Monterey version 2.5 (21G72) still has no fixes for western digital drives with USB-A. the drive "disappears" and constantly disconnects when trying to copy files. The drives have been checked and work fine elsewhere including previous versions of macOS and windows. Issue only effects Monterey and with Multiple drives tested with the same problem with the drives disconnecting and "drive disappeared".
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Western Digital USB-A drives disconnect randomly while trying to copy files
- Thread starter Acorn
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For whatever reason, I tend to get about 2 years out of a WD drive. They format ok, Mac says no problems, but then random issues always crop up. When I replace them with a new WD drive (because I am a glutton for punishment or something), the problems always go away.
I've never had this issue - with any WD drive in Monterey.
I had a 3 TB WD drive go in a year, they're pretty unreliable. Finally replaced my aging/failing 4 TB WD with a 24 TB server with enterprise drives, it's been a dream to work with so far.
I had a 3 TB WD drive go in a year, they're pretty unreliable. Finally replaced my aging/failing 4 TB WD with a 24 TB server with enterprise drives, it's been a dream to work with so far.
Four months ago, a 2 TB WD drive started giving me problems (marked as read-only). Examined the WD documentation. Surprise! WD recommends that USB drive be DIRECTLY connected to computer's port (NO hubs or docking station plug-ins). Have had no problems since 10.Apr.2022, after a 3-pass secure erase/format of drive, and connecting directly to laptop's port. Did see a strange area of disk partition map that appeared to be outside of all defined partitions before the secure wipe (previously, could not include this area in the only defined partition, which was used by Time Machine). I've also been dropping internet connections (Wifi/wired) and restarting laptop before backups. Finally, I wait about 5 minutes after attaching drive before starting backup, and also 4 minutes after Time Machine SAYS it is done before disconnecting drive. I don't do scheduled backups, just manual ones, usually every 1-3 days (depending on update activity on laptop).
Problem cropped-up after a security update to Big Sur (11.6.5 ?). Noted that backups run MUCH faster without a hub between the WD drive and laptop USB-A port (late 2013 rMBP 13"). Others have pointed to software shipped by WD as causing problems after updates in the past. Had used a smaller 500 GB WD drive for seven years, but that drive would take a very long time for backups while using the (unpowered) USB-A hub (sometimes more than 30 minutes to backup less than 1GB). Stopped using the 500 GB drive after it approached the 500 GB capacity. May try a Toshiba or Seagate drive next time. Others have said external SSDs do not present problems. (Maybe SSDs draw less current, since they do not have a motor to spin the disk and move the read/write head?)
Problem cropped-up after a security update to Big Sur (11.6.5 ?). Noted that backups run MUCH faster without a hub between the WD drive and laptop USB-A port (late 2013 rMBP 13"). Others have pointed to software shipped by WD as causing problems after updates in the past. Had used a smaller 500 GB WD drive for seven years, but that drive would take a very long time for backups while using the (unpowered) USB-A hub (sometimes more than 30 minutes to backup less than 1GB). Stopped using the 500 GB drive after it approached the 500 GB capacity. May try a Toshiba or Seagate drive next time. Others have said external SSDs do not present problems. (Maybe SSDs draw less current, since they do not have a motor to spin the disk and move the read/write head?)
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I'm with the OP as I have posted several times before, none of my WD external USBA drives work on Monterey and they keep dismounting. I had to roll back to Big Sur on my MacBook Air as these drives are critical to my work.
I don't think it has anything to do with the current drawn by the drives, as suggested above. This is because I also bought and tried a powered hub to rule that out, and it did not fix the problem.
My Samsung T7 SSD ran fine on Monterey but SSDs are not a solution to those wanting large capacity drives on a budget. Besides, if the WD drives work on Big Sur they should work on Monterey, it's the principle too.
I don't think it has anything to do with the current drawn by the drives, as suggested above. This is because I also bought and tried a powered hub to rule that out, and it did not fix the problem.
