I just plugged a USB hard drive into my MacBook Air and for some reason it immediately went into sleep mode (it also stopped the music I was playing on iTunes). What could be the issue? Is it something I should worry about? I just tried to plug it in again but nothing weird happened, the drive works fine.
MacBook – Plugging USB hard drive put the Mac to sleep
macbook prousb
Related Solutions
If your USB hard drive is the bus-powered variety (that is, you don't plug it into the wall for power), then it is possible that it is requiring too much startup current to run on one of your computers.
Some computers are pickier than others about how much current a device can draw, and over what period.
You might try a cable like this:
Basically, you can use power from two USB ports, instead of just one.
If your hard drive has a jack for a power adapter, use that instead.
I see the same symptoms on my setup-- Used to use the usb hdd all the time on my old Windows setup, am able to see it on my macbook just fine. We are probably working in NTFS which, however, is clearly not allowed:
Note: ExFAT and NTFS formats aren't supported.
Related Question
- MacBook – USB 2.0 hard disk does not show up
- USB flash drive not shown
- MacOS – Mid-2012 MacBook Pro hard drive failure (maybe? not really.)
- MacBook – USB drive works only in one port
- MacOS – USB Drive Will Not Mount, Not Listed in Disk Utilities, but Found In System Profiler
- USB external hard drive is mounted on one MacBook Pro but not another
- MacBook – macOs High Sierra External Hard drive problems
Best Answer
This can happen if for some reason it pulls more power then the computer can handle. If this happens only once, I wouldn't worry about it too much, however if it becomes a repeat issue, it could mean there is a problem with the power regulation, the USB port, or both.