Apple Fixes 2023 Mac Pro Hard Drive Issue in macOS Ventura 13.5

[MacRumors]

In a support document published last month, Apple said certain SATA hard drives might unexpectedly disconnect from the 2023 Mac Pro after the computer wakes from sleep. Apple said it was aware of the issue and would fix it in a future macOS update, and the company followed through on that promise today.

Apple updated the support document today to indicate that the issue has been resolved in the macOS Ventura 13.5 update released today, so users simply need to update their Mac. The issue will also likely be resolved in the macOS Sonoma beta.

The Issue

While the Mac Pro is configured with SSD storage, it has SATA ports for connecting internal hard drives, and sometimes the drives could disconnect due to a bug.

"Certain models of internal SATA drives might unexpectedly disconnect from your computer after your Mac wakes from sleep," said Apple. "This can occur if your Mac automatically goes to sleep or if you manually put your Mac to sleep. If you see a message that your disk was not ejected properly, you can restart your Mac to reconnect to the drive."

New Mac Pro

Unveiled at WWDC last month, the new Mac Pro features Apple's M2 Ultra chip. The desktop tower has the same design as the Intel-based model from 2019, but lacks graphics card support and user-upgradeable RAM due to Apple silicon's unified architecture. Customers who do not need PCIe expansion should consider the Mac Studio instead.

Article Link: Apple Fixes 2023 Mac Pro Hard Drive Issue in macOS Ventura 13.5

 

[EugW]

Good to hear. Now if they could only fix this issue with USB drives, that'd be great.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Amen. Limited only to Mac Pro or does this bug fix also apply to all other Macs? It would be nice for external enclosures hooked up via USB to make the U mean what it is supposed to be mean again... instead of being a "hit or miss", works-for-some-enclosures-but-not-all proposition.

I have a Mac Studio Ultra and a very important enclosure will not maintain a connection for more than about 3 hours, even without any sleep during that 3 hours. In fact, it "unexpectedly ejects" even when actively transferring files to/from it (so neither end is asleep).

Unhook it from Studio Ultra and hook it to old Intel Macs running macOS BEFORE Big Sur and all is fine again (same cable, same enclosure, same drives, same connection type).

• 2 Old Macs or a PC = stable connection.
• 1 "latest & greatest", "most powerful" Mac = unexpected ejections within about 3 hours.

I know this is not a problem for everyone: some enclosures (including some of my own, including one from the same brand) work just fine. But I'm far from the only one with this problem (many threads about this, identifying many different enclosures with this issue). And I've tested enough to feel very confident that this is a bug(s) in macOS (so please fans/ADF: no "redirection" posts trying to blame enclosure, cable, firmware, etc. Been there, tested through ALL of that more than a few times). Hopefully this fix for Mac Pro is actually a fix for all Macs.

I'd love to see some people not enjoying this same bug (too) chime in that this update resolved it for their (not Mac Pro) Macs.

 

[Realityck]

If you see 'disk not ejected properly' on your Mac Pro (2023) - Apple Support

If an internal SATA drive unexpectedly disconnects from your Mac Pro,

support.apple.com

Nice typos with MacOS version, it’s suppose to be 13, not 12.

If you see 'disk not ejected properly' on your Mac Pro (2023)​

If an internal SATA drive unexpectedly disconnects from your Mac Pro, update to macOS Ventura 12.5 or later.

Certain models of internal SATA drives might unexpectedly disconnect from your computer after your Mac wakes from sleep. This can occur if your Mac automatically goes to sleep or if you manually put your Mac to sleep.
To resolve this issue, update to macOS Ventura 12.5 or later.
Published Date: July 24, 2023

 

[EugW]

Amen. Limited only to Mac Pro or does this bug fix also apply to all other Macs? It would be nice for external enclosures hooked up via USB to make the U mean what it is supposed to be mean again... instead of being a "hit or miss", works-for-some-enclosures-but-not-all proposition.

