external hard drive disconnecting randomly
I'm beginning to spiral down into insanity!
I had an iMac 2015 until 6 months ago. Quite a few problems existed
but one of the worst was the constant disconnection of external drives.
There was no pattern to it - sometimes it would connect for days, yet
other times it would only connect for hours. No pattern emerged,
such as running certain programmes. The biggest mystery was
that I had two identical WD Passport external drives, one for file storage,
the other as the Time Machine backup drive.
Mostly, the storage one dropped, but much less often, the backup dropped.
I tried all the advice from various sites on the internet, but nothing worked.
About 6 months ago, I replaced the iMac with the M1 Mac Mini and
said goodbye to my problems……….I thought.
I recently bought a brand new external drive and a brand new powered
USB hub. The problem is back again. Sometimes a reboot brings it back,
other times it doesn't but physically unplugging it at the hub and re connecting
it will work.
I'm on the verge of burning it all down and defecting to MS!
Anyone out there with verified solutions
will have my endless gratitude!
Many thanks in advance,
Kind wishes,
Jim
Mac mini, macOS 12.6