External SSD with MacOS disappears

[colinwebb]

My set up is as follows:

On the internal 1tb Mac I installed Windows 10 in order to still be able to use my Canon scanner/software which is not compatible on the Mac.
On an external 2tb SSD drive I have/had the latest Mac OS connected by USB, this made for much swifter booting.
On an external NAS I have all the Time Machine backups.

With no warning whatsoever the SSD suddenly stopped working and on trying to boot back into it the drive doesn’t show.
The SSD is encased in a caddy, the lead to the drive is okay I’ve tested that.
The drive doesn’t appear in disk utility either, so cannot do any tests from there.
Is it possible the drive failed without warning or could the caddy be at fault?
Would welcome ideas.

 

[techiesteve]

My set up is as follows:

On the internal 1tb Mac I installed Windows 10 in order to still be able to use my Canon scanner/software which is not compatible on the Mac.
On an external 2tb SSD drive I have/had the latest Mac OS connected by USB, this made for much swifter booting.
On an external NAS I have all the Time Machine backups.

With no warning whatsoever the SSD suddenly stopped working and on trying to boot back into it the drive doesn’t show.
The SSD is encased in a caddy, the lead to the drive is okay I’ve tested that.
The drive doesn’t appear in disk utility either, so cannot do any tests from there.
Is it possible the drive failed without warning or could the caddy be at fault?
Would welcome ideas.

What Mac do you have, would be easier if you had a MBP unibody, then you could have simply installed the 2TB SSD in it to test, not really practicable if an iMac or a newer MBP. Otherwise obtaining another USB3 case or a caddy to test the SSD would be the next best option.

 

[colinwebb]

What Mac do you have, would be easier if you had a MBP unibody, then you could have simply installed the 2TB SSD in it to test, not really practicable if an iMac or a newer MBP. Otherwise obtaining another USB3 case or a caddy to test the SSD would be the next best option.

2017 IMac

 

[ferrarr]

Yes, the drive could have died without warning. Anything can do that. It's good you had a backup strategy in place.

 

[MacInWin]

When SSDs fail, they do so catastrophically, usually with no notice. So, yes, the SSD could have died. About the only way to test is get another caddy to see if it works in that.

 

[colinwebb]

When SSDs fail, they do so catastrophically, usually with no notice. So, yes, the SSD could have died. About the only way to test is get another caddy to see if it works in that.

Well purchased another caddy and it looks like the drive is dead.
However in disk utility something appeared which I don’t recall being there before.
It says:- Apple Disk Image 2.15gb
External Guid Partition Map
MacOS Base System 2.01gb
Disk Image Volume MacOS extended.

I find that entry strange because without the external SSD there is no MacOS.
Any ideas what that entry means?

 

[ferrarr]

The macOS startup drive, has 2 partitions on it. The other partition is known as the Recovery partition, so you're probably just seeing that. If you can hold option, at startup, you may be able to boot from the Recovery partition.

 

[Slydude]

I find that entry strange because without the external SSD there is no MacOS.
Any ideas what that entry means?

during that time were you able to "see" and run anything other than Disk Utility or Safari? I wonder if you were actually booted from a recovery partition on that failing SSD. If that's what happened you would have access to only a handful of programs (Safari, Terminal, Disk Utility, and a few others).

 

[MacInWin]

The OP has a very strange (and to me, inefficient) setup. The internal drive is apparently all Win10 for one use, a scanner, and he boots into MacOS from an external SSD, which is now showing issues. Now if it were me, I'd partition the internal into two drives, put WIn10 on one, macOS on the other and use Option at boot time to pick the one I want to boot from. It seems a real shame to have the speed of an SSD throttled by the USB interface, even if it is the latest USB protocols.

Or just have the internal drive as all macOS, get Parallels and install Win 10 in that as a virtual machine and run the scanner software there. At least then the boot is from the internal drive.


And. would tackle getting the scanner to work with macOS. The OP didn't say which Canon it is, but surely there is something that can use the scanner as the OP wants without having to muck with Win10.

 

[colinwebb]

The OP has a very strange (and to me, inefficient) setup. The internal drive is apparently all Win10 for one use, a scanner, and he boots into MacOS from an external SSD, which is now showing issues. Now if it were me, I'd partition the internal into two drives, put WIn10 on one, macOS on the other and use Option at boot time to pick the one I want to boot from. It seems a real shame to have the speed of an SSD throttled by the USB interface, even if it is the latest USB protocols.

Or just have the internal drive as all macOS, get Parallels and install Win 10 in that as a virtual machine and run the scanner software there. At least then the boot is from the internal drive.


And. would tackle getting the scanner to work with macOS. The OP didn't say which Canon it is, but surely there is something that can use the scanner as the OP wants without having to muck with Win10.

The OP researched everywhere to find a solution to get his Canoscan 9000f to function on a MacOS to no avail.
I am now considering partitioning the internal drive to accommodate Windows 10 and Mac OS.
Or a virtual machine.

 

[chscag]

About considering a virtual machine:

If you only need the VM to run the Canon scanner software, you might want to consider the free VirtualBox from Oracle. It doesn't have all the frills and fluff that Parallels has but the price is right.

Also, the latest VirtualBox software (version 6.0) supports Windows 10.

 

[MacInWin]

Maybe one of these: CanoScan 9000F Driver Download - Canon Driver

 

[colinwebb]

About considering a virtual machine:

If you only need the VM to run the Canon scanner software, you might want to consider the free VirtualBox from Oracle. It doesn't have all the frills and fluff that Parallels has but the price is right.

Also, the latest VirtualBox software (version 6.0) supports Windows 10.

Canoscan 9000f works well on Parallels VM but I tried it on a 14 day trial. It’s certainly not worth paying the subscription just to run the scanner though. Tried Virtual Box but that’s a very poor substitute so having lost the SSD I’ve decided to bin the scanner.

 

[pm-r]

The OP has a very strange (and to me, inefficient) setup. The internal drive is apparently all Win10 for one use, a scanner, and he boots into MacOS from an external SSD, which is now showing issues.

Congratulations Jake for actually figuring out what the situation was and I will admit that I gave up and considered it absolutely bizarre so I figured I wasn't understanding the setup correctly.

I am really curious as to know what Canon software it is that they want to use and as for the scanner, I see the model was only just recently posted, and maybe I missed it and I didn't see it posted, but one can easily use the Canoscan 9000f scanner with a mac that's fully supported with the VueScan software.
Canon 9000F Driver for Windows 10, macOS & more | VueScan

Sure it's commercial, but it's only $40.00 an excellent product with support.

But maybe that's too simple a solution for what currently seems to be a rather bizarre and crazy setup where a lot of things aren't working and a lot of other things going Goofy.

Anyway, it sure seems like a simple solution to me, at least as far as scanning with a Mac and scanning with that Canoscan 9000f scanner goes.


EDIT:
But what ever happened to Jake's suggestion, and I believe it's free:

Maybe one of these: CanoScan 9000F Driver Download - Canon Driver

- Patrick
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