exFAT SSD problem with MacBook Pro (M1)

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exFAT SSD problem with MacBook Pro (M1)

I have a Samsung 500GB T5 SSD formatted as an exFAT drive. When I connected the drive using a USB-C cable, the MacBook initially wouldn't mount the drive--the blue light on the SSD flashed continuously, but it wouldn't mount. After trying a few times, the drive did mount, but said the drive had zero files, even though it showed 85GB was being used. After waiting another few minutes, files started showing on the drive. Attempting to copy the files to the MacBook resulted in a failure message.

I then attached a USB hub to the MacBook and connected the SSD using one of the ports on the hub. The drive showed up right away with all the files. I was able to copy all my files over.

Disk Utility reported that there weren't any problems with the disk. Why is this happening?

MacBook Pro 14" M1/32GB/500GB/Sonoma 14.4

Parallels, macOS 10.14

Posted on Mar 16, 2024 11:46 PM

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Answer 1

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HWTech

Level 9

69,338 points

Mar 17, 2024 5:50 PM in response to agin

I know that the older T5 SSDs were incompatible with the Apple Silicon M1 Macs when they were first released in 2020. Later models of the T5 SSD apparently were fine since they utilized a different USB chipset. There were multiple posts & threads at the time of users reporting issues.

Did you disconnect all other external devices from the computer and still have the same issue?

Unfortunately a lot of people have been reporting issues with the exFAT file system when using Sonoma. Supposedly some of those issues have been fixed in the 14.4 update, but not all. The exFAT & FAT file system drivers were rewritten by Apple for Sonoma since Apple decided to remove the former Kernel driver (aka system extension) and make those two file systems controlled by user space replacements.

Unfortunately not all external devices are compatible with Macs, especially the Apple Silicon M-series Macs (usually older devices). If this connection you discovered works reliably, then that will probably be your best option. Maybe some other adapter would do the same, but it may be difficult to find one which works.

You can try contacting Samsung tech support for assistance, perhaps they may have updated firmware for that T5 SSD model to resolve the issue.

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Answer 2

agin Author

Level 1

40 points

Mar 18, 2024 11:21 AM in response to HWTech

Thanks for the thorough explanation. This is an older T5 for sure--it's had various issues, so I use it for transfers only now. I have a newer T7 that works well.

It was the only device connected to the MacBook, and I was suspecting it might be drawing too much power. Anyhow, I just updated to Sonoma 14.4, so will test it some more.

I'll check with Samsung to see if they offer any update solutions.

Thanks!

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exFAT SSD problem with MacBook Pro (M1)

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