External SSD notification

I've seen several threads on these forums where some more recent SanDisk Extreme drives may have hardware issues. Some other forums contain rumors that SanDisk (aka Western Digital) has pulled the drives from vendors shelves, but I have seen no confirmation other than lots of users reporting issues with SanDisk Extreme drives. From the little I researched, it seems older models of the SanDisk Extreme are Ok.

In addition to the great suggestions from @leroydouglas, here are a few others:

Uncheck the option in the Battery System Settings for "Put drives to sleep when possible". I've seen a lot of people resolve this problem with this setting, but it doesn't work for everyone.

Disconnect all other external devices in case one of them is causing a problem.

Connect the drive directly to the laptop.

Try the drive with a powered hub/dock or a dedicated power supply for the drive. Sometimes an external drive just needs a bit extra power to operate.

Also, you are two revisions behind on Ventura updates as Ventura is now at 13.3.1.

nantimes9 wrote:

My 2021 14" MacBook Pro, running Ventura 13.2.1 is giving me a message telling me the "Disk was not properly ejected". Disk is a SanDisk 2TB SSD. I didn't touch the external drive. It's connected as it always has been. I've seen this problem discussed in other threads, which I am unable to reply to. Any updates to this issue?

A one-off glitch you may be able to ignore...

known issues:

Try a different cable connection

Try a different port

Try a different enclosure

however error messages, ex—

"Time Machine has completed a new backup for you, or get a message saying it can't create the backup,"

or

“failed to complete the backup, ”

or

“Preparing backup”

or

"Disk not properly ejected"

if no resolve

Any of these message reappears most likely indicate the TimeMachine disk is operating in a state of failure and will continue to fail with increasing frequency. The resolve is to replace the drive.

If you value your user data

3-2-1 Backup Strategy: three copies of your data, two different methods, and one offsite.

More than one device, more than one backup methodology.

It can happen since USB connections aren't necessarily that stable. I get that a lot with my portable USB hard drive. But so far it hasn't created any issues even though I use it for Time Machine.