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Unexpected Disk ejects of external SSD
- Thread starter kagharaht
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Still occurring here. No rhyme nor reason. Sporadic. Did move one SSD (my Time Machine) from powered hub to directly into M2 Mini and that might have resolved that particular drive. We'll see. But that resulted in eating up a port I had for something else. Game of musical chairs to placate Apple.
Geez what the heck is wrong with Apple these days. Just seems that they are moving so fast with this self imposed yearly OS updates that it's causing them to not fix bugs or ignore them.
Today. It just happened. This time I was using Handbrake to compress a video and the external SSD was the destination Drive to put it in. It suddenly ejected.
Is there a way to create a folder on the internal drive that iCloud will not upload to the cloud? I want to create a folder on the desktop so I can do my Photo & Video outputs and not worry about this sudden disk ejects. When I finish these files I move them to my external HDD for storage.
Is there a way to create a folder on the internal drive that iCloud will not upload to the cloud? I want to create a folder on the desktop so I can do my Photo & Video outputs and not worry about this sudden disk ejects. When I finish these files I move them to my external HDD for storage.
This kind of thing could be device and routing specific…as in "It's a _______ SSD in a _______ enclosure connected to a _______ hub and plugged into the _______ port on my _______ Mac.
All my problems with OS 14 were solved in Sequoia. On OS 14 it used to be hit-and-miss whether external SSDs would mount; on Sequoia, all those problems were fixed, and I haven't had a single problem. And never a dis-mount
So there must be something device-specific going on with yours....
So there must be something device-specific going on with yours....
I have the Satechi Dock with the Satechi recommend Crucial SSD inside it. I have connected directly to the back of the iMac M3(4ports) using the supplied USB-C cable from Satechi. My Mac OS is Vanilla meaning I had not added any extensions or utility software to the OS. Maybe I can switch the plugs around on the back of the iMac. Use a different port?
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Unlikely (but fingers always crossed). This problem is broad in scope (but not affecting every enclosure) and has existed since Big Sur. If you do searches for this, you'll find matches all over the web, including Apple's own support forums. If you do searches for this in ratings on sites like Amazon, you'll find lots of matches for all kinds of enclosures (brand) new & old.
Fans will likely soon pop in and blame cable, enclosure, firmware, settings and/or spin it like it is entirely tied to sleep and thus you need an app to prevent sleep, blah-blah-blah... but before anyone falls for any of that, I encourage them to either hook the very same enclosure through the very same cable to any older Mac (running macOS before Big Sur) or any PC and you will likely find that it is remarkably stable.... which seems to shout where the problem lies. If you don't hear that shout, searches will lead you to stories of Mac users having a perfectly stable enclosure, upgrading macOS to a version Big Sur or newer and crashing into this problem, then downgrading again and the enclosure is stable again. Only ONE variable changes in those cases.
The best remedy while waiting for Apple to debug port management/power management (which is VERY likely the cause) is to start working through enclosure after enclosure looking for one that WILL remain connected. I did this and landed on the OWC Ministack STX, which has been stable since it was attached. I have both an 8TB m.2 and a 18TB HDD installed in it. Meanwhile another enclosure has been temporarily "retired" since, awaiting the good news that Apple has finally got around to fixing this long-standing bug(s).
I can share much more on this topic but it's already posted in many threads expressing this same problem. I've thoroughly tested this to try to work through any possibilities and have concluded the problem is bugs in macOS. If anyone has questions, I'm happy to answer.
Fans will likely soon pop in and blame cable, enclosure, firmware, settings and/or spin it like it is entirely tied to sleep and thus you need an app to prevent sleep, blah-blah-blah... but before anyone falls for any of that, I encourage them to either hook the very same enclosure through the very same cable to any older Mac (running macOS before Big Sur) or any PC and you will likely find that it is remarkably stable.... which seems to shout where the problem lies. If you don't hear that shout, searches will lead you to stories of Mac users having a perfectly stable enclosure, upgrading macOS to a version Big Sur or newer and crashing into this problem, then downgrading again and the enclosure is stable again. Only ONE variable changes in those cases.
The best remedy while waiting for Apple to debug port management/power management (which is VERY likely the cause) is to start working through enclosure after enclosure looking for one that WILL remain connected. I did this and landed on the OWC Ministack STX, which has been stable since it was attached. I have both an 8TB m.2 and a 18TB HDD installed in it. Meanwhile another enclosure has been temporarily "retired" since, awaiting the good news that Apple has finally got around to fixing this long-standing bug(s).
