Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

External TB drive not seen on bootup

B

bassjunky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
219
60
Texas
It's not a big issue since I seldom completely power down my 2011 iMac, but any reason my external Thunderbolt SSD is not initially seen when powering up the iMac from cold? I have to disconnect the drive and plug it back in for it to be recognized.

If I simply reboot the iMac, it stays connected and boots up just fine. But if I power down the iMac, the next time I power it on, I have to unplug the external SSD (either the drive or the TB connector on the iMac) for it to be seen and to boot off of.

Again, not a big deal, just curious.
 
B

bassjunky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
219
60
Texas
No, not from a cold boot. I have to unplug it and plug it back in, then it's recognized and I can select.

Not sure if it's the TB ports (both do it) or the drive I'm using. No complaints on it otherwise, just quirky I have to unplug it and plug it back in from a cold boot. It has a small LED that doesn't light up from a cold boot until I reconnect it. Almost like the TB ports don't see it's there and already connected until I dis/re-connect it.
 
W

WE2356

macrumors newbie
Mar 2, 2015
3
0
I have the same issue with the 500GB version, the drive will not start at bootup after a shutdown. Did you find a solution?
 
B

bassjunky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
219
60
Texas
Never found a solution, though it's not much of a problem since I seldom completely shut down. Maybe it's a Transcend issue?
 
steve62388

steve62388

macrumors 68040
Apr 23, 2013
3,090
1,944
bassjunky said:
Never found a solution, though it's not much of a problem since I seldom completely shut down. Maybe it's a Transcend issue?
Click to expand...

My external Lacie TB drive is picked up from cold boot, including from the boot drive selection screen. So it looks like some sort of interaction with your drive. You should try to find someone with the exact same drive to see if you can figure out if it's normal behaviour.

Try contacting Transcend support too, see what they have to say.
 
Fishrrman

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,343
12,460
OP:

Try this.

Download the free menu bar utility called "Semulov", found here:
http://www.kainjow.com

It will show you all the volumes "available", and let you mount and UNmount them as you wish.

Then, do this:
Power all the way down (power off).
Reboot.
IF the Transcend drive doesn't mount, open Semulov.
Go to the Semulov menu and check for "unmounted" volumes.
Do you see the Transcend on the list?
If you do, what happens if you select it?
 
B

bassjunky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
219
60
Texas
I'll check out that utility, but I'm not sure it would do any good since I'm using the SSD as an external boot drive. If it's not detected on a cold boot (without physically disconnecting/reconnecting) I wouldn't be able to boot into OSX anyways.
 
W

WE2356

macrumors newbie
Mar 2, 2015
3
0
Here's the reply I got from Transcend, not very helpful especially as the drivers are for Windows. I have tried it on another 2011 iMac 21" and the same thing occurs, no power is supplied to the drive until I disconnect and reconnect. I am wondering if it is a cable issue, as I tried plugging into a macbook air and nothing happened even if I disconnected and reconnected?

Dear Customer,

First of all, many thanks for your letter.

We have tested SJM500 on mid 2011 27" iMac and confirmed SJM500 works well with iMac.
If possible, please try other OS version and check if the same issue happened.

Also, please download thunderbolt driver by below website.
http://uk.transcend-info.com/Support/No-679

Moreover, since Apple disables Trim support on 3rd party SSD now, if your OS is OSX Yosemite, there's no function of Trim for your SSD.
However, there's no need to worry about the performance of SSD, because there's a function similar to Trim called Garbage Collection.

For more product FAQ, please refer to the following link:
http://tw.transcend-info.com/redirect.asp?exid=1202

If you have any question, please feel free to let us know.
We'll be eager to service you to the best of our ability.
 
B

bassjunky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
219
60
Texas
Yeah, their response is nearly useless. It can't be an OS issue since the problem happens before the OS is loaded. And obviously they're not really paying much attention to our actual problem if they're suggesting to download a driver for Windows while we're all using OSX.

Like they say, this drive works fine on a mid-2011 iMac, but with the caveat that it must be disconnected and reconnected physically upon a cold boot. Moreover, there are ways to enable TRIM on 3rd party SSDs, as I have it enabled on mine. Guess they should learn their own hardware better.

Support answers like these make me want to punch my screen...or their face...though it's fairly typical and I shouldn't be too surprised.
 
W

WE2356

macrumors newbie
Mar 2, 2015
3
0
Sent Transcend another email, no response.

Tried another cable (2m thunderbolt from apple) no joy.

Tried it with 2m cable on an early 2014 macbook air, turned on straight away at switch on.

As you say leave it in standby and not a problem, but annoying.
 
B

bassjunky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
219
60
Texas
That's interesting. I thought initially it was possibly the cable, but I'm guessing it's something more specific to our model of iMacs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom