Apple has ceased custom ringtone support in Sonoma

The issues you're having are unusual. Sonoma definitely supports external drives. I can't imagine any platform or OS that wouldn't. I have several and use them without issue.

That said, I did have one external drive from OWC that kept dismounting and remounting itself. The Thunderbolt connection on the drive was not well designed, which allowed the cable to move around much too easily. It also could have been a bad cable. Either way, I returned that and got next model down. That one works flawlessly.

I also had a similar problem years ago with an external Firewire drive. This is a drive that never moved from its spot on the desktop, Meaning the cable from the drive also never moved. And yet, after a few years of no problems, the drive started to disconnect itself rather frequently. After much dinging around, replacing the cable fixed the problem. I still don't understand how a cable that never got flexed, or moved at all could suddenly go bad.

No idea why an installed ringtone won't appear as a choice. It's there, you should be able to select it. But try powering the phone down, then back on. It sounds illogical, but the ol', "Have you tried turning it off and back on again?" thing often works.

Kurt Lang wrote:

That said, I did have one external drive from OWC that kept dismounting and remounting itself.

I think this is just a side-effect of USB-C. It just isn't a very secure port. The cable can wobble around inside the socket and disconnect. I think we see this more with "Sonoma" just because more people are using newer drives with USB-C connectors on the drive end.

I tell people not to bother with the no-name/fake junk on Amazon and to buy Samsung instead. They do that, but then Samsung uses a USB-C connector. ****** if you do and ****** if you don't.

The cable can wobble around inside the socket and disconnect.

Yes, that was exactly the problem with the first drive I purchased. The second doesn't have that issue.

It's difficult to tell from the product images what's different, but on the first device, the USB-C port (the connector itself) is much closer to the opening. So, the plug doesn't go in very far to seat it, and ends up leaving too much wiggle room. On the second, the entire connector of the cable goes in before it seats, and the opening is almost exactly the size of the plug, which keeps it from slopping in any direction.

Kurt Lang wrote:

Yes, that was exactly the problem with the first drive I purchased. The second doesn't have that issue.

It's difficult to tell from the product images what's different, but on the first device, the USB-C port (the connector itself) is much closer to the opening. So, the plug doesn't go in very far to seat it, and ends up leaving too much wiggle room. On the second, the entire connector of the cable goes in before it seats, and the opening is almost exactly the size of the plug, which keeps it from slopping in any direction.

I haven't bought anything from OWC for a long time. I think they have too many products. My eyes glaze over and I don't buy anything.

Do these instructions still work?

How to set custom ringtone on iPhone - Apple Community

iMazing still works to add new ringtones.