USB Drives causing Finder to stop responding

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Level 1

5 points

USB Drives causing Finder to stop responding

I have attached a number of USB drives, a mixture of SSD USB3.1 and hard disks USB 3.0 and all of them seem to drop out occasionally (disappear from the finder and then reappear) even when they aren't doing anything.

But worst is the finder stops responding when I'm trying to do copy data to them or use First Aid in Disk Utility. The spinning beach ball happens and then I go to the finder and that has the beach ball... soon every App in MAcos starts beachballing and I can't do anything - forced to force shut down using the power button. Very worrying since it's a 1 month old machine.

Any ideas, because these drives were completely fine with my old iMac 27" 2020 - using the same USB hubs and thunderbolt Hubs. And yes, I have tried plugging them directly in, and the same thing happens. USB A format needs the dongle unfortunately but almost!

Any ideas?? - I have seen lots of the same issue and it's not a drive issue because I can bring them back to life on other machines (Data is gone obviously because of the corrupting nature of having to force shutdown or force quit apps/finder etc.

I use macOS Monterey - 12.6.3

MacBook Air M2 2022 - 8 Core

16GB Memory

Other related issues with other users:

USB drive causing Finder to stop respondi… - Apple Community

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MacBook Air (M2, 2022)

Posted on Mar 13, 2023 4:48 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 16, 2023 7:44 PM in response to biggo

Some external devices may not be compatible with Apple Silicon Macs (usually older models).

Try unchecking the option "Put drives to sleep when possible" in the Battery System Preferences.

Try booting into Safe Mode to see if it works any better just in case the issue is related to any third party software that is automatically launching during boot & login.

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Answer 2

Chris_V89

Community Specialist

Mar 14, 2023 7:12 PM in response to biggo

Hey there biggo,

Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities.

Since you were able to confirm that the issue also occurs when the USB drives are connected directly to your MacBook, we'd recommend testing the issue in safe mode. This can help to determine if the issue may be caused by some other software that has loaded when starting your MacBook up.

For steps on how to boot into safe mode, and what to do if the issue does or doesn't occur in safe mode, check out this link here: How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

How to use safe mode

Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:

Apple silicon

1. Shut down your Mac.

2. Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until you see the startup options window.

3. Select your startup disk, then press and hold the Shift key while clicking “Continue in Safe Mode.”

4. Log in to your Mac. You might be asked to log in again.

If the issue persists after going through the steps above, you can also try testing the issue in a new user account. This can help to determine if the issue is isolated to your account, or if the issue is system-wide.

For steps on how to create a new user account, check out this link here under the "Add account" section: Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

Keep us updated on the results, and we'll continue from there.

Take care!

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Answer 3

biggo Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 17, 2023 3:35 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you for your input. So the issue originally arose because I was copying files from one USB HD to another. The HD that I was copying to dropped out and therefore became corrupted. Would "Put drives to sleep when possible" kick in during a copy? Admittedly it was 500GB+ that I was copying, but seems to have happened with 2 disks now.

I'll check Safe Mode and figure out whether this helps. Thanks again.

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Answer 4

Mar 17, 2023 8:15 AM in response to biggo

biggo wrote:

Thank you for your input. So the issue originally arose because I was copying files from one USB HD to another. The HD that I was copying to dropped out and therefore became corrupted. Would "Put drives to sleep when possible" kick in during a copy? Admittedly it was 500GB+ that I was copying, but seems to have happened with 2 disks now.

Probably not, unless the drive did not "wake up" properly if it had been put to sleep earlier.

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USB Drives causing Finder to stop responding

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