My Samsung T7 SSD ran fine on Monterey but SSDs are not a solution to those wanting large capacity drives on a budget. Besides, if the WD drives work on Big Sur they should work on Monterey, it's the principle too.
connect it and execute
sudo killall -STOP -c usbd in the terminal. As long as you do not restart the problem seems to be gone for a lot of people.Would be interesting to know if WD drives only exhibit the problem. IF so, then sounds like WD needs to update the driver(s) used for MacOS. Noticed that on the printer side, Epson seems to be doing a better job with their MacOS updates than in the past (although they tended to lag for Windows as well, at times).
Given that WD says in their documentation to directly attach to the USB-A port, this behavior may be a "feature" of their software/driver. It just happened to work properly in the past.
Given that WD says in their documentation to directly attach to the USB-A port, this behavior may be a "feature" of their software/driver. It just happened to work properly in the past.
There are drives and there are enclosures which may be provided by the drive vendor. 2 different things. If a drive fails in one enclosure then the next step is to try it in a better (first tier) one.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
This HDD disconnect issue is not limited to WD drives. There are many threads about this. Use search to find them here, elsewhere, even on Apple's own support forums. Lots & lots of people have this issue with all kinds of hardware & hard drive enclosure options. Others report all is perfectly fine.
Through much trial & error and some OP-like experiences with a variety of drives & enclosures being fine on Macs with prior versions of macOS running, I've concluded that Monterey (and perhaps Big Sur too per many posts) has key hit & miss bugs when it comes to retaining connections to external drives. SSDs seems to retain a link better but there are enough reports of the same with them to make me believe that BOTH drive types have issues.
There is also substantial counterpoint- as always- of the "I have no issues at all with my Monterey Mac and drives"- strongly implying it is not a problem for ALL drives/enclosures but only some. That's the hit or miss piece: some will stay connected, others won't.
Before anyone gets confused/redirected into blaming their third party hardware or cables, etc, the ultimate test to rule out many variables is hooking the problematic drive up to a Mac running macOS before Big Sur. If it is fine there, it should be fine on Big Sur-Monterey too. That's what the U in USB is supposed to mean, not Unlucky or Unfortunate or something else. It's not MSB (Maybe Serial Bus), it's UNIVERSAL. USB is supposed to be the hardware solution for "just works."
One can go through all of the trials of testing different cables, drives, enclosures, hub (middlemen), tweaking terminal settings, etc, but- IMO- the only temp solution that works is buying & trying other HDD connection options until you find one that works. The correct solution is for Apple to get in there and debug the jack management software. They apparently broke something(s) and/or were a bit sloppy with Silicon jack management software starting in Big Sur.
This problem seems bigger with RAID enclosures, particularly HDD RAIDs... through again, some claim all "just works" with theirs. Unhook a problematic one and re-attach it to a pre-BigSur Mac and all will likely be fine with it. In doing that, you pretty much rule out cable/enclosure/drives and can point to the variable that is different. In my own case, that's either Silicon hardware itself (all enclosures/drives- even ancient ones I pulled out of retirement to test work fine with Intel Macs) or Big-Sur/Monterey. Hopefully it is the latter because that can be fixed with a software update... someday... if Apple wills it... please, please, please Apple.
Having worked through many options, I've temporarily retired a perfectly stable (on Intel Macs) RAID HDD box due to this issue and am leaning on a single drive option in a Thunderbolt case: OWC Ministack STX. That one has been reliably connected for a few months now but reduces my scratch storage size and R/W speed to single-drive limits.
What we probably need is a sticky thread that identifies enclosures that do and do not work with Monterey to help our fellow Apple consumers out when they get the dreaded "unexpectedly ejected" notifications on "latest & greatest" Macs and macOS.
Through much trial & error and some OP-like experiences with a variety of drives & enclosures being fine on Macs with prior versions of macOS running, I've concluded that Monterey (and perhaps Big Sur too per many posts) has key hit & miss bugs when it comes to retaining connections to external drives. SSDs seems to retain a link better but there are enough reports of the same with them to make me believe that BOTH drive types have issues.
