MacBook Pro M2 doesn't power correctly 3 HDD USB-3

[Gnomac43]

Hello,

I've been trying to use 3 HDDs at the time, not my daily situation, but I'm into it now.
After a few troubleshooting sessions, I realized that I can't power 3 HDD from the same 3rd party USB adapter (the laptop has Thunderbolt), despite the laptop crashed for different reasons before, now it's on the disk image process of Apple.

So the laptop crashes and just 20 seconds before, all the HDDs start to click very badly, some of them also clearly scratching the plate inside, cold sweat my friends......

After I reboot, it seems to click again, but it stops after a few seconds, let's say once I reach the login screen.
Powering 2 HDD under the same adapter, everything seems working.
If I power ON the 3rd device, the problem starts, and if I use another adapter in another Thunderbolt port, it doesn't see the disk at all (that adapter works standalone).

After all this, I need to blame the laptop for not providing enough power and I think it's a defect that Apple can't fix, what do you think?

 

[ferrarr]

What power adapter are you using to power all drives? Or are the drives self pwereed with wall plugs?

 

[Gnomac43]

What power adapter are you using to power all drives? Or are the drives self pwereed with wall plugs?

They are powered via USB by the MacBook, it's not the official adapter but widely used (UGreen), honestly it doesn't matter, I was able to prove that the MacBook doesn't deliver enough power, 3 disks grind or the 3rd one on a different adapter is not seen by the OS, but it's actually powered ON and the disk is spinning.

For a while it worked on a single adapter, but unfortunately, after a while it turns the disks into a smashing potatoes machine, one by one... After a few times I had to stop, I hope that the disks will last...

So, do you think it can be something else or it's all about the power as I've seen?
Interestingly, it was able to crash my laptop.

Also, with a simple copy-paste from 2 disks and the other mounted as Time Machine (doing nothing), the laptop is using 20% CPU, not concerned about it but it's 60-62 degrees for CPU, which pushes the M2 disk at 37 degrees, the optimal MAX temp is 40 as DriveDX says, and I believe it is considering the industry standards for these memories...
This laptop really doesn't cool down well at all, another joke from Apple and I should have listened at YouTube reviews (first time I say it ).
It's probably only able to sustain a bit more load compared to the Air version (temperature wise), which is a complete joke unless you need to open Facebook on a single browser tab...

 

[MacInWin]

This laptop really doesn't cool down well at all,

Curious. My MBP (see my profile) consistently runs very cool. I've not heard the fans running at all. Saturday, for example, I was streaming three different video channels (sports), on two monitors, with five drives attached directly through a hub and five more attached via the Ethernet LAN and the CPU never got over about 10% and the machine was very cool. And while all that was going on I was in a text conversation with two friends about the games.

It's probably only able to sustain a bit more load compared to the Air version (temperature wise)

Again, curious. My wife has a new M2 MBA (15") and it runs very cool as well. The case is never warm to the touch, even. The Mx chips are VERY efficient an the old "wisdom" about the CPU running temps no longer apply at all.

I don't really understand what you are doing as I cannot make out what you are attaching to what, but in general the drives with spinning platters need to be attached to their own power supply or they put a huge drain on the USB ports, well beyond what the specs are rated for.

Good luck with it.

 

[Slydude]

I'm not real clear on the connections either. As a general rule when connecting multiple hard drives I tend to use the following rules suggestions:

1. Any drives with their own electrical power suply get plugged into an outlet.
2. Bus powered drives (with no separate power suply) get plugged in a usb hub that has its own electrical power suply.
3. Any drive that is bus powered and uses a dual USB leas gets connected to a USB hub that has its own electrical power suply.

I know that's a bit inconvenient with a laptop but I tend to save these types of operations for when I am at home if possible.

 

[MacInWin]

Sly, that is what I do as well. The only drives I attach directly without separate power supplies are SSDs. Anything with motors (high power needs) go to a powered hub or the wall.

 

[Slydude]

Thanks for adding that comment. I thought about that as I was typing but didn't mention it SSDs are generally much more power efficient. Even so, I don't think I have tried three or more SSDs at once. Until recently I didn't have that many SSDs that needed connecting at once.

 

[Gnomac43]

Sly, that is what I do as well. The only drives I attach directly without separate power supplies are SSDs. Anything with motors (high power needs) go to a powered hub or the wall.

Recent high performance M2 seems to drain a lot of power anyway, close to a modern 2.5 HDD... But I can check better later.

