bc2:2321 Seagate RSS LLC 
Bus 003 Device 032: ID 058f:6387 Alcor Micro Corp. Flash Drive
Bus 003 Device 005: ID 045e:00cb Microsoft Corp. Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB-2.0 4-Port HUB
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

I believe "Alcor Micro Corp. Flash Drive" is my USB flash drive, as it seems to disappear when I remove my USB flash drive and run the same command... The USB flash drive is connected via an unpowered USB hub - I haven't run the Terminal command when I connected it directly to the computer, but I did otherwise try connecting it to the computer and it seemingly made no difference.

The end-goal is that this USB flash drive will be re-formatted in a Microsoft Windows-friendly filesystem, and it will frequently be written to (it's specifically for playing content on our "smart" television and Blu-Ray Disk player), so I need it to automatically display/be accessible from Nautilus.

Any help would be appreciated...

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  • Is the drive formatted? Probably not.
    – Pilot6
    Aug 9, 2015 at 8:31
  • Well I want to format it, but I can't... It's literally straight out of the packet, so normally a USB flash drive would be formatted.
    – Gregory Opera
    Aug 9, 2015 at 8:32
  • Is it seen in gparted?
    – Pilot6
    Aug 9, 2015 at 8:34
  • I think so - there's a volume of 29.77, which the only one in the vicinity of my USB flash drive (which is 32GB). It's formatted as FAT32, apparently.
    – Gregory Opera
    Aug 9, 2015 at 8:36
  • There is a disk selector in the right upper corner. Is your flash drive visible there? It must be something like /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc.
    – Pilot6
    Aug 9, 2015 at 8:37

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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The USB flash drive shows in GParted (as some other users suggested I check in the comments).

To fix the issue, I loaded the drive using the selector on the upper-right (of GParted), right-clicked the partition (which was FAT32), selected "Format to", "FAT32" and then followed the prompts, which appears to have fixed the issue (it now appears in Nautilus and on the Launcher, just like any other USB flash drive)...

I'm not sure what the problem was, but it appears to have been fixed.

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  • 1
    It looks like it was not formatted well. Now you re-formatted it.
    – Pilot6
    Aug 9, 2015 at 8:44

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