12th February, 2026.
OK … did I mention I have a stick?
A USB stick … ?
I’ve got a USB stick.
Several, in fact.
The things are handy forms of portable storage: especially if you have large files you need to transport, files that are too big to send via the usual internet services.
At any rate: I have plenty.
But now have one less.
Some of the ones I have, are double ended: and have both USB-A, and USB-C, connection: that lets me plug them into a variety of different machines.
I had one plugged into my phone, the other day: so I could transfer some video footage from the phone to my Mac.
And … ?
Didn’t eject the thing correctly: you’re supposed to tap an icon on the phone’s screen, to remove the things, safely.
That was a mistake.
As, when I plugged the stick into my desktop, the icon that usually shows up, that tells you the thing was connected … didn’t.
I didn’t get the usual “This Disk is Unrecognisable” message I’d usually expect in these circumstances.
Opening up Disk Utility, and Terminal, to see if they recognised it.
They hung: but worked perfectly when the stick was removed.
But removing the thing gave me the “Disk Not Ejected Properly” message when I did that.
So it was sort of recognised: but not mounting properly.
I tried checking it in my aging Mac Pro tower and back in my phone, and even went to Brentwood Library: to see if their Windows machines would recognise it, and let me format the thing.
Nope: that didn’t help!
So … ?
I asked on Apple’s support community pages.
The communal opinion … ?
Was that the thing was dead, had un up the curtains, joined the Choir Invisible … and should be given a decent burial.
I hate to agree with that: I’d rather be able to do something.
But under the circumstances, it’s been binned.
Anyone who finds it at the landfill it ends up in, is welcome to it.
~≈📸≈~
Just as a final thought … ?
I’ve been having issues with over heating on my Mac: under some circumstances.
That seem to specifically involve Spotlight.
Hopefully … ?
Those issues will be resolved by the update to macOS Tahoe 26.3 that my machine’s alerted me, to.
Here’s hoping: being able to boil my tea on a Mac mini, isn’t a good thing.
~≈☕️≈~