--------------------------------------------------------

I can't use the power socket because I have USB powered HDDs...
Let's assume I'll rebuy all of them, then what? I need to buy a UPS, and what about the stand-by signal? Does it take the signal when it's writing? Does it avoid corruption in that way? I doubt, because the first one that needs to go in stand-by is the OS/machine, then the HDD which receives that signal from the OS.

A powerful UPS costs a lot, unless I want to rely on the standby feature that it offers so I don't need to power the laptop and HDDs.
THE PROBLEM IS: we are talking about socket powered HDDs, so, how does that avoid corruption if the signal doesn't come from the laptop?

In my opinion, this Mac is a joke and I shouldn't be dealing with such problems, if it can't power a few USB ports, what the **** is supposed to do...

Plus, with a bit of CONSTANT workload (around 20%), it jumps from 35 to 60 degrees, I tried a benchmark, I had to stop it after 4 minutes with 50-70% CPU, Tjmax was close like contact lenses and you can see the same from each YouTube (yeah, I thought it was fake), forget about good thermal, it's perfect when it does nothing, it's trash under workload, unless you trust its longevity when it's close to Tjmax, but that's not my opinion .
(this is in response to someone else above)

 

[Gnomac43]

I'm not real clear on the connections either. As a general rule when connecting multiple hard drives I tend to use the following rules suggestions:

1. Any drives with their own electrical power suply get plugged into an outlet.
2. Bus powered drives (with no separate power suply) get plugged in a usb hub that has its own electrical power suply.
3. Any drive that is bus powered and uses a dual USB leas gets connected to a USB hub that has its own electrical power suply.

I know that's a bit inconvenient with a laptop but I tend to save these types of operations for when I am at home if possible.

How did you get what I highlighted in bold (USB HUB with power socket)?? I didn't see it so far, it would be handy to solve my problem.

Regarding the dual USB leads, how did you get it? Portable HDDs have only one cable...

 

[Jimmysb]

Recent high performance M2 seems to drain a lot of power anyway, close to a modern 2.5 HDD... But I can check better later.

--------------------------------------------------------

I can't use the power socket because I have USB powered HDDs...
Let's assume I'll rebuy all of them, then what? I need to buy a UPS, and what about the stand-by signal? Does it take the signal when it's writing? Does it avoid corruption in that way? I doubt, because the first one that needs to go in stand-by is the OS/machine, then the HDD which receives that signal from the OS.

A powerful UPS costs a lot, unless I want to rely on the standby feature that it offers so I don't need to power the laptop and HDDs.
THE PROBLEM IS: we are talking about socket powered HDDs, so, how does that avoid corruption if the signal doesn't come from the laptop?

In my opinion, this Mac is a joke and I shouldn't be dealing with such problems, if it can't power a few USB ports, what the **** is supposed to do...

Plus, with a bit of CONSTANT workload (around 20%), it jumps from 35 to 60 degrees, I tried a benchmark, I had to stop it after 4 minutes with 50-70% CPU, Tjmax was close like contact lenses and you can see the same from each YouTube (yeah, I thought it was fake), forget about good thermal, it's perfect when it does nothing, it's trash under workload, unless you trust its longevity when it's close to Tjmax, but that's not my opinion .
(this is in response to someone else above)

I think what is being said is you need a powered hub

 

[Jimmysb]

How did you get what I highlighted in bold (USB HUB with power socket)?? I didn't see it so far, it would be handy to solve my problem.

Regarding the dual USB leads, how did you get it? Portable HDDs have only one cable...

Not all, I have a drive with two leads.

 

[Gnomac43]

I think what is being said is you need a powered hub

I see, thanks, but ****, they are so expensive... Plus I need the UPS...
In any case, it's the MacBook bus that doesn't deliver enough because I tried with another adapter from another Thunderbolt port, and the drive wasn't even detected from the OS, despite it was powered ON.

Not all, I have a drive with two leads.

Can you show me a photo or just tell me the model? I didn't see one so far, unless a standard USB cable for data and the power cable (usually 3.5" HDD), as all the socket powered HDDs...

Oh btw, thanks everyone.

 

[Slydude]

When I say powered hub I do not mean a UPS system. I'm referring to USB hubs that plug into an electrical power outlet with their own power outlet. I find it helpful when connecting rotating hard drives because some of these drives seem to require more electrical power than others. Here's an example of some I found on Amazon. Notice that these things have their own power plugs. I tend to use these kinds of hubs even with hard drives that draw their own electrical problems and I've had far fewer issues.
https://www.amazon.com/self-powered...b+hub&tag=macforums0e4-20?tag=macforums0e4-20

I also tend to use hard drives that have their own electrical power supplies because some drives seem to be really power-hungry. I started doing this in the early days of USB because some ports really didn't provide enough power on their own.

