External TimeMachine disk disconnects randomly

Tech Support
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1

I have MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) 16 GB and am running Monterey 12.2

I have an external LaCie 4TB rugged hdd as Time Machine backup, which works nicely most of the time.

But from time to time, the hdd disconnects randomly, and I get the messge that I should unmount before disconnecting. The hdd is not in the Disk Utility anymore, and when I disconnect the USB 3 cable, connect it again, it works (after some waiting, peesumibly checking the fs). Happens on all three USB C ports and using different cables, one an Apple thunderbolt cable.

Any suggestions? I aam not to keen on wiping my time machine backups anr re-format as APFS…

2

Perhaps use the Disk Utility to do “First Aid” on the drive?

3

I did - several hours later everything OK.

4

I’m having random disconnects too.
I think it’s a Monterey thing.

  • The occasional message of eject before disconnecting.
  • A random error when my backup tries to run saying my external raid-paired SSDs aren’t mounted.

I don’t have to intervene in either case, things work correctly afterwards.

Didn’t happen on Big Sur.

1 Like
5

OK - I’ll observe it (but after connected to a CalDigit hub, no dosconnects so far for 6 hours), but I am quite sure I had to physically unplug the drive and plug it back in to get it back.

But I’ll see.

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6

FWIW, all my drives are connected directly to my iMac Pro.

7

I have seen this on an older Mac Mini on Mojave 10.14.6 - happens every few months - and it looks like the drive is connected when I later see the message. Odd…

8

Looks like reports like these started back in late October.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253309608?login=true&page=1

9

I’ve had this issue with Time Machine drives directly connected to multiple iMacs, and connected through a hub to a MBP, all running up to Catalina and earlier (I haven’t upgraded my machines beyond that yet, yikes). I have a recurring OF task to “check iMac Time Machine” every 2 weeks. My MBP gets unplugged and replugged in enough that I don’t need to go out of my way to check it, but not infrequently the Time Machine drive will simply not mount and not even show up under Disk Utility.

#shrug #itjustusuallyworks

10

So it seems, there is nothing one can do at the moment - just wait until #itjustworks

11

Quick follow up: which drives are the ones disconnecting? We have two drives 2.5" (two WD, one LaCie) and only the LaCie is disconecting - OK - the WD was connected to the hub via USB A connector, the LaCie via USB C.

12

I have two of these Thunderbolt 3 drives setup as RAID 0

And a WD Red WD40EFRX in a generic enclosure.