Samsung SSD USB-C drive doesn't show up on 2022 MacBook Air

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Level 1

27 points

Samsung SSD USB-C drive doesn't show up on 2022 MacBook Air

I have a 500GB Samsung T5 drive. I am able to connect this to several other macOS machines running from 12.6.1 to 13.1. Some are Intel and others are Apple Silicon. The T5 shows up on most of them, in both DiskUtility and in Finder. But on my brand new 2022 M2 MacBook Air, running macOS 13.1, it does not show up in either of those, nor in the diskutil command line. I've tried both USB-C slots and I've tried toggling "Allow accessories to connect" to all the various allowed settings. The MBA even asks me if I want to allow connecting this drive, and even though I allow it, it doesn't show up. It's formatted as APFS (from one of the machines that it does show up in). Why isn't it showing up on this one machine, with exactly the same USB-C -> USB-C cable?

MacBook Air

Posted on Dec 14, 2022 04:41 PM

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Answer 1

jmarse1

Community Specialist

Dec 17, 2022 01:18 PM in response to pumpichank

Hi pumpichank,

We'll be happy to assist you with connecting your drive to your Mac. We'd like to start by thanking you for providing a very detailed explanation of your issue. To narrow this down a bit further, do all other forms of external storage connect and show up properly on your Mac? Also, even though that particular cable works with other devices, have you also tried using another cable? We'd need to know, as there could be some odd obscure issue with the cable, potentially causing it to not work with that Mac in particular.

Assuming the issue persists afterwards, let's try booting your Mac into safe mode to see if this persists there. That way if there is some sort of 3rd party software interfering, it'd get disabled in safe mode: Start up your Mac in safe mode

"Start up your Mac with Apple silicon in safe mode

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > Shut Down.
Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar) are off.
Press and hold the power button on your Mac until “Loading startup options” appears.
Select a volume.
Press and hold the Shift key, then click Continue in Safe Mode.
The computer restarts automatically. When the login window appears, you should see “Safe Boot” in the menu bar.

"

Let us know the results and we'll continue working with you towards a resolution.

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Answer 2

pumpichank Author

Level 1

27 points

Dec 17, 2022 03:40 PM in response to jmarse1

Hi jmarse1, thanks for the response, here are some answers to your questions.

Other external storage devices seem to connect just fine. For example, I have a thumb drive with USB-C and USB-A connections and I can plugin the USB-C side directly into the MBA. The drive shows up almost immediately, as expected.
Yes, I have tried several USB-C to USB-C cables. They all work on other machines, but none work on this MBA.
I tried booting the MacBook Air in Safe Mode and it still doesn't recognize the drive.

Just to follow up, if I plug a USB-C to USB-A cable into the drive, then a USB-A to USB-C adaptor into the cable and the MBA, it shows up just fine. I tried this with both an Apple USB-A to USB-C adapter, and an Apple USB-C/HDMI/USB-A to USB-C adaptor. Using either and the drive shows up just fine.

It's only with every direct USB-C to USB-C cable that the drive doesn't show up.

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Answer 3

jdo_apple

Community Specialist

Dec 18, 2022 11:10 AM in response to pumpichank

Thanks for replying, pumpichank, and that additional info, it really helps! At this point, please contact Apple directly for further investigation of your situation:

Get Support

Have a great day and thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

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Answer 4

pumpichank Author

Level 1

27 points

Dec 19, 2022 04:28 PM in response to jdo_apple

Thank you @jdo_apple. I just contacted Support. First, they had me create a temporary new user and try to mount the disk under that user. That had exactly the same effect.

Unfortunately, now they want me to reinstall macOS and if that doesn't work, to wipe my disk and try the whole thing over again. I'm definitely reluctant to do the latter given how much time it's taken me to set this machine up right. I understand that reinstalling macOS won't lose my data, but I would have to do a full backup because I don't trust that that will work perfectly.

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Samsung SSD USB-C drive doesn't show up on 2022 MacBook Air

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