Updated to Ventura and my external Thunderbolt connected backup drive is invisible

FWIW, after upgrading to Ventura this morning, I initially had the same problem: my external SSD did not appear in the Finder: neither on the desktop, nor in window Sidebars, despite all the respective boxes being checked in preferen... err... settings.

[ The drive did appear in Disk Utility, and I could access it in the Finder using Command-Shift-G and typing /Volumes/(nameofdrive) ]

I eventually ejected that drive, and connected a different drive, and it showed up.

Then I tried a third drive (my TM drive) and it too showed up.

And just now I reconnected the first drive, and it too shows up...

Maybe a temporary issue while the system was still indexing, or something?

Thanks for the link to the bombich.com workaround. Since I have multiple backup drives, I opted to erase and reformat using Disk Utility. As soon as the formatting process was over, the disk became visible on the desktop. I ran Carbon Copy Cloner to restore the disks and now all is well with icons showing on the desktop.

Does the drive appear mounted in Disk Utility? If not, what happens if you click the Mount button?

I have yet to upgrade to Ventura, but in Monterey and earlier, whether external drives showed on the Desktop was controlled by a preference setting in Finder. Is that no longer the case?

Here is where we'd set it in Finder->Preferences->General:

Also, we can have drives show up in Finder window sidebars. Does that also not work?

Try restarting in Safe Mode followed by a normal startup. This will force some housekeeping processes which may solve your problem.

What if one uses Command-Shift-G and types the path:

/Volumes/mydrive

(where of course you’d replace mydrive with the actual drive name)?

Bit the bullet and erased the drive. Re-copying didn't take long. Not a big deal!

Hmm. Interesting. If I just search /Volumes/, all of my volumes, including CCCloner, show up in a nice row in the folder called Volumes. If I add /CCCloner/, the content of CCCloner shows up in a folder, but the icon does not show up on the desktop. I tried to move CCCloner as an alias to the desktop, but no go. (Safe Mode didn't work either, by the way.)

Not a Carbonite issue. I meant Bombich.com, which by the way has a workaround here: https://bombich.com/kb/ccc6/macos-ventura-known-issues. And it seems to be an Apple issue. Ultimate solution seems to be to erase and start over. When I get the nerve, I'll do that!

The advice now being given to Mac users is to use CCC for backups, forgetting the bootable drive function: https://bombich.com/kb/ccc6/cloning-macos-system-volumes-apple-software-restore

For years the beauty of Carbon Copy Cloner has been the backup to a bootable disk in case of hard disk failure while working on a PhD dissertation that is due in 3 hours. It appears that Bombich is very near to throwing in the towel on that feature, given the complexity of Apple's proprietary system that is well nigh impossible to recreate in software by a third party.

Bombich says it notified Apple in November 2021 of the issue we in this forum are facing with CCC, but Apple has not replied. The struggle for Bombich at the debut of macOS 11 (Big Sur) is repeated and now serious enough for Bombich to recommend using CCC only for backup -- not for bootable backup.

Tonight I have reformatted my external drive on 2 machines and settled for the backup only function. The icon appears on the desktop. I thank (and pay) Bombich for CCC. I will continue to use it for a reliable approach to backups.

I saw that, too. On the other hand, at https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/13803/superduper I read the following:

"What’s new in version 3.7 Updated on Oct 25 2022

Enhancements:

Ventura compatibility, While the backup will be configured for boot, Apple bugs may cause startup to be unsuccessful (although restoration is still possible). See the blog for the latest information."

The above is more in line with what I read on the Bombich site about changes in Ventura that create problems for making a bootable backup drive. Maybe we will see in the not-too-distant future Apple's own bootable backup solution to replace Time Machine. That's mere conjecture on my part, but it would explain the lack of response to Bombich's overture in Nov 2021.

Having Carbon Copy Cloner as a backup software has been invaluable for me. It has faithfully allowed me to easily keep dependable backups that have saved me from disaster a few times. It is comforting to know that my backups are accurate and useable in case of a computer hard drive failure. Bombich Software is to be commended for their incredible software and timely updates. I'm sorry to see the ability to make a 'bootable backup' that I've enjoyed for years, but will continue to depend on Carbon Copy Cloner to keep me perfectly backed up.