I have a Mac Studio Ultra and a very important enclosure will not maintain a connection for more than about 3 hours, even without any sleep during that 3 hours. In fact, it "unexpectedly ejects" even when actively transferring files to/from it (so neither end is asleep).

Unhook it from Studio Ultra and hook it to old Intel Macs running macOS BEFORE Big Sur and all is fine again (same cable, same enclosure, same drives, same connection type).

• 2 Old Macs or a PC = stable connection.
• 1 "latest & greatest", "most powerful" Mac = unexpected ejections within about 3 hours.

I know this is not a problem for everyone- some enclosures (including some of my own, including one from the same brand) work just fine. But I'm far from the only one with this problem (many threads about this, identifying many different enclosures with this issue). And I've tested enough to feel very confident that this is a bug(s) in macOS (so please fans, no "redirection" posts trying to blame enclosure, cable, etc. Been there, tested through ALL of that more than a few times). Hopefully this fix for Mac Pro is actually a fix for all Macs.

Is it a bus powered enclosure and is it a third party enclosure with your own supplied SSD? If so, it could be a power issue. This is a common issue in that scenario, which is why I've mostly stopped using those.

 

[ThailandToo]

Good of them to fix something so basic but critical to using this overpriced expansion card Mac Studio. I don’t understand why they can’t allow actual PCIe GPU? They have had three years and they couldn’t do it or they just didn’t want to? Sure it wouldn’t share the whole 192GB max RAM, but with the price of GPUs they have RAM all ready included! And Mac Pro owners don’t need to save the world with energy savings by using solely Apple silicon for graphics. Fix that if you care about professionals Apple.

 

[Jupeman]

The irony is that on my 2019 Mac Pro, it kernel panics with its various internal PCI-E storage whenever the Mac starts to think about sleeping. Apple has chased the issue with me, sent me a new machine, same problem. I get around it by never having the computer sleep and using a mouse jiggler to keep the Mac from ever thinking of sleeping. Pathetic. Thanks for the vent forum, but glad they are making fixes for the new Mac Pro...

 

[oogje]

13.5 apparently also fixes SoftRaid related Kernel panics with M2 Studio and 2023 Mac Pro.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Is it a bus powered enclosure and is it a third party enclosure with your own supplied SSD? If so, it could be a power issue. This is a common issue in that scenario, which is why I've mostly stopped using those.

I’ve tried it all ways in attempting to find a “not an Apple bug” solution. This one worked fine for nearly 2 years on Macs before Studio Ultra. It is self powered. I’ve tried it with 3 third party hubs (2 also self powered, 1 bus powered) AND directly connected to every port on the Studio Ultra (USB-A and USB-C).

Long story short: I‘ve tested through all options. I’m practically certain it is macOS bug(s). Many others have the same issue with their own enclosures and Macs. Others report no problems at all.

Some upgrade an older Mac to a newer OS and problem shows itself (no other variable changes). Some have enclosures important enough to downgrade to try to make it work again… and that works. Only variable that changes is the macOS upgrade to Big Sur or newer. It’s those that make me most confident that only Apple can resolve this bug... thus my hope that Apple admitting this bug and fix applies to more than only the new Mac Pro.

 

[swsm]

The irony is that on my 2019 Mac Pro, it kernel panics with its various internal PCI-E storage whenever the Mac starts to think about sleeping. Apple has chased the issue with me, sent me a new machine, same problem. I get around it by never having the computer sleep and using a mouse jiggler to keep the Mac from ever thinking of sleeping. Pathetic. Thanks for the vent forum, but glad they are making fixes for the new Mac Pro...

Similar sleep issues with my 2019 Mac Pro. I finally gave up. Every time I tried to get the problem solved with Apple support personal they tried to convince me I was actually calling about my MacBook Pro. Yikes!

 

[MGrayson3]

Not bad. Only five posts before the bashing.

