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Macbook M1 Air 2020 - cannot read external drives

_Dylan_

_Dylan_

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 23, 2022
8
0
Hello,

I have a Macbook Air M1 2020 model which is not able to read any external drives.

I tried checking through disk utilities but no external drives show up there, the external drive is connected through a USB hub from anker but previously I also tried a brand new USB SSD drive directly on the thunderbolt connection. Unfortunately all without result...

Wondering if anyone here might now something different I could try?

Thanks in advance!
 
MrAperture said:
Your USB hub is probably incompatible with M1 processors.
Click to expand...
Yeah, a bit strange though as I’ve also tried a kingston USB-C flash drive directly connected to the Macbook and it also didn’t show. Now ordered a USB-C external hard drive, let’s see if that works 🤞🏻
 
Is there anything suspicious in the output of "sudo dmesg" in Terminal.app after attaching a USB device?
 
Does this happen on both/all USB C ports of your machine? The USB C ports on M1/2 Macbooks can become loose/broken, this might have happened here.

In general, Apple starting with the Mx architecture, has problems complying with USB standards, but Anker is rock solid. Try the hub and drive on a windows or linux computer of yours or a friends. If it works there, it is a broken port or a software issue on the Macbook. Especially Ventura does have conflicts with USB specs due to sloppy drivers. This happenswith display support via USB C, too.
 
giffut said:
Does this happen on both/all USB C ports of your machine? The USB C ports on M1/2 Macbooks can become loose/broken, this might have happened here.

In general, Apple starting with the Mx architecture, has problems complying with USB standards, but Anker is rock solid. Try the hub and drive on a windows or linux computer of yours or a friends. If it works there, it is a broken port or a software issue on the Macbook. Especially Ventura does have conflicts with USB specs due to sloppy drivers. This happenswith display support via USB C, too.
Click to expand...

It seems to happen to both USB-C ports, I have just received a new Anker hub as the cable on the connector of the hub was internally broken as my external screen stopped working every time. Unfortunately, it still does not show any of my HDD or Micro MS M2 card through a USB reader connected to my Anker Hub.

But I noticed a message though that didn't show with the old hub, so it seems to detect something but under disk utility nothing is visible either. Already, tried restarting my PC but this also didn't help.

Any other things I could try?

Thanks!

Screenshot 2023-08-17 at 19.21.55.png


Also, I noticed the following in system settings, so it seems there are devices detected but not in visible anywhere...

Screenshot 2023-08-17 at 20.26.46.png
 
Last edited:
Okay, I'm using my work computer - apparently my USB devices are disabled by bittdefender.

Would creating a personal profile solve this problem?
 
DeltaMac said:
hmm... Does your company allow you to bypass security settings?
Click to expand...
I have not asked them but I think they will not like that idea - I can access bit defender but it looks like I cannot see all the setting...
 
Your company probably does not want you to copy files to their laptop. :D
External USB storage has been a known vector for malware for a long time. Typically, files are copied, without your knowledge, the first time the USB device is mounted. So, since years ago, lots of companies use some method to just block external file storage.
 
DeltaMac said:
Your company probably does not want you to copy files to their laptop. :D
External USB storage has been a known vector for malware for a long time. Typically, files are copied, without your knowledge, the first time the USB device is mounted. So, since years ago, lots of companies use some method to just block external file storage.
Click to expand...
Very unfortunate, I guess it's time to get a PC of my own - anyway thanks everyone for the help so far :)
 
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