Re-boot issues with Mini and external hard drive?

[MacSince91]

Have 2018 mini (purchased Nov 2019) 3.6 Quad Intel i3; 8 GB DDR4 memory. Purchased Western Digital My Passport for Mac, 4TB in 2020.

Had no issues with system until upgrade to Monterey v. 12. in Oct/21. After this, would put computer to sleep, and when I would wake it in the morning it looked like the system had rebooted. Got the dreaded kernel panic message. Started doing this more frequently - put to sleep, come back after 30 minutes, everything's rebooted.

Talked with Apple Support since December, back/forth on this issue. They had me do a capture and took weeks to examine it.

It seems to be something with the hard drive. Tech support can't pinpoint, and insist I should contact WD support, or replace the RAM.

Anyone else have this issue? Anyone resolve it?

If I don't do anything about it, will this damage the computer at some point?

 

[Fishrrman]

Before going further, questions:

This WD "My Passport" drive...
Is this a platter-based hard drive?
Or is it an SSD?

If it's a platter-based HDD, WHY would you want to boot from it, when the Mini has a VERY fast SSD inside?

Even if it's an external USB3 SSD, it may be slower than the internal drive.
Have you done any speed tests?

 

[MacSince91]

Before going further, questions:

This WD "My Passport" drive...
Is this a platter-based hard drive?
Or is it an SSD?

If it's a platter-based HDD, WHY would you want to boot from it, when the Mini has a VERY fast SSD inside?

Even if it's an external USB3 SSD, it may be slower than the internal drive.
Have you done any speed tests?

Thanks Fishrrman,

Re WD - Not sure but think it's platter-based; here it is: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07VTNW4ZQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

I don't want to boot from it. Sorry, maybe my bad - Mini is restarting once put to sleep (so I'm assuming is going through a re-boot cycle).

Haven't done speed tests. I had to get the external drive b/c I needed more memory than the Mini had originally. Pandemic forced me to use it as a work computer. Originally was using it for personal, didn't need much memory.

 

[Fishrrman]

I'm thinking that the computer is "rebooting" using the internal drive.

The WD drive is just "dropping off the USB bus" for some reason.

A lot of folks seem to be having trouble with USB3 drives after upgrading to Monterey.

What do you use the WD for?

 

[MacSince91]

Use it for photo storage and very large video files (created for work). Not enough storage in the Mini.

I've disconnected all the peripherals except the monitor, put it into sleep, and that seemed to have an effect. (though I did that test so long ago now I can't remember if it totally stopped it, or if it resumed after a few days doing the same thing.

Also Fishrrman: I noticed your post from last year about shutting down your mac every night. I'm wondering if I should just do that myself. Apple wanted me to replace the RAM, but if I didn't do that, is the Mini going to be harmed or degrade in any way?

 

[MBAir2010]

dont know if this might help, but

I always turn off my macmini overnight just because i dont need that on.
and usually unplug anything in the usb ports.
8GB should be enough to perform a nice daily workload,
but memory is affordable now, so an upgrade might speed things up.
which is quite simple on your macmini

now
back to the reboot issue.

what is your macmini start up preference?
and
can you restart to the internal Monterey 12.oct 21?

i had several problems using a spinning disk and open core patch with Big Sur.
these late OS dont take kindly to those drives.

 

[Fishrrman]

I have a 2018 Mini, also.

I shut it down every night. It's plugged into a power strip and after I shut it down, I also turn off the power strip.

I normally keep only one external drive attached (SSD in a USB3 docking station), and since it's a cloned backup, it is ALWAYS off except when I need to turn it on for a backup (or have some other reason to power it on).

With all my other drives, it's:
- connect the drive
- do what I need to do with it
- eject it from the desktop and disconnect it.
Been doing things like this for 35 years...

 

[IngerMan]

I must be lazy, I have had 4 ssd drives plugged into my 2018 for well over a year, I never shut the MM off except for software update restarts. My monitor shuts off on a 30 minute timer with no use. I been rolling like this with all my Macs and iOS devices since 2011.

 

[MacSince91]

dont know if this might help, but

I always turn off my macmini overnight just because i dont need that on.
and usually unplug anything in the usb ports.
8GB should be enough to perform a nice daily workload,
but memory is affordable now, so an upgrade might speed things up.
which is quite simple on your macmini

now
back to the reboot issue.

what is your macmini start up preference?
and
can you restart to the internal Monterey 12.oct 21?

i had several problems using a spinning disk and open core patch with Big Sur.
these late OS dont take kindly to those drives.

Thanks! Out of curiosity, why do you unplug anything in the USB ports? Never done this myself or heard about it? Seems like a pain...

Startup preference: I don't really have one. I just turn it on! The only thing I have changed is I have it start silently. What do you mean when you talk about a preference.

Restart to Monterey: don't know, not that sophisticated a user. what would that do for me?

Do you use an external SSD? Do you have one you'd recommend?

 

[MacSince91]

I have a 2018 Mini, also.

I shut it down every night. It's plugged into a power strip and after I shut it down, I also turn off the power strip.

I normally keep only one external drive attached (SSD in a USB3 docking station), and since it's a cloned backup, it is ALWAYS off except when I need to turn it on for a backup (or have some other reason to power it on).

With all my other drives, it's:
- connect the drive
- do what I need to do with it
- eject it from the desktop and disconnect it.
Been doing things like this for 35 years...

Thanks again! I read your response on the other thread about shut down from December, and I'm curious as to why you go through this process. As the other responder above, it seems like a bit of a pain, esp if you have lots of drives.

Also, a bit off thread, but do you backup via Time Machine at all, or only the cloned backup?

I used to have another spinning drive (an older WD My Book, 3TB, spinning I assume) that I used to use with Time Machine, but since I bought the Mini it is sadly just sitting there, unused. I haven't been using Time Machine and now my backup system is in a bit of disarray, but that is probably for another thread...

 

[MBAir2010]

Startup preference: I don't really have one. I

Do you use an external SSD? Do you have one you'd recommend?

every mac needs and has 1 start up disk preference.
in your case you might have 2 or more options.
mine on the MacBook air is the ssd drive featuring Mojave.

Western Digital seems to have great track record for longevity, and all i use now.
i have one from 2012 (500GB) that backs up the macbook air
and a Seagate 1TB for the Macmini.