With Monterey update, can't see certain hard drives

I had the same issue too and thought the same lol. But I checked on my other mac that I haven't updated yet and everything is still there. I do think it's an OS issue too I just hope they can patch it quickly or have a workaround.

Same here. After updating to Monterey I can't see one of my 2 G-Drive usb-c 4TB. No problem if I try to plug it in an old MacBook Pro with El Capitan installed. I saved the content of the hard disk and formatted it in ExFat. In this case it works also in Monterey. If I try to format it in Mac OS Extended or Apfs it works only into my old Macbook.

I am running into the same issues on a 2017 iMac. The drives all need to be unplugged the plugged back in. BUT when they do show up on my desktop and I attempt to copy files or add files and they crash every time. This is the worst update I HAVE EVER SEEN ON A MAC. Happens with all Drives WD, SanDisk, G-Tech, & Seagate. APPLE IF YOU READ THIS FIX THIS!

I'm also having this issue with my 24TB G-Raid Shuttle thunderbolt 3. I can see the G-Raid in System Information, but not in Disk Utility, Terminal, or Finder. I also discovered that this issue is only affecting my Macs that have been updated to Monterey, which I confirmed by downgrading one to Big Sur. Once downgraded the G-Raid was visible again and worked as expected.

So I spoke at length this morning with Apple tech support about the issue. After going through the obligatory "have you tried powering the unit on and off" fixes with standard tech support, they referred me to whatever the next tier of support is called (advanced?).

Anyway after I described the issue to the advanced technician, he searched through what he called "some internal tech bulletins we use" and found one confirming this is indeed a known Monterey bug. He said it appears to be only affecting some G-technology drives that connect via USB-C or thunderbolt. Lastly he apologized and said that Apple's recommendation at this point in time is to downgrade to Big Sur until a patch for Monterey is released.

I have the same problem.

I have a WD My Passport Wireless Pro drive that I want to connect via USB 3.0 to USB-C Cable.

I have two MacBooks, an older 2020 intel based MBP 13 on MacOS 11 and a new 14" MBP on MacOS 12.0.1.

On the older MBP the drive works 100% it works fine, however if i plug it into my 14" MBP its not detect at all, not in Disk Utility not even on connected USB devices in System Information Viewer Hardware > USB.

Then I tried connecting it via USB 3.0 cable and the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter.

This works flawlessly.

This is ridiculous however, if it can work on my older mac, it should work on the new one without the adapter in between.

I had the same problem with my LaCie external SSD drive I use for TimeMachine. It worked for years until I upgraded to Monterrey OS 12.0.1 today. I tried the suggestion of switching to an Apple branded USB C to USB C cable instead of the one that came with the drive and it instantly recognized the drive again and was functional. I was flabbergasted why this should be so, since I was on the verge of having to buy a new drive and do a whole new back-up. Thanks for suggesting this simple fix. Why Apple support would not suggest this escapes me.

I HAVE two portable WD usb-a drives(with USB-C adapter). Both of them connect fine to my M1Pro OS Monterey 12.0. Are we talking about the 12.01 update? I never never never update OS’s unless something is broken, until they are stable at about .4. Been doing this successfully since System 6.

So not all WD drives.

I'm beginning to think this may be because some cables can't deliver the power needed for the drives to operate properly.

The reasons for this could be inherent to cables, or it could be a matter of the operating system incorrectly setting allowable power limits when certain cables are in use.

It's good that people have found workarounds, but those of you in contact with Apple Support, be sure to let them know what you've found works so that if Apple Engineering doesn't already know, the information can be passed on to them.

For those of you with USB drives that also allow using a power adapter, you may want to see if that works as well.

Two hard drive USB-C, 4tb, G-Drive.

Only one of two is recognized from Monterey (no problems before, until the upgrade).

I've just tried to plug it with usb-c/usb-c charge cable of my MacBook and also the second one is recognized.

Thanks for this trick, waiting for an update at least I got back my hard drive

I also confirm that using a Apple USC-C to USB-C cable resolves the issue with my G-Drive. However, this is not the "fix". There is still an Monterey OS issue that Apple needs to resolve. I have been using the same G-Drive USB-C to USB-C cable for a couple of years now with no issues. Upgrade to Monterey and now an issue. The cable didn't break, the OS broke it. So that still needs to be resolved.

For now....I am working again, thank goodness.

One major issue you all are not writing about is copying files from drive to drive I am getting a error message that the files cant be read or written during a copy. I can see the drives, I can see the files but during the copy I get a error message. When I try again its a 50/50 chance it will work. This is a major issue and never a problem before. This needed to be FIXED ASAP. This is not just a cable issue. WORKED ON THE OLD OS BIG SUR.

This worked for me as well (using an Apple USB-C cable) . . . until I installed 12.0.1 today, and it no longer reads the drive (although I can still see it in disk utility). I have a G-Drive Armour 5Tb with about 4tb of images on it. Irritating!

I'm using a new 14"MBP M1 Pro - but I don't think that's the issue.

Dogcow-Moof wrote:

If the ports were "faulty," using adapters would not work.

Unfortunately that is not entirely true with regards to USB-C ports. You can have a half bad USB-C port. Rotating the USB-C connector 180 degrees upside down can sometimes make a device work. I have personally experienced this on the USB-C Macs I repair both with chargers and data connections.

Unfortunately the issues with external hard drives/SSDs are very complicated due to the multiple brands, models, file systems, etc. Plus there may be other differences between Intel & M1 Macs. We also need to keep in mind that last year many users also complained about having issues with many external drives. Most of the reports last year were with M1 Macs, but there were also a fair number of reports with issues on Intel Macs after upgrading to Big Sur. Unfortunately the issue last year was never really investigated by any of the tech sites (I'm not sure it was even properly reported) and I never did see any articles that ever mentioned the issue being fixed. I did see some references last year from certain hardware vendors that did mention some USB drives having chipset compatibility issues (JMicron) with M1 Macs, but those references were later removed (either the vendors provided an alternate product that was compatible or perhaps a firmware/software update was issued either by the vendor or Apple).

There may not be any one correct answer or solution to these USB drive issues. It certainly does not help that Apple loves their secrets so much that Apple may never acknowledge any problems and may never even mention a fix in any of the macOS patches/updates notes.

You can of course have a bad port; by calling the ports faulty the claim is made the issue is systemic, and that’s the issue I have.

If the ports themselves were in some way defective, adapters and cables wouldn’t be a workaround.

As I stated above, the best thing to do is to keep Apple Support up to date and to file feedback.

Note I also recall the Oxford 922 FireWire 800 bridge chip issue with MacOS X Panther that was only resolved via firmware updates for the drive enclosures involved.