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

Sonoma 14.4.1 did NOT fix the issue. None of my external drives are visible after the update.

Unbelievable...

yes it not working with my WD black either....Apple are you going to sort this or what?

Having the same issues, so every time I connect my outboard drive, I go to System Preferences, then Siri and Spotlight, then to the bottom where "Spotlight Privacy" is tabbed.

Click on Spotlight Privacy, drag your drive in, then hit the "-" sign and it will be recognized and become searchable for that session until you eject it. Not the most elegant solution for a new operating system, @Apple. WTAF? Fix this. Or is it just another attempt to make you spend more money on memory?

Hope (everything but the screed) helps.

Somona is a disgrace. The problem should have been sorted long time ago. Brand new Lacie ssd 4tb takes forever to write Final Cut files. It is not possible to format into any APFS. Giving different 698-- reports.

Apple - be professional and sort it! Look at all the complaints all over the internet!

I recently updated my 2023 Mac mini to Sonoma 14.2.1 from the original OS, Ventura 13.6. My external 2T SSD drive formatted in APFS worked without flaw until I installed Sonoma. My external drive disappeared. I tried multiple recommended fixes to restore access to this drive. All my documents and even my Time Machine are on this external drive! So I went back to Ventura 13.6.3. Pain in the *ss, but it worked. Thankfully, TM backed up a few hours before installing Sonoma, and none of the files on the external drive were corrupted! Reading the complaints in this thread, it seems beyond the pale for Apple to release an OS that does this to 3rd party external drives, drives that were in perfect working order on older versions of the OS. And then offer up as support reformatting the drive! What kind of arrogance is this? I'm lucky to have been able to install a clean Ventura OS and then restore everything from Time Machine. I won't touch Sonoma OS again!

Why on earth should anyone who paid good money for superior Apple hardware have to go through all this, just to get a external drive that was formerly functioning perfectly to work again with a brand new, shiny, state of the art OS like Sonoma?

Update: I found a fix that worked for me on another thread. Someone talked to an apple engineer who suggested using a USB to USB-C adapter. I was highly skeptical but having tried everything and having some adaptors on hand I gave it a try and it worked!

so on a M3Pro I plugged in a USB-C to USB adapter and then plugged a USB to USB-C adapter into the first adapter and then my SSD into the second adapter and it now mounts.

Ridiculous 😂 have no idea why this would work but hey at least it’s working.

Apple needs to prioritize a proper fix to this as this is unacceptable to have a such a serious bug be going on for 6 months now.

Small Update : I just had it happen with an SD card on a Mac Studio M1 Max (using its built-in reader). The SD card was working and while copying some files, it just disconnected (crashing finder and had to restart). Now the mac won't read that particular card anymore. It works perfectly fine on any other device. Inserting any other SD card in the mac also works fine. Seems like once something gets disconnected, that's it for that media.

Nope, 14.2 still no fix.

Confirm. Apple remove negative comment .

i wrote several times about this problem.

the only solution is wait 30 minutes every time you insert an HD. Or recover it with windows.

MacOS is not for professional use anymore .

give a chance to windows .

I moved to Mac OS when Windows Vista was a disaster.

Now Sonoma and no external drives are working as they should. Usb hub not working .. Apple, after many good years you have actively kicked me out.

Beyond frustrated I have spent almost two days trying to trouble shoot this issue, my drive went from working to not working in a matter of two days. Thought it was my ports now I understand it was the update. This is not a good way to keep people in the ecosystem, force is never a good strategy.

I think it is grossly irresponsible of Apple to allow the Sonoma mess to continue...

Apple has done nothing to correct this from what i read daily...

So many users wasting time with an OS that Should Have Been Fully Functional BEFORE it was released to the masses...

But Apple didnt do their due diligence and subsequently released an abysmal mess of an OS..

How many of us are still willing to tolerate this?

I know i am not...

It is Not our place as users to troubleshoot the buggy OS.

And we surely are not being compensated by Apple for all the lost time and in some cases lost Data all due to some coding that they seem to have no clue as to how to fix it.

shameful...

wonder if this will get pulled down as it is not singing praises, rather stating Facts.

Hi! I just recently upgraded from a MacBook Air 2017 to the new MacBook Air M3 and I also have this problem. I have an external drive for a few years now where I storage essentially old pictures and important documents from university. The drive was already formatted once since I had it before migrating to apple, I used it with my windows PC; it worked well with my Mac Air 2017 since then. Now that I've upgraded to the Air M3, I just can't read the external drive, I even tested the USB-C adaptador I bought, it works well with PEN drives, it just doesn't read my external drive :( I also tested my drive on my surface PC and it did not accuse errors. I don't know what to do.

to the people who have lost recognition of their external hard drives when using Sonoma OS: this also happened to me, and neither apple care or the apple store could help. they both told me the HD was fried. Fortunately, I have a friend who suggested hooking the HD to his computer using Linux OS, and there was my HD on the screen, with all it's contents. I emptied that HD into another, then reformatted it, and when I plugged it in to my new mac mini 2, it was again recognized and works perfectly. hope that helps--if you can find someone who has Linux and knows how to use it.