Sequoia 15.0 bugs - external hard drives

Same here: after Sequoia update, randomly I can't "ejects" external drivers (all types)

I can tell you this is still happening even with wall-powered USB hubs. I plug in a perfectly fine SATA drive, and the screen freezes after 2 minutes, and my M4 mini restarts. I had similar issues with my mom's M2 Mini, but luckily, she's still on Ventura. So the problem at least can be mitigated with apps like Amphetamine. I do really believe this is a Mac OS problem. At first I thought it was something with the M processor and power sharing issues, but I don't think that's the case. Something changed since Ventura onward. I still haven't seen Apple address it in any way. I can get external NVME drives plugged directly into the thunderbolt ports to work. But it's not economical at the moment to shift my entire SATA storage over to SSDs. I have about half and half right now. The fact that we've had 3 full complete versions of Mac OS with this issue and it still hasn't been fixed is mind-boggling. And the fact that we can walk over to my dad's old Intel iMac running Monterey and plug in whatever hard drive we need to access and have zero issues is a large problem. I'd really like to know what other photographers are doing? Do you just spend the cash and go for really expensive large-capacity SSDs?

My Mac Mini M4 came with Sequoia pre-installed so there was never any other OS on it. Yet my external drives are still randomly disconnecting. It happens several times a day. It has nothing to do with how many previous versions of the OS you have had installed. Most people did not have this issue until updating to Sequoia.

Last night:

Three drives that work fine on my 2016 MBP (on Monterey: too old to upgrade) are not mounting on my New MBA M2 Sequoia. Two Lacie disks ask permission then don't mount. Lacie 8TB asks permission repeatedly but does not mount. Both Lacie drives are several years old. A Seagate just spins for a while with no recognition. Lacie: 8TB powered HDD and 2TB rugged non-powered HDD; Seagate 2TB pocket HDD.

I used MBP to copy drive to drive. I had problems copying data over from one drive to another bc of old format (wrong format. Reformatted on MBP those drives with problems). All are now APFS case sensitive (to accept old files with case sensitive files). All drives, regardless of age or format, mount with no issues on my MBP Monterey.

Today:

Lacie rugged 2TB mounts in Finder and in DU and identifies as APFS. First Aid runs. Unmounting in Finder does not unmount in DU. Formatted on MBA to APFS case sensitive to see whether that fixes the APFS/Mac Journaled weirdness. As it formats the drive, DU says it's formatting to Mac Journaled. When format is done, DU then identifies the drive as APFS. Lacie 8TB still asks permission over and over and does not mount in DU or in FInder. Seagate unchanged--then tried again; see below.

All problem drives continue to mount without issue on MBP Monterey. Seagate also formats on MBP as Mac Journaled then reports as APFS.

Final state: 2 TB Lacie Rugged works. 8TB Lacie powered asks permission but does not mount in DU or Finder. Seagate now mounts without difficulty--I discovered that the USB cable was not pushed fully in. When formatting the Seagate yet again as APFS on MBA, DU reports it is formatting it as Mac Journaled. When format is complete, DU reports it as APFS.

All drives were plugged every time directly into both MBP and MBA. Seagate uses a USB A to USB C adapter. All others are USB C. Somewhere in this mess I followed Apple support instructions to upgrade from Sonoma to Sequoia. But whatever problems I was having on Sequoia happened on Sonoma as well.

Clearly Drive age is a factor. Both the 8TB and 2TB Lacie drives are at least five years old. Seagate is probably older. Power also a factor as the Seagate that mounted in MBP but did not in MBA was only half plugged in at the drive end. When fully plugged in, it mounted immediately.

I'd like to have all of them work, since they do actually work, just not with this MBA on Sequoia. The 8TB is my TM drive. Having just spent over $1k on a MBA, I don't want to buy a new desk drive as well.

I have a problem where my Mac recognizes the external drive, but the password does not work. I even checked it multiple times from different sources, and one of the sources was the Password Keychain. Has anyone else experienced similar problems?

My M.2 NVME ssd external drives dropped from 2000MBPS to 120KBPS??? Both of my Macbook pros!!!!! upgrade while transferring a customers information. Now what? "2 days to copy".!!!

[Edited by Moderator]

If there wasn't anything on the external SSD's you needed test drive one by reformatting if Disk Utility can see it. Format it either using this CCC guide or Apples Guide Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support (CA)

Just make sure that you get Disk Utility to show all devices.

Can't tell me that Apple doesn't read these posts. I just got edited.

So.... class action, maybe???

For me, I did not have a problem with Sonoma or any Mac OS before Sequoia.

I can eject HFS+ journaled external HDs but not APFS or Ex-FAT USB C SSDs - even if I go and force quit everything and restart Finder, Sequoia reports that "an application" is still using the external drive.

This needs to be fixed ASAP.

I have the same problem with my 1TB NVME drives disconnecting from my MacMini M1. I use a USBC case plugged into the Mac or via a powered hub and still the problem persists. Apple sort this as data loss is a critical issue.

Rob! JUST received notification that you were able to fix your external drive issue with the new Sequoia 15.3.1 update. I am downloading the update right now. I did purchase a new external HD, which also had problems, until, with the help from Apple, we wiped it clean and made it the auto backup for Time Machine WITHOUT "encrypting" it. It's been working great so far. However, I am hoping to be able to launch my failed external HD (since updating to Sequoia OS) that has a lot of my previous graphic jobs on it....Thank you so much for posting! Fingers and toes crossed.

It's never been fixed, just happened to me after install new software Sequoia 15.4 my external hard drive 2TB disappeared till now from my iMac M1, and in the same usb port I connected another USB flash disk, no problem it shows up... it really pain me.

Like many, I had this problem - my particular set up is as follows -

External Drive : OWC Aura P12 Pro PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD with 2x 4TB ram cards

Mac : Mac Studio M1 Ultra

OS : Sequoia 15.3.2

Had a Bad Idea and decided to clean up the major mess behind the big screen of tangled cables, USB hubs, power supplies, external drives, a mini Tardis machine etc etc - your basic horror show from plugging in every next device in, without ever rationalising any of it.

The OWC SSD had worked flawlessly since installation in June '23 - and just used any old generic thunderbolt cable to connect it and all worked fine.

After untangling and losing a *LOT* of excess and not often used gear, everything booted back up fine -

Until the Sequoia update ...

The OWC no longer appeared in either Finder or Disc Utility, which was weird because it had been a rock solid always there device for 1.5 years. Because there were no directories or files visible from the OWC could not use for backup or as an extension for big apps of the Mac's 1TB hard drive - a big drama!

For the same reason could not use the right click trick on any OWC files or folders in Finder, followed by Get Info / Sharing Permissions to alter the Permissions for the OWC.

Strange how often the basic 101 support solutions sometime work?

Changed the Thunderbolt cable between the Mac and the OWC to a "genuine" Apple Thunderbolt white job (not sure what it came with) and hey presto OWC + all folders and files appeared in both Finder and Disk Utility.

Apple are (inconsistently) picky about what, and for how long, 3rd party devices can be used with their gear, despite not making a whole bunch of external devices they know you will need over time (and they often sell those third party devices in their stores).

Morals -

1. 1. 1. Keep a set of genuine apple cables around to test when you have a non connect issue (I know that 3rd party ones are often better made, cheaper and in more convenient lengths)
      2. Before upgrading any OS on any device, wait and search known issues before upgrading, especially compatibility and support issues.

Just feel a bit silly reporting such a simple fix .... cheers Max

Was reading this morning that HFS+ volumes are not supported in Sequoia.