I can share much more on this topic but it's already posted in many threads expressing this same problem. I've thoroughly tested this to try to work through any possibilities and have concluded the problem is bugs in macOS. If anyone has questions, I'm happy to answer.
Oh yeah I absolutely agree it's the OS. I mean this was happening in Sonoma until I switched to Apple Dongles. Yet this one is connected directly to the iMac M3 using the supplied cable. I just turned off auto sleep in 10 min and keep iMac turned on. Maybe it will help keep it connected longer but I do expect it to eventually eject suddenly again. Apple has not addressed this or mentioned it on any of their OS updates. I guess it never happens to those guys in Cupertino. Yeah right!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
CAUTION: the problem with gambling on them is that if you are writing to the storage when it happens, you can corrupt the storage. So if you are going to gamble like that, better be sure it's all backed up somewhere else. Risk is lower (but not nill) if you mostly read from the storage... but even a little write during an "unexpected ejection" can be a disaster... made much worse with no backup.
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Oh...um. Do you know if the .nosync on a folder extension still works so it won't upload on iCloud. I guess I'll just try that and use it for my temporary destination. Then I'll transfer the finished work on my External HDD.
Update: Adding the ".nosync" on the folder will not upload that and its contents on iCloud Drive. I set TM to ignore it and Spotlight also, since this will be my primary destination for all my working files. I won't have to worry about sudden SSD disconnects on an attached SSD drive since this is the internal SSD drive on the iMac M3.
Update 2: That didn't work out well at all. Anything I put in the folder called "***.nosync" won't let me transfer to another volume or copy. I get error -43 or something saying an item can't be found... weird. So I deleted that folder that had 6gb of stuff. Rebooted the iMac and now It's gone, but my internal drive still shows 6GB less. It's as if removing that folder hasn't freed up space. I guess I'll just let it figure itself out on its own, hopefully it will restore the 6GB of stuff I trashed.
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I don't. I barely use iCloud myself and it's really not meant to be a backup solution at all.
The best all-purpose recommendation is the 3-2-1 approach... of which reliable TM (or CCC or SuperDuper) plays a central role. But short of that while Apple hopefully works out these bugs, the variation of it that could be used is either manually duplicating new file creations to multiple drives or- do as I (also) do and use a tool like Chronsync to keep copies of up to the whole user folder backed up on other drives.
Core to the 3-2-1 concept is you have your core files on your Mac(s), a local backup of them in case the Mac conks/is stolen/lost/etc AND at least one more pretty fresh backup OFFSITE (I use a bank safe deposit box). And then it's just a matter of regular rotation of the OFFSITE backup with the ONSITE backup so that the last resort option in a fire/flood/theft scenario can recover almost everything again. A tool like Chronosync can make such backups pretty easy.
As an extra layer of protection between rotations of OFFSITE to ONSITE backup drives, storing latest new creations in iClouds iDrive (or similar from other cloud providers) would marginalize a worst case loss of fire/flood/theft on the very last day before backup drives are rotated... as you could almost fully recover all from the offsite AND just about all of the very recent stuff not on the OFFSITE from the cloud. I use both a desktop and laptop with the latter typically out with me, so I (also) keep them in sync (using Chronosync) for one more backup.
Of course, again, key to success is being able to keep any such drives connected long enough to complete the WRITES involved in any backup updates. So that involves needing to find something able to stay connected for these manual backups. I tend to use big bare HDDs in a HDD dock... and cheap plastic cases for HDDs when moving them between bank and home.
I also have a Synology NAS setup as my "whole home" Time Machine backup. Since that works through ethernet vs. direct connections to Mac, it seems to have no problem at all with "unexpected ejections." That's an ALT option for your too if you want to throw some more sizable money at it. A great benefit in going NAS is that it can do all kinds of other things for you as well, including being your own cloud that you own and control (at $0/month rent). Mine is also a whole home DVR for the dazzling Channels DVR service that works well with Mac, iDevices and AppleTVs.
The best all-purpose recommendation is the 3-2-1 approach... of which reliable TM (or CCC or SuperDuper) plays a central role. But short of that while Apple hopefully works out these bugs, the variation of it that could be used is either manually duplicating new file creations to multiple drives or- do as I (also) do and use a tool like Chronsync to keep copies of up to the whole user folder backed up on other drives.
Core to the 3-2-1 concept is you have your core files on your Mac(s), a local backup of them in case the Mac conks/is stolen/lost/etc AND at least one more pretty fresh backup OFFSITE (I use a bank safe deposit box). And then it's just a matter of regular rotation of the OFFSITE backup with the ONSITE backup so that the last resort option in a fire/flood/theft scenario can recover almost everything again. A tool like Chronosync can make such backups pretty easy.