There is also substantial counterpoint- as always- of the "I have no issues at all with my Monterey Mac and drives"- strongly implying it is not a problem for ALL drives/enclosures but only some. That's the hit or miss piece: some will stay connected, others won't.
Before anyone gets confused/redirected into blaming their third party hardware or cables, etc, the ultimate test to rule out many variables is hooking the problematic drive up to a Mac running macOS before Big Sur. If it is fine there, it should be fine on Big Sur-Monterey too. That's what the U in USB is supposed to mean, not Unlucky or Unfortunate or something else. It's not MSB (Maybe Serial Bus), it's UNIVERSAL. USB is supposed to be the hardware solution for "just works."
One can go through all of the trials of testing different cables, drives, enclosures, hub (middlemen), tweaking terminal settings, etc, but- IMO- the only temp solution that works is buying & trying other HDD connection options until you find one that works. The correct solution is for Apple to get in there and debug the jack management software. They apparently broke something(s) and/or were a bit sloppy with Silicon jack management software starting in Big Sur.
This problem seems bigger with RAID enclosures, particularly HDD RAIDs... through again, some claim all "just works" with theirs. Unhook a problematic one and re-attach it to a pre-BigSur Mac and all will likely be fine with it. In doing that, you pretty much rule out cable/enclosure/drives and can point to the variable that is different. In my own case, that's either Silicon hardware itself (all enclosures/drives- even ancient ones I pulled out of retirement to test work fine with Intel Macs) or Big-Sur/Monterey. Hopefully it is the latter because that can be fixed with a software update... someday... if Apple wills it... please, please, please Apple.
Having worked through many options, I've temporarily retired a perfectly stable (on Intel Macs) RAID HDD box due to this issue and am leaning on a single drive option in a Thunderbolt case: OWC Ministack STX. That one has been reliably connected for a few months now but reduces my scratch storage size and R/W speed to single-drive limits.
What we probably need is a sticky thread that identifies enclosures that do and do not work with Monterey to help our fellow Apple consumers out when they get the dreaded "unexpectedly ejected" notifications on "latest & greatest" Macs and macOS.
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I've ruled out pretty much everything on mine except the OS. Big Sur = drives work. Monterey = drives do not work.
Let's hope they fix this, but the problem is it will take an OS upgrade to find out and then a roll back if it's still not fixed. I don't think I can go through that again
whatever the western digital external usb drives shipped with from western digital. the ones made by western digital? these are pre-made external drives not internal with some random enclosure.
Actually, there are threads concerning this issue on Windows 10 on other sites. The link below refers to
usb sticks, which should be similar to usb drives or arrays.
How to Fix a USB Device That Keeps Disconnecting & Reconnecting in Windows 10
It is more than a little frustrating when your USB device won't stay connected to Windows 10.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Yes, but how does redirection to the irrelevant help us consumers? That it also happens on other systems may help defend Apple bugs with a "how come they have problems too and we only complain about Apple?" but I'm using Apple hardware here, not Windows. If I could get a USB port on a Commodore 64 or Tandy, it might not connect with that either. But again, spreading the fail doesn't really do anything for Apple consumers having problems with Apple hardware or software. Else, every bug Apple ever introduces could be marginalized away with a comparable bug on any other platform old or new. I guess that attempts to defend Apple but doesn't help a fellow Apple consumer in the least.
What happened to "just works?" What happened to trusting the U in USB actually meaning Universal? On my Intel Macs, I can attach ancient USB drives and other hardware and it still "just works." Does Silicon and/or Monterey get a collective pass because there are also some similar issues on Windows? If this works with modestly older Macs, shouldn't we expect it to work with latest & greatest Macs too? Or just give Apple a pass for obviously breaking something?
This enclosure works fine on Apple Intel Macs running macOS BEFORE Monterey. It was stable for several years on an Intel iMac running macOS before Monterey. Now I own a shiny, new, "latest & greatest" Mac Studio and it will not remain consistently connected to it. Could it be coincidence? Could cable or box have gone bad right at the point of updating my Mac? No, because I can reconnect it to either of my other two Intel Macs and it is consistently connected as always. Same cable. Same box. Same drive. What's truly different? Silicon Mac Studio and/or Monterey macOS.
