Can't mount external USB SSD drive after shutdown

Community,

Loner T you out there!?? ;-) I have a MBP running Bootcamp/W10 and sometimes boot off of an external USB SSD drive. The other day the laptop powered off (I forgot the power cord wasn't plugged in) and now the drive shows in Disk Utility but is greyed out and I don't see it in finder when I powered back up. I did a First Aid on the drive and it checks out fine and did try to unmount it and mount it through the command line. Thoughts? Thank you!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Jan 4, 2016 4:23 AM

84 replies

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 18, 2016 6:46 AM in response to Dick Richards

1. Can you post a link to the Cable Matters website for the specific cable that you tried?

2. Upgrading a Mini is painful, but possible. Please see https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Mac_Mini_Late_2014 .

3. From Mac mini (Late 2014) - Technical Specifications,

HDMI video output

Support for 1080p resolution at up to 60Hz

Support for 3840-by-2160 resolution at 30Hz

Support for 4096-by-2160 resolution at 24Hz

4. The ASUS has PbP mode, so it should support the half-screen split between two inputs.

5. You should consider a mini with Flash drive.

Storage1

1.4GHz
500GB (5400-rpm) hard drive
Configurable to 1TB Fusion Drive.
2.6GHz
1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive
Configurable to 1TB Fusion Drive or 256GB of flash storage (SSD).
2.8GHz
1TB Fusion Drive
Configurable to 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of flash storage (SSD).

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 18, 2016 6:54 AM in response to Dick Richards

Screen Sharing (aka VNC) on the OSX side, and Remote Desktop on the Windows side should work. The lag can also be related to how your Network is designed.

Jan 18, 2016 8:19 AM in response to Loner T

This is the one I ordered..

http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-DisplayPort-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B00C7R IL3C/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1453133749&sr=8-4&keywords=minidisplay+port+to+displ ay+port

I haven't see the 3840 at 30 hz but I assume it still looks fantastic, yes? The new mini's have two TB ports which is way better. If I run a TB to HDMI converter does that mean I still only get the resolutions you stated before?

Jan 18, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Loner T

Thanks! I am already using Screen Sharing.. It works pretty well for what it is I guess!

Jan 18, 2016 8:28 AM in response to Loner T

Just as a note I had some hard drive problems on my older iMac 27" and have been running OS X via USB 3.0 SSD drive and it has been running great. Is that a problem? I was thinking of doing the same thing via the cheaper newer Mini. Would that be a technical problem? I have tried thumb drives but they are too slow. That iFixit things looks like a major pain!!

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 18, 2016 10:05 AM in response to Dick Richards

Dick Richards wrote:

If I run a TB to HDMI converter does that mean I still only get the resolutions you stated before?

The HDMI needs to be v2.0 to support 4K resolution.

Just as a note I had some hard drive problems on my older iMac 27" and have been running OS X via USB 3.0 SSD drive and it has been running great. Is that a problem? I was thinking of doing the same thing via the cheaper newer Mini. Would that be a technical problem? I have tried thumb drives but they are too slow.

You can run OSX using external disks. A TB port is the fastest method of running OSX from external disks. Running/installing Windows with an external OSX disk can be problematic.

Jan 18, 2016 11:35 AM in response to Loner T

I know this is problem a dumb question but is the HDMI 2.0 cord specific? Could it be possible I am plugging in the wrong HDMI cable via the TB converters/adapters on the Late 2012 mini? I am on the specs page of the newer Mini's but I don't see the HDMI version?

http://www.apple.com/mac-mini/specs/

This is what I am thinking - New Mini using an external TB enclosure/adapter (TB to SSD) for my SSD OCZ SSD and use the onboard HDMI to the Asus assuming the HDMI is ver 2.0 and use PbP or PiP on it for both the mini's. If that is actually possible that WILL work for me...

Jan 18, 2016 11:56 AM in response to Loner T

Would this work for an adapter or is just stupid...

http://www.kanex.com/thunderbolt-esata

Jan 18, 2016 12:01 PM in response to Loner T

I just saw this stated as a 4K cable... Loner T - I am so sorry to dumbfound you with this stuff but this is the most confusing crap.. There are special HDMI cables???

http://www.microcenter.com/product/444894/6ft_Mini_DisplayPort_to_4K_HDMI_Cable_ -_White

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 18, 2016 12:09 PM in response to Dick Richards

Dick Richards wrote:

I know this is problem a dumb question but is the HDMI 2.0 cord specific? Could it be possible I am plugging in the wrong HDMI cable via the TB converters/adapters on the Late 2012 mini? I am on the specs page of the newer Mini's but I don't see the HDMI version?

http://www.apple.com/mac-mini/specs/

The versions of HDMI supported on Macs is listed in Mac computers: Frequently asked questions about using HDMI - Apple Support . Please also see http://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/kb.aspx and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI .

This is what I am thinking - New Mini using an external TB enclosure/adapter (TB to SSD) for my SSD OCZ SSD and use the onboard HDMI to the Asus assuming the HDMI is ver 2.0 and use PbP or PiP on it for both the mini's. If that is actually possible that WILL work for me...

You may be better off with DP (or miniDP - v1.2) than HDMI. The HDMI connector should be universal.

Jan 18, 2016 1:07 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks for all the info. I just talked to Apple and mentioned that it is not recommended to boot off a USB drive so I asked them what if I boot off a TB to USB 3.0 converter and they basically said there is no reason... Any thoughts/recommendations on using my existing SSD's to boot/run the OS?

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 18, 2016 1:08 PM in response to Dick Richards

Can you find a good TB enclosure for your SATA drives?

Jan 18, 2016 1:14 PM in response to Loner T

Everything I have seen is very expensive... I was looking at this converter but maybe this would be a waste of money?

http://www.kanex.com/thunderbolt-esata

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 18, 2016 1:34 PM in response to Dick Richards

You can check out a TB-to-Firewire adapter.

Jan 18, 2016 1:42 PM in response to Loner T

Why would I do that? I don't have a FW drive? I am unclear LT?

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Can't mount external USB SSD drive after shutdown