Apple announced the new Mac Pro with M2 Ultra processor at WWDC23. It hit stores this week, but it’s already bugged. In a support document, Apple has revealed a software bug in the Mac Pro that disconnects internal SATA drives when the computer goes to sleep. Apple is working on a fix, but it won’t be available until the next macOS update.
The 2023 Mac Pro comes with 1TB of solid-state storage in the $6,999 base model. However, if you buy a Mac Pro from Apple’s website, you can spec your machine up to 2 TB, 4 TB, or 8 TB for an additional fee. Purchase an upgrade kit directly from Apple. However, it is not cheap. Retail prices for the 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB kits are $1,000, $1,600, and $2,800 respectively. These aren’t off-the-shelf SSDs (actually act like NAND and plug into the M2 Ultra’s controller) and can be expensive. Luckily, the device he features two standard SATA III ports, opening the door to mainstream secondary storage options. The Promise Pegasus J2i 8TB internal storage enclosure is $400allows consumers to use more budget-friendly traditional SATA hard drives or SSDs. That’s where Apple found a nasty bug.
When the owner wakes the Mac Pro from sleep, a “Disk not ejected properly” window may appear as if the SATA drive was ejected like a flash drive. This prompt appears because some hard drive models automatically disconnect from the device when your Mac Pro goes to sleep. However, Apple does not provide a list of affected drive models, only stating that it occurs with “specific models of internal SATA drives.” This issue can occur whether the Mac Pro automatically enters sleep mode or the consumer manually puts the device to sleep.
Apple’s current workaround is for the user to reboot the system when the problem occurs. Mac Pro owners are also advised to disable sleep mode. This option is called “Prevent auto-sleep when display is off” and can be found in the Advanced section of Display Options in System Preferences. In other words, it’s better not to put it to sleep or completely shut down your Mac to prevent problems.
Luckily this is not a hardware issue. The issue is at the software level and Apple can mitigate it through macOS updates. Apple plans to include the fix in Ventura’s next macOS update (probably macOS 13.4.1), but has not provided a concrete ETA. Until then, Mac Pro owners may want to avoid sleep mode if they have a hard drive built into their system.
The issue is particularly interesting because the new Mac Pro is the first time Apple has allowed user-additional storage within the system since Apple Silicon was released for the Mac. (Not available for MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, or Mac Studio).