As an extra layer of protection between rotations of OFFSITE to ONSITE backup drives, storing latest new creations in iClouds iDrive (or similar from other cloud providers) would marginalize a worst case loss of fire/flood/theft on the very last day before backup drives are rotated... as you could almost fully recover all from the offsite AND just about all of the very recent stuff not on the OFFSITE from the cloud. I use both a desktop and laptop with the latter typically out with me, so I (also) keep them in sync (using Chronosync) for one more backup.
Of course, again, key to success is being able to keep any such drives connected long enough to complete the WRITES involved in any backup updates. So that involves needing to find something able to stay connected for these manual backups. I tend to use big bare HDDs in a HDD dock... and cheap plastic cases for HDDs when moving them between bank and home.
I also have a Synology NAS setup as my "whole home" Time Machine backup. Since that works through ethernet vs. direct connections to Mac, it seems to have no problem at all with "unexpected ejections." That's an ALT option for your too if you want to throw some more sizable money at it. A great benefit in going NAS is that it can do all kinds of other things for you as well, including being your own cloud that you own and control (at $0/month rent). Mine is also a whole home DVR for the dazzling Channels DVR service that works well with Mac, iDevices and AppleTVs.
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I'm having the same issue every couple of days - simultaneously I lose my WIFI connection and I get an error message about the Settings app.
I'm a MacOS newbie but restarting doesn't work, shutting down doesn't work but a hard reboot either does or the OS resolves the problem after 5 tries. I power down, disconnect the drives, plug them back in and power then up.
I'm starting to feel like I am back on Windows.
I'm on an iMac M3 maxed out specs at that time. I have the SSD direct connection to the iMac M3. It only seems to happen on the SSD drive. I updated to Mac OS 15.2 today and turned off sleep. Maybe it will help.
My main computer is still a 2018 Mini on Monterey, it has two 4tb and two 2tb USB-C SSD's always connected and heavily used with a Windows VM as well as MacOS. Every so often, one of the disks will eject for no apparent reason. Doesn't happen very often though, once a month at most. And this machine runs pretty much 24/7, often doing heavy processing that involves importing/exporting files to the external SSD's. I wonder if this is somehow related to available USB power - like sometimes a drive attempts to draw a little too much power and ends up dismounting maybe? But just a wild guess with no evidence. It's not a big enough problem to concern me.
Just got a new 2024 m4 base Mini with Sequoia last week and have my large media library on a 4tb external SSD. Has been running 24/7 with home sharing for my AppleTV's and other devices. No problems yet. Both of these machines are set to never sleep and only turn off the screens however
Just got a new 2024 m4 base Mini with Sequoia last week and have my large media library on a 4tb external SSD. Has been running 24/7 with home sharing for my AppleTV's and other devices. No problems yet. Both of these machines are set to never sleep and only turn off the screens however
QQ: are both your external SSDs on the same bus (note that the 4 USB-C ports on the Mac Mini 2018 share two USB buses)? I just had the situation on my Mac Mini 2018 where my previously rock solid USB-C SSD disconnected under moderate load. Then I saw that I had recently reconnected that drive to a USB-C port that shared a bus with a slower speed HDD while I had previously made efforts to keep those two devices on seperate buses. Now they're back to separate buses and no more issues.
Maybe my post wasn't clear? Sorry. I have FOUR external ssd's connected, one on each of the 4 USB-C ports. The USB-A ports have a mouse and keyboard connected. Monitor has an HDMI connection. I have two 10tb hard disks for archival storage but only connect them very rarely. When I do, I unplug the keyboard (which also has bluetooth) and plug the hard disk into the USB-A port.
Quote: @HobeSoundDarryl
“Fans will likely soon pop in and blame cable, enclosure, firmware, settings and/or spin it like it is entirely tied to sleep and thus you need an app to prevent sleep, blah-blah-blah... but before anyone falls for any of that, I encourage them to either hook the very same enclosure through the very same cable to any older Mac (running macOS before Big Sur) or any PC and you will likely find that it is remarkably stable.... which seems to shout where the problem lies.”
I come from an age (Quadra 840Av OS 7.1 16MB RAM 5GB HDs at thousands of $) where shouting got you nowhere and using a Mac productively meant finding workarounds.
Have a problem? Find the workaround….
Which means, with a M* Mac, for any USB device that has problems staying connected, connecting it instead to a Thunderbolt 3 dock. *
That way some of the the computer’s PCIe channels are fed directly to the dock, and on to the dock’s USB controller, which handles the connection to the USB device.
