Disk Ejected Errors M1 Macs.

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Level 1

5 points

Disk Ejected Errors M1 Macs.

I have had a reoccurring problem with my 2 Extreme SSD's (2TB) triggering a Disk Ejected error many times per day on my Mac Studio computer. There is nothing wrong with the SSD's (checked this). In fact when the disk ejected error appears, the ssd's are still visible and useable in Finder. After a lot of research, I found 1 thread that mentioned this could be due to a power problem. It was suggested to check in System/USB. I did this and found that both of my external SSD's were showing up but it showed power available and power required, both at 500ma.

On a hunch I plugged the 2 ssd's into the hub on the rear of my monitor (monitor connected by TB4 USB C cable to TB4 port on computer). End of issue. The SSDs never gave the disk ejected error again. On another hunch, I plugged both SSDs into the front USB C (non TB4) ports on my Studio. Again, no disk eject error messages. I again went into System/USB and checked the power stats again. THIS TIME for the SSDs it shows power available at 900ma and power required 896 MA.

This same problem also occurs when I have both SSDs plugged into my powered (approx 150W) CalDigit hub, which is plugged into one of the 16" M1 MBP TB4 ports. The MBP is also using its own power brick. So there is no shortage of power.

So it looks like I am stuck with using the Monitor hub or the 2 USB C ports on the front of my Mac Studio.

As there are numerous disk ejected error reports online, I am wondering if anyone else has found a similar solution (??) to mine?

Thanks

Posted on Dec 6, 2022 05:31 AM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

88,900 points

Dec 7, 2022 02:58 PM in response to BruceMD212

What external SSDs do you have?

According to the spec’s > Mac Studio - Technical Specifications - Apple

The rear ports are:

Thunderbolt 4 (up to 40Gb/s)
USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s)
USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

88,900 points

Dec 6, 2022 08:46 AM in response to BruceMD212

Try rearranging the Display and SSDs in the rear ports.

Test with the display in port 1

one SSD in port 2 and the other SSD in port 3 or 4

Test with the display in port 4

one SSD in port 3 and the other SSD in port 2 or 1

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Answer 3

BruceMD212 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 6, 2022 02:26 PM in response to den.thed

Thanks for your suggestion. Actually I have already done that with the same results. An additional item I noticed while checking for n System/USB, is that the data rate for the external SSDs, while plugged into the rear TB4 ports, was only 480mb/sec. With the same SSDs plugged into the front USB C ports, System/USB shows data transfer up to 10gb per second.

doing more research finds this slower data transfer rate from quite a few other sources. TB4 on the rear ports does not support the faster 3.2 protocol, it appears, as well as having less power (MA’s) available at each port.

As mentioned, my primary issue was the constant disk eject errors, which sadly wasn’t fixed by the port swap. I could have lost bed with the slower data transfer if it were not for the disk eject issue. Both my external SSDs are back ups that I can’t risk having corrupted by the continuous ejection problem. Thanks again for your reply.

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Answer 4

BruceMD212 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 7, 2022 02:42 PM in response to den.thed

I also performed one last test. I connected both external SSDs to the rear USB A ports. No disk eject errors encountered either. But speed was back down to 480 mbs and power available was again 500ma. Very strange that only the front USB C ports support the fastest transfer rate and highest power available.

In reality this isn't a deal breaker as my SSDs, as mentioned are purely backup. But why have TB4 ports if they're restricted to lower performance. In some ways it would have been better just to have the same functionality as the front USB ports? Additionally, this seems to refute the power issue as the cause of the disk eject errors?

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Answer 5

BruceMD212 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 8, 2022 03:59 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hello,

Thanks for your reply.

The external SSDs were plugged in to the TB4 ports with a USB C cable that was supplied with the Sandisk ssd. When plugged into the TB4 ports, I was continually getting disk eject errors and only 480 mbs indicated transfer speed, along with 500mv available. When plugged into the USB C ports on the front of the unit (non TB4), no more errors and up to 10 gbs indicated transfer speed and 900mv available. When plugged the SSDs into my Monitor hub with C to A adapters, no more errors but 480 mbs indicated maximum transfer speed. When plugged into the rear USB A ports with an adapter (supplied with the SSD) no disk eject errors but an indicated maximum transfer speed of 480 mbs and 500 mv available power.

From what I have subsequently read on other sites, this is a known issue with the Studio TB4 ports. I checked my back up program history and the backup speed while plugged into the front ports was 1.55gb in 25 seconds. When plugged into all the other ports, it took 1 minute, 25 seconds to copy the same amount of data to the ssd. It seems the TB4 ports can not handle the USB C 3.2 Gen 2 specification. I also tested the SSDs with a certified TB4 cable, in the rear USB C (TB4) ports. This made no difference at all.

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