Coincidently, if I hook it to a Windows PC, it will also remain consistently connected to Windows too. So even if there is select hardware that won't remain consistently connected to Windows hardware, this is not one of them. Through my lens, this works with EVERYTHING except a Silicon Mac running macOS Monterey. I'd really like to use it with my new Mac as I used it with my old Macs... not just live with it because platform alt has select problems too.
What happened to "just works?" What happened to trusting the U in USB actually meaning Universal? On my Intel Macs, I can attach ancient USB drives and other hardware and it still "just works." Does Silicon and/or Monterey get a collective pass because there are also some similar issues on Windows? If this works with modestly older Macs, shouldn't we expect it to work with latest & greatest Macs too? Or just give Apple a pass for obviously breaking something?
This enclosure works fine on Apple Intel Macs running macOS BEFORE Monterey. It was stable for several years on an Intel iMac running macOS before Monterey. Now I own a shiny, new, "latest & greatest" Mac Studio and it will not remain consistently connected to it. Could it be coincidence? Could cable or box have gone bad right at the point of updating my Mac? No, because I can reconnect it to either of my other two Intel Macs and it is consistently connected as always. Same cable. Same box. Same drive. What's truly different? Silicon Mac Studio and/or Monterey macOS.
Coincidently, if I hook it to a Windows PC, it will also remain consistently connected to Windows too. So even if there is select hardware that won't remain consistently connected to Windows hardware, this is not one of them. Through my lens, this works with EVERYTHING except a Silicon Mac running macOS Monterey. I'd really like to use it with my new Mac as I used it with my old Macs... not just live with it because platform alt has select problems too.
Doesn't exist for USB, just as it doesn't exist for some other connection standards. Look at all of the posts about HDMI, CEC, etc. problems. That's not saying that Apple couldn't do a better job.
You miss my point. If you'd spend as much time checking similar settings on the mac and replacing drivers, you'd likely have a solution. Whining won't fix the problem, it is likely a hammered piece of code that is causing the problem on both your mac and the Window's folks machines that causes the problem. Maybe even a bit of malicious code somewhere on your machine that has been blocked by security fixes.
You may want to investigate how BSD Unix (which macOS is based upon) handles device drivers. In short, get off your butt and do some investigation. Stop whining like a 2 year old. Another alternative is to pay an independent shop to fix the problem (hopefully one with more know-how than either you or me).
If you want to investigate, instead of pout, you can start here:
Linux folks who have same issue find that disabling power saving features fixes the problem. They are saying that issue results from ill thought out power saving features included in the kernel. If true, this may be why the kill command temporarily seems to fix the issue. Weirdly, my problem started after laptop went to sleep following a VERY long Big Sur update (I'd gone to sleep before it completed). Try the usbd kill command listed by Slartibart (below). I haven't seen problem recently, following several security updates to Big Sur.
Maybe the usb dameon does not get shut down if the machine goes to sleep, and the extra running usbd tasks confuse the USB device driver? If macOS kernel also has this problem, it may be in the Darwin kernel (which incorporates parts of BSD, but (as far as I know) is not shared with Linux or Windows. The different groups may "borrow" design ideas from each other (unfortunately). Interestingly, Microsoft recommends turning off power saving mode on the USB ports (and/or reloading USB drivers).
Darwin (operating system) - Wikipedia
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further indication that it is software related: if you have a dis/reconnect external device (this affects e.g. iPhones too) often it helps to stop
First connect the device to your Mac and let it mount. Open the terminal and execute:
This pauses usbd until you either reboot your Mac or enter the
command to continue the process.
If you have certain devices which are affected (and others not), you could actually use launchd to automate this.