Since the dock’s USB ports will be handled by a non-Apple controller, it will most likely work as unproblematically as in the days of Intel Macs. Quite likely the same chip maker will make the chips in both dock and device.
No more disconnecting SSDs….
I realise I have a different outlook on things than is popularised by the memes of today.
Doesn’t work? Make it work…😃
So feel free to keep on shouting. At the problem. 😵💫
* It has to be TB3. TB4 docks don’t pass through PCIe to the dock’s USB controller .
“Fans will likely soon pop in and blame cable, enclosure, firmware, settings and/or spin it like it is entirely tied to sleep and thus you need an app to prevent sleep, blah-blah-blah... but before anyone falls for any of that, I encourage them to either hook the very same enclosure through the very same cable to any older Mac (running macOS before Big Sur) or any PC and you will likely find that it is remarkably stable.... which seems to shout where the problem lies.”
I come from an age (Quadra 840Av OS 7.1 16MB RAM 5GB HDs at thousands of $) where shouting got you nowhere and using a Mac productively meant finding workarounds.
Have a problem? Find the workaround….
Which means, with a M* Mac, for any USB device that has problems staying connected, connecting it instead to a Thunderbolt 3 dock. *
That way some of the the computer’s PCIe channels are fed directly to the dock, and on to the dock’s USB controller, which handles the connection to the USB device.
Since the dock’s USB ports will be handled by a non-Apple controller, it will most likely work as unproblematically as in the days of Intel Macs. Quite likely the same chip maker will make the chips in both dock and device.
No more disconnecting SSDs….
I realise I have a different outlook on things than is popularised by the memes of today.
Doesn’t work? Make it work…😃
So feel free to keep on shouting. At the problem. 😵💫
* It has to be TB3. TB4 docks don’t pass through PCIe to the dock’s USB controller .
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Thanks. I've worked through THREE docs, including 2 Thunderbolt docs... as well as multiple cables... etc. I'm the king of modern Mac workaround solutions, having tried every possible option I could think of... and then every other one any of the "I've finally solved it" proclamations all of the web posted (almost alway recanting). Through enormous testing, I'm near certain this problem is bugs in macOS port management, power management or both. I suspect that the ports actually crash from time to time and reboot. Some enclosures handle this better than others... thus some don't exhibit the problem while others do.
The ultimate workaround is enclosure roulette... which is what I did... finding one that could stand in for an important one until Apple finally debugs this part of macOS. With each macOS generation, I give it a fresh test... as well as any point updates where people claim that it seems to have fixed this for them (which they usually recant some number of days later).
There are certainly enclosures that work fine- my replacement one from trying many is one of them. However, there are PLENTY that don't work fine. There are dozens of threads about this all over the web with people trying all kinds of workarounds including through all varieties of HUBs. Hop in Amazon and shop for an enclosure right now. Find one with a lot of reviews. Then search the reviews that won't match up with "Mac unexpected ejection." Good luck. It's hard to find reviews that don't reference the problem. What's all that got it common? The answer is almost certainly where this problem lies.
No "shouting." I did the self-solution of spending even more money after embracing a new Silicon Mac to resolve this with different hardware while hoping a perfectly reliable enclosure when connected to a Mac running macOS BEFORE Big Sur or any PC through the same cable will work with my best new, magical, wonderful, "best ever" Mac... SOMEDAY. I miss "just works" Apple.
The ultimate workaround is enclosure roulette... which is what I did... finding one that could stand in for an important one until Apple finally debugs this part of macOS. With each macOS generation, I give it a fresh test... as well as any point updates where people claim that it seems to have fixed this for them (which they usually recant some number of days later).
There are certainly enclosures that work fine- my replacement one from trying many is one of them. However, there are PLENTY that don't work fine. There are dozens of threads about this all over the web with people trying all kinds of workarounds including through all varieties of HUBs. Hop in Amazon and shop for an enclosure right now. Find one with a lot of reviews. Then search the reviews that won't match up with "Mac unexpected ejection." Good luck. It's hard to find reviews that don't reference the problem. What's all that got it common? The answer is almost certainly where this problem lies.
No "shouting." I did the self-solution of spending even more money after embracing a new Silicon Mac to resolve this with different hardware while hoping a perfectly reliable enclosure when connected to a Mac running macOS BEFORE Big Sur or any PC through the same cable will work with my best new, magical, wonderful, "best ever" Mac... SOMEDAY. I miss "just works" Apple.
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