One of the most popular product lineups that Apple manufactures is their range of Macs. Every year, the multinational company introduces new and better-than-before Macs, which take the market by storm. The Mac Lineup currently includes MacBooks, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Each of the latest versions of the devices delivers exceptional performance thanks to its top-tier chipset thanks to their powerful M1 Chipset. Before proceeding further, here is a glance at what M1 Macs are: visit here
What are M1 Macs?
For many years, Apple fitted Intel processors inside their Mac lineup, which undoubtedly helped the devices reach the popularity they have today. However, the company wanted Mac users to have more processing power at their disposal. Hence, in 2020, they created their Silicon M1 Chip and equipped it inside all of their new Macs. The new internal addition gave Macs an exponential boost in performance and resulted in a massive difference in terms of computational power as compared to both other Intel-based Macs and Intel PCs. According to Apple, their latest M1 Ultra processor is the most powerful chip globally.
Even though Macs featuring M1 chips are top-tier devices that facilitate users to perform even the heaviest of computational tasks with ease, they have their fair share of issues. One of the most talked-about issues is their SSD problem. Here is an in-depth look at the problem and numerous potential fixes:
What is M1 Macs’ SSD Issue?
When the first M1 Macs came out in 2020, Mac users were not sure whether the new chipset would revolutionize the performance of Macs. However, once the initial reviews came in, it became evident that M1 Macs are indeed future-proof devices that pack in massive amounts of power. However, after using the device for several months, many users reported that their M1-featuring Macs’ SSDs were excessively used. One of the most frightening test results showed that one SSD wrote over 15 TB of data within two months. It is a well-known fact that SSDs have a limited life span, and their durability depends on how extensively they are used. Hence, when the reports came, M1 Mac users got alarmed.
Another significant addition to the issue that further elevates the seriousness of the matter is that M1 Macs sometimes do not detect external SSDs. This problem is alarming because M1 Macs do not allow users to boot if their internal SSD becomes corrupt or stops functioning entirely because of their 1TR Policy. This limitation, combined with the SSD issue, puts a user’s entire data at risk.
How to Fix the External SSD Issue on M1 Macs?
If you own a Mac, there are numerous methods using which you can fix external SSD not working on M1 Mac issues. Let us take a look at the steps for solving the problem:
- Determine the Cause of the Problem
To find why your external SSD is not being displayed, you will first need to determine whether the issue is in the hardware of the SSD or if it is because of a software problem. To do so, follow the given steps:
Step 1 – Open the Apple menu.
Step 2 – Click on “About this Mac”.
Step 3 – Check whether the external SSD is shown in the sidebar under the USB or Thunderbolt section.
If the SSD is not displayed, there is either a problem with your external solid-state drive or your M1 Mac’s USB ports. In this case, you would need to get your hardware checked at the nearest authorized service center. However, if the SSD is being shown, the chances are high that there is a software issue prohibiting your external SSD from being functional. In case of an internal issue, you could try the following solutions:
- Use First Aid to Solve Internal Issues
In case of an internal issue like a corrupted file system, you can resolve it conveniently using macOS’ native First Aid utility. Here are the steps:
Step 1 – Open Finder and navigate to the “Utilities” section.
Step 2 – Click on “Disk Utility” and select the external SSD.
Step 3 – Open First Aid and click on “Run” to repair the SSD.
- Install Latest macOS Updates
Another potential reason for your external SSD not working could be an outdated macOS version. Hence, try downloading and installing the latest updates and replugging your external SSD.
Besides this, you could also try using a third-party tool like iBoySoft NTFS for Mac to reformat your SSD. The third-party utility allows users to conveniently read and write support on Mac’s NTFS drives. Therefore, in some cases, you can use the tool to effectively fix the external SSD’s software without actually needing to erase it.
By implementing the fixes mentioned above, you can try fixing M1 Macs’ external SSD problems with ease and secure your data by backing it up.
