Cannot get phone to recognize USB flash drive

[MaryE1]

I have a new 128gb PNY flash drive that I wanted to save photos onto directly from my phone. I got a new USB adapter from Anker to do this. Flash drive works fine on my computer and the drive as well as adapter works on a friends computer. However, I cannot get this my phone to recognize it. I plug it in and nothing pops up for me to utilize it. What am I doing wrong? 

[realaud]

See my post below with the images.

[neilth]

It's quite possible that your flash drive is formatted with a file system not compatible with Android. This will prevent your phone from working with the flash drive. You can try formatting it on your computer and select the file system to use. You can try FAT32 or exFAT, one of those should work with the phone. This will provide you with a file system that both your phone and your computer can work with.

[realaud]

I didn't think of that when troubleshooting with the OP, but it could make sense.  I find, though, that most pre-formatted flash drives are formatted with FAT, since it's compatible with all systems.

[neilth]

I think that FAT and now even FAT32 are obsolete. They both have what are today very restrictive partition and file size limitations. The best option now is probably exFAT for both Android and Windows co-use.

[MaryE1]

The flash drive was formatted at fat32 so I reformatted it as exfat and still nothing. The drive works fine on my laptop. I tested the adapter on someone else's computer and it seemed to work fine. I'm at a loss as to what to try next. I guess I could see if I can return the adapter and try something else. 

[realaud]

May I suggest seeing what happens when you connect your phone to the laptop via the cable?  If your computer has a USB-C port, you should use the cable that came with the phone, otherwise using the adapter should be fine. Then you can transfer the photos to the laptop and onto the flash drive.  If you can connect both the phone and the flash drive to your laptop at the same time, you should probably be able to transfer the photos to the flash drive with the computer as the bridge.  Have you considered that there may actually be something wrong with the USB port on your phone?  You can do a diagnostic on it. You can reach diagnostics through device care on your phone or through the support tab on the members app. You can specifically test the USB connection with a device attached.

[realaud]

Wait, I just re-read this, and you were looking for a pop up to utilize it? Like when the computer informs you that a new device was plugged in?  What you should actually be seeing (per images below) is the USB connector symbol in the upper right-hand corner or your screen, and a notification when you pull down the notification shade and, if you open file manager, you should see it as a new drive. So, it's actually possible it was working all along.

[ArthurKotb]

I have an S24+ and I put a Sandisk USB-C stick into the USB port and it read it just fine. I was able to see all the files and I was able to copy to it. I saw the stick under the My Files app. Thinking it was like a computer device I just unplugged the stick and got the message that the drive was improperly removed and I should reboot to avoid any damage. I rebooted and everything seemed to be fine. I put the stick in again and it was recognized. I had learned that I need to click on the drive in My Files and then the menu to unmount the drive (mount was also an option). I did so, pulled out the stick and no error this time. I put the stick back in and nothing. It's not recognized. Several reboots and no change.Mount is not an option in the My Files menu now.

I installed the Sandisk Memory Zone app (old one) and it was able to see the stick even though My Files couldn't. I was able to copy files to it from my phone, but there was no unmount option. I contacted Sandisk and they said to uninstall the old version and install the new one. The stick was still installed and after I loaded the new version I was able to unmount and remove the stick. I rebooted the phone and now the new version of Memory Zone doesn't see the stick, nor does My Files. The stick works fine in my laptop, either as the USB-C or USB-A (the Sandisk has both).   I removed the stick from the S24+ (no error) and put it into my S8. The stick can be read. (To unmount you have to click on the icon in the status bar, then the dropdown and select unmount.)

So now the S24+ doesn't see the stick at all, either in My Files nor when using Sandisk Memory Zone app, but it works in my S8 or laptop. Since the stick was recognized by both the S24+, the old version of Memory Zone and the new version of Memory Zone (before I unmounted and removed the stick) it seems to me that the problem is with this new version of Android 15 or maybe even Android14, but definitely in the S24+.

[ArthurKotb]

Well, I removed the Memory Zone app because the stick was there, wasn't, was there, wasn't..... After a few reboots I am able to see the stick in My Files again and it seems to be stable but time will tell. I don't know if it was a combination of things but I do know that after I put the stick in my S8, looked at the files, then clicked on the notification bar and used the USB drop down to unmount the stick things started working better on the S24+. <Fingers crossed>

Update: I can't get it to recognize the stick unless I shut down after removing it, then insert the stick and boot up.

Update to the Update: It seems to be hit and miss. Sometimes when I insert the stick it's recognized, sometimes I have to reboot. This is never a problem with the S8. The drive was purchased in mid-2023 so it's not that old. I don't know what the problem is, but at least it works sometimes.

[Pasi88]

S24+, sandisk 128Gb reads well but kingston kyson 128gb not read or find at all. Both eXFat formatted. I don't know what is wrong? I use usb-c adapter bought from temu.