Apologies if I have misunderstood the problem you hare having.

 

[krs]

I think it would help to understand the problem if the OP provided the model number of the USB hub being used and preferably a link to the product.
Also the make and model of the HDD's being connected.

 

[Jimmysb]

I see, thanks, but ****, they are so expensive... Plus I need the UPS...
In any case, it's the MacBook bus that doesn't deliver enough because I tried with another adapter from another Thunderbolt port, and the drive wasn't even detected from the OS, despite it was powered ON.

Similar to the one I use to use

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08ZKSK6MB/

 

[Jimmysb]

Can you show me a photo or just tell me the model? I didn't see one so far, unless a standard USB cable for data and the power cable (usually 3.5" HDD), as all the socket powered HDDs...

Again similar to what I have

Ultra Fast USB 3.0 Y Cable - Samsung M3, Toshiba etc External Hard Drive WD NEW | eBay

Designed for Optimal Performance with Samsung M3. No fear of the drive sucking too much power from my laptop which has enough of its own struggle with its battery as it. Cable Length: 35cm. Features: Allows you to power a single device from 2 USB ports.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[ferrarr]

It's not the Mac that is having the issue. The port is doing wht it is designed to do. Using the adapter/hub/etc without additional power is the issue. Smaller rotational hard disk drives (2.5") require much less power than there larger cousins (3.5").

Powered hubs/docks only require the laptop adapter be plugged in to them to provide the power. I use my MBP power brick with a Wavelink WL-UMD501 hub/dock. Then I plug the dock/hub into one of the USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports on my MBP. Connected to the dock/hub I have an HDMI cable to an external 24" 1080P monitor, 2 USB3 external drive (1- 3.5" wall plug, 1- 2.5"), 1 USB2 2.5" HDD, headphones and a desk fan is using an open USB2 port.

 

[Gnomac43]

I think it would help to understand the problem if the OP provided the model number of the USB hub being used and preferably a link to the product.
Also the make and model of the HDD's being connected.

I don't think it matters because I tried to use a second adapter, connected to another Thunderbolt port (so left + right side), the behavior was the same...
It's like if the MacBook can't handle 3 of these disks at the same time...

I used this adapter Ugreen 6-in-1 USB-C Hub (4K@60Hz HDMI, 3 USB 3.0) + WD 5 TB.

 

[Gnomac43]

It's not the Mac that is having the issue. The port is doing wht it is designed to do. Using the adapter/hub/etc without additional power is the issue. Smaller rotational hard disk drives (2.5") require much less power than there larger cousins (3.5").

Powered hubs/docks only require the laptop adapter be plugged in to them to provide the power. I use my MBP power brick with a Wavelink WL-UMD501 hub/dock. Then I plug the dock/hub into one of the USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports on my MBP. Connected to the dock/hub I have an HDMI cable to an external 24" 1080P monitor, 2 USB3 external drive (1- 3.5" wall plug, 1- 2.5"), 1 USB2 2.5" HDD, headphones and a desk fan is using an open USB2 port.

I know that 3.5" HDDs are powered by the socket, but 2.5" always by the USB port, certainly that 5TB I mentioned above is a bit more power hungry than the others, but it should respect the industry standards.
Again, I can use 2 of these HDDs at the same time, it seems there is no issue, but 3 is a game over and the laptop crashes after a few nice grinds .
I'm obviously afraid even with 2 now, and buying an external docking station pushes me to buy also an UPS, so, something like 350-400 pounds...

 

[krs]

I don't think it matters because I tried to use a second adapter, connected to another Thunderbolt port (so left + right side), the behavior was the same...
It's like if the MacBook can't handle 3 of these disks at the same time...

I used this adapter Ugreen 6-in-1 USB-C Hub (4K@60Hz HDMI, 3 USB 3.0) + WD 5 TB.

The specs of the adapter you are using shows Power Delivery as a dash, ie none/not specified.
You need at least a powered adapter. but even then....it sounds as if you are trying to connect three 2.5 inch USB powered spinner plus a 5 TB drive and somehow get the Mac to power all of those.
I'm surprised that the Mac "crashes" - what exactly do you mean by that?
Do you get a Kernel panic or does the Mac just shut down?
When I connect a USB device that draws more power than the Mac can veliver, I get a message on the screen and that USB port on the Mac turns off, but the Mac does not crash.