mac M3 pro keeps burnning the external HD.

Unfortunately not all external devices or drives are compatible with an M-Series Mac. I have seen multiple items not work on an M-series Mac.

As for a hard drive, it is hard to say. If you have had that drive for years and it is always connected to the Mac, then most likely that drive is worn out or failing. macOS is known for causing premature hard drive failures due to the very aggressive wake & sleep of connected drives, so it is best to uncheck "Put hard drive to sleep when possible" in the System Settings (with Sonoma this option is only visible/available when an external drive is connected).

Another factor which can affect external drives is whether they are connected directly to the computer or with an adapter, dock, or hub. If you connect the drive directly to the computer, then perhaps try connecting it to a powered USB hub in case the drive requires more power than the computer is providing.

Also, try disconnecting all other external devices from the computer in case one of them is causing a problem (Wacom Tablets are known to cause issues with some external drives as an example).

You may also want to try accessing the drives while booted into Safe Mode in case some third party software is interfering. If you use a third party to access the external drive, then Safe Mode is not an option.

Denisdessoliers wrote:

In this early year I try to use a SSD ex-HD. ( I bought this Mac 3 at the end of February) I plug it in to USB-c direct. It shows the SSD on desktop but it won’t let me open it just flash on and off. So that all I can describe .

Try using another USB-C cable. Even if the cable is from the drive manufacturer. FYI, there are a lot of variations in USB-C cables so make sure to use a quality cable which supports the data transfer protocol(s) needed. The Apple Thunderbolt 3 USB-C cable supports both Thunderbolt 3 & USB3 data transfer protocols (it has a lightning bolt icon on the USB-C connector).

Try accessing the drive while booted into Safe Mode.

If you have sufficient Free storage space on the internal SSD (you need about 80GB+ of Free space, ignore the "Available" amount), then you can try creating a new APFS volume (give it a unique name such as "Sonoma") and install macOS onto it. During setup, do NOT install any third party software, do NOT restore from a backup, and do NOT log into your AppleID or iCloud. This option allows you to easily test a nearly clean install of macOS while not interfering with your main OS. Test if you have the same issues with the external drive under these conditions with the new OS. If this works, then you have some sort of software or configuration issue with your original main OS. Before deleting the new APFS volume, make sure to reselect the default Startup Disk in System Settings for the OS which will remain.

Do you have any other computers you can use to test these external drives (Windows PC or Mac with an older OS or older hardware)?

The computer likely wasn't "burning" the hard disk. More likely what happened is your hard disk has aged or your connection to the drive was faulty. The data recovery team you sent it to should be able to determine what exactly went wrong.

Hard disk have a normal life expectancy of around 14 years, although some last longer, some laat only a day!

http://www.binaryfruit.com/ has an excellent utility called DriveDX that gives you a life expectancy read out on any hard disk.

You should never depend on one medium for storage. A backup is vital for any computing, and regular backup so that failure, when it does happen, doesn't leave you in a lurch.

I wrote this tip on backing up

Backup now, or forever hold your peace - … - Apple Community

Hope you are successful in restoring it.

For the M3 Mac, you should be very mindful about power when it comes to hard drives. All Macs since 2016 have depended on USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 or later for storage connectivity. The downside, is just a little lint in the port, or too little power to connect the external disk can make it unreable. It is recommended you get a hub that either uses the computer's power for pass through if the computer uses USB-C for power, or has its on AC/DC adapter for power. Hard disks with their own AC/DC adapter are the best, because then you only have to swap out the connecting cable to the computer. USB itself goes into low power mode when you close the lid of a laptop, or use Energy Saver. Energy Saver in the Settings/Preferences has a Put hard disks to sleep option which generally should be unchecked. This may not prevent every dropped connection, but will prevent many. If it still drops connection, use Screen Saver instead of Energy Saver/closing the lid.

HDDs do inevitably burn out, yes.

You can avoid spin-up and spin-down when staying permanently connected, but that is more difficult with a portable Mac.

Some HDDs are designed to be spun up and down more frequently. Others, not so much.

One option for keeping an HDD spun up continuously is acquiring network-attached storage (NAS) with Time Machine support, as that can be configured (details here NAS-specific) to stay spinning continuously, and can connect wirelessly when the Mac is connected to the same Wi-Fi.

The only way to mark data as valuable is with backups. Not having backups and losing data is something we all eventually learn, and learn the hard way for many of us; with data loss. Data loss is one drop, dunk, theft, fire, hardware or software failure, command mistake, or device loss away.

One thing that could be a factor, and only for SSDs, is the formatting as APFS. APFS is not compatible with Sierra or older Mac OS. If you format with a newer Mac, a 10 year old Mac still running Sierra or older OS won't be able to see it unless you deliberately format it HFS Extended GUID. Mojave and later Mac OS will not boot off anything but APFS, but can still load the older filing system.

a brody wrote:

APFS is not compatible with Sierra or older Mac OS. If you format with a newer Mac, a 10 year old Mac still running Sierra or older OS won't be able to see it

FYI, macOS 10.12.4+ Sierra is able to mount & access data on an APFS volume, but that is it.