Sonoma won't mount external drives

[netnothing]

Based on the new article today Sonoma 14.1 RC - looks like this was listed in the release notes:

- Fixes an issue that may prevent encrypted external drives from mounting

Apple Seeds macOS Sonoma 14.1 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the release candidate version of an upcoming macOS Sonoma 14.1 update to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes,...

www.macrumors.com

 

[gank41]

Based on the new article today Sonoma 14.1 RC - looks like this was listed in the release notes:

- Fixes an issue that may prevent encrypted external drives from mounting

Apple Seeds macOS Sonoma 14.1 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the release candidate version of an upcoming macOS Sonoma 14.1 update to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes,...

www.macrumors.com

Yes, this issues seemed to be addressed in the last build and now continues to be fixed for me on the RC.

 

[Timmsy73]

Hi all,
Super strange problem!
M1 iMac with three external HDD’s attached.
After update none would mount, tried the boot into recovery method as per @TonyJByrne, ti was successful but apron a reboot it didn’t work for me.
Two drives are TimeMachine backups and one data.
The only way I could get them to mount was to shutdown completely, leave iMac off for a minute then startup. they would mount but any further reboots resulted in unmounted disks.
They are all encrypted APFS case sensitive disks all LaCie.
I decided to erase one of the backups reformatting it, was going to do unencrypted but at the last second decided to try encrypted again. This is a fairly new disk and didn’t have much on it yet and having the other one I figured what did I have to lose.
Reformatted APFS case sensitive as before, even used the same passphrase and mounted.
I have now rebooted 3 times and every time all three drives are mounting as they should, even the ones that I didn’t touch.

Also one other issue I came across with one of my reboots the Bluetooth was off!! I had to remote from my ipad to reboot it again!!!

So far working well but it’s only been a few hours so far.

Thanks everyone for your help, team effort may beat this issue.

 

[Timmsy73]

I forgot to add, I have another M1 iMac with a TimeMachine backup and an M1 Mini with 4 external Drives and they never caused any issues once updated. Only had the issue as above with one iMac.

 

[Jtte]

The problem recurs after restarting.

I have to shutdown the Mac Mini instead...

...then unplug both encrypted hard drives, turn the Mac on, then plug both drives back in for them to mount. (The pre-shutdown unplugging order doesn't matter.)

The problem recurs after restarting.

I have to shutdown the Mac Mini instead...

...then unplug both encrypted hard drives, turn the Mac on, then plug both drives back in for them to mount. (The pre-shutdown unplugging order doesn't matter.)

Update:
I erased the 2T USB-C hard drive and re-configured it for TimeMachine (encrypted) then everything works.

After restarting, both the 2T drive and 5T Time Machine (encrypted) drives mount quickly.

Something about the older 2T encrypted TimeMachine drive (was and is APFS / encrypted) seems to have prevented both drives from mounting during a restart.

 

[ingleonardo]

I had the same problem today, mine is a crucial X6 4TB, it has the default GUID Partition Map and ExFAT File system its not encrypted, I only used it to store info from the mac m1 pro. Disk Utility stays blank for quite some time until it shows the grayed out unmounted disk and cannot be mounted. I connected my device to a windows machine and it showed me an error and requested to check/fix the drive, after it was verified no errors were found and now the drive loaded again on Sonoma.

 

[stelly_d]

Apple M1 Max Sonoma 14.0. Not sure if this will help or complicate the sleuthing.

I also ran into the issue of non-mounting external HDs, both encrypted, one TimeMachine only (LaCie 4TB APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted)), other simply Seagate 2T extra storage Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Both HDs were routed through Hyper extended display Model HMDI1H. After trying disconnect and reconnecting each external HD (no progress) individually, I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the Hyper connector --> no progress; and I tried rebooting the M1 MBPro (warm --> no progress; cold --> no progress), then I disconnected everything and sequentially connected each drive DIRECTLY (not via the HYPER) INTO THE MBPro --> VOILA! EACH EXTERNAL MOUNTED, so then I reconnected the HYPER and sequentially tried each external HD, and each mounted; lastly, I reconnected both via the HYPER and both externals seem to working fine again. I can't explain it ... but the info might help someone else figure it out.

