Sequoia update has caused mounting issues with external hard drives. Ex: had one working and then all of a sudden M3 Max MacBook Pro stops recognizing the device. Now, it won't even find it when it's plugged in. Device works fine on other devices.
Follow-up. Apple was able to help me re-format the SanDisk, which after doing so, the SanDisk did appear on my desktop. We then chose the SanDisk to use for Time Machine auto backups, and this time, Apple had me TURN OFF the "encryption" choice at the time of setting the external up to use for Time Machine.
The external drive has been working for 24 hours, and Apple will follow-up with me tomorrow and then again at a later date.
SanDisk technical support had also suggested it was an encryption error that Apple would need to be notified. All good today! It was ironic that my previous external failed, and the new one failed in the same week but so far so good.
All drives I'm using were formatted APFS by my MBP. The drives all mount on my MBP on Monterey (too old to update further). Drives that don't mount in Sequoia didn't mount in Sonoma either. The issue is with the OS, not the drives.
I can tell you this is still happening even with wall-powered USB hubs. I plug in a perfectly fine SATA drive, and the screen freezes after 2 minutes, and my M4 mini restarts. I had similar issues with my mom's M2 Mini, but luckily, she's still on Ventura. So the problem at least can be mitigated with apps like Amphetamine. I do really believe this is a Mac OS problem. At first I thought it was something with the M processor and power sharing issues, but I don't think that's the case. Something changed since Ventura onward. I still haven't seen Apple address it in any way. I can get external NVME drives plugged directly into the thunderbolt ports to work. But it's not economical at the moment to shift my entire SATA storage over to SSDs. I have about half and half right now. The fact that we've had 3 full complete versions of Mac OS with this issue and it still hasn't been fixed is mind-boggling. And the fact that we can walk over to my dad's old Intel iMac running Monterey and plug in whatever hard drive we need to access and have zero issues is a large problem. I'd really like to know what other photographers are doing? Do you just spend the cash and go for really expensive large-capacity SSDs?
Rob! JUST received notification that you were able to fix your external drive issue with the new Sequoia 15.3.1 update. I am downloading the update right now. I did purchase a new external HD, which also had problems, until, with the help from Apple, we wiped it clean and made it the auto backup for Time Machine WITHOUT "encrypting" it. It's been working great so far. However, I am hoping to be able to launch my failed external HD (since updating to Sequoia OS) that has a lot of my previous graphic jobs on it....Thank you so much for posting! Fingers and toes crossed.
pianoplayah wrote: "...Apple, please fix this!..."
pianoplayah ~ Apple isn't here in these user-to-user communities. Instead:
Contact - Official Apple Support
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System Settings>General>About, scroll down, System Report>Hardware>USB, what mA are used & available?
If there wasn't anything on the external SSD's you needed test drive one by reformatting if Disk Utility can see it. Format it either using this CCC guide or Apples Guide Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support (CA)
Just make sure that you get Disk Utility to show all devices.
the problem of usb ports and disks is a long-standing issue. especially when inheriting older operating systems. one must also consider that the jump to a new operating system version, which, in my humble opinion, is still quite immature, is never recommended until after at least two minor versions have been released. Taking advantage of new operating systems at launch must be the prerogative of those who do so for testing and evaluation, not for normal use, unless they are aware that there are problems just around the corner or with the specific aim of formulating precise and careful feedback to present to the developer in order for the problems to be resolved.
Having said that, in such cases, I would suggest making a backup of data on an external disk, reinstalling the operating system with a complete reset, even better if to the previous version, and, reinstalling the software by transferring your data.
Since your problem is totally different from the Authors you should start your own topic with details of your Mac, system, drive, etc . as described in this Apple document: Writing an Effective Apple Support Communities Question - Apple Community
That will get responses from those who will be more familiar with that problem then those coming here.
