debifromherndon wrote:
Thank you for taking time to answer my post.
Can you elaborate on "No third party disk software, utilities or firmware?" I have no anti virus. no cleaner utilities nor security software other than MAC.
Do not install any anti-virus software. The Mac has its own malware protection, and 3rd party A/V solutions just interfere with your ability to use your Mac effectively.
macOS does not need any 3rd party software in order to talk to an external disk. If the external disk you purchased includes software, DO NOT USE it. The Mac is perfectly capable of reading and writing to the disk without unnecessary vendor provided drivers. At most you may need to reformat the external disk so it uses a macOS file system. Generally APFS (Apple File System), or the older HFS (macOS Extended (Journaled)).
Similar to not installing 3rd party anti-virus, do not install utilities that claim to clean your Mac. They have a tendency to clean essential software and data files along with what they consider trash.
No security software, is more along the lines of no anti-virus. The Mac is rather good a protecting itself, unless you have a habit of installing any software you find just laying around the web, or if you always click on links that say your Mac is infected, etc...
Speaking of "Your Mac is Infected" pop-ups. These tend to be advertisements that LIE LIE LIE, and no web page can scan your Mac for malware. If a web page could scan you Mac, they could just steal all your data. Since they cannot, they just Lie and encourage you to click on links and either give them money, or get you to install software that can steal your data.