 

[coolfactor]

Good of them to fix something so basic but critical to using this overpriced expansion card Mac Studio. I don’t understand why they can’t allow actual PCIe GPU? They have had three years and they couldn’t do it or they just didn’t want to? Sure it wouldn’t share the whole 192GB max RAM, but with the price of GPUs they have RAM all ready included! And Mac Pro owners don’t need to save the world with energy savings by using solely Apple silicon for graphics. Fix that if you care about professionals Apple.

Doesn't the integrated GPU already outperform standalone GPU cards? I feel the addiction to old thinking and an unwillingness to accept new architectures might be a big part of these complaints.

 

[coolfactor]

The irony is that on my 2019 Mac Pro, it kernel panics with its various internal PCI-E storage whenever the Mac starts to think about sleeping. Apple has chased the issue with me, sent me a new machine, same problem. I get around it by never having the computer sleep and using a mouse jiggler to keep the Mac from ever thinking of sleeping. Pathetic. Thanks for the vent forum, but glad they are making fixes for the new Mac Pro...

So you added 3rd-party storage, experienced issues, and fully blamed the Mac? Two separate Macs? Is it possible - just slightly - that the storage device itself is faulty?

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Well, at least it’s fixed!

 

[HiVolt]

Doesn't the integrated GPU already outperform standalone GPU cards? I feel the addiction to old thinking and an unwillingness to accept new architectures might be a big part of these complaints.

Not even close.

 

[xraydoc]

Does anybody actually own one of these yet?

 

[Wanted797]

I wish they’d change something about how macs check external drives.

I have a M1 mini on my desk with 2 external drives always connected. I work at the same desk (on a separate laptop) and if I have the mac on and in sleep very few minutes I’ll hear the subtle spin up and hum of the drives.

Apart from being annoying it’s unnecessary ware on the drives. And I know it’s not Time Machine cause it only lasts about 2-5 secs. I usually shutdown down the Mac to avoid the noise.

 

[xbjllb]

Good for them!

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Better late than never?

 

[macduke]

This the most Apple story ever.

• $7000 machine
• Spinning disk drives
• Took a month and a half to fix

 

[InuNacho]

Is it a bus powered enclosure and is it a third party enclosure with your own supplied SSD? If so, it could be a power issue. This is a common issue in that scenario, which is why I've mostly stopped using those.

Its issues like this that made me sell off my M2 Mini and fully embrace Windows where ya know, things actually work. 900ma on a USB port on a Desktop in 2023? Glad to see Apple is keeping power draw 1999 oldschool.

 

[spaz8]

Doesn't the integrated GPU already outperform standalone GPU cards? I feel the addiction to old thinking and an unwillingness to accept new architectures might be a big part of these complaints.

If by outperform you mean spend at minimum $5000 USD to get a Mac Studio M2 Ultra 76 core that can almost keep up to a 3 yr old upper-tier RTX 3080.. that you could buy for $600 today brand new on Amazon, then yes Apple's igpu's are smoking 5 yr old cards.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

This the most Apple story ever.

• $7000 machine
• Spinning disk drives
• Took a month and a half to fix

Spinning drives are a user addition. Not something Apple pre-installed.

 

[GMShadow]

Its issues like this that made me sell off my M2 Mini and fully embrace Windows where ya know, things actually work. 900ma on a USB port on a Desktop in 2023? Glad to see Apple is keeping power draw 1999 oldschool.

Spoken like someone who doesn't actually do any sort of support for Windows.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Doesn't the integrated GPU already outperform standalone GPU cards? I feel the addiction to old thinking and an unwillingness to accept new architectures might be a big part of these complaints.

The integrated GPU is good but nowhere near what something like a 4090 would be able to do. Apple silicon is unbeatable for power efficiency so in laptops it’s one of the best performers. On desktop if you don’t care about how much power it uses Nvidia and AMD are still far ahead. On the Mac Pro especially you also can’t replace the GPU like you can with discrete units. Right now there’s very little differentiating the Mac Pro and Mac Studio for a lot of people.