I recently bought a SanDisk 1TB Portable SSD, and it’s working perfectly on every device except M2 MacBooks.
Here’s what I’ve tested so far:
The SSD is detected instantly on M4 MacBooks, Windows PCs, and even my iPhone.
But it is not detected at all on any M2-chip MacBook (I tested multiple M2 models to confirm).
Different cables, ports, and even a fresh macOS install on one M2 Mac were tried — still not detected
The SSD is formatted as exFAT and all ohter formats were tried.
Has anyone seen this issue before? Do M2 MacBooks have a known compatibility problem with certain SanDisk SSDs? Any solutions or firmware updates available? This is really strange because every other device detects it normally.
Have you sorted this out? If not, I’d suggest you to try the following solutions:
Check the External Hard Drive in System Information
Look in System Report (Apple > About This Mac > System Report > USB/Thunderbolt) to see whether your SSD is detected and whether it’s getting enough power.
Check the USB Ports on Your M2 MacBook
Try different USB‑C/Thunderbolt ports, remove USB hubs if possible, and make sure ports or hubs aren’t faulty, dusty, or insufficiently powered.
Try a Different Cable
Swap out the USB/Thunderbolt cable you’re using — cables that work for charging or other devices don’t always support data reliably.
4.Update the Hard Drive’s Software and Firmware
Install the latest driver/firmware from the manufacturer, and allow necessary extensions in macOS Security & Privacy.
5.Run First Aid in Disk Utility
Use Disk Utility → First Aid to detect and repair file system or partition problems that prevent the SSD from mounting.
(If you have a Windows PC at hand, running CHKDSK to fix the dive errors is also feasible.)
6.Update macOS
Make sure your M2 MacBook is running the latest macOS version
