Apple has acknowledged that certain SATA hard drives may be unexpectedly disconnected from the 2023 Mac Pro. The issue occurs when the system wakes from sleep, and requires users to restart their machines to reconnect the drive.
The issue is unlikely to cause data loss, although corruption is potentially possible with any unexpected device shutdown.
“Certain models of internal SATA drives might unexpectedly disconnect from your computer after your Mac wakes from sleep,” Apple writes in support documentation published on June 14, 2023. “This can occur if your Mac automatically goes to sleep or if you manually put your Mac to sleep. If you see a message that your disk was not ejected properly, you can restart your Mac to reconnect to the drive.”
It’s worth noting here that the Mac Pro 2023 is equipped with solid-state drives (SSDs), not traditional hard drives — but the computer has SATA connections, and some users connect hard drives to expand their storage.
If you’ve connected a SATA hard drive to your brand-new Mac Pro, there’s good news: The company is planning to fix the bug in a future macOS update.
What to Do If Your Mac Pro’s Hard Drive Unexpectedly Disconnects
If you’re running a 2023 Mac Pro, you’ll need to wait for the update — but you can avoid some frustration by preventing your system from going to sleep automatically.
That’s a fairly quick change:
- From the Apple menu, select System Settings.
- Select Displays.
- Select Advanced, then “Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off.”
- Select Done.
We also recommend backing up your data regularly via Time Machine or another method. Review Apple’s guide for using Time Machine.
Check your backups occasionally to make sure that they’re functional and that they contain all of the files you’d need to recreate your work if data loss occurs suddenly. To learn more, read: 6 Data Backup Mistakes That Increase Your Risk of Data Loss.
Remember, data loss is always possible.
Hard drives typically have warranties that cover 5 years of operation, and some drives last much, much longer — but some fail right out of the box. Likewise, SSDs are relatively reliable, but a power surge or unexpected shutdown can lead to file corruption.
A consistent backup strategy can help you avoid data loss (and avoid the need for professional data recovery services).
Of course, if you do lose files from a macOS device, we’re here to help. Datarecovery.com provides risk-free media evaluations and a no data, no charge guarantee: If we can’t recover your requested data, you don’t pay for the attempt.
Submit a case online to get started or call 1-800-237-4200 to speak with an expert.