EDIT: If you stop
Caveat: No new connects will be mounted as long
usbd.First connect the device to your Mac and let it mount. Open the terminal and execute:
sudo killall -STOP -c usbdThis pauses usbd until you either reboot your Mac or enter the
sudo killall -CONT -c usbdcommand to continue the process.
If you have certain devices which are affected (and others not), you could actually use launchd to automate this.
EDIT: If you stop
usbd all, at that moment mounted, devices will continue to be operational, but won’t be disconnected.Caveat: No new connects will be mounted as long
usbd is stopped; no clean/safe disconnects/"ejects" are possible - you have to shutdown the Mac or command usbd to continue.
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
You miss my point. If you'd spend as much time checking similar settings on the mac and replacing drivers, you'd likely have a solution. Whining won't fix the problem, it is likely a hammered piece of code that is causing the problem on both your mac and the Window's folks machines that causes the problem. Maybe even a bit of malicious code somewhere on your machine that has been blocked by security fixes.
You may want to investigate how BSD Unix (which macOS is based upon) handles device drivers. In short, get off your butt and do some investigation. Stop whining like a 2 year old. Another alternative is to pay an independent shop to fix the problem (hopefully one with more know-how than either you or me).
If you want to investigate, instead of pout, you can start here:
Linux folks who have same issue find that disabling power saving features fixes the problem. They are saying that issue results from ill thought out power saving features included in the kernel. If true, this may be why the kill command temporarily seems to fix the issue. Weirdly, my problem started after laptop went to sleep following a VERY long Big Sur update (I'd gone to sleep before it completed). Try the usbd kill command listed by Slartibart (below). I haven't seen problem recently, following several security updates to Big Sur.
Maybe the usb dameon does not get shut down if the machine goes to sleep, and the extra running usbd tasks confuse the USB device driver? If macOS kernel also has this problem, it may be in the Darwin kernel (which incorporates parts of BSD, but (as far as I know) is not shared with Linux or Windows. The different groups may "borrow" design ideas from each other (unfortunately). Interestingly, Microsoft recommends turning off power saving mode on the USB ports (and/or reloading USB drivers).
Darwin (operating system) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Thank you for sharing a few things I- and anyone with this problem, of which there are MANY- can try. I could contribute a very long list of what I've tried, sourced from info all over the web- including Apple's support forum threads about this bug- but none of them lead to an actual solution... presumably because this is not a problem users can resolve without Apple fixing something in macOS.
I am offended by "2 year old/pout/whine" et all. You don't know me, my level of technical competence, my experience with such things and/or what I have or have not tried as a user to resolve this problem.
My original contribution to this thread about "unexpected ejections" by others believing it to be focused on WD drives was in a pure spirit of helping consumer-to-consumer... by letting all know that this is a COMMON problem with MANY enclosures/drives, not limited to only WD drives. A simple search of "macOS Monterey Unexpected Ejection" and similar will lead to many threads all over the web with all kinds of people trying to deal with this. Some of those threads are on Apple's own support forums and some of those have dozens to hundreds of posts.
By letting anyone suffering such issues know that this is a BIG problem affecting many- but not all- enclosures, drives, etc, it can save them from doing what I've already done and you wrongly assumed I had not... which was (getting "off my butt" to) try EVERY single thing I could find on the web to resolve the issue myself. I put several DAYS into this, hunting down every "solution" testing it as objectively as I could and finding each wasn't a solution. Often it was simpler than that by reading later posts by those who had proclaimed something as solution to then come back rescinding that claim because the problem resumed for them.
I make my living on Macs and have very likely been using Macs for much longer than you have. This particular big storage is important to regular work flow tasks, so the urgency to "get off my butt" was much greater than average Joe with a comparable problem. I was on this on delivery of Mac Studio, stock, fresh, no migration, and before anything I might install can get some redirection blame. Having tried EVERYTHING a user can try, I am near fully convinced that this IS a macOS bug(s) and hoping that it is not a Silicon hardware issue, as those are the only 2 variables that are different in a very simple test:
- remains stably connected on Intel Macs running macOS BEFORE Big Sur,
- will not remain connected for more than about 3 hours on Mac Studio Ultra running latest Monterey.
