New Mac Pro Has Hard Drive Issue, Apple Planning Fix in macOS Update

[MacRumors]

In a support document published today, Apple said certain SATA hard drives might unexpectedly disconnect from the 2023 Mac Pro after the computer wakes from sleep. Apple said it is "aware of this issue" and will fix it in a "future macOS update."

While the Mac Pro is configured with SSD storage, it has SATA ports for connecting internal hard drives, and some can 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."

As a temporary workaround, users can prevent their Mac Pro from automatically going to sleep by opening the System Settings app, clicking on Displays → Advanced…, and turning on "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off."

Released on Tuesday, 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: New Mac Pro Has Hard Drive Issue, Apple Planning Fix in macOS Update

 

[dannyyankou]

I thought all the configurations were SSD. I’m confused.

 

[PieTunes]

I thought all the configurations were SSD. I’m confused.

It’s regarding SATA hard drives you install yourself.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

How soon is "future"

 

[dannyyankou]

It’s regarding SATA hard drives you install yourself.

Oh. Well, if you’re spending that much to get that much speed and performance, I don’t see why you wouldn’t use SSD.

Edit: Lots of people have explained why to me, you can stop replying now haha. I’m not a pro user, so I’m unfamiliar with how people use it.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Oh. Well, if you’re spending that much to get that much speed and performance, I don’t see why you wouldn’t use SSD.

To have a back-up drive or storage drive.

 

[dannyyankou]

To have a back-up drive or storage drive.

Got it. I’m not a pro clearly lol, thanks for answering.

 

[Keymaster]

Well, that's not what you want to happen with an internal drive...hopefully it's an easy fix. It's weird that is happening though, as it was never a bug on previous systems, it makes me wonder if they are still working out the architecture to handle expansion slots with Apple Silicon, it feels like there's a lot more they have to do to make it into something that isn't like a laptop (i.e. expandable hardware).

 

[Westside guy]

How soon is "future"

You can always wait until you see that update drop before you purchase a Mac Pro. Might even be able to get it as a refurb on Apple's website.

 

[Weasel13]

I thought all the configurations were SSD. I’m confused.

Many SSD are SATA. Many people still use HD because they need more space than is practical with SSD. What if you need 50TB? That's a lot of SSD's...

 

[retta283]

Oh. Well, if you’re spending that much to get that much speed and performance, I don’t see why you wouldn’t use SSD.

Traditional hard drives are still just fine for data storage, when access is irregular enough that the read/write speed is irrelevant. Possibly more reliable in the event of failure as there is higher chance of recovering data from a failing HDD than SSD, unless the tech has gotten more advanced than what I remember.

The term 'spinning rust' is asinine. SSDs are an inherent innovation, but the HDD technology is not outright junk. I have 10MB hard drives that still work, and SSDs bought a few years ago that are unusable, it's always a gamble no matter what the technology is.

Edit: not necessarily disagreeing with your point considering the price of the thing, just some comments. Don't mean to sound condescending with this post.

 

[timborama]

Left out “Affects only small number of users”. Isn't that the standard tagline for every Apple issue?!

 

[zilchfox]

"caffeinate" is a good terminal command for a workaround if you never want your Mac to sleep in general, too. I use it all the time.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

"caffeinate" is a good terminal command for a workaround if you never want your Mac to sleep in general, too. I use it all the time.

I guess that’s a temporary fix 🤷‍♂️

 

[autrefois]

They had four years to come out with another Mac Pro, and the new one can’t do something as basic as making sure internal drives stay connected.

Can’t innovate, my ass!

 

[Westside guy]

Left out “Affects only small number of users”. Isn't that the standard tagline for every Apple issue?!

Given how fast this turned up - and was acknowledged by Apple - I suspect it would've been hard for them to say that with a straight face.

 

[Bustycat]

"caffeinate" is a good terminal command for a workaround if you never want your Mac to sleep in general, too. I use it all the time.

On Windows a similar tool called Caffeine is very useful for office computers.

 

[citysnaps]

Left out “Affects only small number of users”. Isn't that the standard tagline for every Apple issue?!

No. That's reserved for issues where the goal is to get a bunch of people triggered and frothed up.

 

[sw1tcher]

How soon is "future"

Since very few people will be buying one of these versus, say, a Mac Studio, Apple will take their sweet time on a fix. That's why an Apple spokesperson issued the following statement:

We are aware that a very small number of users are having issues with their third-generation butterfly keyboard 2023 Mac Pro and for that we are sorry. The vast majority of Mac notebook Pro customers are having a positive experience with their new keyboard Mac Pro.

 

[velocityg4]

Traditional hard drives are still just fine for data storage, when access is irregular enough that the read/write speed is irrelevant. Possibly more reliable in the event of failure as there is higher chance of recovering data from a failing HDD than SSD, unless the tech has gotten more advanced than what I remember.

The term 'spinning rust' is asinine. SSDs are an inherent innovation, but the HDD technology is not outright junk. I have 10MB hard drives that still work, and SSDs bought a few years ago that are unusable, it's always a gamble no matter what the technology is.

Edit: not necessarily disagreeing with your point considering the price of the thing, just some comments. Don't mean to sound condescending with this post.

Recoverability, in case of failure, shouldn't be a factor in decision making. People need a proper backup plan.

 

[svish]

Expecting a fix to be rolled out real soon.

 

[MacDownunder]

They had four years to come out with another Mac Pro, and the new one can’t do something as basic as making sure internal drives stay connected.

Can’t innovate, my ass!

and the issue was (is?) on external connected drives too, so not seemingly limited to internal SATA. My M2 Mini hasn't had this issue though

 

[iSayuSay]

Oh. Well, if you’re spending that much to get that much speed and performance, I don’t see why you wouldn’t use SSD.

Well you can also add SATA SSD for extra storage. Still cheaper than PCIe ones yet much faster than SATA HDD. It's a great middleground between slow but cheap HDD and expensive NVMe SSDs.

 

[falkon-engine]

$7000 goodness

 

[Verified Whiskey]

Well, that's not what you want to happen with an internal drive...hopefully it's an easy fix. It's weird that is happening though, as it was never a bug on previous systems, it makes me wonder if they are still working out the architecture to handle expansion slots with Apple Silicon, it feels like there's a lot more they have to do to make it into something that isn't like a laptop (i.e. expandable hardware).

Hopefully this is the reason that the new Mac Pro doesn’t support graphics cards in the PCI ports. That it’s being worked on, and not ready yet.