Internal Hard Drives disappearing from Yosemite Desktop

Question

Level 1

9 points

Internal Hard Drives disappearing from Yosemite Desktop

Today I updated a MacPro from OS 10.8.5 to OS X 10.10.5. The computer is used primarily for editing audio & video and has a Samsung SSD for the OS & Apps and three drives in the other bays for everything else.

Since the upgrade today, whenever I restart the computer, the HD's in the other three bays no longer appear on the desktop. They cannot be seen by Disk Utility nor do they appear in the System Report.

If I do a hard SHUT DOWN & restart, they appear again.

The Finder preferences are set to show everything (internal/external drives, etc.)

Are there any prefs I need to trash or a setting I'm forgetting? All 4 drives have only been in service since Sept. of this year, and I've had no problems with them under OS X 10.8.5.

I'm going to run EtreCheck, but thought I would get the ball rolling & see if this is a common issue with a simple fix!

Thanks!

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Nov 12, 2017 12:00 AM

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Answer 1

Moozito

Community Specialist

Nov 12, 2017 2:40 PM in response to MacProUser9

Hi MacProUser9,
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. If you are having issues with your internal drives not being recognized after an OS update, you may want to try resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) and the NVRAM if you haven't already. You may find the following articles helpful:
How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support
How to reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support
Regards.

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Answer 2

MacProUser9 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 19, 2017 7:54 AM in response to MacProUser9

FYI: There's a lengthy thread discussing this problem, which seems to be associated with legacy MacPros 4,1 & 5,1:

6TB drives won't mount after restart in Mac Pro 2012

Essentially, many newer HD's have a compatibility problem not noted on sites selling the HD's as compatible.

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Answer 3

MacProUser9 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 12, 2017 5:16 PM in response to kahjot

Yes! Two 6TB & one 4TB HGST NAS drives. I just read that may be the problem here:

6TB HGST won't mount after restart in Mac Pro 5,1 - Ars Technica OpenForum

I tried them in another Mac Pro and the same thing happened, so I'm guessing that's it.

Is there a work-around or fix?

Thanks!

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Answer 4

kahjot

Level 4

2,462 points

Nov 13, 2017 9:09 AM in response to MacProUser9

Various attempted fixes have been reported here, but I can’t recall if anything worked. What should work is moving the drives into an external enclosure. I like the OWC 2-bay enclosures (USB 3/FW800). I currently have two of them attached to my 5,1 Mac Pro. I also have a HGST NAS drive in a single OWC enclosure. There are reports here of WD Red 6TB drives working correctly. I can vouch for the 6TB Toshibas working properly when installed inside my Mac Pro.

The most interesting ting thing about your post, to me, is the fact that none of this was broken in Mountain Lion.

Management of drives by the OS has been problematic in another way in Mavericks and later, in my experience, which is the introduction of the improper disk ejection problem. I am using a utility called Mountain, from appgineers.de to fix that issue. This is something that Apple needs to get right, especially since they continue to sell computers with very small internal drives. Apparently they imagine that everyone has a constant high speed broadband connection and can just use the Cloud instead of pesky attached storage devices. What could go wrong with that?

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Answer 5

MacProUser9 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 13, 2017 9:20 AM in response to kahjot

Thank so much for the info! Although I'm not new to DIY'ing & computers, I was not familiar with the term "NAS". However, after reading this:

http://www.storagereview.com/pick_the_right_drive_for_the_job_24_7_nas_hdds_vs_d esktop_hdds

I see they are more robust than standard HD's but I'm still wondering: what issues beyond what I've seen already may arise if I continue to use them in the internal drive bays?

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Answer 6

kahjot

Level 4

2,462 points

Nov 20, 2017 12:33 PM in response to MacProUser9

Most sites won’t know or care that these drives are problematic in Macs. At least when drives have the NAS designation, we can avoid the problem, by not buying them or by installing them in external enclosures. But knowing which WD Black (or other) drives are going to be problematic is much more difficult. HGST was my preferred brand a few years ago, but these days I’m sticking with Toshiba.

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Answer 7

kahjot

Level 4

2,462 points

Nov 13, 2017 9:09 AM in response to MacProUser9

What model and size drives are installed? Are any of them large NAS drives?

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Answer 8

MacProUser9 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 12, 2017 5:14 PM in response to Moozito

Thank you! I did try that but neither worked.

I think it may have something to do with the drives as I tried them in another Mac and the same thing happened.

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Answer 9

kahjot

Level 4

2,462 points

Nov 13, 2017 10:44 AM in response to MacProUser9

The major headache is the one you have discovered. Don’t know if they are really more robust drives, but presumably they are designed to run constantly in a NAS unit.

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