My new M4 Max 36 GB has a TM USB Harddrive and an external storage drive that is an SSD (Apple SSD) with USB-C, so two different drives with two different ports... when waking from sleep the display shows the two drives have been ejected incorrectly multiple times during the night. I would guess every three hours. The drives are in fact still on the desktop and function just fine, the TM even did a scheduled back up. I do not know if the drives did disconnect and reconnect. This happens every time the Studio is asleep for several hours or more.
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New basic config M4 wakes up having ejected drives
- Thread starter fhopper
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@fhopper This is an ongoing problem that first surfaced with the M1 generation.
There seems to be a mismatch between Apple's TB4/5 ports and the older USB 3.x enclosure controller chipsets, when is comes to power management during standby, and especially sleep.
I have never suffered this problem, because there is a reliable workaround:
Apple does Thunderbolt really (really) well. So only connect Thunderbolt devices to the TB4/5 ports on the Mac.
To connect USB 3.x devices to your Mac, connect them to the USB-A/C ports on a self-powered Thunderbolt 3 (not TB4/5) dock, and connect that to the Mac, using a certified TB3/4/5 cable.
That way, the dock's USB 3.x controller is managing the peripherals, and power management with well behaved external devices works as expected.
It has to be a TB3 dock, because TB4 and TB5 work differently, and still use the Mac's USB 3.x controller to manage the USB 3.x peripherals.
USB4 is generally fine, it's just older USB 3.x peripherals that fail to stay connected when directly connected.
One further point:
As Apple hasn't managed to rectify this problem, my guess that it could only be solved at the expense of the proper working of the high speed TB4/5 ports.
So complaining about this isn't going to make a difference, we have to live with this. 😉
There seems to be a mismatch between Apple's TB4/5 ports and the older USB 3.x enclosure controller chipsets, when is comes to power management during standby, and especially sleep.
I have never suffered this problem, because there is a reliable workaround:
Apple does Thunderbolt really (really) well. So only connect Thunderbolt devices to the TB4/5 ports on the Mac.
To connect USB 3.x devices to your Mac, connect them to the USB-A/C ports on a self-powered Thunderbolt 3 (not TB4/5) dock, and connect that to the Mac, using a certified TB3/4/5 cable.
That way, the dock's USB 3.x controller is managing the peripherals, and power management with well behaved external devices works as expected.
It has to be a TB3 dock, because TB4 and TB5 work differently, and still use the Mac's USB 3.x controller to manage the USB 3.x peripherals.
USB4 is generally fine, it's just older USB 3.x peripherals that fail to stay connected when directly connected.
One further point:
As Apple hasn't managed to rectify this problem, my guess that it could only be solved at the expense of the proper working of the high speed TB4/5 ports.
So complaining about this isn't going to make a difference, we have to live with this. 😉
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Thanks. I have an OWC TB4, powered dock that was helping my 27" 2020 model limp along. I thought I had freed up an outlet on the old power strip... oh well. I will plug it into the front TB port, I believe it is TB3/USB-C something.
About to order a Mac Studio this week, so that I understand, the rules are:
- TB5 peripherals (SSD, etc) go to TB5 ports at the rear
- USB 3.x peripherals should be fed from the front, or from a TB3 Dock plugged in at the rear TB5 ports
- Use certified TB3/4/5 cable
"USB 3.x peripherals should be fed from the front, or from a TB3 Dock plugged in at the rear TB5 ports"
NO!
Those rear ports work as well for USB as they do for thunderbolt.
A USBc port can be "4 ports in one" (possibly more?)
- thunderbolt
- USB
- dislplayport
- charging
How the port "behaves" depends on what is plugged into it.
It's the FRONT ports that are "limited" to USB (data) and possibly device charging as well.
NO!
Those rear ports work as well for USB as they do for thunderbolt.
A USBc port can be "4 ports in one" (possibly more?)
- thunderbolt
- USB
- dislplayport
- charging
How the port "behaves" depends on what is plugged into it.
It's the FRONT ports that are "limited" to USB (data) and possibly device charging as well.
louie wrote:
"Presently over thinking the price advantages and disadvantages of using my Apple card on a store purchase, or going with the Veteran purchase or refurb."
I "piggybacked" the veterans discount on top of the refurbished store, and got a 25% discount when I bought an m4 Mini in March.
Sign into the Apple veteran's store first (I believe you need to do this through ID.me).
You will be transferred to Apple's store afterwards.
Now, scroll down towards the bottom of the page to find the refurbished page, and click to go there.
The prices will automatically "re-adjust" (downwards!) to give you the additional discounts.
"Presently over thinking the price advantages and disadvantages of using my Apple card on a store purchase, or going with the Veteran purchase or refurb."
I "piggybacked" the veterans discount on top of the refurbished store, and got a 25% discount when I bought an m4 Mini in March.
Sign into the Apple veteran's store first (I believe you need to do this through ID.me).
You will be transferred to Apple's store afterwards.
Now, scroll down towards the bottom of the page to find the refurbished page, and click to go there.
The prices will automatically "re-adjust" (downwards!) to give you the additional discounts.
I used the Veteran's discount at Apple. If the new Studio had been on Amazon I would have considered using my 5% back prime card.Thank you, I will purchase the Mac Studio today. Presently over thinking the price advantages and disadvantages of using my Apple card on a store purchase, or going with the Veteran purchase or refurb. Apple makes it too easy to buy.
Four Thunderbolt 5 (USB‑C) ports with support for:
- Thunderbolt 5 (up to 120Gb/s)
- USB 4 (up to 120Gb/s)
- USB 3 (up to 10Gb/s)
- DisplayPort 2.1
- Two USB 3 (USB‑A) ports (up to 5Gb/s)
- HDMI 2.1 port
- 10Gb Ethernet
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Two USB‑C ports (up to 10Gb/s)
- SDXC card slot (UHS-II)
- Two Thunderbolt 5 ports (up to 120Gb/s)
- SDXC card slot (UHS-II)
First ... apologies to @fhopper for going a bit OT on your thread. Your thread answered a question for me and has saved me a good bit of money.
Thank you very much! I did not notice I could do the refurb with the Veterans discount. I just ordered a Mac Studio 16-40-16, 1 TB drive, 48GB memory for USD 2060. For anyone that is interested, the costs for the various ways to order are broken down like this:
Apple Store Regular Price - USD 2699.00
Apple Store Veteran Price - USD 2429.00
Apple Store Refurb Price - USD 2289.00
Apple Store Refurb-Vet Price - USD 2060
Thank you very much! I did not notice I could do the refurb with the Veterans discount. I just ordered a Mac Studio 16-40-16, 1 TB drive, 48GB memory for USD 2060. For anyone that is interested, the costs for the various ways to order are broken down like this:
Apple Store Regular Price - USD 2699.00
Apple Store Veteran Price - USD 2429.00
Apple Store Refurb Price - USD 2289.00
Apple Store Refurb-Vet Price - USD 2060
If you live near a Microcenter the 1TB/48GB model costs 2430, which is the same price on apple.com edu pricing.
I feel like this has been a problem for years even prior to the M1 chip. I still have this issue with external HDDs whether they’re plugged into a TB3 hub (Caldigit TS3+) or directly the USB-A ports on the Studio. The only thing that’s seems to have helped is the Amphetamine app’s feature to keep drives awake, and turning off the MacOS setting to put drives to sleep.