Unable to mount an external USB-C G Drive in Monterey. Unable to verify and repair fully in Disk Utility. Gives a problem with disk management when trying to mount/unmount or eject. Looks like a new software issue. Anyone else have this problem?
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
Same problem here, with MBP 15" 2019 (Intel). It has been having problem mounting before (I had to restart MBP with external drive plugged in) but after Monterey, it won't even mount. Nothing shows up Disk Utility. System Report shows Western Digital is there. All sorts of restart, memory reboots, etc. won't work. The drive and cable work fine on other MBP and MBA.
Of course the G-Drive is Thunderbolt 3 capable but the box and the WD website say that it is only capable of a Transfer rate up to 135MB/s2. Need to buy a drive capable of 40 or 10 Gbps2 for the Thunderbolt cable.
I may be mixing apples and oranges here, but… I have the new MacBook Pro 14 inch with Monterey. I bought a brand new 4 TB G Drive. Could not see and mount the drive.
I ordered a Apple USB-C to USB-C cable -$19 - I don’t believe this is a charging cable. I plugged it in, the drive auto mounted, I was able to assign it as a time capsule back up drive, and it’s been heavily backing up sense. The whole process took me two minutes as opposed to the 4+ hours on the phone with western digital.
i’m not at all saying that my situation will work for everybody, but it definitely will work for some people. Wish I understood what configurations the Apple USB see cable above will work and what configurations it won’t, but at least for me, a brand new Apple MacBook Pro, and a brand new 4 TB G Dr., the Apple cable works great.
So sorry, you are absolutely correct. Apple listed as USB-C charging cable, with a USB-C connector on both ends. Not sure what that means in terms of transfer rates, and it did take about 9 hours to do the first full back up (1.4 terabytes), but it seems to be perfectly speedy enough at this point with subsequent mini back-ups as time capsule does. Again, I’m using the hard drive purely for back up, so speed really doesn’t matter as much as it’s happening in the background.
Hi ResidentDjinn,
No apologies necessary, and totally understood — if it's working as you need it to, then the problem is small. But if you open up the Time Machine starfield and toggle from, say, a recent snapshot to one from several months ago, do you not get a huge lag, and a spinning wheel and "Loading" prompt? Just asking.
Just a quick update on the G-Drive USB-C to USB-A cable issue with macOS Monterey 12.0.1. I needed to Synch my iPad Pro to my iMac. As I am using my Apple USB-C to USB-C cable for my G-Drive for one of my Time Capsule drives and couldn't be bothered to go and get one of my other Apple USB-C cables I decided to try the G-Drive USB-C to USB-A cable sitting on my desk. Lo and behold the iPad immediately connected to Finder and started Synch and back-up and completed this in quick time. Nothing wrong with the cable then, nothing wrong with the software and the USB ports, so it must be something else to do with the software that allows reading and writing to G-Drives.
Just acquired an Apple Thunderbolt 0.8m data cable and have tried it with the G-Drive. However, it does not solve the issue. Worse, I am not shown the data partition G_DRIVE Mobile USB-C, I am only shown the G-Utilities partition in Finder and the same in Disk Utility where it is unable to be mounted. Thunderbolt cable works very well with iPad synch and backup to the iMac, much speedier than the charge cable. The Apple Store suggested I create a Support appointment and have the issue logged correctly, they also suggested contacting G-Drive to seek their advice and if they have a solution and also to look for a Firmware update for the drive that might be the problem. On the G-Drive Tech website there are no further or future Firmware updates (the drive is only made in China 04/2021). There is one thread that discusses similar issues with External drive compatibility with macOS 12 Monterey on Apple M1/M1X systems and iPads - External drive compatibility with macOS 12 Monterey on Apple M1/M1X systems and iPads - Answer ID31963. Symptoms mentioned are similar. They also state that - 'Apple has been notified of this issue and we look forward to a resolution soon'. So, for me, the USB-C 1m charge cable allows the G-Drive to work. That will have to do until we see if the next Monterey iteration has a 'fix'.
I had this problem with a fairly new 5 TB G-Drive on my M1 Macbook Pro Max.
Using the cable it came with I could sometimes see the Utilities Partition mount but the Main partition wouldn't. Ejecting the Utilities was unreliable as were other actions.
I was able to see the drive in utilities and run first aid on them without a problem - but main drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled) just wouldn't mount. This drive mounts and works correctly on my other Macbook pros (High Sierra).
In the suggestion here I tried the cable which came with my M1 iPad Pro - and the drive mounted. So It does seem that the cable is at least part of the issue. However the drive is unstable and if I click on the drive icon - finder quickly flashes then the drive dismounts. So I guess I am waiting for the 12.1
So, I went to the Apple Store and the Genius Bar dude told me to back up all the important files and re-install Mac OS and other programs. I've been backing up my MacBook since 2006, upgrading the hardware and transferring the backups. Apparently, this carries over "all the junky old system files." Once I re-installed the Mac OS (Monterey), then transferring my relevant documents separately, the MacBook pro seamlessly recognized all my hard drives.
No problems here on MM M1 Monterey 12.0.1
Problem is worse when not connected to power.
Did some more testing and it seams that this only affects my drives with USB-C ports.
Older drives all work normally with a USB-C to USB-A adapter.
and the software for the g-drive has disappeared. Can't find any data on Western Digital site.
Happy to have been helpful. :-)
Sorry - Leobatter 😄
Unable to mount an external USB-C G Drive in Monterey.