 

[yolkum]

I'm having the same issue. I updated my 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max to Sonoma 14.0, and my external encrypted time machine drive and encrypted backup drive continue to fail to mount on restart. They will also not mount from the disk utility app. I did find that if I start up the laptop without the drive plugged in and then plug the Thunderbolt cable in after startup, the drives will mount and ask for me to type in the password. They will then function normally until I restart the machine again.

 

[netnothing]

I'm having the same issue. I updated my 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max to Sonoma 14.0, and my external encrypted time machine drive and encrypted backup drive continue to fail to mount on restart. They will also not mount from the disk utility app. I did find that if I start up the laptop without the drive plugged in and then plug the Thunderbolt cable in after startup, the drives will mount and ask for me to type in the password. They will then function normally until I restart the machine again.

Did you update to 14.1? This was listed in the release notes.

 

[yolkum]

Did you update to 14.1? This was listed in the release notes.

I just did this morning. That fixed it.

 

[Macname]

I'm currently using a 2021 MacBook Pro 14' on Sonoma 14.1 and my encrypted hard drive is still not showing up. Tried a few cables and adapters with no solution. Is anyone else still facing this issue?

 

[DamonOrl]

I'm currently using a 2021 MacBook Pro 14' on Sonoma 14.1 and my encrypted hard drive is still not showing up. Tried a few cables and adapters with no solution. Is anyone else still facing this issue?

I haven’t had any issues since 14.1. That being said before the update to 14.1 my drives were mounted using the diskutil workaround in this thread.

 

[Macname]

I haven’t had any issues since 14.1. That being said before the update to 14.1 my drives were mounted using the diskutil workaround in this thread.

Got it. Thank you for your quick response!

I'm not able to manually mount since my disk utility freezes if the external hard drive is connected and goes back to normal once the drive is unplugged. Same in recovery mode as well. I'm hoping the next update fixes this issue. If not, some third-party software like 'Disk Drill' could help?

 

[rmiska]

Same here even with Sonoma 14.1.1 (23B81)

Details: At first I can mount all my exFAT WD passports, everything works fine, but after unmounting them, there is no way to get them running again on the same 14" mb pro. Diskutil freezes, even in the terminal. Plugging the "unmountable" WDs into a Win PC I immediately get a "fix is needed" notification, and windows can repair them in minutes making them usable again even on my mac. (Ubuntu machines can read the "unmountable"s without problems.) The main issue is that i do not have and do not want a win pc only for that purpose

 

[cubbie5150]

Weird. My 16" M1Pro MBP (on macOS 14.1) was mounting SD cards with no issues until last night up to a couple minutes ago. It just won't mount. I initially thought it was a hardware problem, but I ran across this thread and now I'm wondering. I had zero issues using the SD card slot on my MBP literally til last night. I'm gonna update to 14.1.1 tonight and see if anything changes.

 

[netnothing]

Same here even with Sonoma 14.1.1 (23B81)

Details: At first I can mount all my exFAT WD passports, everything works fine, but after unmounting them, there is no way to get them running again on the same 14" mb pro. Diskutil freezes, even in the terminal. Plugging the "unmountable" WDs into a Win PC I immediately get a "fix is needed" notification, and windows can repair them in minutes making them usable again even on my mac. (Ubuntu machines can read the "unmountable"s without problems.) The main issue is that i do not have and do not want a win pc only for that purpose

Weird. My 16" M1Pro MBP (on macOS 14.1) was mounting SD cards with no issues until last night up to a couple minutes ago. It just won't mount. I initially thought it was a hardware problem, but I ran across this thread and now I'm wondering. I had zero issues using the SD card slot on my MBP literally til last night. I'm gonna update to 14.1.1 tonight and see if anything changes.

Have you both tried a full power off shutdown vs. restart? I know in the beginning, some of us were not having drives re-mount if we just restarted our Mac vs a full shutdown (power off) and start up again.

 

[rmiska]

Have you both tried a full power off shutdown vs. restart? I know in the beginning, some of us were not having drives re-mount if we just restarted our Mac vs a full shutdown (power off) and start up again.

Thanks for the advice! Based on your suggestion I can now unmount and remount my external HDDs with some limitations!
I found that after hitting "eject" on a drive I have to shut down the mac and unplug the drive afterwards. This way it manages a proper power down of the HDD, and thus allows me to remount it later!Better than nothing
Otherwise, if I only hit "eject", wait till the drive disappears from the OS and unplug it, it gets corrupted and needs the Win based fix. In this case not even a replug and power on/off cycle can help resurrecting a drive with a mac.
All in all, I have to be aware and shut down the mac whenever I want to switch to an other external HDD...

