I have big problems with my Macbook Pro 13

[Miso]

One year ago I bought new Macbook pro 13 (with the new keyboard)
It had some bugs and problems but it in general it was ok.

But some time ago I updated my MacBook to Big Sur and my MacBook became crippled.
Here is the list of problems. I googled each of them but did not find any solution.

1) My mac has 2TB of storage. But after my SSD sized reduced. When I go to About This Mac -> Storage it shows that I only have 1 TB SSD total. I did all the following software updates but it did not help.

2) I have a problem with SD cards. When I connect the SD card (via card reader) to my mac - it does not see it. I need to reboot my computer for it to see the SSD card. It happens ALL the time. It never sees the SSD card from the first try.

3) When I connect my external HDD to MacBook I have a problem. When I try to eject it - it does not allow to do it. It says that some processes are using the HDD and I have to stop them before ejecting the HDD. I always have to reboot my mac in order to safely eject this HDD. It ejects it only after the reboot. There are no processes that are using the mac (at least I did not launch them) It happens even If I connect the completely empty HDD to my mac. There are no files on it to use. I tested this with different external HDDs and the situation is the same.

4) When I finally eject the external HDD - the disk continues to work. It stops working when I physically take it out of the port.

5) Do you know the sound when something finished downloading? I hear this sound every 30-40 seconds when I am using Chrome. I am not downloading anything. Even if there are no tabs open - I still hear this sound all the time. I turned off the notifications in Chrome but this did not help. I always turn off the sound now when I am not watching videos or something. Otherwise I always have to hear this sound

 

[JagRunner]

Take it to Apple if you are still under warranty or have AppleCare.

 

[G5isAlive]

One year ago I bought new Macbook pro 13 (with the new keyboard)
It had some bugs and problems but it in general it was ok.

But some time ago I updated my MacBook to Big Sur and my MacBook became crippled.
Here is the list of problems. I googled each of them but did not find any solution.

1) My mac has 2TB of storage. But after my SSD sized reduced. When I go to About This Mac -> Storage it shows that I only have 1 TB SSD total. I did all the following software updates but it did not help.

2) I have a problem with SD cards. When I connect the SD card (via card reader) to my mac - it does not see it. I need to reboot my computer for it to see the SSD card. It happens ALL the time. It never sees the SSD card from the first try.

3) When I connect my external HDD to MacBook I have a problem. When I try to eject it - it does not allow to do it. It says that some processes are using the HDD and I have to stop them before ejecting the HDD. I always have to reboot my mac in order to safely eject this HDD. It ejects it only after the reboot. There are no processes that are using the mac (at least I did not launch them) It happens even If I connect the completely empty HDD to my mac. There are no files on it to use. I tested this with different external HDDs and the situation is the same.

4) When I finally eject the external HDD - the disk continues to work. It stops working when I physically take it out of the port.

5) Do you know the sound when something finished downloading? I hear this sound every 30-40 seconds when I am using Chrome. I am not downloading anything. Even if there are no tabs open - I still hear this sound all the time. I turned off the notifications in Chrome but this did not help. I always turn off the sound now when I am not watching videos or something. Otherwise I always have to hear this sound

1) Never heard this one before. Could it be the disk has become corrupted? Have you run any disk testing tools on it? There are tools that will look for corruption. I would back up everything and do a complete wipe with a fresh install.

2) Have you tried another reader? Are you going through a hub? There are some USB related problems being reported and this sounds like one of them. I download directly from my camera.

3) Hopefully you will be comforted to know I have the same problem and often resort to the same solution, restarting my Mac. Other than that, I live with it. Sorry.

4). Spinning platters sometimes see to take forever to turn off. It can detect it is still connected, I think through a voltage drop or something like that. Anyway, sounds like it is in a holding pattern in case you want to spin up again. Some hard drives you can turn this default setting off. Me, I use SSD's.

5) Use Safari. Sorry, tongue in cheek, but you do have choices in browsers. I tend to take a pragmatic approach to things. Again I wonder if a fresh install might not solve this problem.

I realize not much in the way of help, but maybe some new directions.

 

[solouki]

Hi Miso,

You might try the following Terminal commands:

diskutil info disk0

this should tell you the disk size (about 14 lines down). Hopefully, it will say 2TB.
Then do a:

diskutil list

and this will tell you how the disk is partitioned into containers and volumes.

In the Disk Utility app, you can create new partitions or volume to utilize any unused space.

Good luck,
Solouki

 

[SigEp265]

Have you tried a fresh install of the OS?

 

[Fishrrman]

"When I connect the SD card (via card reader) to my mac - it does not see it. I need to reboot my computer for it to see the SSD card. It happens ALL the time."

Try a DIFFERENT card reader. That can make a difference.
It might even be the SD card itself. Does it happen with only one SD card, or more than one?

"When I try to eject it - it does not allow to do it. It says that some processes are using the HDD and I have to stop them before ejecting the HDD."

You could try opening Activity Monitor to see what processes are running. And then try to figure out what's accessing the external drive. This would prevent it from ejecting.

Keep in mind that "a process" could be an open application, or something invisible running "behind the scenes" that you don't normally "see".

There's a small free utility name "Semulov" that might work (not sure whether this works with m series Macs or not). You can find it here:

kainjow

"Do you know the sound when something finished downloading? I hear this sound every 30-40 seconds when I am using Chrome."

STOP USING Chrome.
That's all I've got to say about that...!

 

[Okta]

I think the above suggestions make sense. You can try a fresh install, but personally I'd be contacting Apple