Level 1

10 points

Can't download files from app or Safari directly on my hard drives after updating Mac to Sequoia

Since I updated Sequoia , I'm not able to download files from app or safari directly on my hard drives ... big problems since I use to download big file for my work and my MacBook Pro native hard drive is almost full . I can download in the folder download then move files manually to the external storage but it's not a good option since my hard drive almost full and also it's not a good option neither having to do this ecerytime in 2025 with a MacBook Pro ( for professionals ...)

I saw on forums and community , that lot's of people have the issue since a long time now and still not working.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Cannot download files to an external hard drive or SD card directly ...

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.5

Posted on Jun 13, 2025 1:17 AM

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

75,028 points

Posted on Jun 13, 2025 12:24 PM

JBDLID wrote:

Thanks for the answer .

I already did this , Changing the file download location was the first things I tried . I even tried to do this then set up back to the download folder and then back again on "ask for each"

Doesn't work .

When I download audio files from Safari to my external hard drive, once the download is finished, the file appears incomplete and stays in the .download format, preventing me from opening it in Finder.

Thank you for clarifying that. We now understand what is happening, and have a better chance of figuring out why.

How is the drive formatted? It should be APFS, if it is an SSD, or Mac OS Extended if it is a rotating HD. Open Disk Utility, select the drive in the sidebar and confirm.

Typically disks come preformatted for use in Windows machines, either as ExFAT, or NTFS.

Older drives could be FAT32, and that only supports files up to 4GB in size, so a large download could well fail for that reason.

Do smaller downloads work ok on the external drive?

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26 replies

JBDLID Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 13, 2025 9:57 AM in response to Owl-53

Thanks for the answer .

I already did this , Changing the file download location was the first things I tried . I even tried to do this then set up back to the download folder and then back again on "ask for each"

Doesn't work .

When I download audio files from Safari to my external hard drive, once the download is finished, the file appears incomplete and stays in the .download format, preventing me from opening it in Finder.

JBDLID Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 13, 2025 10:06 AM in response to Owl-53

Owl-53 wrote:

We can not see exactly what you can see when attempting to use Safari to download " sound banks of hundreds of gigabytes "

I m a composer / music producer for movies/ documentary ... I often have to download big video files , .wav files from the movie rushes recordings , sound design, or plugging that are working with sound libraries ... it s not rare that those files are above 20Go and sometimes it's 80Go / 100Go

JBDLID Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 13, 2025 10:11 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

On the download section of safari it say: "cannot move the file "

Owl-53

Level 10

106,233 points

Jun 13, 2025 3:18 PM in response to Barney-15E

In over simplistic terms

The internal drive is almost as per OP

Downloading a very large file under your assessment would possible create a temporary file - where ?

The internal drive but that storage location is already almost full

I just do not get

JBDLID Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 23, 2025 1:21 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Sorry for the muted period , I had tons of work .

But here we go again ...

Here is what I have in safari's "download" section :

Here are the results of the downloaded files on the hard drive , it stay as .download

And her is the message I have when I click on the downloaded files

Owl-53

Level 10

106,233 points

Jun 13, 2025 3:31 AM in response to JBDLID

So what does the user see as being the problem and therefore the solution ?

Owl-53

Level 10

106,233 points

Jun 13, 2025 4:49 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

👍

JBDLID Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 13, 2025 5:44 AM in response to Owl-53

??? that comment doesn’t give me a solution for sure ! 😂

Owl-53

Level 10

106,233 points

Jun 13, 2025 10:46 AM in response to Barney-15E

@Barney-25

Predicated on OP original post. re Drive is almost full or words to that effect

Owl-53

Level 10

106,233 points

Jun 14, 2025 1:00 AM in response to Barney-15E

18 hours later and the light finally came on

JBDLID Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 23, 2025 1:42 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I haven't formatted the disk since I updated to Sequoia , it's exactly the same configuration and it worked perfectly before ...

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Can't download files from app or Safari directly on my hard drives after updating Mac to Sequoia