Intel Macs do not require user Darwin knowledge expansion to yield a stable connection, power saver tweaks, terminal sudo or kill commands, etc. As is, the promise of ANY USB device- including ancient ones- U means Universal. It's USB not "U*SB." It is supposed to be a "just works," plug & play technology.
I don't recall ANY case where anything USB- at least a few hundred pieces of third party tech- would NOT just plug & play with all of my many Power PC and then Intel Macs over the years. In fact, in trying to objectively diagnose this issue to the limits of my "2 year old" brain, I dug out ancient USB stuff long-since retired for testing. Much of it "just works" including stuff more than 15 years older than the enclosure giving me this problem.
This one will remain connected for up to about 3 hours but it will "unexpectedly eject" regardless of power setting tweaks: I've tried all such options. As a video editing big scratch drive, the primary use is with FCPX. During video work, neither it nor Mac could even get into power saving modes. In some cases, DURING active file transfer from or to it, it will "unexpectedly eject", so no power saving code should be in play during direct & obvious active use between both parts. Yes, I believe power saving code plays some role here but I am confident it is not solely the source of all of this, as active transfer "unexpected ejections" clearly illustrate.
It is a reliable brand enclosure- OWC- known for making quality Mac peripherals. It's hopefully temporary replacement which does "just work" using the same cable is also from OWC. I've (hopefully temporarily) given up much more storage and speed for the replacement that does remain stably connected. So one from a reliable brand is stable and the other is not... which is common across many threads trying to resolve this same issue. Some USB stuff works with Silicon running Monterey and some does not. Apparently, the only way to know is to just try things and see what happens. That is clearly NOT USB but more like U*SB... until Apple gets around to fixing whatever it is.
All other "2-year olds" "whining" and "sitting on their butts" can chase every rabbit down every hole too- as this toddler already has- but even in the "solutions" pursuit through thread after thread and YouTube video after video all over the web, most will keep seeing seemingly smart Apple people eventually proclaiming it a bug in Monterey or Big Sur... often AFTER thinking whatever they tried THIS time(s) actually resolved it. This 2-year-old is about 90% confident that if Catalina could run on Mac Studio, my own problem would magically resolve... and hope that Ventura will reflect an Apple macOS team finally getting around to dealing with the bug(s) that is very likely causing this problem.
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Until the M2 generation, there was still one Intel chip on the main board in Macs (the USB/TB controller chip):
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/07/26/apple-replaces-intel-component-in-macbook-air/
Given a fair number of M1 family Macs that were repaired or replaced due to over-current on the USB and TB ports, I can imagine Intel paid a bundle in charge backs for repairs, likely a lot more per unit than the controller chip cost. This likely resulted in engineering changes by Intel to prevent further charges, likely more strictly limiting current levels on the USB and TB ports (either software or silicon, the latter generally being much more expensive to implement).
If Intel changed drivers for Mac, Windows, Linux, this could explain sporadic problems seen on these units, as well as BSD and other OSs. May also explain why some have seen issue from Windows 8.1 to 11, Big Sur onward… Mine was ok until 11.6.5, and is ok now with drive directly attached and ethernet, wifi shutdown. Not pursuing this further, since I’m planning an upgrade to M2 Pro 14” within a year, and I’ve found something that works.
Using macOS About This Mac -> System Report -> Hardware -> USB with drive attached and nothing else on the right hand USB-A port of a late 2013 rMBP 8gb/256gb, running Big Sur 11.6.8, My Passport 2629 (Western Digital) shows current available of 900 mA and required of 896 mA, which seems very close. With the drive ejected and unplugged, if I attach an older USB 2.0 hub, it shows available of 500 ma and required of 100 ma. (maybe because it is a USB 2.0 device?) On the left side, I have a powered-down and unplugged LG DVD burner (USB) and an active, mirrored TB-2 Lenovo 24” display. Neither the display nor the DVD burner shows any current entry.
