Unable to access External Drives and Disk Utility after updating to macOS Sonoma.

Since I updated to macOS Sonoma, I've been experiencing issues with my external drives (in ExFAT). I can't access them, nor can I access Disk Utility (which continuously displays a "Loading disks" message). Only when I use the Disk Arbitrator app to prevent the drives from mounting, it allows me to run Disk Utility and "First Aid," enabling access to the external drive. However, the folder icon images are missing, and in the Sharing & Permissions info, it reads "You have custom access." Is anyone else experiencing similar problems, or does anyone know how to resolve this? Thank you very much.

[Re-Titled By Moderator]

Mac mini

Posted on Oct 8, 2023 4:06 AM

Top-ranking reply

r_e_d_oo

Level 1

18 points

Posted on Oct 24, 2023 12:12 PM

For me on M1 PRO MBP the issue looks like Sonoma is somehow reliably corrupting external exFat SSDs on every shutdown. If I unmount my SSDs before shutting down, they mount and work flawlessly on next start. But when I shutt down with the external SSD mounted, then it becomes unusable. To solve this state I... connect the drive to a Windows PC. It works but offers to scan and repair the drive as it detected errors. After the short repair procedure under Windows magic happens! It works again under Sonoma again! Until ofcourse I forget to unmount before the shuttown and let it mess with my drive again. I've lost so much time and some data on this issue. It is absolutely unacceptable and infuriating to release update like this... But if it's by design that is disgustingily outrages eneough for me to ditch the entire Apple ecosystem whatsoever. It doesn't seem to be the software up to any proffesional standards.

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291 replies

Lulugoh

Level 1

20 points

May 28, 2024 8:31 PM in response to BungalowBill92

My Apple M3 Sonoma 14.2 is only two months old.

I'm very lucky that I had copied out my photos (I'm a photographer) before my SD card files were deleted or became unreadable. I don't remember exactly what happened, but suddenly the card couldn't be read and all the files were gone, even my Canon camera couldn't access them.

I don't recall the exact error message I received after the files were deleted or became unreadable.

Now, I'm hesitant to find a way to connect my old 1TB external hard drive because I'm afraid a similar issue might occur, causing me to lose all my old files. This external hard drive cannot be read now ...

May 29, 2024 3:59 AM in response to BungalowBill92

This topic is quite extensive here, and there is no solution despite many trials & erros and different approaches on the troubleshooting. The end game is, Sonoma OS is blocking the external SSD´s. My understanding is that Apple is conducting a study to see the conversion rate towards iCloud storage, and consequently revenue impacts. Later a fix will come or not come, but the "pilot project" will be done already and soon, only iCloud storage. Im really considering moving out of Apple ecosystem due their dominant position forcing users into higher ARPU. Really sad and disappointed. Have more than 6Tb in backups, family pics and videos, corporate assets than I´ve being forced to stop accessing by Apple. Incredible !

May 30, 2024 5:48 PM in response to Dave Gouveia1

I got some pics from a FAT32 USB stick and it was fine to read on my Windows 11 machine. Pics came from a MacBook that a friend was using. My Dell XPS is UHD which is more than the Apple Pro can do.

The USB stock is USB-C 128GB made by Kingston and it works fine for basic stuff

[Edited by Moderator]

Oct 9, 2023 7:30 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hi! Thank you for answering

this is the line that returns:

drwx------@ 1 guille staff 131072 1 ene 1970 /Volumes/Elements

here is a screenshot:

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,072 points

Oct 9, 2023 7:52 AM in response to BungalowBill92

Did you format it on Windows or Mac?

Ive seen people postulate that Windows might use an allocation table that macOS doesn’t understand.

Oct 9, 2023 8:17 AM in response to Barney-15E

I formatted one of them as ExFAT from a Mac a few days ago, it happens with all three of the external drives I have (all of them in ExFAT)

Oct 13, 2023 8:18 PM in response to BungalowBill92

So it looks like ExFAT formats can't be read by Sonoma ? What a shame. I guess one must use USB Fobs now to transfer between Macs and Windows then.

MRYFLYGUY

Level 2

231 points

Oct 18, 2023 7:04 AM in response to BungalowBill92

Did APFS resolve your issue?

tbirdvet

Level 6

17,048 points

Oct 20, 2023 5:37 AM in response to Barney-15E

Barney-15E, I just noticed that copying a large file to a ExFAT formatted drive takes 4x longer than if the drive is formatted to APFS. Have you seen this issue? Just started with Sonoma.

tbirdvet

Level 6

17,048 points

Oct 20, 2023 2:28 PM in response to Barney-15E

I do not believe I saw this difference running Monterey.

NanieO

Level 1

6 points

Oct 22, 2023 5:41 PM in response to BungalowBill92

Thanks for posting this. Unfortunately I too am unable to access any external drives since updating to Sonoma. Very frustrating and hope it is resolved soon. I need that external data.

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,072 points

Oct 27, 2023 8:31 AM in response to BungalowBill92

It's unfortunate that they've ruined Mac-Windows compatibility

I don’t have any problem with ExFAT on either of my two Macs running Sonoma. Compatibility seems fine to me.

Oct 29, 2023 9:40 AM in response to MRYFLYGUY

I havn’t checked for a firmware update, so I will have to check

Nov 1, 2023 7:36 PM in response to BungalowBill92

Afte updating to sonoma It seems external drive hub cant be recognize, already tried the enable kernel step, it only fix first then after a reeboot still cant be recognize.

Nov 1, 2023 8:23 PM in response to emmyluty22

is it okay to have external mechanical HDD, that are not SSD or flash, being APFS formatted?

how is the performance in transferring big files?

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Unable to access External Drives and Disk Utility after updating to macOS Sonoma.