iMac24 (M1) rejecting usb drives

[iPad-hubby]

New year greetings. I have recently updated my 2017 21.5" iMac to a brand new imac24 with M1 processor. When I add a usb memory drive (I've tried several) the system recognizes it, shows it on the desktop and suddenly I get a message to eject it before disconnecting it, the desktop icon disappears, then returns, another message to eject before removal (which I haven't ).... this can go on until I have 4 or 5 'eject' messages and it's driving me nuts!

I also get my WD Passport for mac TM drive being rejected as well, this has worked brilliantly for several years with my previous intel based imac......

1. Am I doing anything wrong?
2. Are there 'known issues' with this new model?
3. Is it the hardware or is it Monterey?

Hopefully someone may have a suggestion! - (I won't get upset if you decide it's 'user error'!!)

Gordon

iPad 2
iPhone SE
iMac24 2021 Apple M1 8Gb

 

[MacInWin]

That sounds like a dodgy cable, or hub. You didn't say HOW you are attaching them, but I would guess that you have some sort of USBc to USBA adapter or cable. Not all of them, particularly the inexpensive ones, are reliable.

 

[IWT]

FWIW, I agree with Jake. Connecting an EHD via a Hub can be problematical especially if it is not independently powered.

If you are using a Hub (even powered), try connecting one of the EHDs directly to the Mac. If all works well, there's your answer.

If it doesn't work, then look at the cable. Are you using an adapter? Could be the wrong one (probably not but...); a poor connection between cables?

And whilst I'm mentioning adapters: if you are using them, are they Apple adapters or third party? If third party, that could be the problem. Lots of accounts of faulty adapters from sources other than Apple.

When you've read this and experimented, please come back with details of your exact setup.

Ian

 

[iPad-hubby]

FWIW, I agree with Jake. Connecting an EHD via a Hub can be problematical especially if it is not independently powered.

If you are using a Hub (even powered), try connecting one of the EHDs directly to the Mac. If all works well, there's your answer.

If it doesn't work, then look at the cable. Are you using an adapter? Could be the wrong one (probably not but...); a poor connection between cables?

And whilst I'm mentioning adapters: if you are using them, are they Apple adapters or third party? If third party, that could be the problem. Lots of accounts of faulty adapters from sources other than Apple.

When you've read this and experimented, please come back with details of your exact setup.

Ian

Thanks Ian & MacInWin,
The usb drive is via a Anker hub which has never been problematic but will try usb drive direct into the iMac anyway. The Anker hub is independently powered and used as this iMac24 only has 4 x usb-c sockets whereas previous 2017 unit had 4 x usb-a/b and 2xusb-c.
The EHD is direct into the iMac with a brand new usb-c cable.
As a thought I will try rotating usb-c connections to see if that makes any difference.
Will report back in due course.
G

 

[MacInWin]

Anker makes good products, so I would not have expected a problem. Maybe it is in the cables from the hub to the drives, or hub to the iMac. Report back what you find on swapping cables around.

 

[iPad-hubby]

Anker makes good products, so I would not have expected a problem. Maybe it is in the cables from the hub to the drives, or hub to the iMac. Report back what you find on swapping cables around.

Thanks MacInWin and IWT for all your input. It's been a frustrating few weeks with ™ doing 3or 4 backups then the EHD disconnecting but I was getting an error message to 'Eject before disconnecting' when I'd done nothing at all. I'd physically unplug the EHD, re connect then over a few hours backups would complete then disconnect again! Maddening to say the least. However, fingers crossed, since the latest Monterey update to V 12.2.1 3 days ago, all has been working as normal and I'm now sleeping at night!!!!
Many thanks guys.

 

[MacInWin]

It could be a dodgy cable or connector. I had one USB cable that would not stay connected, no matter what I tried. It would connect, disconnect, reconnect, disconnect, on and off with no logic to it at all. I finally fixed the problem by throwing the cable away and getting a new one that stays connected.

 

[massalt]

I have this exact same problem. New M1 using 3 external drives that worked flawlessly with my 2015 iMac. 2 are Seagate's powered via the USB, one is seagate self powered. Ever since I got the M1, constantly getting the stupid error message. Was running through a hub, m1 stopped recognizing one of the 2TBs completely. Just got 3 separate cable adapters and plugged straight into the ports, same problem, one of the 2's keeps disconnecting, one not recognized at all, the self powered one works fine.

The one that is not recognized at all is taking power from the usb. Tried plugging it into my M1 MacBook Air, not seen there either.

I guess next I should start switching cables around?

At this point, I would gladly buy the Apple-priced twenty dollar cables if I was sure it would solve the problem....

 

[massalt]

I think I have this figured out. I was running one self powered and two usb powered external drives through a hub. I replaced the hub with three adapters direct to the computer. In that config, the self powered and one usb powered work just fine, but the second usb powered was seen by, but not recognized by the system. ( Disk utility would just sit there trying to figure out what it was.)

I plugged the problem drive via adapter into my M1 MacBook Air, and disc utility found it, but the system would not load it. I reformatted it with DU and voila, now it works fine on both M1's.

My strong suspicion is that you can't run USB powered drives through a hub and get constant power to them. Power is lost momentarily and you get that message, " Eject before disconnecting." The drive that went bad was my Time Machine backup drive which I suspect lost power during a backup, thereby polluting the file system, making the drive unreadable.

Three drives running through adapters, each with it's own port on the computer, running three days now without a message or a problem, so my advice is to not run USB powered drives through a hub.