 

[fiat]

FYI, I just upgraded my M2 Pro Mini from 13.6 to 14.1.1 My two external SSDs connected by the self-powered Treeblet dock are mounted fine as in 13.6 Ventura. So far so good.

 

[rmiska]

FYI, I just upgraded my M2 Pro Mini from 13.6 to 14.1.1 My two external SSDs connected by the self-powered Treeblet dock are mounted fine as in 13.6 Ventura. So far so good.

Samsung t7 ssd-s are working fine for me as well. I have/had problems with hdds only.

 

[officialsnsw]

Hmmm....I was also seeing where application windows would stay behind other windows and it couldn't be brought to the foreground. That was happening randomly.

Dear All, Anyone able to help with LACIE 6Big 24Tb |Macbook Pro M2Max
I was able to mount and worked few weeks ago and now its asking for permission again, not sure what else to do. Please see below screenshots.

 

[Norbert S.]

The solution for me was to reset the NVRAM (iMac 2020) ...
See How to Fix an Unrecognized USB Disk (with Pictures) - wikiHow - Part 1, Point 8

 

[Doucer]

Hi folks. New to the site. I am not a technical person so having trouble following this thread. I turned to this site as I am completely frustrated since I updated to Sonoma 14.1.1. I am a photographer and have all my photos from years of photography stored on two Seagate external drives. After the update, none of the drives are showing up in Finder. At first I thought I lost everything but tried the drives on my laptop and they are there. I thought I needed a new computer but held off. Then I started researching and tried all the tips suggested to help but still can't read the drives. Can someone explain in simple terms what I need to do? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Fishrrman]

From the post above:
"I am not a technical person so having trouble following this thread. I turned to this site as I am completely frustrated since I updated to Sonoma 14.1.1. I am a photographer and have all my photos from years of photography stored on two Seagate external drives. After the update, none of the drives are showing up in Finder."

Open System Settings.
Go to "privacy & security".
Scroll downward to almost the bottom.
Look for "allow accessories to connect".
To the right of this, there's a popup menu -- choose "always".
Close System Settings.

Does this help at all?

 

[gank41]

Hi folks. New to the site. I am not a technical person so having trouble following this thread. I turned to this site as I am completely frustrated since I updated to Sonoma 14.1.1. I am a photographer and have all my photos from years of photography stored on two Seagate external drives. After the update, none of the drives are showing up in Finder. At first I thought I lost everything but tried the drives on my laptop and they are there. I thought I needed a new computer but held off. Then I started researching and tried all the tips suggested to help but still can't read the drives. Can someone explain in simple terms what I need to do? Thanks in advance for any help.

From the post above:
"I am not a technical person so having trouble following this thread. I turned to this site as I am completely frustrated since I updated to Sonoma 14.1.1. I am a photographer and have all my photos from years of photography stored on two Seagate external drives. After the update, none of the drives are showing up in Finder."

Open System Settings.
Go to "privacy & security".
Scroll downward to almost the bottom.
Look for "allow accessories to connect".
To the right of this, there's a popup menu -- choose "always".
Close System Settings.

Does this help at all?

Yes, this, and from here go to your Applications / Utilities Folder and open Disk Utility. You should AT LEAST see your drives listed on the far left side. You may have to select View in the Menu Bar and then Show All Devices. If you see them and they're greyed out, right click on them and select Mount and if prompted for Password, select Always Remember. This way they should mount automatically when connected. If you've checked Privacy & Security settings and confirmed that's set correctly, and you're still not seeing the drives at all in Disk Utility, that could be an issue. At that point you should try using them on another device if possible to rule the drives out.

 

[Doucer]

From the post above:
"I am not a technical person so having trouble following this thread. I turned to this site as I am completely frustrated since I updated to Sonoma 14.1.1. I am a photographer and have all my photos from years of photography stored on two Seagate external drives. After the update, none of the drives are showing up in Finder."

Open System Settings.
Go to "privacy & security".
Scroll downward to almost the bottom.
Look for "allow accessories to connect".
To the right of this, there's a popup menu -- choose "always".
Close System Settings.

Does this help at all?

Thanks for your help. I was able to navigate to privacy and security but can't find "allow accessories to connect". I checked all the menu options and can't find it. Am I blind?