Should be noted the late 2013 rMBP did receive upgrades after “Energy Saver” icon functions were removed from System Preferences, and this model, and certain others, did not get all of the check-off boxes of some newer models, nor did it get the battery health button. I’m ok with that. Noticed that (internal) disk sleep (an SSD) displays as 10 minutes in System Report, don’t remember any setting for the external hard disk displayed in System Report, and allow disks to sleep is one of the options not available on this model, likely due to age.
While this is bad, no worse than DEC VAXs that required you to reset external 8" floppy drives by removing a hot 1" fuse to reset (or power cycle the whole machine), or many issues I've seen on Sun/Oracle Solaris, Dell/HP servers, IBM minicomputers and mainframes, and other software, firmware and hardware over the years. I've likely worked on these longer than you, since there were no Apple or WinTel computers (or TRS/80s, Timex, Wang or Singer) when I started, my first computer experiences were with punched cards and paper tape. Sorry you took offense, none intended. But often times it helps to look at other OSs and architectures to see if the problem exists there.
Noticed that the terminal command called out by another poster is also used when an iPhone or iPad fails to stay connected to macOS by USB. There may be a joke developing about this, as there was apparently a large billboard in NYC that referenced killall in a way similar to Window's <alt> <ctl> <del>.
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/07/26/apple-replaces-intel-component-in-macbook-air/
Given a fair number of M1 family Macs that were repaired or replaced due to over-current on the USB and TB ports, I can imagine Intel paid a bundle in charge backs for repairs, likely a lot more per unit than the controller chip cost. This likely resulted in engineering changes by Intel to prevent further charges, likely more strictly limiting current levels on the USB and TB ports (either software or silicon, the latter generally being much more expensive to implement).
If Intel changed drivers for Mac, Windows, Linux, this could explain sporadic problems seen on these units, as well as BSD and other OSs. May also explain why some have seen issue from Windows 8.1 to 11, Big Sur onward… Mine was ok until 11.6.5, and is ok now with drive directly attached and ethernet, wifi shutdown. Not pursuing this further, since I’m planning an upgrade to M2 Pro 14” within a year, and I’ve found something that works.
Using macOS About This Mac -> System Report -> Hardware -> USB with drive attached and nothing else on the right hand USB-A port of a late 2013 rMBP 8gb/256gb, running Big Sur 11.6.8, My Passport 2629 (Western Digital) shows current available of 900 mA and required of 896 mA, which seems very close. With the drive ejected and unplugged, if I attach an older USB 2.0 hub, it shows available of 500 ma and required of 100 ma. (maybe because it is a USB 2.0 device?) On the left side, I have a powered-down and unplugged LG DVD burner (USB) and an active, mirrored TB-2 Lenovo 24” display. Neither the display nor the DVD burner shows any current entry.
Should be noted the late 2013 rMBP did receive upgrades after “Energy Saver” icon functions were removed from System Preferences, and this model, and certain others, did not get all of the check-off boxes of some newer models, nor did it get the battery health button. I’m ok with that. Noticed that (internal) disk sleep (an SSD) displays as 10 minutes in System Report, don’t remember any setting for the external hard disk displayed in System Report, and allow disks to sleep is one of the options not available on this model, likely due to age.
While this is bad, no worse than DEC VAXs that required you to reset external 8" floppy drives by removing a hot 1" fuse to reset (or power cycle the whole machine), or many issues I've seen on Sun/Oracle Solaris, Dell/HP servers, IBM minicomputers and mainframes, and other software, firmware and hardware over the years. I've likely worked on these longer than you, since there were no Apple or WinTel computers (or TRS/80s, Timex, Wang or Singer) when I started, my first computer experiences were with punched cards and paper tape. Sorry you took offense, none intended. But often times it helps to look at other OSs and architectures to see if the problem exists there.
Noticed that the terminal command called out by another poster is also used when an iPhone or iPad fails to stay connected to macOS by USB. There may be a joke developing about this, as there was apparently a large billboard in NYC that referenced killall in a way similar to Window's <alt> <ctl> <del>.
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