I have the Time Machine drive backing up the main iMac drive, plus a full TB of iTunes files on the second USB powered drive, so even with the two drives requiring constant power, it is working fine.

 

[Rod]

Care should be taken if the external drives are being disconnected (for whatever reason) without being ejected. We know this can cause corruption of the media/ data, especially if it happens repeatedly.
I would suggest reformatting any EHD this has happened to and it’s data copied anew if possible.

 

[MacInWin]

I would suggest reformatting any EHD this has happened to and it’s data copied anew if possible.

Might be a bit of overkill there. Run First Aid on the drive first and if there are any errors, Rod's suggestion is good. If First Aid doesn't find anything, you dodged the bullet.

 

[massalt]

Hmmmm, First Aid can't check either of the drives?

 

[MacInWin]

Is that because they don't show up in Disk Utility, or some other reason? If they don't show up, it could be cables or the drives are dead. If they show up, DU should be able to check them, unless the drives are dead.

 

[massalt]

No, they show up and work fine now, five straight days.

" First Aid could not unmount the volume for repair. Click Done to continue." or, " First Aid process has failed. If possible back up the data on this volume. Click Done to continue."

Don't sound good.

 

[MacInWin]

The first message usually means the drive is in use by some app. If it is a TM backup, that could very well be TM itself blocking. The second is a more serious issue and is a warning that FirstAid didn't finish, but didn't find any specific error to report. I'd make a backup of that one, if you can, and soon.

 

[massalt]

Well the first one is the backup drive. The second one holds my iTunes files and is backed up to the first drive. I just checked the backed up files and they seem fine. They are also legitimately purchased files that I could download again from iTunes, so I have no real data at risk here on either drive.

I just disabled Time Machine and got the same error message.

I spent a previous life in large scale corporate data storage and retrieval, doing everything from design to implementation, training and support. Back in the olden days, a lot of data was lost to internal drive failures, primarily related to heat, and I became accustomed to storing all of my files on external drives. In all these years, I have never seen a failure of an external seagate drive.

So now I have two of them, less than two years old, both of which worked flawlessly on my 2015 iMac, but no workee with my new Mi1 iMac?

Drives are not expensive, I could just buy new ones, but I'm not very confident they would work any better?

I guess, next, I could unplug them and try them in my M1 Air, or haul them to work and try them on my last intel iMac, but I don't see how that might help solve my problem?

Is there anyone out there succesfully running USB drives on an M1 iMac?

Tap, tap, is this thing on?

 

[MacInWin]

Is there anyone out there succesfully running USB drives on an M1 iMac?

Yes, I have 10 of them running on my M1 MBP, so it's not something inherent in the Mac or macOS. Mine are a mix of Seagate, WD and Samsung, both rotating and SSD. No problems. But I have powered hubs and powered drives, so none of them are depending on the MBP for power through a hub.

I just disabled Time Machine and got the same error message.

The OS is involved here. TM designates drives as TM, even when TM is disabled. But if that drive is mounting, I would say it's OK. The other one is more problematic. I would try it on the Air, and if its working there it could be the ports on your M1 system have gone wonky. An SMC reset would normally be in order, but on an M1 Mac all that really means is to power it off, unplug it for a couple of minutes, plug it back in and restart. The SMC is reset with every power off.

What model is the M1? You did not say. And what version of macOS is on it? The most recent is 12.2.1.

 

[massalt]

Yes, I have 10 of them running on my M1 MBP, so it's not something inherent in the Mac or macOS. Mine are a mix of Seagate, WD and Samsung, both rotating and SSD. No problems. But I have powered hubs and powered drives, so none of them are depending on the MBP for power through a hub.


The OS is involved here. TM designates drives as TM, even when TM is disabled. But if that drive is mounting, I would say it's OK. The other one is more problematic. I would try it on the Air, and if its working there it could be the ports on your M1 system have gone wonky. An SMC reset would normally be in order, but on an M1 Mac all that really means is to power it off, unplug it for a couple of minutes, plug it back in and restart. The SMC is reset with every power off.

What model is the M1? You did not say. And what version of macOS is on it? The most recent is 12.2.1.

I am running 12.2.1 on 2021 M1 iMac. *** is, " SMC?" And the drive is working fine on my M1, what would it mean if it works on my Air?

And what is an, " MBP?"

You are talking in riddles.....

 

[MacInWin]

Sorry. MBP = MacBook Pro, MBA = MacBook Air

SMC = System Management Controller. Here is what it does: How (and When) to Reset the SMC on Your Mac

For an M1 iMac, just power it down. I would then unplug it for a few minutes, then plug it in again and power it on. Theoretically the SMC is reset on an M1 iMac every time it is powered down, so the unplug/plug may be not needed, but I would do it anyway, myself.

And the drive is working fine on my M1, what would it mean if it works on my Air?

If the drive is working fine, you don't need to do anything. Sorry for the confusion, I thought you were still having issues with the drives.

 

[massalt]

Sorry. MBP = MacBook Pro, MBA = MacBook Air

SMC = System Management Controller. Here is what it does: How (and When) to Reset the SMC on Your Mac

For an M1 iMac, just power it down. I would then unplug it for a few minutes, then plug it in again and power it on. Theoretically the SMC is reset on an M1 iMac every time it is powered down, so the unplug/plug may be not needed, but I would do it anyway, myself.


If the drive is working fine, you don't need to do anything. Sorry for the confusion, I thought you were still having issues with the drives.

Thank you sir, I will try that.