What I find curious is the inconsistency of behaviours. In my case on a Mac Mini M4 Pro, I’m only having troubles with USB-B 2.5” external hard drives, a WD My Passport 5TB in particular. After a reboot, it usually doesn’t appear let alone mount. Disk Utility just spins looking for drives. Sometimes, if I just get on with my activities, then after random lengths of time it just appears on the desktop. I have 3 external USB-C SSD drives and these don’t exhibit any issues at all. I’ve tried powered hubs but that makes no difference. The drives are formatted ExFat and if I plug them into my old Windows laptop, they appear straightaway. Sometimes I get a message that there’s an error on the drive and asked to run error checking and repair. I do that but then get a message no errors were found. If I take it back to my Mac, it mounts immediately but then later returns to not mounting. I’ve been using external drives for years for photo storage and backups without issues. This has only started to be a problem on the MM which came with 15.1 installed. Failing any other explanation, it does seem to be a Sequoia caused problem to me. But why is it so different for various users?
I've been dealing with endless external hard drive issues, and my drives are kept safe in their shipping box and only backed up occasionally. I have two HD drives. IN November an 11 months old Lacie Rugged 2T that had hardly been used could not be "mounted" and would not show up on desktop. Called Apple, they said it was Disk problem. Called Seagate they said it was Apple problem. Went to Genius bar they treid different cables etc, and said it was definitely disk. Sent disk off to Seagate and it was returned. Data Recovery rcovered about 500 mB of a 188GB of data.
Anyway long story short the several Seagate reps I spoke with said they are increasingly seeing Disks malfunctioning since Sequoia updates (which is when mine stopped working.) My bet is on the Sequoia update. I've also had a whole folder on my "deceased father" just "disappear" from my desktop over night, Apple couldn't find it, and it wasn't even in my Icloud storage less than 12 hours after I'd last opened it. It has just gone poof. Althought word and excel files were still traced if i checked "recent" in my microsoft software, but couldn't be opened as it said there was an error or file had been deleted. Absolutely no idea how any of this happens. I"ve had Macs since 1990 but i can only say that since 2016, they've become increasingly buggy. I'm going to tough it out with the older macs for as long as I can. As the new macs and the software updates seem to be increasingly "buggy" as for the "iCloud" drive well no idea how a file goes AWOL from both within 12 hours of me using.
Apple is not what it used to be. I have a samsung phone, and will never by an Iphone, as people have same issues. Samsung cameras might not be as good, but the phones themselves are much hardier.
Todate I'd say Sequoia has been a disaster, and apple are just trying to cover it up. My take.
After reformatting my two Time Machine externals, both are working now. Strangely, the crashing of my Photos external drive (Mac OS Extended Journaled), which I decided not to reformat, has also stopped.
That said, the Photos external can't be ejected because some "processes are in use" or something to that effect.
But no more kernal panics or constantly crashing apps. I can live with this.
Try running DriveDX on it to get some ideas.
Hi to all.
After working ( almost 8 hours on phone) with a senior Apple “GO”, restarting my puter, external hard disk; removing VPN, TrendMicro, FileVault,; searching for a virus, the problem stay:
my external disk ( a new one) never pass through the 60 Go even if the percentage go from 0 to 56.7%, 56,8% etc!
the conclusion of the Apple Senior: the problem is on the Sequoia itself. People’s working with Apple have to “ vote” , depending of the problem’s calls, for putting a kind of problems on the top of the pile, as the problem of TimeMachine, for working on the resolution! So the 15.1.1 version won’t help us. So wait for an Apple upgrade that saying: It will help the bug of Time Machine. Don’t try a third party essay, Don’ t buy a new external HD, your old one will eventually function as normal after!
So: be patients!!
Today, 12/19/24 online magazine 9to5Mac released an article about multiple (?) bugs in MacOS Sequoia 15.2 affecting Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper! and possibly other backup utilities.
I use both Time Machine and CCC and can confirm the bugs are much, much older than Sequoia 15.2 (by years).
I suggest you read it. It’s called “MacOS Sequoia 15.2 Backup Bug(s)…” posted 12/19/2024. Good Luck and Merry Christmas!
Ok you may be on to something here. I just now realized when we upgraded my Mom's M2 she jumped about 2-3 OS upgrades to Ventura and used Apple's migration tools. My M4 mini jumped from High Sierra on 2011 Macbook Pro to Sequoia. So I almost wonder if starting over from scratch would fix this? I really want that to be a last resort, because I'd have to move all my mail data, fonts and other stuff by hand. But maybe it's old software fighting with new software? I do clean up preferences, caches and preference panes whenever possible. I have my new backup SSD working, so I think I'll give this a shot to see if it works.
Sequoia 15.0 bugs - external hard drives
